AP Newbie looking for some major help please

[ozz]

Hi Guys

As per the title looking for some serious help please. I have been a massive fan of the Ap ro and roo for a few years now and have had a few half decent reps(well they were half decent in my eyes, lol!) and now looking to build my very own as i know you guys do on here. My main question to you guys is where to start visa vi the case as in what watch/watchcase to start with?

i have added a pic of my personal fave.

i.e the closest to the original size and weight wise an who do you recommend to buy from?

This whole World is pretty new to me so if any of the above questions are plain stupid aplogizies in advance

Cheers Austin

[Watchmeister]

Unless you are going to go the route of building a gen dial/movement franken for $2000 plus you are more likely going to buy the best version of your favorite model and perhaps relume. Life in repdom is always about trade-offs. The most aesthetically accurate ROO's are the older seconds at 9 version in terms of overall dimensions, bezel height, case back thickness, dial/date lay out and overall finish. But of course you have the wrong functionality in the sub dials. Assuming your priority is the same functionality then you are working with seconds at 12 versions. Depending on which particular model you want different versions may be better than others. So post the pic you alluded to and people can make suggestions.

[Imaknockov]

Hi Guys

As per the title looking for some serious help please. I have been a massive fan of the Ap ro and roo for a few years now and have had a few half decent reps(well they were half decent in my eyes, lol!) and now looking to build my very own as i know you guys do on here. My main question to you guys is where to start visa vi the case as in what watch/watchcase to start with?

i have added a pic of my personal fave.

i.e the closest to the original size and weight wise an who do you recommend to buy from?

This whole World is pretty new to me so if any of the above questions are plain stupid aplogizies in advance

Cheers Austin

Theoretically, you could get a regular ROO on ss bracelet and get it gold plated, but the hard part with getting that particular rep made is that I don't think that particular dial was ever done for any rep, so then your only option would be to source a gen dial and mod the date wheel on the rep's 7750 movement. Sadly, the weight of the watch would never be convincing. Could be an interesting project though

[ozz]

Theoretically, you could get a regular ROO on ss bracelet and get it gold plated, but the hard part with getting that particular rep made is that I don't think that particular dial was ever done for any rep, so then your only option would be to source a gen dial and mod the date wheel on the rep's 7750 movement. Sadly, the weight of the watch would never be convincing. Could be an interesting project though

Thanks i think i may do that as it is the gold one i wanted !

whats the nearest rep/watchcase (as in size) that you know of to start the project with?

(if due to the forum rules u cannot post names /dealers please pm!)

your really helping me out cheers

i really do appreciate your comments guys

[plaifender]

Thanks i think i may do that as it is the gold one i wanted !

whats the nearest rep/watchcase (as in size) that you know of to start the project with?

(if due to the forum rules u cannot post names /dealers please pm!)

your really helping me out cheers

i really do appreciate your comments guys

Gold plating would not be very cost effective and sadly it wouldn't last very long with daily wear. To my knowledge there are no Royal oak chrono reps available in gold plating with bracelet.

Go stainless. AP parts are also not the easiest parts to come by, hence, when you do come by them, they are often very expensive. The most common franken AP's i've seen are almost all Royal Oak Offshores.. I'm not sure about a RO chrono franken.. maybe there's one out there..

Good luck with the project if you decide to do it.

[MADRED7]

Hey Austin,

welcome to the board....you will see and learn a lot here.

Now to your questions....well, to put it easy: NO CHANCE!

Here are the reasons:

- this dial was never produced in white...only MBW reps came with that stick-marker dial in black and blue/grey.

- there has never been a gold-plated bracelet

The closest you will get....go for a gold plated ROO like the "Pride of Mexico" or "Don Ramon De La Cruz" and add a stainless steel bracelet.

The gold-plating is done with PVD process, so it will last for a long time....have the ss bracelet coated the same way (better have watch-head AND bracelet coated in the same color).

This will get you a nice result....you will never reach the weight of a full gold ROO (around 750 gramm) but the ss ROO