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Modding a Genuine AP 3120 movement

billykhan

Horology Curious
8/3/20
13
0
0
Hi folks. Newbie here to the forum, and as I introduced myself on the forum am actually not at all into Reps. However, I have a very peculiar issue for which I doubt I will get any feedback on the Genuine watch Forums.

Anyway to cut to the chase, I recently acquired my first AP (an SS RO 15450 Grey Dial) after many months of waiting and wishing. The watch is absolutely perfect in all ways, and I couldn't have been happier. Alas, I seemed to have missed out a very major detail in the composition of the watch. It was only after paying and taking delivery of the watch that I realised the rotor of the movement was made of solid 22ct Gold, and due to my religious beliefs, now find myself in a serious quandry as to whether I can even wear the watch or not! Majority opinion seems to veer to side of it not being permissible so I'm totally bummed
:(

It would appear that pretty much every AP RO over the last many years has a movement with a solid Gold rotor, so I seem to be s**t out of luck finding an alternative. The only option I could actually think of was to replace the genuine rotor with a replica in either Platinum (or even Plated Gold, which may be acceptable from a religious point of view) and replace the rotor at service time (which I'm hoping wouldn't be very often).

The only other alternative would be to pick up the best quality rep (JF I believe) with a plated/non-solid Gold Rotor, which would certainly fool my peers (since they know the rest of my collection is Gen) but not sure whether it would really satisfy me in the long-term. I could live with a frankenwatch of my own choice, knowing 99% of the watch is Gen.

Sorry for the long post, but I've been absolutely bummed over the last couple of days and haven't been able to work or sleep with this issue constantly in my head. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated
:helpsmilie:
 

billykhan

Horology Curious
8/3/20
13
0
0
Bro don’t do it! Just sell the watch!

It's certainly the advice I would also give someone who asked me the same question, but without taking the plunge there's literally no way I'm ever owning an RO (at least till they release a new Platinum or Titanium based movement) so its comes down to either killing my dream or franken the watch, and I know I could leave with the latter (I've only ever sold one of my watches in my 15 years of collecting, and that was a Chopard)...the watches are meant to be heirlooms to pass down to my 3 boys, and they in turn to theirs...in 50 years even the frankens should fetch a few million :rolleyes:
 

Garuda

I'm Pretty Popular
15/12/12
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Go to your AD and voice your concerns. perhaps they can accommodate your religious belief and make you a rotor in another metal?

just think auric goldfinger could still be alive today :D
 

legend

The RWI Dragon
Staff member
Global Moderator
Certified
20/9/10
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Where I need to be.
Hi folks. Newbie here to the forum, and as I introduced myself on the forum am actually not at all into Reps. However, I have a very peculiar issue for which I doubt I will get any feedback on the Genuine watch Forums.

Anyway to cut to the chase, I recently acquired my first AP (an SS RO 15450 Grey Dial) after many months of waiting and wishing. The watch is absolutely perfect in all ways, and I couldn't have been happier. Alas, I seemed to have missed out a very major detail in the composition of the watch. It was only after paying and taking delivery of the watch that I realised the rotor of the movement was made of solid 22ct Gold, and due to my religious beliefs, now find myself in a serious quandry as to whether I can even wear the watch or not! Majority opinion seems to veer to side of it not being permissible so I'm totally bummed
:(

It would appear that pretty much every AP RO over the last many years has a movement with a solid Gold rotor, so I seem to be s**t out of luck finding an alternative. The only option I could actually think of was to replace the genuine rotor with a replica in either Platinum (or even Plated Gold, which may be acceptable from a religious point of view) and replace the rotor at service time (which I'm hoping wouldn't be very often).

The only other alternative would be to pick up the best quality rep (JF I believe) with a plated/non-solid Gold Rotor, which would certainly fool my peers (since they know the rest of my collection is Gen) but not sure whether it would really satisfy me in the long-term. I could live with a frankenwatch of my own choice, knowing 99% of the watch is Gen.

Sorry for the long post, but I've been absolutely bummed over the last couple of days and haven't been able to work or sleep with this issue constantly in my head. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated
:helpsmilie:

The rep rotors will not fit the gen movements. I’m unsure if your religion is against owning solid yellow gold at all or wearing them only. Or is rose or white gold ok?
If you can be specific about the prohibition we can likely find a way around it.
I’m a fellow gen AP collector and it’ll be an utter waste IMHO to reverse-franken a gen, so let’s try to find a way around your religion while respecting it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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SHB

Mythical Poster
31/10/18
6,346
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Earth
Better sell it or get the rotor removed (so hand winding only)
 

Jurgenk

I'm Pretty Popular
28/5/07
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Given how there are so many people of the Islamic faith who could be potential customers of AP, I’m surprised this hasn’t been addressed before.

