The twins
6152/1 dot dial prototypes
the same but not the same
6152/1 dot dial prototypes
the same but not the same
During my research on vintage Panerai I stumbled across a watch that sticked to my mind like only a few did. The lack of pics and information about that watch interested me even more so the quest started. The story behind it, as written in one of my books, says this 6152/1 with such prototype dial is a unique piece which still belongs to the Panerai family. As a matter of fact there were only two pics on that book and I could find only a couple more on the internet. Indeed a shy guy
Sometimes in this hobby the parts you need are widely available, sometimes they are impossible to source and sometimes they seem impossible to find until, all of a sudden, they show up unexpectedly. This is what happened with this (these) build(s).
I had been looking for this dial for a while, then two great members offered to take on the task at the same time. I could not decide which to go to so I chose the third option: build two watches
I warn you this is going to be a bit of a long read, I will try to define each difference and each step involved in making these two watches. Also, I hope you will forgive for the huge number of pics I'm posting. I took around 200 shots, I swear it was really hard to bring their number down to the ones that made it to the thread
GEN REFERENCE
DIAL
One of the guys who could take on the task of making this dial was Bigwaved and the other was Steph_Dexter. Both did an outstanding job, as you will see. I found it very interesting to check and identify the differences between the two dials, both beautiful but each with its own personality. I'd like to thank both for their continuous help with my builds and for the service they provide to the whole community of builders.
Bigwaved's work:
Bigwaved could somehow find a Ross base dial to paint. I know for a fact that Ross isn't producing branded dials anymore so this can really be considered a special and one-off dial.
The dial shows perfectly proportioned dots, the usual great shape of numbers and indices and thin and crisp LP engraving which is a fraction of millimetre too narrow though.
Dave's approach was for a matte black finish and off-white indices with clean indices. Great texture, beautiful resin fill. Awesome dial as expected
Hands are River/NW tall tube with faux CP aged and lumed by me.
Steph_Dexter's work:
SD is stepping in heavily in the dials game imho. He was able to produce its own base plate from scratch and finish it for me. His attention to detail is impressive as he already showed with the pre-v dials he produced. He could spot the LP engraving is a tad wider on this gen dial and produced his base plate accordingly.
The engraving itself is very crisp and the bright white filling makes it really pop.
Dots are very slightly larger than necessary but still hot looking. SD opted for a deeper black finish with a bit dirtier indices. Another masterpiece.
Hands are Athaya tall tube aged and lumed by me with faux CP added.
(sorry,focus got caught by the scratches on the plexi)
CASE
In order to give more spice to this twin build I chose to use different case sets for them: the SD dial went into a Jackson case reshaped by me and Bigwaved's on a NW case. This choice has given me the chance to see and understand the strenghts and weaknesses of each of the two cases, both great bases for 6152/1 builds imho.
Nightwatch case set
NW case is a great option for a 6152/1 build, possibly the best option. It has great shape, beautiful and correct engravings between the lugs, it comes with all parts already fitted, finally the whole case has a low polished finished which makes it as plug and play as you can get. The only thing I had to do was aging the plexi and sanding the molly movement holder down so I could get a correct alignment of the stem. Finishing on this case is just like NW sent me as I did not feel the need to add more aging.
The price of the whole case ain't that bad either if you consider the cost of parts that need to be added to an apparently way cheaper Jackson case (and the time and effort needed to install them
)
Jackson on top, NW on bottom
Jackson case set
Jackson case is the cheapest and most flexible solution for a 6152/1 build. It can be built up to your own specifications by adding only the parts you want to add, this makes it upgradeable in time too. Its downside is it needs a lot (and I mean A LOT) of work before it can be used.
As many know, the stock case comes in brushed finish, it has sharp edges, a mineral crystal, wrong crown, wrong CG and a thin sterile caseback. Here's the list of what I did to the case:
Case completely disassembled
Tube hole drilled for NW brass tube
Lugs drilled to accept pressure fit lugbars
Mid case reshaped, aged and polished
Bezel re-polished to match mid case
New plexi installed and aged
New case back installed and aged
Athaya CG installed
NW movement holder installed (this needed to be sanded down for a correct alignment)
The complete set of works would also include engravings between the lugs (but I can't do this myself) and re-drilling + tapping CG holes for 2mm screws.
