Newb looking for advice

[statos]

I am a newbie in this forum/hobby and just bought a PAM196 Asian Valjoux 7750 Automatic from Trusty. One thing in advance, I am not posting this to complain or anything in this direction.
I received a very nice watch and good service. Now I amd considering the P250LB01 - PAM250 2006 DayLight Chrono 44mm Black -New Asia 7750 from the same source.
One thing I would like to know is:
is there any possibility to improve the date wheel in these models? The numbers are small and in addition the wheel is deep under the dial.

Again, the watch is very nice, runs well and looks well. Just a detail I would like to improve if possible. Or if you know of another source that also has good quality or if you have any other advice, I would be thankfull for PMs if postings are not allowed in this respect.

TIA,
George

 

[hooligan]

There are datewheels with improved printing, yes. You can try contacting "lello" over at rwg.cc. Unfortunately, there isn't a fix for the recessed date wheel.

 

[hubrisin]

Technically speaking, couldn't you make your own date wheel? Providing that you have the correct font and printer?
There would be two schools of thought to accomplish this in a reasonable way. The first is to make a new date wheel that fits over the old one. To create a new date wheel, draw it up in a vector program like Adobe Illustrator, print onto a plastic sheet (.010"). Or take the same artwork and print onto dry transfers, rub on and blamo!
I have made dry transfers before, they work very well. My other idea is to print the correct font onto a sheet of styrene or plastic and lay that wheel over the current one. This solves the problem if the wheel is too deep inside. I plan on testing this out this week, I'd appreciate any feedback from the group on this.

 

[Klink]

@hubrisin

getting techical on us!



Good for yoU

Life is Good!

Klink

maybe you give some compeition to lello.. : )

 

[sixbennetts]

I like your idea of a thicker plastic overlay, but I wonder if there will be room. I mean, if a thicker wheel would fit, wouldn't they have tried that? I dunno.

I'll be watching this thread, as there are LOTS of watches that could be fixed this way.

 

[Klink]

quite a few reps have different movemnts/datewheels than the watch they are going to be put into..

it is fairly common for a think overlay datewheel to be glued over the original.. and certainly, one can

easily use a thin plastic..

[think:2d7196mv]Just a thought..[/think:2d7196mv]

Life is Good!

Klink

 

[LegendofSpeed]

the thicker datewheel would run into an issue with hitting the transfer gears to move the seconds from 6 to 9.... those transfer gears are the reason for the recess you see...

as for printing overlays.. plastic sheet sounds good... how do you cut the inside/outside radius with the precision you will need to so as to match the datewheel "ring"... almost has to be stamped, no?

go for it though... you never know what can happen...

 

[Klink]

glue to datewheel

clamp upside down to worktable

cut with razor knife around datewhell

[think:1batex3c]dunno, what u do? lello makes overlays.. no?[/think:1batex3c]

Life is Good!

Klink

 

[LegendofSpeed]

lello actually gets eta blanks.. then has a professional printer make them for him... then it's press n play....

problem is, my last 3 lello DW's have major issues... my 2893 one didn't even fit when ziggy tried to install it... my 2893 063 is in the air on the way back with a lello datehweel coming back... the thing is going to be perfect other than that....

 

[Klink]

aha!

explains.. lello obvious infected with Chinese QC..

just that i recall from few years back on the original rwg was post about making datewheels.. meaning overlays..

oh well.. and next, so who is making dials.. lol

good luck with yours!!

Life is Good!

Klink

 

[hubrisin]

With some experimenting this evening, the smaller type faces needed for a date wheel are possible on a home office laster printer.
That said, is it better to run plastic through or use the dry transfers? Right now, thicker plastic is a disaster, tomorrow I'm trying the thinnest sheets I can find. So it might be better to do the transfers, but I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[statos]

Thanks for the replies guys. Seems difficult but if someone finds a viable solution, I am definitely interested.

 

[fakemaster]

That is such a beautiful watch to start with. Wonder if it's worth all the trouble?

 

[hooligan]

That is such a beautiful watch to start with. Wonder if it's worth all the trouble?

Why would you bother modding an ugly watch, fakes? :wink:

 

[fakemaster]

I think the 196 is pretty sharp. Maybe because it reminds me of the 212 a little bit.