My quick read of the teachings suggest that it is the adornment with gold, i.e., the appearance of wearing gold, that is prohibited among men.

If one interprets these teachings to prohibit the wearing of gold in any form, remember that the hands of an AP RO are made of white gold. So if the hands are okay, because they are plated in rhodium and don’t have the look of gold adornment, then it would be logical that the rotor, if plated in rhodium, would also be okay, being essentially white gold at that point. This could be done by almost any watchmaker / jeweler, and would look really nice.

If white gold is prohibited, then you probably can’t wear the watch without replacing hands and rotor with a material other than gold.

Frankening the rotor is not likely to work.

But I would definitely talk to AP directly about making an accommodation, seems this would have come up at some point before.
 
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aristole

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
23/8/19
633
248
43
Hi folks. Newbie here to the forum, and as I introduced myself on the forum am actually not at all into Reps. However, I have a very peculiar issue for which I doubt I will get any feedback on the Genuine watch Forums.
Anyway to cut to the chase, I recently acquired my first AP (an SS RO 15450 Grey Dial) after many months of waiting and wishing. The watch is absolutely perfect in all ways, and I couldn't have been happier. Alas, I seemed to have missed out a very major detail in the composition of the watch. It was only after paying and taking delivery of the watch that I realised the rotor of the movement was made of solid 22ct Gold, and due to my religious beliefs, now find myself in a serious quandry as to whether I can even wear the watch or not! Majority opinion seems to veer to side of it not being permissible so I'm totally bummed
:(
It would appear that pretty much every AP RO over the last many years has a movement with a solid Gold rotor, so I seem to be s**t out of luck finding an alternative. The only option I could actually think of was to replace the genuine rotor with a replica in either Platinum (or even Plated Gold, which may be acceptable from a religious point of view) and replace the rotor at service time (which I'm hoping wouldn't be very often).
The only other alternative would be to pick up the best quality rep (JF I believe) with a plated/non-solid Gold Rotor, which would certainly fool my peers (since they know the rest of my collection is Gen) but not sure whether it would really satisfy me in the long-term. I could live with a frankenwatch of my own choice, knowing 99% of the watch is Gen.
Sorry for the long post, but I've been absolutely bummed over the last couple of days and haven't been able to work or sleep with this issue constantly in my head. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated
:helpsmilie:

other parts on the AP are made of gold....as said by other member as well..
 
Last edited:

billykhan

Horology Curious
8/3/20
13
0
0
Given how there are so many people of the Islamic faith who could be potential customers of AP, I’m surprised this hasn’t been addressed before.

My quick read of the teachings suggest that it is the adornment with gold, i.e., the appearance of wearing gold, that is prohibited among men.

If one interprets these teachings to prohibit the wearing of gold in any form, remember that the hands of an AP RO are made of white gold. So if the hands are okay, because they are plated in rhodium and don’t have the look of gold adornment, then it would be logical that the rotor, if plated in rhodium, would also be okay, being essentially white gold at that point. This could be done by almost any watchmaker / jeweler, and would look really nice.

If white gold is prohibited, then you probably can’t wear the watch without replacing hands and rotor with a material other than gold.

Frankening the rotor is not likely to work.

But I would definitely talk to AP directly about making an accommodation, seems this would have come up at some point before.

Hi Jurgen. This is bit of a Grey area unfortunately. So without going into too much detail, suffice to say I can live with the smaller component such as markers, hands, screws etc. being made of Gold as they are unlikely to yield Gold of commercial value if melted individually. That Rotor on the other hand is a Solid piece of 22ct Gold, which almost certainly could be melted into usable metal. Hence my focus remains on the Rotor.

I'm seriously thinking about SHB's suggestion to remove the Rotor and just make it Manual Wind...would be a complete waste of such a fabulous movement but still maybe a fair compromise given my circumstances.
 

srhoque

Put Some Respect On My Name
28/11/18
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Just my 2 cents - Pick your choice/options from what the boutique tells you. Since it a gen watch, it’s not worth putting rep parts. As mentioned above, AP should have a solution for you (they do keep service rotors for their own use and testing). Good luck!!
 

legend

The RWI Dragon
Staff member
Global Moderator
Certified
20/9/10
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Where I need to be.
Go to your AD and voice your concerns. perhaps they can accommodate your religious belief and make you a rotor in another metal?

just think auric goldfinger could still be alive today :D

I did some further research based on your post and saw that AP actually did customize a rotor for someone.
https://www.watchprosite.com/audemars-piguet/thank-you-audemars-piguet-singapore-/3.988768.6933068/

I did not know that is possible. Well, he did mention that the price "wasn't low" so I guess that at the right price, everything's possible. lol
 
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