importr Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Hi all, just thought I'd share with you, the progress of my old faithful Navitimer rep. It is around 5 yrs old now, and has just reached a point in its life that it finally deserves! It started off as a v1, bought from an internet dealer in GZ. It had a dull black baton dial. Nice slide rule, but the crystal was completely devoid of AR. Yuk. This served me well for a while but the unreliable 21k a7750 stopped working. It was left to sit in a dark watchbox for a number of months while I contemplated its future. A number of months later in 2007, our trusty source of franken material (fleabay) came up a not too shabby gen dial. Blue with arabics, calibre 23. This was duly bought, trimmed (essential for this example) and fitted. Amazingly, I got the mov't working again by performing a rudimentary 'amateur service'. Shown here with a rep croco strap... As time would have it, the dirty old low beat gave up again, and I finally sent it off to Domi for servicing in early 2011. While this was happening, I sent the to crystal to Takashi for AR treatment. Needless to say, both items came back perfect and exactly as I wanted. Unfortunately, the clear crystal now revealed the sunken date even more (if that's possible), and also the slightly outboard date window on the gen dial!! This was bugging me more than the non-AR so I knew I had to do something. A raised date wheel was not the answer. It had to be a 7753... Today that moment came about... I've ordered the correct ETA datewheel, so there will be better alignment, aswell as orientation (no, not a Breitling datewheel unfortunately) By the way, the black gen dial (top right) is NOT for sale! Cobbled together with a gen calf deployant, a broken Nikon D50, and some ad-hoc lighting......I hope you enjoy the pics EDIT: A few daylight shots 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Now that is a stunning beauty!!!! Nicely done and great little history to the watch! Congrats! I am sure that is a keeper and one you will cherish for quite some time!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billfred Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Awesome watch. Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thanks guys You know what Red, I was itching to offload the watch asap due to the sunken date and the crappy 21k ......but now I think: It's still flawed, but it's been on a journey with me right through my whole 'collecting career'.... and you are completely right. It is a keeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwatch Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Thanks guys You know what Red, I was itching to offload the watch asap due to the sunken date and the crappy 21k ......but now I think: It's still flawed, but it's been on a journey with me right through my whole 'collecting career'.... and you are completely right. It is a keeper. Well it's the journey more than anything that makes the watch that much more special! Still searching endlessly for the movement for my Navi Spatiographe project. Two dials, case set, couple of sets of hands but missing the main part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 wowsa...looks great!... i like how you decided to orient the datewheel (would pass for gen on days 1-9!)... does the date align perfectly with the datewindow on its own?... i thought i read "somewhere" that you can use the new a7753 movement with an eta dw on frankens to eliminate the sunken dw problem and date positioning...but not sure i've seen a 3-6-9 config...did you see this, too...i can't recall the details - but it gave promise to getting closer to a tri-compax franken with the old skool case... my old school arabic tri-compax navi could use that "not for sale" gen black arabic dial...so - what do you want in trade if its not for sale?!... well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4GTR Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 That came out beautifully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 love this picture, btw... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Looks great! I actually kind of like the date orientation even if it does not match the Gen once you get that sorted yo will be all set. Thanks for sharing the journey of this one with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmacnz Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Very Nice. any problems fitting the 7753 with crown height etc? I have a Navitimer that needs the sunken date wheel fixed! Very interested! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingenieur Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 love this picture, btw... love this one too, your picture make me wanna this one too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 The dw is meant for a window @ 6, which is why the alignment isn't quite right - I had to tweak the time to straighten it for the pics. The movt fitted straight into the spacer ring, and also into the case. I even reused the stem. No issues at all. Regards to height: due to the '53 being a fraction slimmer, but the gen dial a fraction thicker, it just about finishes midway between top and bottom of slide rule machined edge. Case back is unaffected, screws back on nicely without fouling the rotor 21k hands fit straight onto 7753, no broaching needed. Whether the Asian 7753 will be this easy, who knows, but it would be interesting to find out. I'm in no doubt that a raised dw mod to a normal 7750 coupled with rep dial will work just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolexman Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Sweet project. I heard the ultimate Navi will be out in a couple of months though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmacnz Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 I have a Gen dial and a 7753 movement but my navi is the fighter model..... Prob not gong to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Sweet project. I heard the ultimate Navi will be out in a couple of months though... Now that would be a revelation! Who did you hear that from? I wonder how many versions it'll take to get right..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolexman Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Now that would be a revelation! Who did you hear that from? I wonder how many versions it'll take to get right..... There is a thread over in Angus' section @ Repgeek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Thanks. Just read it. There were hints....but if it's only in the planning stages it could be at least summer 2012 before it is released Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 I have a Gen dial and a 7753 movement but my navi is the fighter model..... Prob not gong to work! You could pickup a used tricompax as a donor for these parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polexpete Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Nice history and great result ... i have its twin Cheers P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted January 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Yay - it's twin brother ! I see yours is a later model case....did you need to trim the dial? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polexpete Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 I see yours is a later model case....did you need to trim the dial? Yeah afraid so, you do lose a little of the markers on the edge but hard to notice. Wish i'd brought a few of the first generation cases at the time. Here with my first franken navi ... Cheers P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted January 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 That black Navi is really nice too, the dial looks like perfect condition. Do you still have the watch? Is it mounted in a Fighters case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polexpete Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Thanks ! Yeah black navi is my favourite will never part with it. Yes pic taken today actually. You can see like yours i don't have a correct datewheel in the tricompax, really bugs me but really hard to find. if you ever come across more than one please get me one. I will do the same for you ... Yes its in a fighters case the only one i ever found that would fit the ETA movement. Cheers P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Both you guys have done an awesome job. Just a shame that the factories cant do the same and put together a decent version with parts that are obviously already available. Pete's Old Navitimer is definitely the way to go for franken builders though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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