Finished: 1655 Explorer II build

[grifter]

I finally had a chance to write this up. I really wanted to do this watch justice by taking pics with a camera instead of my usual iphone pics.. LOL

First and foremost, a million thanks to pbdad who finished off my build. http://http://repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=112944 I can't say enough good things about him as a person and for his work. Truely amazing!

Enough talk, hope you all enjoy the pics.

Here is what I had in mind: gen 1655

Here is my finished 1655:

Looking back at the conversations between pbdad and myself, we had around 70 emails. I gave him ideas. He gave me ideas. The whole process was AWESOME! I felt like I was there with him while he was working his magic!

I sent him this picture of lbd1014's 6152/1 http://repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=113613 that Nightwatch did the dial and lume for.

I LOVE the "star" effect and asked pbdad if he could do that on the 1655. He said it would be difficult but that he would do his best. Honestly, I didn't think it would be possible because of the type of markers I had compared to the PAM, and also because of the difficulty level. I figured pbdad was super busy as it was, and put it out of my mind. I really didn't expect to see this when I took the lume shots for this post...

I literally screamed out, "HOLY CRAP!" and had to go into a darker room to see this again and make sure I wasn't halucinating!

He did it! He remembered how crazy I was about the lume effect and made it reality for me in my watch. WOW!!! Like I said, pbdad is amazing!

Flat 3 datewheel:

Every single thing I asked pbdad to try to do, he did. Color of the GMT hand. Exactly what I wanted. Lume color, texture, and effect. Dead on. Contamination level on the hands. Perfect.

I am so happy with this watch and with pbdad's work. So happy, in fact, that I am looking for a better movement and quite possibly may go super franken with a gen movement.

Hope you enjoy the pics and this write up.

[krpster]

WOW! Very very nice! I really like that lume effect. Looks great!

[Mapman57]

Takes it to a new level Grifter - that is so good - fantastic project!

[redwatch]

Looks amazing! Now all you need is a thinner crown/gen crown and it will be superb!!!

[Prsist]

Looks amazing! Now all you need is a thinner crown/gen crown and it will be superb!!!

Wowzzas! Very nice!

[bandit_99]

yep, pbdad is magic. Nice watch man- that came out really nice. wear it well.

[GA400]

Thanks for sharing the photos and the story. I have seen so many bad reps of that watch [and sad to say I owned a couple] that I didn't think that I would ever see one done so well. That is a positively beautiful piece and the way pbdad ages his pieces and pays attention to the small details is absolutely astonishing.

GA400

[grifter]

thanks all!!

actually, the crown is gen. heehee, i might have taken a bit too much off the crowngaurds when i reshaped the case..

gen parts: tube, crown, crystal, and lugbars.

aftermarket: dial, hands, and datewheel.

i really appreciate all the nice coms!

[modelizer]

VERY nice! Congrats to a sweet 1655 build!

[lhooq]

The patination exceeds expectation!

And that Indonesian dial looks fantastic in white. Great stuff all around!

[coolfire]

seems like ingod44's 1655 frogfeet dials are the way to go for such a build!

congrats on such a beautiful acquisition & I hope you push it all the way & get a gen movement for her!

[kurtz]

it look very convincing,the best 1655 so far!!! Great work guys

[striker27]

Here is one I have. Yours does look really nice!!!

Sorry the pic is not the best.

[FxrAndy]

A very effective build, in the wild i would never question that

[tmg]

Fantastic Grifter and kudos to PBdad for his work!

Boy, my old franken 1655 looks like crap compared to the options out there now.

[freddy333]

Here is my finished 1655:

A very effective build, in the wild i would never question that

With a flat-top 4 bezel & a bit of CG reshaping, I would agree.

Very impressive as it is. Well done.

[watcher]

That does look amazing! The cg need slightly more attention and it will look very convincing. biggest issue is that the crwon sits higher in the guards on a gen watch. Here is a couple of pics of mine to compare with. Enjoy your masterpeice!!!

[StormTooper4]

Thats a super nice dial , a great looking SteveO