From Start To Finish

[TWP]

Dear All

Use this as a reference or a tutorial. My wife is out of town and the boys are sleeping so i have a little bit of free time. On the agenda the complete process of modding a panerai. The speciman a new asian h series swan neck movement.

Before Shots

Where is the freakin lume. Also if you look closely you will see the uneven consistancy in the lume.

The most important thing is to have proper instruments. Personally, i use about seven; forceps, two screwdrivers, cannon pinion puller,crimper, caseback remover, and hand setter.

Below the most important tool, the caseback remover. Angus sells these on a regular basis. I believe the price is about $45 USD. For those whom do not want to invest in the proper instrument, a sticky ball or some duct tape will work.

Everyone does this differently, and I guess mine is just habit. Once the caseback is removed the crown guard must come off. Be careful not to cross thread the screws, and/or strip them. The titanium screws strip very easily, FYI.

Once the crown guard is removed the movement should look like this. Notice the two movement holders. I remove both of these and then proceed to the crown. The crown is captured by a tiny screw that you must turn counterclockwise about one and 1/2 turns. Be careful not to turn the capture screw to much, as this will screw up the keyless module.

Once the crown is removed I ay the dial out on a piece of paper, or movement holder . I also take the o-ring out of the case and the crown and put in oil

You can see the recessed cannon pinion, and short hour wheel.

Using a cannon pinion and hand tool I remove all three hands. Notice the nice finish on the asian movement. When removing the hands e careful not to touch the dial, that is, pull up on the remover to give you nice resitance as to not scratch the dial.

After seperating the dials with a #11 surgical blade this is what you have. On the left the unlumed dial. The majority of bottom plates i have seen just have paint and a little bit of lume. On the right a relumed dial incooperating C9/C3/C1.

Now it is time to remove the insufficient cannon pinion. Notice that the keyless module has been taken apart. This is crucial when pulling and reinserting the new eta H3 cannon pinion. Be very careful not to loose the spring . If you do this then the crown lever will not work

The new cannon pinion installed and the keyless reassembled. When pushing on the new cannon pinion you should hear a click when it is seated

The next step may seem simple but this is another crucial part of the process. When putting the two plates back together the holes must line up perfect. Below pay close attention to the running seconds stem. You will notice that it is not centered in the hole of the plate. I did this to illustrate. In this position you will find it impossible to properly put the seconds hand on securely. Also you will run the risk of damaging the dial

After installing the hands and checking the movement, work your way backwords. Here is the finished product on a strap culture limited edition croc stap

My favorite part is the lume

Edited December 6, 2007 by TWP

[mikellem]

Niceeeeee... :thumbsup:

[TWP]

Niceeeeee... :thumbsup:

Thank you

[scoobs1971]

Thnx for the great writeup and pics!

However, such a pictorial guide makes it look like it's very easy to do it yourself. While it really isn't.... Over time I've messed up a couple of dials and hands. So let me share some of my beginners mistakes:

- use the right case opener tool. I had a cheap universal caseback opener that got off and scratched the ring.

- be careful with opening the screw for the stem. 1,5 - 2 turns is enough. One time I wasn't paying attention and made more turns which resulted in a messed up keyless work..

- use gloves. The black dial doesn't like finger prints. Sometimes you can't even wipe it off anymore.

- putting the seconds hand back if the pinion is not set correctly in the middle of the hole is mad drama. Also setting back the hour/minute hands can be very destructive without using a proper handtool. The best position for alligning the hands is the 12 o'clock position.

- after placing the hands put the stem back and check by changing the time that the hands don't touch each other OR the dial, because this will result in scratches.

- and before you screw everything back make sure, no, make absolutely positively sure that there's no dust/fingerprints inside the crystal or on the dial. You don't wanna know how often I had to open the watch again...

Good luck to the ones who use this guide for their first time!

[335xray]

Thanks, great info and how to. I don't think I would do this myself, but it is nice to see what you do TWP!

