The Birth of Braziliano microonde / PAM - Fiction

[JOP]

After the end of ww2, a young lieutenant of the allied forces called to serve as an undercover in South America.
His mission was to find Nazi runaways from justice, find evidences that prove their identity and inform his embassy about them.

According his pre war studies on accounting and tourism management, the heads of secret service create a pretty realistic cover for him, placed at a nodal point for the time.
The huge and almost new Copacabana palace in Rio that was owing a large amount of money, search for first accountant assistant..

The passion of the young lieutenant and his gift of never shut the fuck up, were quickly heard by the ears of cultured people
very proud about their creation and their available services thru that.
It took him only two years to be promoted by the chief accountant to second accountant and be a director to its' own department.

The years were passing and while Nazi runaways may improve their tanning, the young lieutenant set the basis of tourism economics
while he was changing the perception of his colleagues about the tourism in the era of air transportation..

The autumn of '57 was called in his embassy and been released from his duties and demobilized with the rank of Major.
He finished the training of his two assistants and the summer of '58 returns to europe to publish the first study about the
economics of tourism.

Since his extraordinary performance, the improvements that were done and his happy, cosmopolite character
the hotel management decides to create a unique present for him.

More or less those were the briefing to Belmond's affiliate jewelry store in Rio.

to be continued

 

[JOP]

So, as a newbie in panerai i was fell in love with egiziano picolo.. Elegance and sleek but bold and useful.. i think everyone knows what i felt.
I learn to study a watch reading the beautiful threads of many wonderful builders here.
I m afraid that i will forgot someone's' name so i won't refer anyone.

Thank you guys! it's a wonderful craft, brings out the best of you and you share your knowledge in a way that you can't miss anything.

I thought that if we have chemistry, i could build an homage of this nice watch to use like an almost everyday beater.
Bought a mini fiddy from Jackson's and wait to see it on my wrist.
What a joyful feeling! a simple, almost raw, shape that looks so good!

I did my first move quite soon. It was way to bulky for my motorcycle jackets.
I also couldn't understand the reason of having 4mm high case back with window in a non automatic movement ..
Its a nice hide for microfilms btw..

So, i have a crazy idea of shaving the stainless back and use its' threads to build a flat one...

I couldn't leave it for months, i was cheat myself to have it disassembled.

 

[JOP]

While i was study 6152-6154 in the excellent blog of Jose Pereztroika, my mind create the above story to support the build
with a touch of elegance and give me strength for the hundreds of hours that will come..

I notice the relation in the shape of 6154 and fiddy concluding that the "new" shape of 127 was an unfinished by hand (back then) piece of the same production till the step that a milling machine could produce..

I start to search my "zero', the level in case structure that will be used to verify the next level that will verify the next and so on.
Soon i realize that the bottom of the case was the ground zero that will help me to shape the bottom of the lugs, that they verify their top level and shape, getting closer to give me the horizontal centerline of the case low enough to match the centerline of crown hall !

Having the hor. centerline was an upgrade in the amount of the control i have on its' shape.
I have marked the 0.4mm line around the case that i need to leave as much untouched as i could, to preserve the maximum potential of the existed material in favor of 6154s' shape.
Of course i could now verify my previous steps on the case and start the waving curvy surface of the lug sides on the upper half of case...

I don't wanna get you tired with procedure, was like a rough step front, two steps back and finishing their shape to the front again.

I like to clarify the term "verify" that i use in the text.
Of course i know many about the need of measuring, the accuracy etc in mechanical engineering.
I have micrometers and i know how to take the best of them.
It's just that in this build, since i have "read" the steps of its' manufacturing, been affected a lot from the history of the era that i couldn't avoid while i study everything about, i develop some kind of "crafter of the era" point of view.

It became something that i knew exactly what to do, to the point of my perception, but always the next step show the needed details of the previous two etc.
So, not much of measurements have been taken for the creation of the case. Plain tools of the era, a level guide and eye comparisons.

 

[Natas78]

Reshaping is hard work but very satisfying
Good job so far!


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk Pro

 

[kilowattore]

Very nice 6152 shape, indeed a great job. Looking forward to see the rest

 

[JOP]

Dial, hands, lume...

Starting from the easy ones, i bought the longer set of pencils, i shave them, sand of them and have them 18k gold plated
cause they were pink gold..
My attempts to use heavy acids on them doesn't seems to scratch their surface..

The dial can challenge case according the study and the time that cost.
I bought the default dial - plexi set to use as reference for my own.
I try to transfer every little detail that 6154 dials have while "stealing" minor dimensions whenever i could, trying to transfer the bulky effect of it to this 44mm version.
Weeks of designing and cutting drafts with laser get me so tired that the day i create the final i was lazy to find a piece of
aluminum and create it with 925 silver... stupid.

Now i couldn't give it for dark blue anodizing, i should create a matt candy effect fully on my skills.. stupid.
As i discover later, i wouldn't even achieve the best of colorizing my beautiful lettering and positioning of the logo that cost me more than 20h... stuuupid.
Choosing the right grit to recreate the dials' flare effect was my thing. I nail it on every draft i made, same on the final one.

Using the same color lume below aged liquid glass on dial and without it on hands, looks a bit more saturated on hands.
I was skeptical about but i used it quickly and now i think that is a successful touch of "Brazil" in frond of the dark bluish dial.
A friend told me that shows quality but i m not there yet..

 

[JOP]

Closing the set of really bad photography with a cloudy wrist shot. Lets hope that i found the time to shot some real ones tomorrow.

kilowattore i always mess 6152 with 6154. Its kind of embarrassing with so many study on them..

 

[kilowattore]

It's a subtle difference until you have both together in front of you to compare. The shape you choose was the best to get out of your base watch. You achieved a great result.
I would like to add that blue sunburst dial is very rare if not a mere fake (in Josè's opinion at least) yet it is one of my dream builds

 

[JOP]

I believe that was a clever solution, perfectly matched with the available technology of the era.
I can't find any clue that this could happen by panerai, i think that some watch smiths were above the average.
We were have to preserve the principles of a diver watch but the black lacquer on aluminum was easily destroyed by radium heat..

What is more proper than anodizing? is heat proof, very strong in front of the Sun, can be dark enough to create the contrast we need on a diver
you could find a workshop easily back then. Most projects were shades of yellow that gives gold to bronze colors but grey, blue and red was available
at the time.
Check aluminum equipment of 1950s, i know about jars, cups, curtain bars, outdoor furniture etc.

The radial finishing of the surface is "easy" to be done without tools also.

 

[JOP]

Below i think the hands look like they are

here is closer to dials' tone (ok in good light cond.)

we're getting closer..

here a disgraced attempt to show my crispy mid line...
​​​​​​​at least the 3% of dial and hands shown very close to reality..

another example of the same technique

this for the poets..

 

[JOP]

Guys can you please help me get it off my wrist?

I don't even sorten the crown axle yet..
I 'm thinking to get a couple of press bars and drill the lug holes accordinly.
I need to try some risky finishings on the lume and dial.

Did you have anything to propose? corrections on the case? a nice plexi that i should try? an acid that could damage a bit the hands along with heat?

Come on! i hardly take it off in bathroom and sleep..

 

[JOP]

not today..