knovako2 Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Happy friday to everyone! I just wanted to share a few thoughts, comments and photos of my newly finished franken PO 42mm. The only reason I've started this project in the first place is because I had a broken ETA 2824 movement inside a rep PO. So it all started when I accidentally dropped the watch on the floor at the pet store when one of the strap pins came undone and the watch just fell of my wrist. Obviously there was nothing I could have done do catch it or to save it! After couple of months of thinking about what to do with so much loved but not running Omega I've found a local watchmaker who looked at the movement and said that there is a mainspring broken but the movement could be overhauled and running as good as new. His price of repair was a lot less that buying a new eta 2824. At this time I thought: "what the hell, new year is coming, lets add some genuine parts and build a nice looking Omega". Since the watch and the movement was all taken apart it will be easier to swap the parts. So I ordered gen parts from ofrei and here is what I got: Gen Dial Gen Hands Gen Crystal Gen Bezel Gen Crown Gen Tube The only issue was the Bezel - ofrei did not have one in stock so I had to wait 3extra weeks for the entire order to come in. Crown and Tube I installed myself as the watchmaker did not feel comfortable installing one because the parts were not original and would not fit. The old tube came out of the case like a charm. It was screwed in, so after filing a nice deep groove I used a flat screwdriver to unscrew the tube and the gen tube was epoxied in the place. There is plenty of instruction on this forum so I can say it was pretty easy to do and made a nice improvement. The rest of the modifications were done by a local professional watch maker and it came out rather nice. There is a HUDGE improvement in the lume of the hands and dial. The rep may look right but the difference is day and night! Same thing with the crystal and bezel. I've also decided to add a genuine strap instead of a rep bracelet because the quality of the bracelet was not there. So I ordered a ten strap and the buckle along with a pair of swiss made spring bars from ofrei and installed it right away. One thing I should mention is that compared to swiss springbars, the ones that came with the watch originally is garbage. The are very thin, not sturdy and the spring is very weak. New springbars is a big difference in quality and I am confident that the strap will stay in place. So for the price it is a great investment in safety as they are only $2.30ea. Looks like I've covered everything, so here we go, enjoy the pictures and let me know what you guys think! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff g Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Great project. Beautiful watch. I had one just like it, sent off to a guy on the forum to service the Asian movement and never saw the watch again. Let the buyer beware. Wear it well. I envy you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RG31417 Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Great looking watch!!! Excellent decision to upgrade it with gen parts. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaethomp Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Great looking watch. I've been thinking of getting this one next and eventually gathering enough gen parts. Thanks for sharing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Schildking Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 nice project! verry amazing! completly Cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knovako2 Posted February 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Schildking, it definitelly didn't come cheap. All the above mentioned parts alone were about $1100. The watch I allready had for two years ( $350 delivered from Joshua). Price of the labor is " icing on the cake". It makes you think twice before diving in, but if you do, you'll appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronoluvvv Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cromag Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 Great project. Beautiful watch. I had one just like it, sent off to a guy on the forum to service the Asian movement and never saw the watch again. Let the buyer beware. Wear it well. I envy you. WTF!? Who was it? Nice PO btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seafoam Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 That's hot!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemark Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 WTF!? Who was it? Nice PO btw. Probably md2020...Oh and that's one nice watch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maszie Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Great looking PO ! I have build a similar one last year. What do you think about the distance between hour hand and dial? On mine it looked way to close with an standard ETA H1 2824. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markiemark Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Does this have an open or closed caseback? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maszie Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Does this have an open or closed caseback? Closed caseback. This is the older 2500 version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knovako2 Posted February 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Maszie, Im not sure how close is too close. It did not bother too look closely, but now that you mention it seems pretty close, however I would not say that it is too close. There is definitelly more than enough room to move about the dial and an omega logo. I should take a picture on an agle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maszie Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) Maszie, Im not sure how close is too close. It did not bother too look closely, but now that you mention it seems pretty close, however I would not say that it is too close. There is definitelly more than enough room to move about the dial and an omega logo. I should take a picture on an agle. I'm sorry that I pointed it out. I think that my PO wasn't assembled properly. The hour hand nearly touched the dial at the 6 o'clock position. It only didn't touch the omega logo because the dial was also installed unevenly. To solve the problem I reinstalled the dial with an H4 cannon pinion. And now I'm a bit concerned that the distance is too big. By the way, don't forget to secure the he valve with loctite. The rep ones are not easy to get anymore and the gen valve is quite expensive. Edited February 14, 2014 by Maszie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Great job! well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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