Well kids, here is my 201/A I built and finished the other day.
Parts include:
1. DSN dial from AWS (Thanks Mate. Did the strap arrive or is Canada post going to take another week? :shock: )
2. Case and crystal from eBay (seller was helenrou, first time transaction but they were pretty quick and it only cost me fifty bucks. They had one listed but I took the chance and emailed them and asked for one outside of ebay and shipped to Canada. Fifty seemed fair, but the case back was shit (engraved Marina Militare and crown guard was worse than the one I had issues with from DSN on my PAM000)
3. Crown super thick one I got as a repair item from Andrew and was sitting in my watch box.
4. Crown came actually with the case.
5. Movement from eBay (seller was sizzlen watches. They had 19 asian 6497's with swan necks listed, and I offered sixty bucks for it and got it shipped within a week. again a great seller to deal with)
6. Stem was the winding stem that came with the movement, that long ass one.
7. Hands came from a seller over on repgeek. Traded them for a bag of Lays Ketchup potato chips. I feel bad for you poor Americans who can't buy them in the States, and you call yourselves a civilized nation
8. Movement holders (see my other post) were made by hand out of thin metal. Shitty really, but they work for now.
OK, now for the nitty gritty.
First and foremost I had to trim down that long winding stem to fit. I then had to file it down to size. I got an ETA blueprint from hxxp://www.eta.com.hk/u8/home.html and used the stem picture as a guideline to cut it down. Worked like a charm. A little loctite and it sat perfectly.
I then used some thin metal and drilled out a 1/16th hole and filed around it to make a movement holder. Problem is that the metal is a bit weak, and bent when installing the movemnt to the case. It holds well, but not strongly, if you know what I mean. I have another post looking for a set if anyone has any.
Since the case was a standard case, I had to file the diameter of the dial about a bit less than a MM. or 1/32nd of an inch. That was a stressfull undertaking, but it worked. The dial was also too thick, so I had to sand the back down a hair, again stressful but according to the calipers and six measurments later it was also flat and flush.
Setting the dial onto the movement was a bit difficult because the first time I didn't glue it on straight and it was crooked inside the case, so I made a jig. I basically took a square and made a cross on a piece of cardboard. With the crown stem installed to gather my bearings I managed to get it centred. Infact the cannon pin came straight through the centre hole perfectly centred. Oh the movement also needed a bit of work. Since it came with a second hand post, I had to take some fine side clippers and clip it down and then file it flush, also very stressful :shock: . Then I took a big ass drill bit and made a divot on the underside of the dial. Worked like a charm. I also used some Testors model laquer to give the dial a flat finish, and cover up any scratches.
The hands went on easier than I thought. Hour hand sat deep on the hour hand gear. I used a pice of paper in between the dial and the hand so that there was at least that much space between the dial and hand. The minute hand also went on well, and to be honest it left me with plenty of room on the cannon pin to file it flush, however I forgot to do it and to be honest don't want to open it up and do it again...lol. I did scratch the hands a bit, but some black acrylic paint and a fine brush took care of that. The same paint was used on the side of the hands to cover up any luminove residue and make the hands look more genuine.
Putting the movement an dial in the case was a bit of an undertaking because of the cleaning the glass issue. I won't type it all over again, but if anyone wants to read about the ordeal, look here. viewtopic.php?f=59&t=36478&p=313649&#p313649
Once it was all together and installed it was time to work the crown guard. The crown guard was too thick, and the end corners stuck up above the case where the case angles down towards the lugs, if you know what I mean. I took out the old bastard file and curved the ends of the crown guard to follow the lines of the case, so I got a thick crown guard and it fits flush to the case following the lines. Kind of resembles the genuine, since this was done on the top and bottom, and thus making the crown guard thinner where it meets the case and thicker at the outside end. The lever was also removed and had to be filed down where it meets the crown so that it closed, and now it locks up tight like a vault. I used the hot glue trick to stiffen up the crown guard as well. Once that was settled, I filed the pin flush and brushed the case, as the case was polished.
I am waiting on a 201/A caseback I bought from one of our mates here on RWI and then it is complete. Right now I have that crappy MM caseback, but In a week it will be done.
Here are a couple of pictures. Thanks for reading.
