- 3/1/12
- 1,167
- 111
- 63
Ah, The Egiziano Grosso. To me, Panerai’s sexist looking case shape ever made. The first and in my opinion, only time they actually nailed the case design to seamlessly match in the crown guard shape into the case (OK, maybe the Mille Metri too). It’s also at the most ridiculous size ever for a wrist watch/tool at 60mm. It’s not for everyone unless at the time, you were an Egyptian Naval Frog man of the mid-50’s. Or more recently, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or any other rich dude with tree trunks for arms willing to shell out 10’s of thousands of dollars for the PAM341.
To my knowledge, there are several homage options: Cartel 47mm, DSN 52mm, Cartel 55mm, and finally the Cartel 60mm. All mostly have either the A21J, standard 7750 movement or a modified version such as the DSN with removed automatic parts in order to retain the hand wind “feel.” The DSN also had the option to have the 6497/8 movement, but sub seconds spacing was not right and it was used more for a dial without sub-seconds. Then, there were some of you who wanted something more. Something different. Something so incredibly ridiculous that some would wonder why in the heck would you do that? Why not put the original movement AKA: Angelus 240 into the homages? That’s what belongs in there in the first place, right? Ok, fine…but what about its BIG brother? The Angelus 190? The A.Schild designed clocks NEVER designed for the wrist, but rather in airplanes or desks as clocks. In comes Gordon, AKA nightwatch. What in the heck was he thinking? Well, have a read for yourself…
190egi3 by aboccia22, on Flickr
190egi4 by aboccia22, on Flickr
190egi2 by aboccia22, on Flickr
This is the DSN 52mm Monster creation originally built by G. for a total of 2 watches. He documented them @HF1.0, repgeek, and at one time on his website. He went on later to produce a more complete and proper creation with the 240 before the cases became sold out. You can read about chapter 1 and 2 here:
http://www.homageforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&p=6183
http://www.homageforum.com/viewtopic...8288&view=next
https://www.repgeek.com/my-latest-vi...oject-1-a.html
https://www.repgeek.com/my-latest-vi...oject-2-a.html
The 1st owner was G, of course, but was since sold off to someone in Florida (if it’s you, or you know the owner, I’d love to know). That owner drilled out the lugs to have the outside holes pass through for a compression bar, and I believe had the lugs re-shaped to be more round. . G, I believe, only kept the lugs, etc., “stock” but clearly gutted the case for the movement and you can read the other details in his thread. I think the 2nd owner also aged the watch a bit, and in the process really F’ed up the CG. Way too aged and pitted for my taste. Almost ruined, I thought, but I’ll touch on this more in my ownership.
The 3rd owner was @stan_wu , from HK. He asked G to further modify the watch to his liking. This included a 3pc RP dial, and exhibition style engraved case back with glass. Remember, this watch had a compression fit solid case back, so this wasn’t at all an easy bit of work. Well, G was at hand here, so routine business for him! Really cool engravings were made. My favorite touch was the 1/52 designation. Very clever there, G! The 3pc dial also needed more room than the original dial, so up-up-and away with the bezel assembly and a taller spacer became employed. Thick plexi was milled out of a solid block of plastic. Not sure if it was newly made at the time here or originally made this way from G. It was never really documented. No sub-seconds was used on the dial at any time. Not sure if the original seconds post and gears are still there or if it was never there or removed. For the movement, no ring was used but rather the case back was used to align and secure it. Well, it wasn’t perfect. It was a bit loose and banged around a bit when being wound. Stan’s watchmaker fit some cushions to secure it more and gave it a service since it was losing some time.
cal.190 dsn egi by aboccia22, on Flickr
stanwu1 by aboccia22, on Flickr
stanwu2 by aboccia22, on Flickr
After I saw this on G’s website for sale, I remember reading about it WAY back and thought…MAN, I’ve got to see if I can manage to get it. This required a massive sell-off of my other builds, but I do not regret it. Sure, I’d LOVE to have one of the 240 builds he made, but I can’t imagine I’d ever see one FS ANY time soon. Luckily, I’m now the 4th owner (THANK YOU STAN!). I had the pleasure to deal with Stan from HK. It could not have been a smoother transaction, REALLY nice and generous guy. Since ownership, I needed a bit more of “my touch” put into it. I wasn’t happy with the CG looks/action or lever…or the fact that the movement still had some play when being wound. The CG lever also fit loosely against the crown and didn’t really make that nice “snap” I was after when closing. Picky, picky, I know, but it’s only the small details that would make me completely happy.
This movement is a tank. In order to wind up a tank, you need some serious finger power. So much so that if you decide to wind this bad boy up with the crown guard on, plan on losing about 10 layers of skin. OUCH! You'll only need to do it 1x a week/8 days, so I remove the guard and use a rubber ball to wind this movement up. It's the only sane way to go.
Off with the case back and let’s see if I can fix these issues. I decided to replace the foam cushions found on the movement plates (not visible through the glass) with legit 3m double sided thick tape with only 1 side stuck so removing the case back could happen without much effort.
