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The Moonswatch metal mod aka Project Alaskswatch

cyprusdaedalus

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16/4/22
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As a small addedum I played around tonight and the stock stem simply transplanted into the case provided crown works perfect and needs no modification to the legnth. I put a dab of locktite on it and it screws down perfect. So you can probably bypass buying the 2nd PE50 movement for the stem as I won't be using it (at least with the case I got).


 

Parto

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For the money difficult to beat I think, has a sapphire crystal as well
 
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cyprusdaedalus

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Got two cases coming and two more moonswatches on the way. Going to do a Mission to Mercury/Black Bezel and a Mission to Uranus/White Bezel and see how they turn out. All in it costs ~53.00/build.
 

coolbotic

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25/3/23
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I need to get a better quality rep moonswatch but here is one with the pagani case

I think I'm going to order the pagani, how was the fitment in the end when putting the moon swatch in?
Is there a larger gap between the edge of the dial and case compared to the rep case? or is it just the angle of the picture?
 

Parto

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The dial just about covers opening. I've ordered a better quality moonswatch and will make a movement spacer to fit that one correctly but no big issue with crown height
 
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Slugger

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I really like what I'm seeing but the lack of genuine chrono functionality makes the PE50 a nonstarter for me. Kind of like the Daytonas with the "frozen" subdial which I also refused to settle for. So my plan was to swap the movement for an ETA G10.212 AJ or G10.212 AP, one of which is most likely in the MoonSwatch.

So, I snagged a donor watch with an ETA G10.212 AJ on Ebay but the 2:00 subdial's pinion broke when I removed the hand. (Note to self, do not use a cheap presto hand remover to remove tiny subdials!) I have serious doubts that I can buy a replacement wheel since the movements are normally considered non-serviceable.

According to CaliberCorner, the subdial pinions on the G10.212 movements are 0.20mm. 32 guage wire is 0.219mm. I did a proof of concept and found it very easy to strip the "extra" 0.019mm of wire so the subdial hands fit as they should.

Soooooo, and it's a big soooooo, the next thing to do is get the stub of the old pinion out of the wheel without damaging the wheel. If I can figure out how to do that, I'll JB Weld in a piece of modded wire and be back in business.

Any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.
 

coolbotic

Do not accept unsolicited offers
25/3/23
2
0
1
UK
I really like what I'm seeing but the lack of genuine chrono functionality makes the PE50 a nonstarter for me. Kind of like the Daytonas with the "frozen" subdial which I also refused to settle for. So my plan was to swap the movement for an ETA G10.212 AJ or G10.212 AP, one of which is most likely in the MoonSwatch.

So, I snagged a donor watch with an ETA G10.212 AJ on Ebay but the 2:00 subdial's pinion broke when I removed the hand. (Note to self, do not use a cheap presto hand remover to remove tiny subdials!) I have serious doubts that I can buy a replacement wheel since the movements are normally considered non-serviceable.

According to CaliberCorner, the subdial pinions on the G10.212 movements are 0.20mm. 32 guage wire is 0.219mm. I did a proof of concept and found it very easy to strip the "extra" 0.019mm of wire so the subdial hands fit as they should.

Soooooo, and it's a big soooooo, the next thing to do is get the stub of the old pinion out of the wheel without damaging the wheel. If I can figure out how to do that, I'll JB Weld in a piece of modded wire and be back in business.

Any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.
I would also like to try swapping the movement when I build one. However, I saw a thread on Reddit where a few people mentioned they tried it and had fitment issue specifically with the pushers in the new case, but also that the rep hands did not fix onto the G10 as the axle diameters are different! So it might be worth checking if the hands fit the axles before going through all the trouble of repairing with wire as you might want a different size.
 
T

TheWatchG

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Holy moly this looks astonishing, great project man, I really like the steel
 

kidcreole

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I really like what I'm seeing but the lack of genuine chrono functionality makes the PE50 a nonstarter for me. Kind of like the Daytonas with the "frozen" subdial which I also refused to settle for. So my plan was to swap the movement for an ETA G10.212 AJ or G10.212 AP, one of which is most likely in the MoonSwatch.

