Franken build: Patek Sector Dial Calatrava 5296g

[s410105]

majwilliams0308 Beautiful franken!

Do you think the stock ZF is worth getting even without the modification?

 

[SKnight]

s410105 majwilliams0308 I have the same question.

I'm interested in purchasing the RG sector dial.

 

[majwilliams0308]

Here's the ZF:

My conclusion on the rep dial vs gen - you wouldn't notice much of a difference if you didn't have the gen.

The gen's silvering came from a much finer airbrush, and the particles themselves are finer that the silvering that is on the ZF dial. As a result, the effect is more pronounced on the gen. However, given all of that, if you like the look, it is an absolutely great watch. The issue for the ZF dial is that sometimes you cannot see the silvered finish more often than the gen. At some angles you cannot see the silver finishing on the gen dial too.

 

[s410105]

majwilliams0308 Amazing, that seals the deal for me. Thank you very much!

 

[Cosmograph4Ever]

Lovely upgrade. To do thenwatch justice you should invest in a Camille Fournet strap.

 

[mskwatch]

so subtle and elegant

 

[Kingquest_s]

I saw your gen dial is little bit to the right it not perfectly aligned. If u move it little back to left i think the dw windows will be better.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[axel.gold]

Amazing post!

I’ve been looking and not sure what you mean by this “(note that the date wheel mod doesn't fit as it's a bit thick):”?

What mod did you do?

 

[mir36]

Great job on the dial swap. Did you have to cut the dial feet?

Also, I saw that this rep is now on the NWBIG list, and I’m very interested in getting one. Question on the movement text. Looking at the Jtime photos the text now looks engraved. I always thought this text was printed on. Can someone please confirm? Thank you.

 

[soliloqueen]

Great job on the dial swap. Did you have to cut the dial feet?

Also, I saw that this rep is now on the NWBIG list, and I’m very interested in getting one. Question on the movement text. Looking at the Jtime photos the text now looks engraved. I always thought this text was printed on. Can someone please confirm? Thank you.

It's engraving on all ZFs iirc. ZF is actually a contract mid-high-tier jewelry factory by day (according to a jewelry dealer I know in the female fashion rep community), so they have the staff, facility and connections to finish and engrave their movements in volume like this. Every factory on this site has a "secret identity" (legitimate side of the business) and what they do best is directly related to what kind of legitimate business they do.

Surface finish on ZF watches is not just slightly, but considerably better than most other factories. If you look under macro, their Geneva stripes are half the size of competing factories, etc. However, they tend not to have details lined up correctly on the watch face. (See how a few of the indices are pretty off in the close-up shots on the dial?) and this is an issue with all of their watches. I was just in-person comparing a couple different versions of a watch recently, and while ZF blew them all out of the water in terms of replicating the finish of the real watch, most of the other same-tier factories had better final dial assembly, and this issue was consistent across more than one ZF. The only exception to this I've seen are ZF's Royal Oaks, which have no dial issues because it's much quicker to put the indices on straight if you're putting them on a grid.

With reps, it's almost always a tradeoff when it comes to which parts are most important to you to look right. That being said, literally the only issue with this rep is minor (and I do mean minor) dial alignment issues and some texture differences with the silvered portions of the dial. Everything else is perfect. I would say it's more worth then buying. With the dial swap it's easily NWBIG. Without the dial swap it's still NWBIG if you don't have severe OCPD.

 

[Tobel]

Great job on the dial swap. Did you have to cut the dial feet?

Also, I saw that this rep is now on the NWBIG list, and I’m very interested in getting one. Question on the movement text. Looking at the Jtime photos the text now looks engraved. I always thought this text was printed on. Can someone please confirm? Thank you.

I think that the printed Vs. engraved discussion was related to 3K clone movements, not ZF to my knowledge

 

[m1994]

I saw this picture, I kind of like it and just wanted to share with you guys.

I tried to do it with my non sector dial, but not the same result lol

 

[jm_brc_7057]

I saw this picture, I kind of like it and just wanted to share with you guys.

I tried to do it with my non sector dial, but not the same result lol

Looks amazing with the sector dial. Thanks for sharing buddy.