Unusual mod

[majo1000]

Hi,

Last week I got my hands on a PAM 253. I was a huge fan of this watch for a long time, and was very curious about this watch. When I got it though I was very disappointed by the color of the second hand. I was aware of the fact that the color was off, but didn't expected it to be as fas of as it actually was.. So, what the hell, I decided to paint the second hand myself!

What do you guys think?

Before

After

GEN

Too bad I had to paint over the lume, but still I think the second hand pops much better now, I like it a lot!

By the way also looking for a proper carbon strap, any suggestions? I want it to be black on black, and I don't like the diagonal pattern of the BOB strap..

Thanks for looking,

Cheers!

Edited November 26, 2008 by majo1000

[sander]

I

[Martyd3]

What did you use to paint it???

[majo1000]

just regular paint on water basis, worked pretty well

[malibuss]

WoW! that looks very nice....

[fishgodeep]

Colour looks great ...but think I'd miss the lume dot....interesting mod never the less!!

[majo1000]

I sure miss the lume as well.. Maybe I'll relume it once and try to fix the lume:)

[z3k0]

I

[rangers158]

+1

+2 Colour is right but... overall look does not seem quite right...

[bwhitesox]

Oh My...My oh My

[plaifender]

nice color.. but why does the paint look lumpy??? you should've tried painting with one of those nail paint spray guns that women use to do their nails.. :-)

[RWG Technical]

There was nothing wrong with your seconds hand to start with, it was already the correct colour.

The genuine watch doesnt' have a hand painted in the colour you used, it has a normal blued hand, just like your hand was originally.

The lighting in the genuine picture is causing an illusion and making the hand look a different colour of blue. If you moved the genuine watch so that the light was not reflecting off the seconds hand, you would clearly see that it is a dark blue, not a robin egg blue. Not to mention that the lume has been painted over and the hand is all lumpy and uneven.

All blued hands exibit this feature, if you look at them flat on, they tend to look almost black, if you tilt them the correct way, and the light catches the hand just right, it looks like a bright blue, it's an illusion that's all.

RG

[Rolexman]

you sure made my day

[Sweattdogg]

Is it possible to reverse this mod? I'm sorry but you took a large step backwards. My advice would be to look for a new hand and replace it. Not trying to be harsh. We all try stuff and many times it works out. In this case I don't think it did.

[RedSoxMan]

Mate,

Sorry to say, I agree with The Zigmeister--the color is off--the rep color was better... and the paint does look like... well... paint.

Maybe you can take it out and remove the paint? (Or get dealer to send you a new one.)

[dluddy]

Yup, blued hands will do that to you. Same with the 172 Hands.

Sorry, but I agree that you need to reverse your paint job to be more accurate

[hooky]

Today I was at my watch smith shop, discussing if it is possible to blue the chrono seconds hand of my pam253. (i have a spare hand). He told me that it does not always have to be done by a torch. also some other way, chemical or something.

I will try this in the coming weeks. If it works, i will post about it.

cheers.

[dluddy]

There is a chemical solution used for Bluing metal often used for Gun barrels...

[iceberg1459]

ill buy it for 49$

[hooky]

There is a chemical solution used for Bluing metal often used for Gun barrels...

I remember my watch smith mentioned something about guns when talking about blueing.

[wheaton26]

There was nothing wrong with your seconds hand to start with, it was already the correct colour.

The genuine watch doesnt' have a hand painted in the colour you used, it has a normal blued hand, just like your hand was originally.

The lighting in the genuine picture is causing an illusion and making the hand look a different colour of blue. If you moved the genuine watch so that the light was not reflecting off the seconds hand, you would clearly see that it is a dark blue, not a robin egg blue. Not to mention that the lume has been painted over and the hand is all lumpy and uneven.

All blued hands exibit this feature, if you look at them flat on, they tend to look almost black, if you tilt them the correct way, and the light catches the hand just right, it looks like a bright blue, it's an illusion that's all.

RG

[RobbieG]

300 degrees C is all it takes to blue steel. I don't know of any watch makers who use anything but heat. There isn't much margin for error there either which is why you don't really see a whole lot of variance in blue steel parts between watch brands. It is what it is as it were. But watch out for fun surprises. 270 degrees C and it turns the color of red wine...

He may have done the right thing though after all. Most rep "blued" steel isn'y flame blued at all but rather painted and it looks very convincing many times until you see it start to chip and then you are sort of surprised that you got suckered into thinking it was blued steel. I'm not sure what the process is, but they get it to look pretty realistic. If it doesn't chip the dead givaway is after about 4 years it turns the color of lilacs. My girl has a Chronoswiss Kairos rep that suffered that fate. We just embrace it though. Ahhh replicas. What can you do? What can you say?...