Eddie Lee's 111h with Palpatine's new crown!

[OldeCrow]

I'm not one for stopping and taking a photo in the middle of working on a watch so you only get the before and after shots. I wasn't planning on before and after shots so they don't exactly make a good reference but hopefully you will get the idea!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

It is improved over the original EL crown.
I could have fit it tighter still to the case but the gasket for the crown is an O-ring and I believe the oem part is a flat gasket. the only mod required was shortening the stem to fit the new crown and taking a tiny bit of material off the cam on the lever.

 

[OldeCrow]

lmao
the cannon pinion and hour wheel are in route as we speak. I was going to save the new crown till the other parts got here but I couldn't sit here and stare at the new crowns any longer

 

[takashi]

@OC: Would you mind measuring the crown thickness? Does it exceed 2mm? Thanks.

 

[OldeCrow]

it's 2.11 (as advertised) by my caliper

the only problem is the 45 degree angle cut on the edge is deeper than the knurling and that makes the knurling look too narrow with the correct 45 degree cut only to the depth of the knurling this crown would be flawless!

It's still wider than most rep crowns so its a nice upgrade even if its still flawed.

 

[takashi]

It's so darn true. Most crowns installed on reppanerai (especially those handwound type) are too thin (<2mm). It's a dead giveaway for a PAM rep.

 

[DrmMaster]

Is it me or does Crow have an AR coating on his Sig :shock:

 

[tutima]

Not much of an improvement from the original rep crown IMO.

It doesn't make sense to me if one is to custom make something and it still come out wrong.

 

[Klink]

so who has the cnc machine and why are they not here?

or is Victorias Secret
to be always in the closet??

Life is Good!
Klink

 

[tutima]

tutima, maybe you can show us a personal example? to me it's all pretty subjective when it comes to modding, because everyone has a different scale of perfection, or an "AR" scale if you like. [anti-relection not being the acronym.]

I can never get past the level of; "remember it just a replica, [and a very nice one at that.]"

Hi, Enzo,

I don't have any personal example for you. I am not a perfectionist. Most of my watches are straight from the factory and had not been modded or upgraded. I just do not think it is worthwhile to go thru all the time, effort and money to replace the original crown with this so call custom made one.

 

[tutima]

@Enzo,

I guess you are right. A lot of our fellow members here are modding their replica watches to try to be 100% are not for the purpose of selling them for genuine but rather for the enjoyment of the process.

As for myself, I rather wait and look for the best replicated watches from the trusted dealers for the model of watches I wanted.

 

[OldeCrow]

lol
@DrmMaster
yup my sig is indeed AR coated and so is my avitar

@tutima
It is frustrating to me that a crown as simple to make as these pam crowns can't be made by the thousands correctly and cheaply. I don’t want to burn bridges with the people who put the effort into getting these parts made so I will stop before I rant any further.
It is still a better looking crown than what came on my pam so its not a total loss.

@Enzo
You are correct, I have some skill and the tools to do these mods myself and I enjoy tinkering with things so it just adds another level to the replica experience for me. I am not a perfectionist but the pams are one of the easiest watches to rep really well so with a relume genuine crown and cannon pinion and hour wheel fix they are nearly impossible to tell from the real thing.

You have to remember when you buy a genuine Panerai you are paying $515.00 for each letter of the brand name Panerai and $300.00 for the watch.