WHOOPS! SNAP, CRACK!
The case back glass must have been quite thin or old. It shattered after the 2nd attempt to press it back on with my palm. THANKFULLY no shards were small enough to F’up the movement, and only a minor repair was needed ahead of me. I searched to get a plexi or new glass to fit on there. It was easier to find a glass the right size then get a complete custom job done for a plexi, so I thought I’d try ebay. I found a nice slight dome mineral glass on the ‘bay for around $15. DONE. With a bit of UV glue, it fit like a charm and I love it!
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Did I mention SNAP? Yep, I managed to snap off a CG screw. Luckily my dad has a drill press and we managed to drill out the screw. Threads were M1.4 and I had plenty of extra, long cheese heads that fit in the CG. The holes go all the way through the case. I’m not too concerned. I’m not going in the water with this.
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Finally, the CG. Pitted and aged entirely too much. I thought it was a lost hope so I looked into having one made as nobody has these lined up in spare parts bins and nothing extra from DSN. Being the cheap ass I typically am, I didn’t want to spend the potential hundreds of dollars to have a “one-off” made and the only one I found that would really consider making me one was NZ. Thanks for the offer for your services, Joe. I tried to sand it down instead. It took a while and a good amount of elbow grease to get most of the lines out…but for now I’m ok with how it looks. I also picked up G’s custom lever. LOVE it! I needed something better that fit tight and had great action. That also took some elbow grease, since it came machine finished, but the end result is really nice IMHO and a HUGE improvement.
by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
it still needed to get polished more, but you can see for yourself in the photos.
to finish off the build, i asked Michael for one of his STRAPS68 Sandara beauties with sewn-in pre-v sterile buckle. the man knows how to make a gorgeous strap. THANK YOU, sir!
I hope you enjoyed the read. I’m very passionate for the EGI. Sorry if I bored the hell out of you or if I got some facts incorrect. Enjoy the photos:
more fun facts:
-52mm case not measuring the CG-60mm with
-48.8mm ID case opening
-49.1mm Lip case back-slight bevel and notches made to clear movement balance
-39mm dial, 2mm thick dial, not sure if there is a base plate...i htink it's applied with dial tape
-36.8mm rehaut
-39.7mm inner rehaut (dial seat)
178g without the strap
-26mm overall height/thickness
Movement fun facts:
Angelus 190 (remember-reduced by G)= 46.51mm smallest OD, 48.5mm largest OD
Kpoy built A.Schild (most likely reduced as well)= 37.34mm smallest OD, 42.33mm largest OD
eBay sourced A.Schild=41.42mm smallest OD, 46.73 largest OD
Watch weights:
this DSN EGI build= 178g
kpoy 55mm EGI build= 162g
PAM569 47mm Ti=123g
River 44mm CarboTech=86g
15000 DJ=35g
by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flick
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
Untitled by aboccia22, on Flickr
To my knowledge, there are several homage options: Cartel 47mm, DSN 52mm, Cartel 55mm, and finally the Cartel 60mm. All mostly have either the A21J, standard 7750 movement or a modified version such as the DSN with removed automatic parts in order to retain the hand wind “feel.” The DSN also had the option to have the 6497/8 movement, but sub seconds spacing was not right and it was used more for a dial without sub-seconds. Then, there were some of you who wanted something more. Something different. Something so incredibly ridiculous that some would wonder why in the heck would you do that? Why not put the original movement AKA: Angelus 240 into the homages? That’s what belongs in there in the first place, right? Ok, fine…but what about its BIG brother? The Angelus 190? The A.Schild designed clocks NEVER designed for the wrist, but rather in airplanes or desks as clocks. In comes Gordon, AKA nightwatch. What in the heck was he thinking? Well, have a read for yourself…
This is the DSN 52mm Monster creation originally built by G. for a total of 2 watches. He documented them @HF1.0, repgeek, and at one time on his website. He went on later to produce a more complete and proper creation with the 240 before the cases became sold out. You can read about chapter 1 and 2 here:
http://www.homageforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&p=6183
http://www.homageforum.com/viewtopic...8288&view=next
https://www.repgeek.com/my-latest-vi...oject-1-a.html
https://www.repgeek.com/my-latest-vi...oject-2-a.html
The 1st owner was G, of course, but was since sold off to someone in Florida (if it’s you, or you know the owner, I’d love to know). That owner drilled out the lugs to have the outside holes pass through for a compression bar, and I believe had the lugs re-shaped to be more round. . G, I believe, only kept the lugs, etc., “stock” but clearly gutted the case for the movement and you can read the other details in his thread. I think the 2nd owner also aged the watch a bit, and in the process really F’ed up the CG. Way too aged and pitted for my taste. Almost ruined, I thought, but I’ll touch on this more in my ownership.
