As the title says I received a 5th gen PO with swiss eta from Josh the other day with the intention of building my own franken. I've been checking the various boards for advice but no one seems to have actually done a mod on the 5th gen yet. Perhaps I just haven't been able to find the right threads :lol: Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and purchased a gen dial and hands from ofrei, which came in super quick time considering I'm in Australia and it came from the States. I then felt buyers remorse and splashed out for a gen crystal which is on its way as I type. I must put in a word of thanks to R2D4 for his comprehensive list that I used to get the gen part numbers. Thanks R2!
Anyway I digress, on to the build.....
Ready, steady, go!! Bracelet off ready to crack the case.
Case opened to reveal the movement. I did see the 2824-2 and the ETA stamp. May have to check later and verify whether it is infact a Swiss and not an asian clone.
Movement in its holder
Removing the hands. I just used regular note pad paper to protect the dial when I removed the hands. Worked a treat.
After I removed the dial from the movement. To remove the dial from the movement I followed the instructions written by RC42 for replacing dial, hands and crystal on a UPO and can be found here: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=24567
The procedure was exactly the same with no deviation whatsoever. The piece of rodico putty in the picture was to stop the balance wheel from moving.
The two dials side by side. Gen is on the right. The two dials are actually so close its scary! Gen is brighter, better lume and of course the writing is bright white and not silver! But you have to look really hard to see differences, especially to the untrained eye. Okay scratch that, the dial is really very black and the lettering very bright white. The more I look at it on my wrist the more it stands out.
Now for the hard part (for me anyway
) the hands. The only real problem I had here was the clearance between the hour and second hands. Its a very very fine clearance and I needed to scrutinise it through a loupe to be sure as I didn't want to scratch my brand new hands. In the end I needed to tap the back of the second hand and that sorted it out.
All the hands set properly. The nerve wracking work is now done.
Replaced movement in the case with freshly greased o-ring. Some more pictures of the finished product.
All in all it wasn't an overly difficult mod and now that I have done this one I'll definitely do another. The gen dial is just out of this world and I can't describe the difference it makes. I can't wait for my gen crystal to get here as I'm sure that will improve it even further! I would also like to say thanks to my adoring wife who supplied me with necessary sustenance (single malt scotch ) during this time.
I'll update the pics when my gen crystal gets here in a week or so. So yes, the 5th Gen can be modded. Very easily in fact. Have fun guys.:cowboy:
Anyway I digress, on to the build.....
Ready, steady, go!! Bracelet off ready to crack the case.
Case opened to reveal the movement. I did see the 2824-2 and the ETA stamp. May have to check later and verify whether it is infact a Swiss and not an asian clone.
Movement in its holder
Removing the hands. I just used regular note pad paper to protect the dial when I removed the hands. Worked a treat.
After I removed the dial from the movement. To remove the dial from the movement I followed the instructions written by RC42 for replacing dial, hands and crystal on a UPO and can be found here: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=24567
The procedure was exactly the same with no deviation whatsoever. The piece of rodico putty in the picture was to stop the balance wheel from moving.
The two dials side by side. Gen is on the right. The two dials are actually so close its scary! Gen is brighter, better lume and of course the writing is bright white and not silver! But you have to look really hard to see differences, especially to the untrained eye. Okay scratch that, the dial is really very black and the lettering very bright white. The more I look at it on my wrist the more it stands out.
Now for the hard part (for me anyway
) the hands. The only real problem I had here was the clearance between the hour and second hands. Its a very very fine clearance and I needed to scrutinise it through a loupe to be sure as I didn't want to scratch my brand new hands. In the end I needed to tap the back of the second hand and that sorted it out.
All the hands set properly. The nerve wracking work is now done.
Replaced movement in the case with freshly greased o-ring. Some more pictures of the finished product.
All in all it wasn't an overly difficult mod and now that I have done this one I'll definitely do another. The gen dial is just out of this world and I can't describe the difference it makes. I can't wait for my gen crystal to get here as I'm sure that will improve it even further! I would also like to say thanks to my adoring wife who supplied me with necessary sustenance (single malt scotch
) during this time.I'll update the pics when my gen crystal gets here in a week or so. So yes, the 5th Gen can be modded. Very easily in fact. Have fun guys.:cowboy:
