Monito1975 Posted December 17, 2011 Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 I bought a v3 fighters replica a year ago and I decided I would modify it to almost original genuine condition. But is not that easy the fighters navitimer replicas come in many flavor and sizes and one must find the correct one. The v3 has a sunken date wheel due to the GMT plate complication on top, as you can see in the picture taken by Sneed12 below(by the way, thanks for the Rolex Sneed great watch). The watch went to Domi and he sugested to take the plate away and make an overlay with the original DW I have, no problem due to the feet of the rep dial being very long, amazingly the stem lined up ok!!. By pure luck I manage to get my hands on a V2 Fighters in Beijing, so I send it to Domi, with a Gen T-swiss Navitimer Dial with a great patina on the lume, Gen hands and gen breitling cal 13 movement, Domi took care of sending the crystal to AR. He put everything together and voilá an other Franken-Navi was born. Great job by Domi, no need to shave the Dial with this one, pretty surprised by this! So here is the Formula used: 1 v2 case, 1 v3 caseback, 1 set of gen Navi hands( small ones in black), one AR crystal, one Breitling cal 13 7750 movement, one gen bracelet, one T-swiss old navitimer dial and on heluva watchmaker: Domi. Enjoy the pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 Many thanks to Domi for he´s great job, thanks to all tips and recomendation by all RWG members, telling again what they have posted hundred of times(Sneed, Andrew, Polexpete, Hackr, Whitesox etc etc....) Really thank you all. PS: (already on the hunt for a gen slide rule hehehe ) This just gets better and better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted December 17, 2011 Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 Wow!!!! that looks incredible!! Great job!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 Thx mate, I really recomend Domi great Watchmaker and modder and great person. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted December 17, 2011 Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikellem Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 Beautiful build,, enjoy your new beauty, you should be proud... MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 wow... wear it well!... R- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 That looks incredible! Very nice build. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 Got the watch from Domi today, , It´s unvelivable!!! Domi is in the EU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Excellent job! Well done to Domi and yourself for the perseverance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Great build! What caseback do you have on it? Now why can't the factories build this f_cking watch??? All the parts already exist, they just need to put them all together!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky driver Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Andreww he say he used a v3 caseback ... Well done Great build, fantastic watch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Thanks Andrew, The case was after lots of debating is a V2 I think, remember we were trying to figure it out, the weird think is that many members that have have used the V2 had to shave the dial, according to Domi this was not needed. I also had the V3 version which everybody said it was not good for modification due to the sunken datewheel but here is the other think Domi took the GMT plate away and installed the original DW with an overlay and it looks great, I gave him the watch so if anybody is interested he might sell it. RGDS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 The only reason I used the V2 case is beacause the slide rule was a little more white in color than the V3(kind of yellowish in sunlight) According to Domi stem alignement was ok on the V3 version , The Dial had long feet and the gap left by the removalt of the GMT plate was solve with a overlayed Datewheel. One thing I like to point it´s that I did not ask Domi to do the modd in the V3 but he just did it and returned to me so I gave the watch to him, I also asked him to fix my speedmaster, which omega, breitling and rolex dealer have been scared to touch, always telling me to send it to the factory and pay 560 euros for service, Domi took it apart the same day, found out the crown pinion was broken replaced it and did not charged me a penny, the watch is up and running now, beautiful 47 jewell 1143 caliber (and tricky to calibrate too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) One thing is that the Tritium lume in the Navitimer is very weak almost null, afert 21 years it degrades forming a nice golden patina, the lume in the Gen hands it´s a bloody torch it iluminates the whole dial at night and stays up to 8 hours. I was tempted to relume it with superluminova, the original dial had white markings but Domi told me to let the tritium be tritium and I think he was right. (after all it got there after 21 years og ageing) Edited December 19, 2011 by Monito1975 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Andreww he say he used a v3 caseback ... Yeh, but Monito refers to the v3 as having the sunken datewheel. That is actually V4. V1 - stickered subdials V2 - the good one V3 - Recessed subdial & bad sliderule V4 - Sunken datewheel But, I digress. The V4s actually came with the fighters caseback when it was released, then later with the A23322 (tricompax) caseback. Although both are wrong for this particular dial, the A23322 caseback would be far more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) One thing is that the Tritium lume in the Navitimer is very weak almost null, afert 21 years it degrades forming a nice golden patina, the lume in the Gen hands it´s a bloody torch it iluminates the whole dial at night and stays up to 8 hours. I was tempted to relume it with superluminova, the original dial had white markings but Domi told me to let the tritium be tritium and I think he was right. (after all it got there after 21 years og ageing) I would have probably tried to age the look of the hands to match the dial lume. I know some modders were using coffee, others cigarette smoke, to do it. The lume on the hands just looks a bit to fresh for the watch. Who cares that they glow brighter at night, thats a bonus in my eyes. BTW, has he painted the subdial hands black? Hard to tell from the pics, but if he has, its an excellent job. Edited December 19, 2011 by andreww Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 (edited) Oh? ok then I correct myself it was the V4 caseback with A23322 serial number. I talk to Domi about the lume but he told me to let the Dial as it was, one because it´s a Gen dial brand new that has been aged for 21 years, 2 because aged tritium markers add a distinctive look to the watch, third reason was that it wouldn´t have the original white hands to match, so I resigned my stubburness and I think it was worth it. It looks like a fresh serviced old navitimer. He did painted the subdial hands black, I could not find the original handset, IMHO it looks great I ve seen many Gen Old Navi´s in this handset-dial combination for sale up to 3500 euros.Here is a pic of how the dial would have be when new, for me this is my grail watch, enjoy. Edited December 19, 2011 by Monito1975 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Oh I notice you have the Navi bracelet on one of the pics..... the tritium Old Navi had the old Pilot-style bracelet...just in case it matters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmacnz Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Im chasing a GEN dial. Will they fit the V4 movement? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 @ Importr, ok good to know this bracelet came with the v2 case, it´s actually a very well made navi bracelet and the screws are facing the same side with the correct swivel ends at the glasp. I think it could be possible to find the original one but it would be at least 400 usd. I kept the Navi bracelet it looks nice with a suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Im chasing a GEN dial. Will they fit the V4 movement? Thanks Domi said it would fit the V4 no problem, but there are so many colors and flavors of the same versions, I was told I would have to shave the Dial and this was not the case, the worst that could happen is that you will have to shave it a bit (ca 0.5 mm), another thing I ve seen it´s that depending on the dial or case the bezel will overlap over the dial, sometimes more sometimes less. I would have as an alternate choice the V4 dial repainted in black and superlumed, is not a bad one I saw the V4 with the original DW and it looked ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polexpete Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Wow, nice build. Interested to know where you brought a V2 in Beijing. I lived there for 7 years and never found a decent rep. I just moved to Shanghai but get to Beijing regularly. Please let me know... Cheers P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 I got this one on the Silk Market, but I tell you they really keep these way behind the others replicas in some nice wooden boxes, they started asking 650 dollars and ended in 200USD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monito1975 Posted January 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Ok guys, i got a Gen Slide rule, old silver slide rule for 13322, the big question now is woul it fit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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