Last summer I became the proud owner of a very RARE highly modded Honpo PAM028A.
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/192262-*PCTeam*-The-Honpo-Ziggy-PAM028A
Here's a pic of how the watch looked when it arrived in July of last year.
This watch was relumed and serviced by legendary watchsmith, Ziggy. He gave the watch his magic touch with perfect semi-gloss tritium colored lume. A PVD Genuine crown from "the Turk" was added along with a Leo Datewheel and a SilverSurfer Cyclops added to a gen like clarity crystal. The watch was then sent off for a PVD coating from the same provider that Panerai used in the late 90s.
This watch along with a 203/A are on my all-time gen hit list, but let's be honest. I'll likely never spend north of $10K on a watch... I'd rather go to Tahiti
, so this Honpo was a great candidate. I forked over the cash after much internal struggle about buying a very expensive replica. I have since worn the watch about 100 times. I love it and it is no doubt my favorite, but as much as I loved the piece, all I could see were the flaws...
The watch had no tube and therefore could never be waterproofed
I am a big believer in Form AND Function... Something had to be done...
Let's sketch a gen spec tube (poorly):
-Sketch was sent of to Master NeckyZips for some machine work.
-I blackened the tube using the linseed oil method
-I enlarged the hole to 3.5mm
-JB weld epoxy in place
-And VIOLA... An expensive watch that is now expensive and waterproof....LOL
(Excuse the silicone grease)
The CG Pin Looks like 10 miles of bad road
I mean seriously... beautiful watch aside...what a freaking messicard: Also note that there are some circular impressions around the pin. someone must have used a circular metal object to seat the pin in the past icard2:
While I could do nothing with the CG body without damaging the finish... The pin? No sweat! Here's how
1. tap out the pin from the back side with a small metal tool ( I use a small guage torx driver from a electronics kit, or you can use a $1000 staking set)
2. Chuck the pin in a drill press or dremel and spin it against a dremel cutting wheel.
Before
After
3. Now sand until you get a nice satin finish with increasing grits of sand paper 600, 800, 1000 etc..
4. Get that pin WHITE hot and then quench it in linseed oil. this will darken the metal to a permanent charcoal finish
5. Reseat the pin using an old hand pusher with a plastic/nylon tip and hammer the pin to the desired depth.
6. Enjoy...
The Seconds hand is NOT accurate
As good as the Honpo hands are... I mean nearly perfect, even the silver arrow hand is perfectly shaped and extremely sharp, the hour and minute hands are very good. But the sweep seconds hand falls about 1mm short, literally. The tip is missing about .5mm and is a dead giveaway.
I just happened to have a couple of extra gen sweep hands in my parts box. the only problem is the lume doesn't match. The gen hands I have are superlumed with a creamy C1/C3 mix. It wouldn't look right with the Ziggy tritium lume.
So I took a gen hand and had it relumed... crazy I know. But the results were perfect!
Check out that perfect sub dial with the ZERO printed in BLACK!!! This is one of the best gen like features of this dial. Most rep makers would never capture this detail.
Finally she's ready to go and I can quit sweating the details. I honestly don't think there's anything else I could do to this watch short of a gen dial.
Here's the gen... Looks familiar
My favorite watch keeps getting better.
I only have one more upgrade which I'll update later.... A custom made one of a kind "9040" rotor
http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/192262-*PCTeam*-The-Honpo-Ziggy-PAM028A
Here's a pic of how the watch looked when it arrived in July of last year.
This watch was relumed and serviced by legendary watchsmith, Ziggy. He gave the watch his magic touch with perfect semi-gloss tritium colored lume. A PVD Genuine crown from "the Turk" was added along with a Leo Datewheel and a SilverSurfer Cyclops added to a gen like clarity crystal. The watch was then sent off for a PVD coating from the same provider that Panerai used in the late 90s.
This watch along with a 203/A are on my all-time gen hit list, but let's be honest. I'll likely never spend north of $10K on a watch... I'd rather go to Tahiti
, so this Honpo was a great candidate. I forked over the cash after much internal struggle about buying a very expensive replica. I have since worn the watch about 100 times. I love it and it is no doubt my favorite, but as much as I loved the piece, all I could see were the flaws...The watch had no tube and therefore could never be waterproofed
I am a big believer in Form AND Function... Something had to be done...
Let's sketch a gen spec tube (poorly):
-Sketch was sent of to Master NeckyZips for some machine work.
-I blackened the tube using the linseed oil method
-I enlarged the hole to 3.5mm
-JB weld epoxy in place
-And VIOLA... An expensive watch that is now expensive and waterproof....LOL
(Excuse the silicone grease)
The CG Pin Looks like 10 miles of bad road
I mean seriously... beautiful watch aside...what a freaking mess
icard: Also note that there are some circular impressions around the pin. someone must have used a circular metal object to seat the pin in the past icard2: 
While I could do nothing with the CG body without damaging the finish... The pin? No sweat! Here's how
1. tap out the pin from the back side with a small metal tool ( I use a small guage torx driver from a electronics kit, or you can use a $1000 staking set)
2. Chuck the pin in a drill press or dremel and spin it against a dremel cutting wheel.
Before
After
3. Now sand until you get a nice satin finish with increasing grits of sand paper 600, 800, 1000 etc..
4. Get that pin WHITE hot and then quench it in linseed oil. this will darken the metal to a permanent charcoal finish
5. Reseat the pin using an old hand pusher with a plastic/nylon tip and hammer the pin to the desired depth.
6. Enjoy...
The Seconds hand is NOT accurate
As good as the Honpo hands are... I mean nearly perfect, even the silver arrow hand is perfectly shaped and extremely sharp, the hour and minute hands are very good. But the sweep seconds hand falls about 1mm short, literally. The tip is missing about .5mm and is a dead giveaway.
I just happened to have a couple of extra gen sweep hands in my parts box. the only problem is the lume doesn't match. The gen hands I have are superlumed with a creamy C1/C3 mix. It wouldn't look right with the Ziggy tritium lume.
So I took a gen hand and had it relumed... crazy I know. But the results were perfect!
Check out that perfect sub dial with the ZERO printed in BLACK!!! This is one of the best gen like features of this dial. Most rep makers would never capture this detail.
Finally she's ready to go and I can quit sweating the details. I honestly don't think there's anything else I could do to this watch short of a gen dial.
Here's the gen... Looks familiar
My favorite watch keeps getting better.
I only have one more upgrade which I'll update later.... A custom made one of a kind "9040" rotor
