Here is a project I just completed, a Marina Militare that I built myself. It represents the culmination of my experiences here at RWI.
A little history. I joined the RWI forum in August of 2006. My first rep was a vintage Rolex Daytona that I bought from a forum member. That convinced me that the whole replica watch hobby was as interesting as I had hoped it might be. Then I bought my first Panerai, one of the old school 196 Daylight's with a bracelet. Then I was hooked.
I have lots of hobbies. Most of them are hands-on tinkering kinds of hobbies. Cars, motorcycles, computers, audio, carpentry, etc. I enjoy them because they require analysis - and a bit of engineering and problem solving - to achieve the desired goals. So it is with replica watches.
Once I got a few Pams, I then fell under the spell of straps, the next addiction. Then a few selected tools for modding, reluming a few dials, replacing hands, etc., and now this watch.
The watch in the photographs was built from parts sourced literally from around the world. The motivation was to assemble a watch myself - using parts I considered to be excellent choices - based on the hours and hours I have spent reading here on RWI. It was an exercise in patience. Throughout the project I would find that I needed some small part that required two weeks of shipping time. I had to order the movement mounting tabs and screws from Hong Kong because I could not find them from any domestic source. That's just one of many examples. There were many weeks of waiting involved in this project.
Once I had all the parts, the work involved included modifying the crown guard to fit the case, reluming the dial with Superliminova C3, installing the H3 canon pinion and hour wheel, fitting the stem, attaching the dial and hands and installing the movement in the case.
Here is the list of parts included in the watch.
Case - Marina Militare Titanium, mineral glass crystal from Hong Kong
Crown Guard - DSN Ti from RWI Member, Hooligan, modified to fit case
Dial - Ebay,
Tall H3 ETA canon pinion, hour wheel and dial cushion - Otto Frei
Superluminova C3 - Ebay
Movement - Soprod decorated Swiss 6497 from Switzerland
Movement mounting screws and tabs from China
Stem (to replace the first one that I cut too short) - Ordered through local watchmaker supply
Strap - RWG Member in Turkey
This was a very challenging project to put together. More challenging than balancing the carburetors on a Honda sportbike - a lot more. I am very pleased with the results. Titanium Pams are my favorite, and I like the fact that this is not a Panerai branded watch. It makes the watch feel more like an homage than a replica to me.
The amount of satisfaction with this project is enormous. I owe all of the members here at RWI my gratitude for creating and supporting this remarkable place, where we can all learn so much and share our enthusiasm for these wonderful little machines that we all enjoy.
The watch with an ammo strap
The watch with a Giovani e Figlio strap
Nice thick DSN crown guard
Soprod decorated Swiss 6497
Superliminova C3 lume
A little history. I joined the RWI forum in August of 2006. My first rep was a vintage Rolex Daytona that I bought from a forum member. That convinced me that the whole replica watch hobby was as interesting as I had hoped it might be. Then I bought my first Panerai, one of the old school 196 Daylight's with a bracelet. Then I was hooked.
I have lots of hobbies. Most of them are hands-on tinkering kinds of hobbies. Cars, motorcycles, computers, audio, carpentry, etc. I enjoy them because they require analysis - and a bit of engineering and problem solving - to achieve the desired goals. So it is with replica watches.
Once I got a few Pams, I then fell under the spell of straps, the next addiction. Then a few selected tools for modding, reluming a few dials, replacing hands, etc., and now this watch.
The watch in the photographs was built from parts sourced literally from around the world. The motivation was to assemble a watch myself - using parts I considered to be excellent choices - based on the hours and hours I have spent reading here on RWI. It was an exercise in patience. Throughout the project I would find that I needed some small part that required two weeks of shipping time. I had to order the movement mounting tabs and screws from Hong Kong because I could not find them from any domestic source. That's just one of many examples. There were many weeks of waiting involved in this project.
Once I had all the parts, the work involved included modifying the crown guard to fit the case, reluming the dial with Superliminova C3, installing the H3 canon pinion and hour wheel, fitting the stem, attaching the dial and hands and installing the movement in the case.
Here is the list of parts included in the watch.
Case - Marina Militare Titanium, mineral glass crystal from Hong Kong
Crown Guard - DSN Ti from RWI Member, Hooligan, modified to fit case
Dial - Ebay,
Tall H3 ETA canon pinion, hour wheel and dial cushion - Otto Frei
Superluminova C3 - Ebay
Movement - Soprod decorated Swiss 6497 from Switzerland
Movement mounting screws and tabs from China
Stem (to replace the first one that I cut too short) - Ordered through local watchmaker supply
Strap - RWG Member in Turkey
This was a very challenging project to put together. More challenging than balancing the carburetors on a Honda sportbike - a lot more. I am very pleased with the results. Titanium Pams are my favorite, and I like the fact that this is not a Panerai branded watch. It makes the watch feel more like an homage than a replica to me.
The amount of satisfaction with this project is enormous. I owe all of the members here at RWI my gratitude for creating and supporting this remarkable place, where we can all learn so much and share our enthusiasm for these wonderful little machines that we all enjoy.
The watch with an ammo strap
The watch with a Giovani e Figlio strap
Nice thick DSN crown guard
Soprod decorated Swiss 6497
Superliminova C3 lume
