I have been collecting watches for many years. I began like most with genuine lower cost watches and gradually migrated to higher end watches (Meaning Rolex, Omega etc..). Luckily I have been able to obtain many of the watches I have wanted in this range but I still desired the much higher end watches. What is funny is the fact the design is what I liked, not the price tag or even who made them. Fast forward to more recent times, I was even able to obtain 1 GEN VERY high end watch. None other than the AP 42mm Panda. This was one I had always wanted.
I got into collecting REP purely by accident as I came across this forum. Since then I have bought and sold many REPS. The great thing about these is you can obtain most of the really high end brands without spending a fortune, which like most I do not have an endless supply of. J
The funny thing about getting into REPs is that I became more aware of how GENs look and the very specific details. As I progressed with my REP collecting I started to get into modding my REPs. I found this a lot of fun.
I came across Chris from his RWI forum and contacted his C&W AP Workshop. He seemed very knowledgeable and then, after some email exchanges, I sent him my JF AP Black Theme to have modded.
I am VERY ANAL (Chris can confirm this) and when I received the watch back after modding it exceeded my expectations.
Then he mentioned he did Franken projects. We exchanged some additional emails and decided to take the plunge and do a AP 42MM Panda franken. I did this as I wanted to get a PP and was able to trade my GEN AP Panda for it. He assured me when complete it would be super close to GEN. To the point where I could get a strap change at the AP dealer (I would NOT do this) and most would not even notice it was not gen.
My build was the following:
- GEN AP Panda Dial
- GEN Tachy
- GEN Hands (Full set of 6 hands)
- 1 x AR Crystal
- JF Panda Case and Bracelet
- New LWO 283 movement
- Case was to be slimmed down to GEN spec
- Case back was also slimmed to gen spec
- Screws were all shaped to perfectly be sunk per GEN spec
There was a long wait to get all the GEN parts and such but you will see it was well worth it!! I then had another delay as just prior to CNY I had three watches all taken by customs. This added a longer delay due to getting replacements. I finally received everything and shipped the watch to Chris. He proceeded to work his magic. Fast forward again to the completed project. I saw the photos and it looked good but had some questions for him and he was awesome, as always.
I was very picky and finally had him ship it and in person it blew me away. To the point I was glad I traded my GEN AP Panda for the PP. The reason for only one really high end watch is all due to two huge reason. 1. My wife is the BOSS J and 2. My wife is the BOSS. Anyway enough on the back story here are some photos, which I am not good at taking. Let me know what everyone thinks.
Here are some photos of the completed project.
