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Franken 88 -- gen crystal makes all the difference


TK471

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That is beautiful. I have a 104 that really looks good now - gen dial, gen crown, cannnon pin mod, etc. But the ultimate crystal, even with the blue ar stripped just does not look gen enough due to the cyclops. I got to get a gen crystal.... damn yhat is going to be tough.

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No, seems to be a good fit. I'm not sure what Zig did, though....

well he definitely put it on the lathe... I'm guessing the case was an ultimate 088 case? If so the big bezel block piece would be much easier to mount on the lathe and trim...

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  • 1 month later...

A few more from this AM. Just to recap, gen dial, gen hands, gen crystal, gen datewheel, gen caseback, gen crown, Snembo crownguard modded.

Sadly, due to an unforseen tax bill, this one may have to go.... :wounded1:, so I'm working on keeping it.

2011-03-17_08-04-14_164.jpg

2011-03-17_08-03-27_54.jpg

2011-03-17_08-03-17_618.jpg

Check out the GEN caseback!!!

2011-03-17_08-02-51_349.jpg

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Out of interest T.... Given your hunt for parts would of got you into a load of research on this watch..;)

Your first head on shot in the 1st post shows the cyclops sits slightly high over the DW....I assumed this was the angle of your shot but having played about with mine..if I took a shot at the angle needed to make the cyclops look that high the numbers distort...I can only make the numbers clear and focussed with the cyclops centred over the DW...

I can see it is an older crystal going by the AR hue in the cyclops as the later 88s dont have a hue,

So my questions are, if you know or maybe K might...

Did the older 88s have an off centred cyclops to DW?

or was the cyclops a different mag? (thereby allowing the angle the pic shows without distorting the numbers)

or is this crystal off another auto..say 104 etc?

Also assuming thats a 6554 case back , I cant see clearly, why is there no S/N on the millesimation? As far as I am aware they started on the D and were marked up have you any idea why this hasnt...? OOR maybe?

Cheers mate :)

Sorry to hear that you might need to sell it :(

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It's all angle. When you look straight onto the watch the cyclops is perfectly centered.

So the logic would be that the mag is different on the older cyclops...

Cheers for reply mate :thumbsupsmileyanim:

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No problem! My guess it was a "ghost" watch, maybe used for shows but not intended to be sold into retail. It's most definitely gen, confirmed by the man himself. Given the thickness it had to be milled a bit to fit the ultimate case. Looks great.

Not sure about the cyclops. I know that the C series had a 6mm, not sure when Panerai went to 7mm. This one looks pretty good, but I think that PAM cyclops notoriously distort off-center.

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No problem! My guess it was a "ghost" watch, maybe used for shows but not intended to be sold into retail. It's most definitely gen, confirmed by the man himself. Given the thickness it had to be milled a bit to fit the ultimate case. Looks great.

Not sure about the cyclops. I know that the C series had a 6mm, not sure when Panerai went to 7mm. This one looks pretty good, but I think that PAM cyclops notoriously distort off-center.

Thanks again..you can see by the edge shape and overall shape (due to thickness as it curves around) that its gen...I always find it interesting that OP produced so many competition/promotional models that would actually much easier to rep given the uniqueness of them...if you know what I mean...

Agree on the distortion....and I do remember reading about OP changing the Dia of the cyclops ie 6 & 7 but I seem to recall that the mag changed..but I read it so long ago I really cant be certain ...I was hoping all your research on this beauty that you might of picked up that info along the way....

I would much prefer to refer to my watches as "Ghost" models...as the rules change instantly in terms of the details....

It will make a great sales title..;) Hopefuly it wont come to that though mate :)

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