Patek Philippe vintage chronograph

[drury]

Hi,

there I was browsing jewelryandwatch.com, looking for a daytona case, when I stumbled upon the Patek Philippe section.

Now, those are without doubt the most beautiful, classy watches I've ever seen and my new ambition in life is to get one for myself.

Considering gens are in the hundred-thousands and Phongs prices will be around the tenthousand (I persume, has anyone actually inquired?), I figured I could build one myself.

So I began researching and found out that quite a few vintage PP chronographs use the Valjoux 23 as a base movement.

Conclusion: I could use something like this (preferably solid 18k, if I should find one) and stick a Patek Philippe dial and hands into it. pronto, PP 530 or something like it at least. Since they didn't sign case or crown, it wouldn't even be too obvious.

Now the big question: Does anybody have any experience with these sorts of projects? I couldn't find one up till now, for some weird reason they aren't even mentioned in the forum.

I'd appreciate any help I can get,

Cheers, Tim

[sul]

Conclusion: I could use something like this (preferably solid 18k, if I should find one) and stick a Patek Philippe dial and hands into it. pronto, PP 530 or something like it at least. Since they didn't sign case or crown, it wouldn't even be too obvious.

I would be nice, such a project. Easy to do, movement/case/ hole`s on dial are probably(I am not 100% sure) same size if you have some nice PP rep with venus copy movement. But gold case vintage watch is ~900+.... usd and after rep PP dial swap/hand set you will STILL have a very expansive "FANTASY" watch. If it is ok to you, go for it. I had same project in my mind, but I did not find suitable( cheap enough) gen watch donor. Usually if gen watch is around 1000 or more usd, there is no point to swap gen dial with rep dial. Better restore original dial and hand and keep it has it is. It will have more value in future as gen watch. If you make gen + rep hybrid, you can not sell it afterward with profit etc, only value is for you. Is there point to spend 1000+ usd in this case, don`t know.

But for your project you can use dial like this probably, buy only silver( or silver white)dial, white or cream white looks quit dull. I would not use gen like dial, better is PP phantasy rep dial. PP don`t have watch`es with this type of movement. If you will use gen like rep dial, you will have instant give away -sub dial allocation- too far from central CP:

easy swap with this:

And I would probably use (restored of course) gen watch hand set also for this kind of project

Edited March 20, 2011 by sul

[chiman12]

I have always thought of trying to swap a seagull movement for a Landeron movement in one of the PP reps. The use of a valjoux movement might cause problems in that I believe a V23 is smaller than a seagull or a Landeron movement and I l believe that the sub-dial spacing is incorrect, so you really can't use a gen-spec dial on a seagull/Landeron movement.

I really haven't spend a lot of time assessing this project, because I have yet to run into a PP that I like in the sales section to experiment.

Just a thought...