Member brobert's brilliant refinishing (new pics of 1B)...

[projectologist]

Wanted to say thanks again to brobert for the beautiful refinishing he did on my 1B franken. Plus some fine-tuning to the cg took my project to a whole other level. Some major dings also disappeared that I thought impossible fix.

 

[Billio]

WOW looks brand new!!! 8)

 

[ahw676]

Any chance that you have before pictures for comparison? Or did he perhaps take photos of your watch prior to refinishing? I can see you have a gorgeous watch now, but I'm curious to see what he started with. In any case, congratulations. Take good care of your baby.

 

[alvinado]

Wow, the shaved crown guard pin looks perfect..

 

[hooligan]

Fantastic, project! brobert does amazing work. His brushing is spot on to the OEM brushing, IMO.

The CG pin is larger in diameter compared to the gens I've owned/currently own, but it still looks wonderful. Truly an amazing rep and a permanent keeper...

 

[kitersoze]

beautiful work there, n that's a keeper 4 sho...

 

[projectologist]

Fantastic, project! brobert does amazing work. His brushing is spot on to the OEM brushing, IMO.

The CG pin is larger in diameter compared to the gens I've owned/currently own, but it still looks wonderful. Truly an amazing rep and a permanent keeper...

The early series cg pins do look larger, both gen and JF, especially compared to brushed and PVD coated cg's and pins.

Anyway, here's a pic of the gen sample that I'm repping. I got out the dial caliper and the JF cg pin is spot on with the gen pictured here. Where the JF isn't 1:1 is in the cg lever shape, but very close. I've noticed too that the A, B and C series polished cg's appear to have a slightly smaller cg body than their Ti and PVD versions. I'm guessing that the final polish reduces the
overall size and crisp edges somewhat, all of which combine to make the cg pin look bigger. Finally, because of the small dimension and tight tolerances, macro shots combined with lens used, camera angle and lighting can easily distort details barely perceptible to the naked eye.

You brought out the WIS in me...

 

[projectologist]

Any chance that you have before pictures for comparison? Or did he perhaps take photos of your watch prior to refinishing? I can see you have a gorgeous watch now, but I'm curious to see what he started with. In any case, congratulations. Take good care of your baby.

New post added with some before and after pics.

 

[hooligan]

What series is that donor CG?

My E series is definitely smaller. I'll have to go back and re-check pics from my old 002D.

Interesting....

 

[projectologist]

What series is that donor CG?

My E series is definitely smaller. I'll have to go back and re-check pics from my old 002D.

Interesting....

Not sure which series the donor cg is, but here is a pic of a gen PAM 88e I used to own. Pin size looks the same to me... just positioned differently between the inner and outer edges of the cg. I've now noticed that small details like the cg pins tend to look smaller in person vs. macros which do tend towards some lens distortion.

 

[projectologist]

What series is that donor CG?

My E series is definitely smaller. I'll have to go back and re-check pics from my old 002D.

Interesting....

Another thing you have to consider is that these cg's were polished by an individual. Some rounded the edges more than others therefore changing the width of the cg by a small degree. I've measured that width against brushed, PVD'd and polished and the polished versions always measure less. The PVD'd versions measure the widest. A slightly wider cg (measuring from the cutout area to the outer curve) can give the illusion of a smaller pin and the reverse obviously making the pin look bigger.

The only valid comparison though is holding them side by side. Comparing what you are holding in your hand to an image 4-5 times bigger, under different lighting conditions and as seen by a macro lense won't give you a final answer.