The 3rd owner was @stan_wu , from HK. He asked G to further modify the watch to his liking. This included a 3pc RP dial, and exhibition style engraved case back with glass. Remember, this watch had a compression fit solid case back, so this wasn’t at all an easy bit of work. Well, G was at hand here, so routine business for him! Really cool engravings were made. My favorite touch was the 1/52 designation. Very clever there, G! The 3pc dial also needed more room than the original dial, so up-up-and away with the bezel assembly and a taller spacer became employed. Thick plexi was milled out of a solid block of plastic. Not sure if it was newly made at the time here or originally made this way from G. It was never really documented. No sub-seconds was used on the dial at any time. Not sure if the original seconds post and gears are still there or if it was never there or removed. For the movement, no ring was used but rather the case back was used to align and secure it. Well, it wasn’t perfect. It was a bit loose and banged around a bit when being wound. Stan’s watchmaker fit some cushions to secure it more and gave it a service since it was losing some time.
After I saw this on G’s website for sale, I remember reading about it WAY back and thought…MAN, I’ve got to see if I can manage to get it. This required a massive sell-off of my other builds, but I do not regret it. Sure, I’d LOVE to have one of the 240 builds he made, but I can’t imagine I’d ever see one FS ANY time soon. Luckily, I’m now the 4th owner (THANK YOU STAN!). I had the pleasure to deal with Stan from HK. It could not have been a smoother transaction, REALLY nice and generous guy. Since ownership, I needed a bit more of “my touch” put into it. I wasn’t happy with the CG looks/action or lever…or the fact that the movement still had some play when being wound. The CG lever also fit loosely against the crown and didn’t really make that nice “snap” I was after when closing. Picky, picky, I know, but it’s only the small details that would make me completely happy.
This movement is a tank. In order to wind up a tank, you need some serious finger power. So much so that if you decide to wind this bad boy up with the crown guard on, plan on losing about 10 layers of skin. OUCH! You'll only need to do it 1x a week/8 days, so I remove the guard and use a rubber ball to wind this movement up. It's the only sane way to go.
Off with the case back and let’s see if I can fix these issues. I decided to replace the foam cushions found on the movement plates (not visible through the glass) with legit 3m double sided thick tape with only 1 side stuck so removing the case back could happen without much effort.
WHOOPS! SNAP, CRACK!
The case back glass must have been quite thin or old. It shattered after the 2nd attempt to press it back on with my palm. THANKFULLY no shards were small enough to F’up the movement, and only a minor repair was needed ahead of me. I searched to get a plexi or new glass to fit on there. It was easier to find a glass the right size then get a complete custom job done for a plexi, so I thought I’d try ebay. I found a nice slight dome mineral glass on the ‘bay for around $15. DONE. With a bit of UV glue, it fit like a charm and I love it!
Did I mention SNAP? Yep, I managed to snap off a CG screw. Luckily my dad has a drill press and we managed to drill out the screw. Threads were M1.4 and I had plenty of extra, long cheese heads that fit in the CG. The holes go all the way through the case. I’m not too concerned. I’m not going in the water with this.
Finally, the CG. Pitted and aged entirely too much. I thought it was a lost hope so I looked into having one made as nobody has these lined up in spare parts bins and nothing extra from DSN. Being the cheap ass I typically am, I didn’t want to spend the potential hundreds of dollars to have a “one-off” made and the only one I found that would really consider making me one was NZ. Thanks for the offer for your services, Joe. I tried to sand it down instead. It took a while and a good amount of elbow grease to get most of the lines out…but for now I’m ok with how it looks. I also picked up G’s custom lever. LOVE it! I needed something better that fit tight and had great action. That also took some elbow grease, since it came machine finished, but the end result is really nice IMHO and a HUGE improvement.
it still needed to get polished more, but you can see for yourself in the photos.
to finish off the build, i asked Michael for one of his STRAPS68 Sandara beauties with sewn-in pre-v sterile buckle. the man knows how to make a gorgeous strap. THANK YOU, sir!
I hope you enjoyed the read. I’m very passionate for the EGI. Sorry if I bored the hell out of you or if I got some facts incorrect. Enjoy the photos:
more fun facts:
-52mm case not measuring the CG-60mm with
-48.8mm ID case opening
-49.1mm Lip case back-slight bevel and notches made to clear movement balance
-39mm dial, 2mm thick dial, not sure if there is a base plate...i htink it's applied with dial tape
-36.8mm rehaut
-39.7mm inner rehaut (dial seat)
178g without the strap
-26mm overall height/thickness
Movement fun facts:
Angelus 190 (remember-reduced by G)= 46.51mm smallest OD, 48.5mm largest OD
Kpoy built A.Schild (most likely reduced as well)= 37.34mm smallest OD, 42.33mm largest OD
eBay sourced A.Schild=41.42mm smallest OD, 46.73 largest OD
Watch weights:
this DSN EGI build= 178g
kpoy 55mm EGI build= 162g
PAM569 47mm Ti=123g
River 44mm CarboTech=86g
15000 DJ=35g
