This original thread was made by houndoggie over at HomageForum and this is his Panerai crown guard tutorial so full props to him for creating it. I only did the image re-uploads (which capturing from PB took some effort). The words are his so please bear this in mind. :lmao:
By following these steps you may end up with something nice or a piece of sh*t. However, I always end up with something nice (gets better every time). ***NOTE*** There are pictures of replica Panerai watches at the end displaying CGs that I have modded... just pretend they are homages... OKAY.
THE STUFF I USE (your stuff may be different)
Sandpaper in grits 180,220,320,400,600,800,1000,1500 to shape and finish
Storage box for screws and parts
Scotchbrite pad to impart brushed finish
Screw driver for installation and removal
Hand pusher to install CG pin
tweezer to hold little stuff and pluck nose hairs
my freebie "smart tool" from Orient watches to remove the pin from the CG
6 bar polishing compound set and associated dremel tool rag wheels plus one "clean" ragwheel
One beer. if you drink more than one beer during this mod, you are a drunk or too damn slow
safety glasses
Plumbers epoxy. to tighten the lever around the pin. You can use hot glue (works well) or gorilla glue (messy but works), or whatever else you may think will do.
my dremel tool mounted on my dremel drill press thing and dremel adjustable drill chuck because I hate changing collets.
The polish compound can be purchased from Amazon.com for $12. Everything else should be available at a hobby or hardware store. If you don't have a hand pusher, I think the back end of a bic pen would suffice.
Links to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000302ZV/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LPN3WQ/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OVPGYA/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009STAYA/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068P48O/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000302XV/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.findingking.com/p-29593-watch-hand-remover-hand-press-tweezers-4pcs.aspx
The victim. Had this one is just lying around and doesn't have a home. Notice the pin is neither flush nor flat.
The Process:
Using these steps will yield 3 common types of CG finishes: all brushed, brushed with polished pin, and all polished.
First remove the CG from the watch head. Use the largest blade screwdriver that will cleanly turn in the screw access holes to insure not stripping your screw heads. Once removed, store these screws safely, you will have a ***** of a time finding them if you lose them and replacements are not handy.
Push the pin out from the CG and separate the lever, pin, and guard. Store the pin with the screws
Now, mix up a little bit of plumbers epoxy per the manufacturers instructions and then fill the hole in the lever with it. Don't be messy. Make a little ball of left over epoxy to used to gauge it's set. After about a minute, reassemble the CG putting it all back together and cleanup any excess epoxy that oozes out. Use the tweezers to hold the pin and the hand pusher (or pen) to push the pin down. Push the pin in until the is is near to flush, but sticking out enough so that the dome is completely above the surface CG. You may have to push hard. Once it is back in, open and close the lever one or two times. You will want to do this every so often as you sand and finish to prevent the epoxy from bonding everything together.
Now we sand. Using linear strokes and in one direction, swipe the CG across the sandpaper along its long axis, following the grain of brushed finish. Only about 5-10 swipes per grit is needed. Use all the grits up to 1500, don't forget to open and close the lever once in awhile. At this point the pin will be perfect flush and almost disappear. The finish will have a sheen to it.
At this point if you want to have a completely brushed CG, pin and all, use the same technique on the Scotch brite pad (linear, in the direction you want to grain it, uni directional strokes). Then you are done!
More
Now, we will continue on for the brushed CG/polished pin and all polished CG....
after sanding to 1500grit as above, we will now polish the pin while it is in the crown guard. This insures that we keep the pin flat and also in the same plane as the top of the CG.
I start using the dremel and polish compounds, using all 6, starting at black and finishing with the green. Just polish the pin and the area around the pin if you are going for the brushed CG/polished pin look. If you want a completely polished CG and pin, polish the whole damned thing
Just load up each ragwheel with compound by holding the bar against the spinning wheel (you want a separate rag wheel for each bar. I drilled a little hole in each bar to hold each rag wheel so I don't get them mixed up-- modded polishing bar!). Buff the pin with each successive grit until it shines nicely (doesn't take long, maybe 10 seconds per bar). Then use the "clean" rag wheel (no compound) to clean up the CG
Now the pin is nicely polished (or the whole CG if you went that route-if so you are done!).
We need to remove the pin again to get a brushed finish on the CG where is was polished while we were polishing the pin. Store it safely!!
Take the pinless CG and swipe it on the Scotchbrite like you did with the sandpaper to restore a nice brushed finish to it.
Nice brushed finish!!
Using the tweezers and hand pusher (or pen) re insert the polish pin back into the CG. ***EDIT*** USE A PIECE OF ELECTRICAL TAPE FOLDED STICKY SIDES IN BETWEEN THE PUSHER AND THE PIN TO AVOID MARRING THE FINISH ***EDIT** You might have to push hard. Open and close the lever to ensure it works nicely. Congrats!!!
Reinstall the CG on the watch CAREFULLY.. always make sure to turn the screws counter clockwise lightly until you feel the threads drop in. Then tighten down the screws clockwise and enjoy!
