It's alive! Well, at least I think so. (Some thoughts about my franken)

[Lovecraft]

So I finally got my 42" franken project together in one working piece (fingers crossed). And, first off, let me apologize for the lack of pictures. A thread like this desperately needs pictures, but I'm at work now and I have no way of taking any pictures until tomorrow.

It turned out great - no blemishes and everything sits where it's supposed to. Also, it was surprisingly easy - the mechanics of it anyway. I still had to ask questions and look around. The only thing that I found to be time consuming and irritating was the fitting of the hands.

Things done: Tweaked the bracelet clasp, dry lubed the bracelet and changed the faulty half-link for a gen one. I did the crown/tube switch, a He-valve switch to gen, dial and hands switch to gen, date wheel switch to ETA and bezel switch to gen. I also changed the movement to a Sea-gull that I got my hands on (still waiting for a replacement from China).

Things that could be done: change full bracelet/clasp/end links. Change crystal to gen or give it an AR-treatment. Back case...

I'm not going to buy the full bracelet, it's just too expensive. I'm also not going to invest in bits and pieces of it since it's expensive and I still won't get the amazing silky feel of the gen. As for the crystal; I'm pretty happy with the rep one, and the gen is quite expensive. Most importantly though, I'm not comfortable doing the switch myself and I don't really feel like sending it away either. I like the thought that I've done the adjustments myself. For the same reason an AR treatment isn't all that attractive either, even if it's great value and result. I might go for it anyway if the rep crystal starts to bother me.

Subjective reflections:

The half link was of course a silly expense. I'm sure they would have sent me a new one free from China.

The crown/tube switch gave it a nice feel, even if I don't see any big difference between the crowns. The He-valve was expensive, but I don't regret it. The rep looks bloated besides the gen. It's ridiculously fat. It also wasn't nearly as hard to install as I feared. I have access to tools at work though and if you only have your screwdrivers and epoxy it's probably a different story.

Dial: in my opinion, the dial I got looked pretty darn good. The lume however was not good at all. The lume on the gen is ridiculously strong. Get a super lume kit instead and save some money.

Hands: Also look great, also got crappy lume. Lume them yourself.

Date wheel: a no-brainer. It's cheap, it's easy and it looks better.

Bezel: The rep looks great apart from the pearl that looks horrible on most bezels. If you get an orange bezel with a well placed bezel (haven't seen any really nice placed on the black ones) you could lume it yourself.

It was a lot of fun, and I don't regret it. However, you could probably save yourself a lot of money picking up a super lume kit with a result close to mine with lots of gen parts.

Now I'm going to deal with the faulty movement. Hopefully I'll figure out how to service it and fix it at the same time.

Edit:

Oh, and two things I never would have wanted to be without: Rodico clay and Rymeister!

Edited March 7, 2012 by Lovecraft

[the_rymeister]

Well done buddy ! It's a great achievement in modding your watch yourself!

If your like me you probably didn't know the first thing about taking watches apart, what keyless works are how to fit a tube and crown that shouldn't fit ect and have leaned and modded a watch withing weeks/months of owning it.

Even though you had moment when you were thinking to yourself.....why am I even trying to do this! You got through it.....

Now all you have to do is wear it and enjoy

Edit: oh yeah where's the pics!!!! It's all about the pics!

[Lovecraft]

Here's some bad pictures taken with my phone. My wrist looks super thin - almost as thin as the watch dial. No matter what I do they look odd and strange, but I decided to post them anyway. You will just have to use your imagination

I had some problems with my movement but it's all fixed now. I got a brand new Seagull beating like champ in it.

The lume is extremely strong. Maybe too strong - like green LEDs - almost making it look vulgar. I'm wondering if it's something that will go away or will be replaced by something else in time?

[dluddy]

Well done. Congratulations

[the_rymeister]

Looks great buddy

[Original Scope]

Looks great!Congrats.

[gran]

Cute

[cougar1]

Looking great LC, nice work, did you do all that yourself? Fair play!

What's wrong with the lume? .....that's the way it's supposed to be...like a frigging lighthouse

[dbutlerman]

Looking great LC, nice work, did you do all that yourself? Fair play!

What's wrong with the lume? .....that's the way it's supposed to be...like a frigging lighthouse

+1 - That Omega and SuperLuminova for you - Glows like Crazy -my Vintage NOS Seamaster 300 is the same way! and i LOVE IT!

[Lovecraft]

Maybe I'll get used to it, but it's a little bit like "Hey! Look at me and my wrist mounted laser!"

Yes, I did all the work - which turned out not to be all that much work after all. I had to ask Rymeister for advice along the way, but the actual work wasn't hard at all. I'm very happy with how everything turned out. The He valve looks great and both it and the crown sits snug as bugs The crown logo lines up as well, which is nice imo.

I have some angst about the dial though. I still can't decide if I like the white or red numerals better. The red isn't as "clean" as the white, but the white seems a bit plain to me now that I'm used to the red. Thinking about seeing if I can do an even trade for a white. But who knows, maybe I'll want the red one again then