kdspiv Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 So I have a buddy who lives here locally. I originally met him on one of the watch homage forums. He recently learned about my watch being "liberated" from my ownership and local gym locker. So he offered me a run at his parts drawer for the price of $75 and 4 of my St. Arnolds Divine reserve #11 beer. I am not sure if I came out ahead or not but this is what I spent all day Saturday and Sunday building. It ended up being a "I wonder if I can do it" type of project. And I think it turned out not too bad. This is a bit long so here is where most of you skip to the pics~ If you feel like it afterward, then read what I went through to build it. First: He buys reps for the cases and movements. He doesn't believe in "fake watches". So when he gets a rep panerai he doesn't bother with a hand puller. I do believe I just heard a gasp from you faithful reader! Thats right, he just yanks the dial up and lets it pull off the hands for him. So I had to find a dial that was the least marked up. I ended up with a 111H (I think) that had the satin of the dial marred just a bit around the base of the hands. It isn't the most correct dial either, but it will suffice until I order another one. OUCH! Second: He had no full movments. He DID have all the pieces of movements that he has been using to try and learn watchmaking. Ugghhh! My family is full of watchsmiths and I have spent enough time at the bench to know how to work on my own watch(and that is pretty much it, I am NOT a watchsmith by degree or profession). So I collected all the pieces of scratched up bridges that had good jewels and gears with no broken teeth to build a 6497. After hours in the ultrasonic cleaner I was able to put together a movment that seems pretty darn solid, but seriously ugly. I mean like the time your Aunt set up up with fat chick blind date to the prom kind of situation. In other words, ugly but healthy. third: Hands. He pulls out a small box at this point. I look into the box and..*blink* *blink*..Uh. What are, I mean where, those? They were hands. Again, all of them are ill fated attempts at modding, lume, etc. I simple pull out the LEAST effed up set I can find. It is a set where he tried glueing in some type of spacer or filler to the top of the cannon pin. The glue puckered the paint. I tried to fix these hands the best I could without a full refinish. But replacements are going to be in order. Fourth: I pick up a case and gaskets. The crystal rattling around under it in the box seems to still have decent AR and the gasket fits. Sweet! After a go at the polishing wheel it looks fantastic. The inside of the lugs has some weird kind of machine grooves or notches. But after confering with the more experienced to find out the best method so as to not widen the lugs, I made the proper sanding tools. A few minutes later all the machine marks are gone! The movment is so ugly I took solid back as well as a view back. I will run the blank solid back right now. Fifth: THIS was the biggest pain in the buttocks~ My dial needed a biger crown gaurd than the single polished one he had. He did however have a really big CG from a PVD case he got a few years back. He took it off because there wasn't enough room to pull out the stem and set the watch. It was almost completely flat on top as well as bottom. Also it seemed to be made for a case that was completely round thus lacing the flat case landings that Panerai mounts thier CG's upon. So I flattend out the two legs of the CG to mount to the flat care areas, sanded off all the PVD coating, reshaped the top profile to match the case and a real Panerai the best I could, filed and finished the inside to give the crown room to be pulled,and finally flattened / counter sunk the lever pin. It isn't perfect but I think it will do for the moment. He had only one extra screw so I had to cut a second but no problem. And Sixth: Most of the crown he had accumulated looked like dimes. But there were two that looked ok. the first was probably the right width but it had too few teeth giving it a course look compared to the gen. The second was one he did not really want to part with. it was over all the correct width and teeth look, but was missing the beveled edge on either side of the teeth. I took the second crown and just lathed a small bevel to both sides of the teeth. I had to trim down the crown tube to make this crown fit but it turned out nice I think. Last, FINALLY! : All the straps he had were crap! But he did have a couple of nice buckles. I grabed on of the buckles tht looked correct and stopped at Tandy's leather on the way home. I picked up some nice unfinished hide. I then glued and skived until I got the thickness and taper I wanted. I did a first dye on the leather followed by a bit of artificial aging. A second time to be dyed and I aded my mark. The sides could be finished a bit better but the home made strap seemd to compliment the watch, agree? So the final result is this! Cheap in terms of money but a heck of a lot of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justasgood Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Very nice........um, throw my package in the garbage when it arrives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdspiv Posted June 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 (edited) Very nice........um, throw my package in the garbage when it arrives Of course not! If it is something that I can improve upon by modding or such (and within my skill set), I will do so and send it back to you. It is most definitely the gesture that is very much appreciated and I look forward to possibly repaying that gesture. Once I sent pics to my buddy today, he was ticked that he hadn't taken the time to build the watch himself. That did make me feel better. Edited June 6, 2011 by kdspiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchguy2 Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Looking at the result my first tought was: NO WAY! Looks fabulous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I love storys like this, great work man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subbiesrock Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 What a riotous story, made me laugh, and the end result is surprisingly good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormTooper4 Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 "lathed a small bevel to both sides" Wow you really went to town, sounds like a lot of fun and you certainly came up with the goods Great work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolli Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 but this is a long story rolli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valjoux7750 Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Result is fabulous, brings one back in time to the notion of a hand crafted time piece.....except yours is living proof that if there's a will then there's a way! Very impressed ~ congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 What??? No picture of the butt ugly movement??? Great story man! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdspiv Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 (edited) Yeah, I guess I didn't post a pic of the ugly Betty. Ask and ye shall recieve. **edit** I have to say in that in the pic there are spots that look like lint but aren't. They are scratches that catch the light.** Ugly enough to merit a solid caseback, no? But she is keeping perfect time! Edited June 9, 2011 by kdspiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbutlerman Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Ugly Shmugly! As long as it works and keeps good time (and you don't use the display caseback) who cares! Excellent read and great work! The two tone bridges are nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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