Josh 1655 McQueen

[Martyd3]

Gen Tropic 116, case drilled and gen spring bars installed

[btocamelo]

Slowly being pushed towards the edge of getting one......

Where did you get the GEN springbars? I have been looking for thicker springbars that have the longer pivot pins to stick out of the lug holes....can't seem to find the right ones?

[Martyd3]

I've bought them from a number of ebay sellers. I think these came from Wholesaleoutlet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SPRING-BAR-ROLEX-SUBMARINER-GMT-20MM-S-S-PARTS-/310191796945?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4838df32d1

[krpster]

Looking good Marty! I really need to get me one of these.

[docdoc]

Marty what kind of drill do you use to enlarge the spring bars holes ?

[redwatch]

Wow Marty! That looks really good!

Are you going to upgrade the seconds hand?

[asf]

man that looks fantastic!

[FxrAndy]

Slowly being pushed towards the edge of getting one......

Where did you get the GEN springbars? I have been looking for thicker springbars that have the longer pivot pins to stick out of the lug holes....can't seem to find the right ones?

I have a load of spring bars here if you need some, they come in at just under

[Gabus]

Martyd3, did the bracelet take 2mm spring bars without mods? You did a very nice job on the lug holes.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Gabus

[Tribal]

Martyd3, did the bracelet take 2mm spring bars without mods? You did a very nice job on the lug holes.

No you need to open the last link on the bracelet,they are folded!

[Tribal]

Looks fantastic!

You need a good flat top three datewheel on this beauty

Great work

[JohnCocktosten]

No you need to open the last link on the bracelet,they are folded!

And you need to cut the guides on the endlinks and spread. At least in some cases. I think there are different batches.

[pr0digy30]

Were you able to replace the crystal without complete disassembly... or did you have to de-case the movement?

[Dani]

Very nice bro

[Martyd3]

Sorry guys, was in NYC for the weekend. To answer your questions ...

I use a table top drill press. If you ever plan on drilling more than one set of holes, it's worth it. If not, drop me a line and I can drill them for you

Yes, as Tribal said, you do need to open the end links for the gen spring bars. I did not have to cut mine to open them.

You can easily replace the crystal with out disassembling the watch.

I use Snap On #55 cobalt bits.

[dluddy]

What did you use to open the end links Marty?

[Martyd3]

I started with an awl to slightly widen the hole and then used an old #55 (sorry, it was a #46 or #47) drill bit to finish the job. The #55 is the size to drill the lugs.

[pr0digy30]

Thanks for the answer regarding crystal replacement... I'm too poor for a Gen crystal, so I'll grab a Clark for now.

[Guest Carl]

Thanks for the detailed answers.

Beautiful watch.

[permabull]

Would the right Clark crystal really be an improvement over the out of the box PC one? Can't believe PC haven't done a better job if that's the case.

[pr0digy30]

AFAIK the out of the box cyclops is way underpowered.

[Martyd3]

Rep Crystal

Gen Crystal

[permabull]

Thanks Marty, the difference is clear! Do you think the Clark crystal matches the gen crystal in magnification?

[btocamelo]

Looks great.....have you compared to other 116 crystals that are supposed same specs as GEN?...like Clark or WO crystal....they tout their manufacturing exactly same as GEN 116?

Rep Crystal

Gen Crystal