To me one of the greatest things about vintage Panerai is the handmade, raw look. The best and only 6152/1, 6154, 3646, Calis, or Hornlugs don't come from Noob Factory, or H Factory, or KW, or ZF. Instead they painstakingly sanded, tweaked, refined, and hammered together. The dials are hand painted and lumed and then humbly emerge from NeckyFactory, MellonsFactory, IrateFactory (too many to list them all) with parts from Athaya, Esdee, Elias, Southy (bigwaved), B-uhr, Ross, Daytona, Gordon, Jackson etc... Spend some time on the vintage section in HF if you don't know what I'm talking about. There are far too many incredibly talented members to list them all.
In fact, My very first post on HomageForum was about 18 months ago. It was my pre-order for Athaya's (Adrian's) 6152/1 case set. I had no idea what I was getting into. I just knew I wanted a 6152 and I couldn't bring myself to let a Noob 127 take it's place. I have struggled with finding time and energy to pour into one of these builds, because it became clear to me that this would not just be assembling a bunch of pieces. It was going to take some effort to be something that I'd be proud of wearing and some skill and patience that at the time I frankly hadn't developed yet. Finally over the summer, I made a game plan for my parts and executed it. I think it came out pretty well, but I'd love to hear your input.
Here's the latest release out of my own home office factory. The Adrian 6152/1
Build Specs:
Adrian Caseset, Crown, CG, Display caseback,
3 Piece Plexi Insert Dial painted and finished by me.
MARLIN Rollie bridges with CDG finish installed on a (heavily oiled...LOL) 3602 by me.
It all starts with the dial. If you've looked at pictures of 6152/1 dials you'll know there are hundreds of ways to finish these and still be within the realm of possibility for a gen like appearance. I chose a Radiomir Panerai dial with a weathered look, some mild saltwater staining, on a radial brushed finish.
I did with with matte black Tamiya paint, filled the text with white crayon, used some gray pigment for the saltwater look. This was spun on a Dremel against a scotchbrite pad to achieve the radial look. The radial finish isn't exactly like anything I've seen before, it's kind of a combo of radial brushed and radium burned. But I'm happy with it. The aged tall tube hands with faux CP were installed on top of my Molnija 3602 after I installed the Marlin bridges.
Now I'm almost ready to go. It was important for me to give this watch a chance of being water resistant. so I installed a flat gasket off of an H factory crown and sanded down the brass tube to allow for the fit. This was the most painstaking part. There is very little room for error. Take too much off (which I did) and you need to order a new tube. After some trial and error and two tubes, I got it correct! Now I can wind the watch AND set the time without removing the CG to do it LOL.
I won't go into the quality and accuracy of the Adrian case. I will just say simply...it is astonishing for the price. Gen spec, gen construction, etc, etc...
One thing to mod is the CG Pin. On the gen it has a rounded tip protrudes from each side of the CG. I recreated that look with a paper clip
On to the Marlin CDG finished Rollie bridges. The man is a master. They are perfect (even though the Molly is a pain in the ass). Thanks for your work on the bridges Marlin. I can't get enough of watching this thing tick through the gorgeous display caseback with gen like engraving.
Notice the Brass movement holder here
and the brass tube... I love how the gold peaks out from under the crown.
Finally, there's not a chance in hell you could have one of these builds with out an ELIAS buckle and a B-uhr vintage tan strap.
The vintage tail
I leave you with some wrist shots. Thanks for reading!
In fact, My very first post on HomageForum was about 18 months ago. It was my pre-order for Athaya's (Adrian's) 6152/1 case set. I had no idea what I was getting into. I just knew I wanted a 6152 and I couldn't bring myself to let a Noob 127 take it's place. I have struggled with finding time and energy to pour into one of these builds, because it became clear to me that this would not just be assembling a bunch of pieces. It was going to take some effort to be something that I'd be proud of wearing and some skill and patience that at the time I frankly hadn't developed yet. Finally over the summer, I made a game plan for my parts and executed it. I think it came out pretty well, but I'd love to hear your input.
Here's the latest release out of my own home office factory. The Adrian 6152/1
Build Specs:
Adrian Caseset, Crown, CG, Display caseback,
3 Piece Plexi Insert Dial painted and finished by me.
MARLIN Rollie bridges with CDG finish installed on a (heavily oiled...LOL) 3602 by me.
It all starts with the dial. If you've looked at pictures of 6152/1 dials you'll know there are hundreds of ways to finish these and still be within the realm of possibility for a gen like appearance. I chose a Radiomir Panerai dial with a weathered look, some mild saltwater staining, on a radial brushed finish.
I did with with matte black Tamiya paint, filled the text with white crayon, used some gray pigment for the saltwater look. This was spun on a Dremel against a scotchbrite pad to achieve the radial look. The radial finish isn't exactly like anything I've seen before, it's kind of a combo of radial brushed and radium burned. But I'm happy with it. The aged tall tube hands with faux CP were installed on top of my Molnija 3602 after I installed the Marlin bridges.
Now I'm almost ready to go. It was important for me to give this watch a chance of being water resistant. so I installed a flat gasket off of an H factory crown and sanded down the brass tube to allow for the fit. This was the most painstaking part. There is very little room for error. Take too much off (which I did) and you need to order a new tube. After some trial and error and two tubes, I got it correct! Now I can wind the watch AND set the time without removing the CG to do it LOL.
I won't go into the quality and accuracy of the Adrian case. I will just say simply...it is astonishing for the price. Gen spec, gen construction, etc, etc...
One thing to mod is the CG Pin. On the gen it has a rounded tip protrudes from each side of the CG. I recreated that look with a paper clip
On to the Marlin CDG finished Rollie bridges. The man is a master. They are perfect (even though the Molly is a pain in the ass). Thanks for your work on the bridges Marlin. I can't get enough of watching this thing tick through the gorgeous display caseback with gen like engraving.
Notice the Brass movement holder here
and the brass tube... I love how the gold peaks out from under the crown.
Finally, there's not a chance in hell you could have one of these builds with out an ELIAS buckle and a B-uhr vintage tan strap.
The vintage tail
I leave you with some wrist shots. Thanks for reading!
