I promise I will post some pictures tomorrow, because stage two of the vintage process still has to take place.
I picked up a vintage Marina Militare watch from Andrew, and it arrived today. I was a little dissapointed when it was originally ordered because he shipped the PO, but not my MM. He had to ship it seperately, and while I paid for EMS it came regular air mail and took almost three weeks.
Anyway. the watch looked really nice, big and bulky, but wayyyyyyy toooooooo shiny. I took it apart, and used some scotchbrite on it and brushed the finish. I think it looks ok. I used some loctite on the screws when I put it back together, and it seems pretty nice.
At first I thought that there was no such watch that had only the Marina Militare on the dial and nothing else, but upon searching the Panerai site, there was a picture of the exact watch from the fifties.
Only complaint, the crown is too thin and is wobbly when I wind. I have allready contacted Andrew and hopefully a new Crown will be sent soon.
Ok, here is what has been done. I took it in to an engraver and got the SMZ MM 48 engraved on the case back, and BREV. ITAL. put on the bottom of the case guard. I asked the girl at the counter to make it a bit off centre, so it keeps the vintage war look. The only problem is that the font she used wasn't the one I asked for, but nevertheless it still looked ok. I weathered the case by first hitting it with rough emery cloth, then scotchbrite, and then fine sand paper. I repeated and repeated this for about three hours. I then took it outside and rubbed the case back into the ground, just to get a few scratches into the back and side, then rubbed it down with four ought steel wool to smooth it all out. I really sanded down the case back and crown guard to almost rub out the engraving, to make it look like it has been worn for forty years. I lightly rubbed some 0000 steel wool around the crystal as well to make it look a bit weathered. I have not taken out the dial to work on that yet, I need some more tools, but i will eventually get to that. For the strap, I soaked it overnight in leather conditioner, and then rubbed it over the bullnose of the counter top to soften it up. it got a few nice scratches in it too.
All in all I am happy with the results, it was way too polished when it came, and now it looks like it has been worn for a number of years. I will be making a strap for it, I just had to order a sew in buckle.
Here are the pictures, let me know what you think.
I had fun making it, and I think I may list it in the sale section.
Pietro
I picked up a vintage Marina Militare watch from Andrew, and it arrived today. I was a little dissapointed when it was originally ordered because he shipped the PO, but not my MM. He had to ship it seperately, and while I paid for EMS it came regular air mail and took almost three weeks.
Anyway. the watch looked really nice, big and bulky, but wayyyyyyy toooooooo shiny. I took it apart, and used some scotchbrite on it and brushed the finish. I think it looks ok. I used some loctite on the screws when I put it back together, and it seems pretty nice.
At first I thought that there was no such watch that had only the Marina Militare on the dial and nothing else, but upon searching the Panerai site, there was a picture of the exact watch from the fifties.
Only complaint, the crown is too thin and is wobbly when I wind. I have allready contacted Andrew and hopefully a new Crown will be sent soon.
Ok, here is what has been done. I took it in to an engraver and got the SMZ MM 48 engraved on the case back, and BREV. ITAL. put on the bottom of the case guard. I asked the girl at the counter to make it a bit off centre, so it keeps the vintage war look. The only problem is that the font she used wasn't the one I asked for, but nevertheless it still looked ok. I weathered the case by first hitting it with rough emery cloth, then scotchbrite, and then fine sand paper. I repeated and repeated this for about three hours. I then took it outside and rubbed the case back into the ground, just to get a few scratches into the back and side, then rubbed it down with four ought steel wool to smooth it all out. I really sanded down the case back and crown guard to almost rub out the engraving, to make it look like it has been worn for forty years. I lightly rubbed some 0000 steel wool around the crystal as well to make it look a bit weathered. I have not taken out the dial to work on that yet, I need some more tools, but i will eventually get to that. For the strap, I soaked it overnight in leather conditioner, and then rubbed it over the bullnose of the counter top to soften it up. it got a few nice scratches in it too.
All in all I am happy with the results, it was way too polished when it came, and now it looks like it has been worn for a number of years. I will be making a strap for it, I just had to order a sew in buckle.
Here are the pictures, let me know what you think.
I had fun making it, and I think I may list it in the sale section.
Pietro
