Another franken A23322 Navitimer

[Ferax]

I have decided to franken a BP Navitimer A23322. Here is the base watch that I will use:
It is an accepted QC pic since I am still waiting for the watch to arrive. Was thinking about buying a gen panda dial, but it is impossible to get one so I will stick with the rep one. Maybe one day I will be lucky and then will change for the genuine one. I was also thinking about buying an old dial and have it renovated - a guy in my country could do it for about 150 euro. Example:


I already bought from mrsullivan a Hamilton 7753 movement and gen hands:

The crystal will be replaced with the prof 2xAR crystal.

The rep strap will be replaced with genuine Breitling novo nappa strap + rep buckle.

The biggest problem for me is to find a date wheel for the 7753 movement. If I will not be able to find one I might use the trick that elconquistador showed me (thank you once again):
"Taking out the middle gears, getting it smooth, making it thin, then gluing it to the other disk."

Will be updating this thread

 

[elconquistador]

When I tried (and gave up, because no modder wanted to spend the time I was talking to get the parts together) I was trying to get s 7750 date disk to overlay on a 7753 disk because I was using dial for a 7750 based rep.

Since the 7750 disk is slightly smaller the 7753 date was not lining up with the opening on the 7750 dial.

In the case of the BP dial, the date window lines up with the 7753 date disk. So there should be much less work making the BP disk work. It would still be necessary to grind off the gear teeth and to thin it to make it into an overlay, but the inner and outer dimensions should not need to be altered.

Although the BP use an A7750 movement, i would make sure that the unmodified date disk is not actually a direct fit on the 7753. It almost certainly is not but since it aligns with the 7753 window it is worth checking.

 

[Ferax]

In one of the navitimer topics someone said that sadly the 7750 rep dw does not fit the 7753 movement. So it needs a modification or just a gen dw.

 

[elconquistador]

Of course, I understand. But something is different on the BP navitimer because the window is in a different place than a regular 7750.

 

[Ferax]

After contacting lots of RWI members, chrono24 sellers, eBay sellers and dozens of watch parts sellers when searching on Google there is only one conclusion - no one can help me getting a gen dw.
So I will have to check how big is the diffrence between those datewheels and make them fit.

 

[Ferax]

The BP Navitimer finally arrived. It was DOA. The rotor was lose, unscrewed. But now it works without any problems

I must say that the BP Navitimer is a really decent rep. The dial looks so nice! I know that the subdials should be more white (and not silver), but I don't care. I like it!
Chrono pushers are a bit stiff, but it doesn't bother me at all, because I won't be using it. Also the crystal AR has this nice blue hue - looks good.
It's a pity that they didn't rep the 7753 movement. To be honest I could wear this watch just like it is OOTB. Ohh, but there is one thing... The strap is a total disaster. It is just awful!

So now I got the BP Navitimer, got the Hamilton 7753 movement. Waiting for the prof crystal to arrive. And still looking for the damn datewheel. If I would only know how to do it, I would try by myself to check if the datewheels are interchangable... But I will have to take it to my watchsmith so he can check it for me.

 

[Thatwatchguy]

Nice project, so the crystal has a nice blue tint and you still went went with prof crystal? Prof crystal will be clear no blue tint like gen breitling, curious why you went in this direction?

 

[Ferax]

Thatwatchguy
I was pretty sure that someone will point that out... The answer is simple - because I am an idiot. I saw the Prof crystal on one of the franken Navitimer and I thought it looks good. But I did not have the BP Navitimer in hand.
Now I think that it is not necessary to change the crystal.

 

[Thatwatchguy]

Thatwatchguy
I was pretty sure that someone will point that out... The answer is simple - because I am an idiot. I saw the Prof crystal on one of the franken Navitimer and I thought it looks good. But I did not have the BP Navitimer in hand.
Now I think that it is not necessary to change the crystal.

Ha…everything is better with hindsight:thumbsup:

 

[Ferax]

While I am still waiting for the prof crystal I got an idea when it comes to the datewheel.
I used this as an example:
I measured my 7753 datewheel and made this:
It's still just a concept. The font that you see is not the sans-serif font that Breitling used in the A23322. But it will be changed to this font
Then it will be printed as a sticker and I will try to put it on my dw. Will let you know how it worked!

 

[JLCgeo]

Nice project, I also have two A23322 that I want to update with a gen 7753 and gen hands but I was stuck by the date wheel problem.
So please keep us posted when you have tried the mod of the date wheel, it's really interesting and might be an easier way than finding a gen date wheel.
Good luck on your project !!