Originally posted June 11, 2015
There's a watch that since the very begining of my addiction to Panerais has awakened my imagination: the reference 6154, also called "egiziano piccolo" (small egyptian).
It seems that only 30 of these watches were developed and built by Officine Panerai for the egyptian army around 1954. The burning desert sun, the sand, and the radium applied on hands and indices left their mark making each watch a unique and beautiful piece of art.
Cracked indices, radium burns on the dial surface, infinite color variations ranging from yellow to dark brown and black, slight differences in case shape: every single detail of every single 6154 I see speaks to me in a way.
Some gens
And my build
I spent a fair amount of hours researching and trying methods for ageing, reshaping and refinishing the case and parts for this build (and even more time fixing stuff I broke while experimenting... :lol
I learnt a lot and had great fun doing it, so I can consider this time very well spent and something that gives me great satisfaction.
Parts used for this build:
HANDS
Adrian's (Athaya) tall tube hands are a must. Sanded and aged by me, tube has been lowered yet the hands stand tall because that's how I like them
A faux CP was added as well.
DIAL
For this project I was lucky enough to find a ready made matte black dial with cracked indices painted by non other than irate03.
I think you can agree with me he's one of the most skilled dial painters and this apparently simple dial shows it quite clearly: perfect textured matte charcoal black dial color and beautiful beige cracked indices.
CASE
I started with a polished River 6154 case, the case has been very slightly reshaped as the result I was after for this build was a 6154 with a bit "fat" case, so only the upper side has been softened and lightened around the corners. The lateral creases have been slightly softened as well.
The case was aged, then re-polished. I was deliberately careless since I wanted it to look like it was roughly restored.
I still have a long way to go before I get to the result I'm after, but I consider myself happy for this first try
Just for your reference here's an almost untouched case:
PLEXIGLASS
Well, that's funny... I did not think of removing the plexi before buffing the case with a felt wheel and actually the result was the plexi almost melting due to the high temperature reached by the case. :shok: :shock:
I did not have a spare so I needed a McGyver-style fix that could restore a somewhat rounded shape of the plexi. I achieved this by sanding the plexi external border, and this gave it a sort of opaque effect. Since I liked the way it looked I decided to leave it like this.
CASEBACK
Caseback engravings have been filled with enamel paint. The paint was partially removed for a worn look. Movement is my recent favourite, the Molnija 3602 with brushed plates. These russian pocket watch movements are moderately cheap and widely available, they keep decent time once regulated and despite their age they often have a 40+ hours power reserve.
Most of all they are very robust and simple, very important features considering the above said inclination to break things
STRAP
I had this wonderful strap sitting in my drawer for a while, waiting for the right piece to show up. It's a vintage mud colored crocodile skin made by Orloff that suits perfectly the look and mood of this watch imho.
On to a few more pics:
Well, that's all for now. A few more projects are in the making and will be ready anytime in the next few months, as soon as I end up gathering parts.
Thanks for your attention, any input and advice is very welcome, I love to keep learning
THE 6154 RADIOMIR PANERAI
"l'egiziano piccolo"
"l'egiziano piccolo"
There's a watch that since the very begining of my addiction to Panerais has awakened my imagination: the reference 6154, also called "egiziano piccolo" (small egyptian).
It seems that only 30 of these watches were developed and built by Officine Panerai for the egyptian army around 1954. The burning desert sun, the sand, and the radium applied on hands and indices left their mark making each watch a unique and beautiful piece of art.
Cracked indices, radium burns on the dial surface, infinite color variations ranging from yellow to dark brown and black, slight differences in case shape: every single detail of every single 6154 I see speaks to me in a way.
Some gens
And my build
I spent a fair amount of hours researching and trying methods for ageing, reshaping and refinishing the case and parts for this build (and even more time fixing stuff I broke while experimenting... :lol
I learnt a lot and had great fun doing it, so I can consider this time very well spent and something that gives me great satisfaction.
Parts used for this build:
HANDS
Adrian's (Athaya) tall tube hands are a must. Sanded and aged by me, tube has been lowered yet the hands stand tall because that's how I like them
A faux CP was added as well.
DIAL
For this project I was lucky enough to find a ready made matte black dial with cracked indices painted by non other than irate03.
I think you can agree with me he's one of the most skilled dial painters and this apparently simple dial shows it quite clearly: perfect textured matte charcoal black dial color and beautiful beige cracked indices.
CASE
I started with a polished River 6154 case, the case has been very slightly reshaped as the result I was after for this build was a 6154 with a bit "fat" case, so only the upper side has been softened and lightened around the corners. The lateral creases have been slightly softened as well.
The case was aged, then re-polished. I was deliberately careless since I wanted it to look like it was roughly restored.
I still have a long way to go before I get to the result I'm after, but I consider myself happy for this first try
Just for your reference here's an almost untouched case:
PLEXIGLASS
Well, that's funny... I did not think of removing the plexi before buffing the case with a felt wheel and actually the result was the plexi almost melting due to the high temperature reached by the case. :shok:
:shock:I did not have a spare so I needed a McGyver-style fix that could restore a somewhat rounded shape of the plexi. I achieved this by sanding the plexi external border, and this gave it a sort of opaque effect. Since I liked the way it looked I decided to leave it like this.
CASEBACK
Caseback engravings have been filled with enamel paint. The paint was partially removed for a worn look. Movement is my recent favourite, the Molnija 3602 with brushed plates. These russian pocket watch movements are moderately cheap and widely available, they keep decent time once regulated and despite their age they often have a 40+ hours power reserve.
Most of all they are very robust and simple, very important features considering the above said inclination to break things
STRAP
I had this wonderful strap sitting in my drawer for a while, waiting for the right piece to show up. It's a vintage mud colored crocodile skin made by Orloff that suits perfectly the look and mood of this watch imho.
On to a few more pics:
Well, that's all for now. A few more projects are in the making and will be ready anytime in the next few months, as soon as I end up gathering parts.
Thanks for your attention, any input and advice is very welcome, I love to keep learning
Last edited:
