Molnija Panerai Bridges - Final stage before last engraving

[Night-Watch]

Thought I would share this with fellow members. Below is part of a batch of bridges about to have the last stage of the engraving work completed.

Stage 1) I've started with a Molnija bridge and removed the Russian serial numbers and plated with nickel plating. Removing a serial number is an aggressive mod as it involves cutting and grinding into metal, often filling with solder and rebuilding...the end result shows the reworking is virtually undetectable. Image 2 below is greatly magnified even the smallest imperfections show up under this level of magnification....look carefully at the bottom left and you will see a part of a serial number ...I had to go back and start all over again..

Stage 2) The centre of the bridge has been engraved…more text is to follow…but in order to do so a new template has to be made.

Stage 3) The template is almost complete and by Thursday the bridge will read FAB SUISSE... Note there is one bridge with no engraving that’s because there will be 3 versions, and one will read Rolex 17 RUBIS on the left and not ROLEX in the centre as per some of the original models.

Heres how the bridge first looked...

See if you can spot the error...the size is a little bigger than a pin head

Ready to go back for the final engraving

 

[The Dude]

Nice work, pretty cool stuff

 

[sconehead]

Great stuff Nightwatch. Will you be re-doing the balance assembly to match those of the Cortebert engravings in the future?

 

[Night-Watch]

Great stuff Nightwatch. Will you be re-doing the balance assembly to match those of the Cortebert engravings in the future?

No plans... its such a fragile part of the watch that I wish to avoid at this present time.

 

[DonBrizzel]

Lookin good!

 

[Jimster]

Beautiful transformation!

 

[Night-Watch]

First stage complete.... Next stage to add ....618 Cal
Here we have FAB SUISSE - 17 RUBIS - ROLEX etc.... also Antique or Standard nickel plate finish

This weekend I will start the re-builds ie service and assemble these movements to a complete working unit.

Standard Finish

Aged and Antique Finished below (top bridge is waiting Rolex text)

 

[sconehead]

Do you put Cortebert ratchet wheels on the movements/do they fit?

 

[Night-Watch]

Do you put Cortebert ratchet wheels on the movements/do they fit?

You wouldnt want to.... the authentic movements may have been made by Cortebert, but they never had the text "Cortebert" on them, you are far better having a blank ratchet wheel... what I will be adding is the text "618 CAL" to the ratchet bridge....

modders tend to use Cortebert 616's because they cant get hold of the 618's.

but to answer your question I dont believe the Cortebert ratchet wheels do fit the 3601 (unless I am mistaken)

 

[Night-Watch]

Finally I'm there.....It’s taken some time, in fact longer than I thought as I made a few last minute changes and decided to add CAL 616 just to finish it off… but I now have the first completed movement that was once a 1956 Molnija... It’s just been cleaned, serviced and assembled and is firing on all cylinders….

 

[aardian]

That is beautiful.... Wouldda been a nice project to build modern PAMs but using this movement as a workhorse... PreV 201a with vintage molnija :-D

 

[lan61t]

That is just crazy, thumbs up.

Never stop to amazed me how much time and effort that you guys put for this hobby

 

[nielsen]

I recently bought a DSN Deco Bezel 3646. David tells me he uses a Russian movement and I must therefore assume that he is using the Molnija movement. Your photo confirms this--sorta. The overall appearance of the movement is identical, but there are differences in the appearance of the jewels. The movement looks great but I'm thinking it would be nice to polish the two big gears. Is this a good idea and if so, how.

Incidentally, I love the work you did here to remove the Russian writing. I presume DSN must make his own bridges because they say '17 Rubis' and 'Rolex' etc. etc.

 

[hpy540]

Nice work, But i think DSN has a overlay on his bridge

 

[Novesh]

wow that looks great

I need has.

 

[sakeshi]

WOW....
i must try this some day....