Normally I wouldn't say David Wong and FTW in the same sentence. The man is a cheating scumbag, but he does have access to some decent Daytona, Tudor, and Pre-V cases.
Under the protection of eBay, I decided to order a few of his cases. Half of them arrived, the other half that he decided not to send, eBay reimbursed me for. I must have some good karma built up, because the cases that made it to the states were some really nice examples of Pre-V lug shape and bezel shape.
Then there is the HomageForum Master "Southy" He makes the best lumed versions of Pre-V dials ever created. I picked up my 4th and 5th Southy dials with his most recent and hopefully not final run
So now I've got all these great parts...what to do? You often see gen examples of dials that have achieved many different shades of patina all the way from pale yellow to pumpkin orange. The patina on the indicies was due to an application of lacquer that reacted with the tritium to produce various shades yellow. The hands on the other hand did not patina the same way the dials did. They did not have the lacquer application and stayed white to off-white in most cases. But I found a few gen photos that caught my eye. that had a nice truly matching yellow on yellow patina.
I decided to relume and repaint an old set of DSN hands and give it a shot!
Another shot of the gen
Most lumed dials end up loosing the depth of their indices. Southy has a technique to lume the dial without filling the numbers all the way up, thereby maintaining depth of the numbers and markers. Gen dials were bead blasted and anodized, not painted. This produces a shimmering effect in the correct light. Southy uses a special lacquer finish that reproduces this effect. In the macro view you can see the lacquer texture and the deep indicies.
But on the wrist, the effect is outstanding!
I installed the DSN PVD crown and tube along with a DSN CG. It fits the case almost perfectly. A little radial brushing and flattening of the CG pin and we are in business.
The DSN Pre-V Crown is VERY accurate, but needs a little clean up. I lightly polished the edges of the teeth and inside rim to give it the OEM sparkle.
Finally a little finishing touch. I got DSN to correct the "A" on his Pre-V casebacks.
Then my friend Elias on HF added some fine details to match the gen caseback
The gen:
Some parting wrist shots on the PAV99
and please don't forget the Elias Pre-V buckle...
I Love Pre-V
Under the protection of eBay, I decided to order a few of his cases. Half of them arrived, the other half that he decided not to send, eBay reimbursed me for. I must have some good karma built up, because the cases that made it to the states were some really nice examples of Pre-V lug shape and bezel shape.
Then there is the HomageForum Master "Southy" He makes the best lumed versions of Pre-V dials ever created. I picked up my 4th and 5th Southy dials with his most recent and hopefully not final run
So now I've got all these great parts...what to do? You often see gen examples of dials that have achieved many different shades of patina all the way from pale yellow to pumpkin orange. The patina on the indicies was due to an application of lacquer that reacted with the tritium to produce various shades yellow. The hands on the other hand did not patina the same way the dials did. They did not have the lacquer application and stayed white to off-white in most cases. But I found a few gen photos that caught my eye. that had a nice truly matching yellow on yellow patina.
I decided to relume and repaint an old set of DSN hands and give it a shot!
Another shot of the gen
Most lumed dials end up loosing the depth of their indices. Southy has a technique to lume the dial without filling the numbers all the way up, thereby maintaining depth of the numbers and markers. Gen dials were bead blasted and anodized, not painted. This produces a shimmering effect in the correct light. Southy uses a special lacquer finish that reproduces this effect. In the macro view you can see the lacquer texture and the deep indicies.
But on the wrist, the effect is outstanding!
I installed the DSN PVD crown and tube along with a DSN CG. It fits the case almost perfectly. A little radial brushing and flattening of the CG pin and we are in business.
The DSN Pre-V Crown is VERY accurate, but needs a little clean up. I lightly polished the edges of the teeth and inside rim to give it the OEM sparkle.
Finally a little finishing touch. I got DSN to correct the "A" on his Pre-V casebacks.
Then my friend Elias on HF added some fine details to match the gen caseback
The gen:
Some parting wrist shots on the PAV99
and please don't forget the Elias Pre-V buckle...
I Love Pre-V