So, I snagged a donor watch with an ETA G10.212 AJ on Ebay but the 2:00 subdial's pinion broke when I removed the hand. (Note to self, do not use a cheap presto hand remover to remove tiny subdials!) I have serious doubts that I can buy a replacement wheel since the movements are normally considered non-serviceable.

According to CaliberCorner, the subdial pinions on the G10.212 movements are 0.20mm. 32 guage wire is 0.219mm. I did a proof of concept and found it very easy to strip the "extra" 0.019mm of wire so the subdial hands fit as they should.

Soooooo, and it's a big soooooo, the next thing to do is get the stub of the old pinion out of the wheel without damaging the wheel. If I can figure out how to do that, I'll JB Weld in a piece of modded wire and be back in business.

Any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated.
I much prefer the sweeping chrono to working sub dials.
 

kidcreole

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27/7/13
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Got two cases coming and two more moonswatches on the way. Going to do a Mission to Mercury/Black Bezel and a Mission to Uranus/White Bezel and see how they turn out. All in it costs ~53.00/build.
Hey buddy could you please share the link for the white bezel case?
 
Last edited:

Slugger

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I would also like to try swapping the movement when I build one. However, I saw a thread on Reddit where a few people mentioned they tried it and had fitment issue specifically with the pushers in the new case, but also that the rep hands did not fix onto the G10 as the axle diameters are different! So it might be worth checking if the hands fit the axles before going through all the trouble of repairing with wire as you might want a different size.

The Sunon PE50 measures 29.75mm x 4.52 mm. In my rep, the PE50 is inside a mounting ring with an outer diameter of 30.5mm and the movement sits well below the height of the mounting ring. All in all, there is a ton of space inside the case.

I was more worried about stem height and the pushers but with a little love, I was able to fit the ETA G20.212, which measures 29.8mm x 5.12mm (including a datewheel you don’t need), into the case of my rep MoonSwatch.

I wish I could send photos but the movement is now in pieces waiting for me to sort out the issue of the two broken pinions.

It’s probably worth noting that there are different versions of the rep case being sold. Mine is plastic bioceramic (wink wink) and has an actual working battery access door not just a sticker like most seem to have. I’ve heard others have a metallic case back.

So the disclaimer must be stated that, depending on which case your rep comes with, your results may vary.

Of course, if one chooses to go with another case as discussed in this thread, the size of the MoonSwatch case is irrelevant.

As for the hands…

I wasn’t clear but I did check the fit and with minimal effort was able to fit them to the donor movement.

The PE50 hour, minute, and sweep second hands have smaller holes and required a little broaching while the subdial hands fit without modification to the single remaining pinion.

The 32 gauge wire I plan too use to replace the broken pinions, being slightly more than .2mm in diameter, required a little (as in very little) thinning to fit the subdial hands.

The only stumbling block in my attempt to franken the MoonSwatch are the broken pinions on the 10 and 2 subdials of my genuine ETA movement.

And, finally, responding to @kidcreole

No need for a trade off my friend. You can have the whole enchilada po’boy because all of the ETA G10.212 series have sweeping second hands PLUS full chrono functionality!!!

The reason to choose either the AJ or AP version is because they both have the 60 minute subdial at 10, the 1/10 second subdial at 2, and, like the rest of the series, running seconds at 6.

The only difference between the AJ and AP is that the AJ includes PreciDrive (deviation of +/- 10 seconds per year) in addition to the Laptimer and Powerdrive found in both versions.

Hope this info is helpful.
 

cyprusdaedalus

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I suspect the cheap speed reps are using the same case (or similar variation) of the one I used on my build. The cheap speedy reps i've seen on DHGate, etc all seem to be using the same case which I think it what I used on my build. But report back and let us know!
 
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