Finished: 1655 Explorer II build

[grifter 0]

I finally had a chance to write this up. I really wanted to do this watch justice by taking pics with a camera instead of my usual iphone pics.. LOL

 

First and foremost, a million thanks to pbdad who finished off my build. http://http://repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=112944 I can't say enough good things about him as a person and for his work. Truely amazing!

 

Enough talk, hope you all enjoy the pics.

 

Here is what I had in mind: gen 1655

 

Here is my finished 1655:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back at the conversations between pbdad and myself, we had around 70 emails. I gave him ideas. He gave me ideas. The whole process was AWESOME! I felt like I was there with him while he was working his magic!

 

I sent him this picture of lbd1014's 6152/1 http://repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=113613 that Nightwatch did the dial and lume for.

 

I LOVE the "star" effect and asked pbdad if he could do that on the 1655. He said it would be difficult but that he would do his best. Honestly, I didn't think it would be possible because of the type of markers I had compared to the PAM, and also because of the difficulty level. I figured pbdad was super busy as it was, and put it out of my mind. I really didn't expect to see this when I took the lume shots for this post...

 

I literally screamed out, "HOLY CRAP!" and had to go into a darker room to see this again and make sure I wasn't halucinating!

 

He did it! He remembered how crazy I was about the lume effect and made it reality for me in my watch. WOW!!! Like I said, pbdad is amazing!

 

 

 

 

Flat 3 datewheel:

 

Every single thing I asked pbdad to try to do, he did. Color of the GMT hand. Exactly what I wanted. Lume color, texture, and effect. Dead on. Contamination level on the hands. Perfect.

 

I am so happy with this watch and with pbdad's work. So happy, in fact, that I am looking for a better movement and quite possibly may go super franken with a gen movement.

 

Hope you enjoy the pics and this write up.

[Member X 91]

That's pretty damn awesome B)

 

Dare I ask what sort of ballpark figure it set you back? lol

[scope 3]

Nice vintage. Congrats.

[grifter 0]

thank you!

 

Parts: gen crown, tube, crystal, and lugs. Dial I'm assuming is rep, although the seller tried to tell me it is a refinished original.. I don't believe it. Ballpark costs including pbdad's fees came to around $700.

 

During the build, I messed up 2 different dials, switched movements twice, went through a set of hands, and also a tube. Also broke the keyless on the movement I ended up putting in this. hahaha thank god pbdad was able to fix it!