[veja74]

Most frustrating thing for me with this movement has been getting the seconds hand back on. I ended up putting the hand on a piece of transparent tape so I could ease it onto the pin and still see what I was doing and then set it into place. The trick seemed to work well for me, but do you have any other trick for the seconds hand?

[keeno]

looks superb TWP!!! Cant wait to get mine now!!!!! Interesting to see how the modding process goes.

[TWP]

Thnx for the great writeup and pics!

However, such a pictorial guide makes it look like it's very easy to do it yourself. While it really isn't.... Over time I've messed up a couple of dials and hands. So let me share some of my beginners mistakes:

- use the right case opener tool. I had a cheap universal caseback opener that got off and scratched the ring.

- be careful with opening the screw for the stem. 1,5 - 2 turns is enough. One time I wasn't paying attention and made more turns which resulted in a messed up keyless work..

- use gloves. The black dial doesn't like finger prints. Sometimes you can't even wipe it off anymore.

- putting the seconds hand back if the pinion is not set correctly in the middle of the hole is mad drama. Also setting back the hour/minute hands can be very destructive without using a proper handtool. The best position for alligning the hands is the 12 o'clock position.

- after placing the hands put the stem back and check by changing the time that the hands don't touch each other OR the dial, because this will result in scratches.

- and before you screw everything back make sure, no, make absolutely positively sure that there's no dust/fingerprints inside the crystal or on the dial. You don't wanna know how often I had to open the watch again...

Good luck to the ones who use this guide for their first time!

These are very important procedures that i left out. Always use gloves. I ruined many dials trying to remove fingerprints with rodico, like you stated some newer dials will not tolerate the slightest fondling

You have made some very good points, thank you.

[cleobis]

great tutorial and superb pics mate well done and thks

[DemonSlayer]

Fantastic! Nice seeing it done with the pictures as well.

[thoth105]

Looks almost as fantastic as the one you did for me!

[babola]

Most frustrating thing for me with this movement has been getting the seconds hand back on. I ended up putting the hand on a piece of transparent tape so I could ease it onto the pin and still see what I was doing and then set it into place. The trick seemed to work well for me, but do you have any other trick for the seconds hand?

I use watchmakers' putty ('Blue Tack' should suffice in absence of aforementioned) on the top of the flat-top toothpick for that tricky part.

The trick is to use only small piece of putty, if too big you will have problem removing the 'pusher' without lifting the second hand from the stem again.

With transparent tape (I assume it's sellotape or something similar that you use) you run into a risk of removing that thin layer of white paint from the middle circle area arond the pin hole. I've seen so many "modded" watches that come with scratched/damaged second hand pain in the middle.

Good luck !

cheers,

babola

Edited December 10, 2007 by babola

[archibald]

I use watchmakers' putty ('Blue Tack' should suffice in absence of aforementioned) on the top of the flat-top toothpick for that tricky part.

The trick is to use only small piece of putty, if too big you will have problem removing the 'pusher' without lifting the second hand from the stem again.

With transparent tape (I assume it's sellotape or something similar that you use) you run into a risk of removing that thin layer of white paint from the middle circle area arond the pin hole. I've seen so many "modded" watches that come with scratched/damaged second hand pain in the middle.

Good luck !

cheers,

babola

Also, IMO everyone--and especially first-few timers--should use watchmakers' paper to cover the dial when removing and installing the hands and uncasing movement. Even though my watchmaker has probably 50 years of experience I've never seen him uncase a movement, remove or replace hands, or even leave a dial exposed on his bench w/o covering it w/ paper. Maybe he's being unduly anal, maybe it's saved him a ticked off customer more than once, but it's, what, three bucks for a couple of hundred sheets?

[babola]

Also, IMO everyone--and especially first-few timers--should use watchmakers' paper to cover the dial when removing and installing the hands and uncasing movement. Even though my watchmaker has probably 50 years of experience I've never seen him uncase a movement, remove or replace hands, or even leave a dial exposed on his bench w/o covering it w/ paper. Maybe he's being unduly anal, maybe it's saved him a ticked off customer more than once, but it's, what, three bucks for a couple of hundred sheets?

Goes without saying...although sadly many still miss this little but important fact...

babola