As you can see there really is a lot behind it , but the result is imho very good. Jackson lugs are thicker as seen from the front and this makes them more gen-like imho. Also in my eyes the fatter mid case shape is closer to the gen.
Jackson on top, NW on bottom
The let downs are too straight lugs in their bottom part (and this is a real PITA to try and fix, I tend to leave them alone) and the case (or bezel?) width: you can see the bezel end a half mm, maybe less, from the edge of the case both on the crown side and on the opposite side while gen and NW bezels both touch the side of the case.
Anyway, despite these small issues, it still is a great base for a build and working on it is always entertaining, as long as you manage not to break anything :lol:
CROWNGUARD
The search for more stuff to mod and compare lead me to use two different crown guards. At the moment the best available options are produced by Nightwatch and Athaya.
Bigwaved/NW
The CG choice for NW case was obvious: he makes imho the best CG currently available, almost indistinguishable from the gen with only a few mods. Besides it can accept 2mm screws and the case set actually came with CG holes already drilled and correct screws provided. And of course it's a perfect fit to NW case.
This CG is from the new batch with both "BREV. ITAL." engraving on the back and the number "7" punched.
The reference pics for this watch show a rounded and polished CG pin, polished CG edge with faint chamfer on the bottom edge. The inner CG has sloped and polished edges above and under the crown. All of these mods have been done by me but, and I need your help here, I was not able to remove the CG pin in order to fix a loose lever issue I'm having. It seems like the top and bottom of the pin are larger than the hole and will not come out. Anybody experienced the same? Any fixes?
SD/Jackson
For the Jackson case I used an Athaya CG I had in my parts drawer, it was meant for another project but did not fit well that case so I re-used it here. It does not feature the same mods I made to the NW one then. It has instead wider chamfers on top and bottom, the CG pin is flat and noticeably raised. Cg edge has been slightly polished too.
One thing to notice is the inner size of Athaya CG is slightly smaller than NW's and this makes it very difficult to get the needed clearance for crown operation when using NW spring loaded crown. So if you plan to build a 6152/1 using these parts you better prepare for a lot of assemblying, testing and disassembling. You also better have a few spare stems
In the end I had to thin down the crown tube in order to maximize the space for the crown and yet I can pull it into time setting position only with the lever set at 45 degrees or the inner part of the lever will get in the way preventing the crown to pull out completely.
CASEBACK/MOVEMENT
Once again two builds, two different movements, two different casebacks.
Bigwaved/NW
Having invested in a NW case, the right thing to do seemed to me to have a display caseback showing a nice movement inside.
I had a nice and clean high grade Molnija 3602 with wide Cotes de Geneve decorations which fitted the bill perfectly and has been nicely complemented by NW's display CB and engraved plexi. Just a good polishing to the CB and it was good to go. A joy for the eye
SD/Jackson
On the Jackson case I instead mounted a closed CB and, since I usually like to keep things as on a budget as possible, I used a cheap and solid a6497 on which I shortened the seconds pin. CB was simply repolished and aged, adding only a modest attempt at hand engraving which has been smoothened and covered by years of scratches. After all these are watches with an history, you know
STRAP
At this point you couldn't expect the same strap for both watches, did you?
The strap mounted on the Bigwaved/NW build is a G-straps PN series, a very soft and well made strap as expected from G.
For the SD/Jackson I used a strap I got from Antonio651900 on HF. It's beautifully pliable and comfortable and shows a natural color which is going to develop a great patina with time.
I had this strap in my drawer for I think a year before I could find the RIGHT watch for it.
LUME SHOT
Not much to say here. SD dial glows a little stronger, both are satisfactory anyway.
That's really all for now, new projects are calling me. Thanks for getting to the bottom of this long read, hope you enjoyed
Bigwaved/NW
SD/Jackson
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