Addendum for some glamour shots of CGs done with this technique: (note the full polish CGs need to be refinished because I didn't have the 800-1500 grit paper at the time)
Here is a photo of how my previous technique of the polished pin/brushed CG looks (achieved by finishing the CG to a brushed finish, removing the pin and polishing it by itself and then re inserting it):
BEFORE
AFTER
Thanks for looking! ;D
By following these steps you may end up with something nice or a piece of sh*t. However, I always end up with something nice (gets better every time). ***NOTE*** There are pictures of replica Panerai watches at the end displaying CGs that I have modded... just pretend they are homages... OKAY.
THE STUFF I USE (your stuff may be different)
Sandpaper in grits 180,220,320,400,600,800,1000,1500 to shape and finish
Storage box for screws and parts
Scotchbrite pad to impart brushed finish
Screw driver for installation and removal
Hand pusher to install CG pin
tweezer to hold little stuff and pluck nose hairs
my freebie "smart tool" from Orient watches to remove the pin from the CG
6 bar polishing compound set and associated dremel tool rag wheels plus one "clean" ragwheel
One beer. if you drink more than one beer during this mod, you are a drunk or too damn slow
safety glasses
Plumbers epoxy. to tighten the lever around the pin. You can use hot glue (works well) or gorilla glue (messy but works), or whatever else you may think will do.
my dremel tool mounted on my dremel drill press thing and dremel adjustable drill chuck because I hate changing collets.
The polish compound can be purchased from Amazon.com for $12. Everything else should be available at a hobby or hardware store. If you don't have a hand pusher, I think the back end of a bic pen would suffice.
Links to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000302ZV/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LPN3WQ/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OVPGYA/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009STAYA/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068P48O/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000302XV/?tag=watchinfo022-20
http://www.findingking.com/p-29593-watch-hand-remover-hand-press-tweezers-4pcs.aspx
The victim. Had this one is just lying around and doesn't have a home. Notice the pin is neither flush nor flat.
The Process:
Using these steps will yield 3 common types of CG finishes: all brushed, brushed with polished pin, and all polished.
First remove the CG from the watch head. Use the largest blade screwdriver that will cleanly turn in the screw access holes to insure not stripping your screw heads. Once removed, store these screws safely, you will have a ***** of a time finding them if you lose them and replacements are not handy.
Push the pin out from the CG and separate the lever, pin, and guard. Store the pin with the screws
Now, mix up a little bit of plumbers epoxy per the manufacturers instructions and then fill the hole in the lever with it. Don't be messy. Make a little ball of left over epoxy to used to gauge it's set. After about a minute, reassemble the CG putting it all back together and cleanup any excess epoxy that oozes out. Use the tweezers to hold the pin and the hand pusher (or pen) to push the pin down. Push the pin in until the is is near to flush, but sticking out enough so that the dome is completely above the surface CG. You may have to push hard. Once it is back in, open and close the lever one or two times. You will want to do this every so often as you sand and finish to prevent the epoxy from bonding everything together.
Now we sand. Using linear strokes and in one direction, swipe the CG across the sandpaper along its long axis, following the grain of brushed finish. Only about 5-10 swipes per grit is needed. Use all the grits up to 1500, don't forget to open and close the lever once in awhile. At this point the pin will be perfect flush and almost disappear. The finish will have a sheen to it.
At this point if you want to have a completely brushed CG, pin and all, use the same technique on the Scotch brite pad (linear, in the direction you want to grain it, uni directional strokes). Then you are done!
More
Now, we will continue on for the brushed CG/polished pin and all polished CG....
after sanding to 1500grit as above, we will now polish the pin while it is in the crown guard. This insures that we keep the pin flat and also in the same plane as the top of the CG.
I start using the dremel and polish compounds, using all 6, starting at black and finishing with the green. Just polish the pin and the area around the pin if you are going for the brushed CG/polished pin look. If you want a completely polished CG and pin, polish the whole damned thing
Just load up each ragwheel with compound by holding the bar against the spinning wheel (you want a separate rag wheel for each bar. I drilled a little hole in each bar to hold each rag wheel so I don't get them mixed up-- modded polishing bar!). Buff the pin with each successive grit until it shines nicely (doesn't take long, maybe 10 seconds per bar). Then use the "clean" rag wheel (no compound) to clean up the CG
Now the pin is nicely polished (or the whole CG if you went that route-if so you are done!).
We need to remove the pin again to get a brushed finish on the CG where is was polished while we were polishing the pin. Store it safely!!
Take the pinless CG and swipe it on the Scotchbrite like you did with the sandpaper to restore a nice brushed finish to it.
Nice brushed finish!!
Using the tweezers and hand pusher (or pen) re insert the polish pin back into the CG. ***EDIT*** USE A PIECE OF ELECTRICAL TAPE FOLDED STICKY SIDES IN BETWEEN THE PUSHER AND THE PIN TO AVOID MARRING THE FINISH ***EDIT** You might have to push hard. Open and close the lever to ensure it works nicely. Congrats!!!
Reinstall the CG on the watch CAREFULLY.. always make sure to turn the screws counter clockwise lightly until you feel the threads drop in. Then tighten down the screws clockwise and enjoy!
Addendum for some glamour shots of CGs done with this technique: (note the full polish CGs need to be refinished because I didn't have the 800-1500 grit paper at the time)
Here is a photo of how my previous technique of the polished pin/brushed CG looks (achieved by finishing the CG to a brushed finish, removing the pin and polishing it by itself and then re inserting it):
BEFORE
AFTER
Thanks for looking! ;D