Pietro
Parts include:
1. DSN dial from AWS (Thanks Mate. Did the strap arrive or is Canada post going to take another week? :shock: )
2. Case and crystal from eBay (seller was helenrou, first time transaction but they were pretty quick and it only cost me fifty bucks. They had one listed but I took the chance and emailed them and asked for one outside of ebay and shipped to Canada. Fifty seemed fair, but the case back was shit (engraved Marina Militare and crown guard was worse than the one I had issues with from DSN on my PAM000)
3. Crown super thick one I got as a repair item from Andrew and was sitting in my watch box.
4. Crown came actually with the case.
5. Movement from eBay (seller was sizzlen watches. They had 19 asian 6497's with swan necks listed, and I offered sixty bucks for it and got it shipped within a week. again a great seller to deal with)
6. Stem was the winding stem that came with the movement, that long ass one.
7. Hands came from a seller over on repgeek. Traded them for a bag of Lays Ketchup potato chips. I feel bad for you poor Americans who can't buy them in the States, and you call yourselves a civilized nation
8. Movement holders (see my other post) were made by hand out of thin metal. Shitty really, but they work for now.
OK, now for the nitty gritty.
First and foremost I had to trim down that long winding stem to fit. I then had to file it down to size. I got an ETA blueprint from hxxp://www.eta.com.hk/u8/home.html and used the stem picture as a guideline to cut it down. Worked like a charm. A little loctite and it sat perfectly.
I then used some thin metal and drilled out a 1/16th hole and filed around it to make a movement holder. Problem is that the metal is a bit weak, and bent when installing the movemnt to the case. It holds well, but not strongly, if you know what I mean. I have another post looking for a set if anyone has any.
Since the case was a standard case, I had to file the diameter of the dial about a bit less than a MM. or 1/32nd of an inch. That was a stressfull undertaking, but it worked. The dial was also too thick, so I had to sand the back down a hair, again stressful but according to the calipers and six measurments later it was also flat and flush.
Setting the dial onto the movement was a bit difficult because the first time I didn't glue it on straight and it was crooked inside the case, so I made a jig. I basically took a square and made a cross on a piece of cardboard. With the crown stem installed to gather my bearings I managed to get it centred. Infact the cannon pin came straight through the centre hole perfectly centred. Oh the movement also needed a bit of work. Since it came with a second hand post, I had to take some fine side clippers and clip it down and then file it flush, also very stressful :shock: . Then I took a big ass drill bit and made a divot on the underside of the dial. Worked like a charm. I also used some Testors model laquer to give the dial a flat finish, and cover up any scratches.
The hands went on easier than I thought. Hour hand sat deep on the hour hand gear. I used a pice of paper in between the dial and the hand so that there was at least that much space between the dial and hand. The minute hand also went on well, and to be honest it left me with plenty of room on the cannon pin to file it flush, however I forgot to do it and to be honest don't want to open it up and do it again...lol. I did scratch the hands a bit, but some black acrylic paint and a fine brush took care of that. The same paint was used on the side of the hands to cover up any luminove residue and make the hands look more genuine.
Putting the movement an dial in the case was a bit of an undertaking because of the cleaning the glass issue. I won't type it all over again, but if anyone wants to read about the ordeal, look here. viewtopic.php?f=59&t=36478&p=313649&#p313649
Once it was all together and installed it was time to work the crown guard. The crown guard was too thick, and the end corners stuck up above the case where the case angles down towards the lugs, if you know what I mean. I took out the old bastard file and curved the ends of the crown guard to follow the lines of the case, so I got a thick crown guard and it fits flush to the case following the lines. Kind of resembles the genuine, since this was done on the top and bottom, and thus making the crown guard thinner where it meets the case and thicker at the outside end. The lever was also removed and had to be filed down where it meets the crown so that it closed, and now it locks up tight like a vault. I used the hot glue trick to stiffen up the crown guard as well. Once that was settled, I filed the pin flush and brushed the case, as the case was polished.
I am waiting on a 201/A caseback I bought from one of our mates here on RWI and then it is complete. Right now I have that crappy MM caseback, but In a week it will be done.
Here are a couple of pictures. Thanks for reading.
Pietro