RWG Technical Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 My friend and RWG member Ubi sent me this nice Genuine Breitling Navitimer dial. I only mentioned to him that I had picked up a used Navitimer, and he asked if I could use a Genuine dial.... "Of coures I can..." So once the dial arrived, I looked in my spares bins, and noted that I still had an unused ETA 7750 sitting around. Since I was going to upgrade the dial, I figured I may as well upgrade the movement as well. Here is the ETA 7750 installed in the case A couple of views of the dial, it was about 0.50 mm too large, so I had to file it down a bit to get it to fit the case. I lumed the hands in my vintage tritium colour to match the dial. The biggest difference I noted between the rep and gen dial, was that on the rep dial, the subdial recess is a 90 degree sharp angle between the dial and the subdial, but on this dial it's a shallow taper between the two. I didn't know about this feature until I compared the two side by side. Thanks Ubi, much appreciated. RG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vlydog Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Beautifully done! The vintage lume is perfect on this dial. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobs1971 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Looks awesome. Wear it well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 The biggest difference I noted between the rep and gen dial, was that on the rep dial, the subdial recess is a 90 degree sharp angle between the dial and the subdial, but on this dial it's a shallow taper between the two. I didn't know about this feature until I compared the two side by side. Thanks Ubi, much appreciated. RG Hey Zig, I'm currently writing a Navitimer guide, and this is one of the flaws that I discuss. The recessed subdials with the 90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UB7 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Looks great!! Good job! The vintage lume really makes the watch, also the datewheel looks much better than usual..Wear it in good health! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anton Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 RG, it looks beautiful. everytime you show the watches you mod, I always wait for the day you will sell some of these beauties. But since you probably won't, I take a page or two from the The Zigmeister 'textbook' and learn, with disastrous results. At least I'm getting a bit better now. Will you consider also getting a gen inner bezel ring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Hey Zig, I'm currently writing a Navitimer guide, and this is one of the flaws that I discuss. The recessed subdials with the 90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 BTW, since you got the dial for free, you should also mention that this review is in no way an endorsement of member Ubi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TighTTChrono Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Wow...now thats sharp!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdeguy Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Looks great The Zigmeister, Can you tell me did you have to modify the hands at all for the diameter differences with the subdial and main second hand? Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 BTW, since you got the dial for free, you should also mention that this review is in no way an endorsement of member Ubi Damn, I knew I forgot something... I am sending him a set of Rollie ETA hands with SL on them, for free...crap, now he's endorsing me...oh the horror, it's like the fish or cut bait trap... where will it end. RG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 LOL Well, I for one love it.... The gen Navi bug has been biting me lately. Congrats on this fine piece, R. We should definitely coat that crystal!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 We should definitely coat that crystal!! Yeah, make this a true "community" project! get that sucker blued for him Chief! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Yeah, make this a true "community" project! get that sucker blued for him Chief! Although now I wonder if the older tritium Navis had AR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Looks great Ziggy, Can you tell me did you have to modify the hands at all for the diameter differences with the subdial and main second hand? Pete The hour and minute hands are the same size and fit as is. On this one, the subdial hands only needed slight broaching to fit snug on the ETA posts, but the Chrono Seconds hand needed to be broached from 0.20 mm to 0.25 mm to fit the ETA. RG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Although now I wonder if the older tritium Navis had AR? I Haven't seen Rob's pics yet as I'm blocked at work, but I'm guessing it's a Nav I dial? in that case, this image would suggest that the do indeed have AR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Oh my. This one's a beauty, Rob! I'm glad I could contribute towards your project! It's funny how things like this can come together That's a definite keeper!! I love the color match with the hands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdeguy Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 (edited) Cool, thanks for the info The Zigmeister. How did you do this broaching on the subdials hands? I'm very interested as I may be putting an ETA into my IWC GST Ti. Edited March 3, 2008 by owdeguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Cool, thanks for the info Ziggy. How did you do this broaching on the subdials hands? I'm very interested as I may be putting an ETA into my IWC GST Ti. The broaches I use look like acupuncture needles, they are 5 sided tapered drills... You need to buy a set of these, then you "drill" out the hands a bit at a time (0.05 mm is not a lot to cut off) until the hand fits the post. RG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdeguy Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Thanks The Zigmeister, thats what I needed to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhydro Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 By coicidence, I'm in the process of doing exactly the same thing..... and gonna send the crystal out to mr chieftang to coat. Just bought a Navi from JKPadget2 which had Chieftang's 1st generation AR on it- so it's gonna get recoated with the good stuff! But I have the same problem that The Zigmeister had, in that my dial is 32.00 MM diameter and the opening in the inner slide rule bezel is just a tad smaller. From your pics, The Zigmeister, it looks like you didn't have to do much if anything to the bezel.... my dial will *just barely* fit in the case (with just a bit of coaxing) but the bezel covers up most of the slide rule graduations on the dial. The dial in this Navi originally has a "step" on the outer diameter that matches a "step" on the underside of the bezel. So a gen bezel would be really nice... I have not yet decided what to do about this. Might take some more pics in a few days and ask some advice- I'm gonna be out of town for a couple days. See here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhitesox Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Andrew can you comment on the datewheel on the Navitimer old. I have one excactly the same as The Zigmeisters and want to upgrade the datewheel but not sure if they used the standard ETA datewheel or the same as Lellos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreww Posted March 6, 2008 Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 Andrew can you comment on the datewheel on the Navitimer old. I have one excactly the same as The Zigmeisters and want to upgrade the datewheel but not sure if they used the standard ETA datewheel or the same as Lellos. From this pic it would appear that they did use a custom datewheel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweattdogg Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 I was just about to say that one of Lello's datewheels would look good in there. Not that the standard ETA doesn't! Awesome watch Zig! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onzenuub Posted March 7, 2008 Report Share Posted March 7, 2008 And a beautiful watch you produced The Zigmeister, nice job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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