Basic mods on a PAM 111h

[wombosi 0]

In the past few days I decided to do a couple of basic mods on my $99 PAM 111 from Robert. In this topic I will share my experience for everyone planning to do these mods in the future or for anyone else who might be interested. This is the final result:

 

 

FYI: The hour hand is not missing, just a coincidence. For pictures of how it looked before the mods and some better pictures from after the mod, see this topic.

 

First of all, the modding was a fun thing to do and I learned a lot, however, remember to be careful with everything step you take. Watches are a delicate piece of equipment and are easily damaged or scratched!

 

The applied mods will be described below with a couple points of interest I experienced during modding.

 

Before you begin, make sure you get yourself a good set of watchmaking tools, this will save you a lot of trouble during the process. Additionally, you will need a lot of patience and some spare time.

 

0. Changing the strap (not really a mod, but could be useful anyways)

 

• While changing the strap you will notice two hollow tubes on the inside your rep strap. You will need these for your new strap, so don't throw them away and be careful not to lose them.
  

1. Flush crown guard pin (used the tutorial of houndoggie)

 

• Pay attention to the shape of your crown guard, not all cg's are flat on the side you are going to sand. You will have to follow the shape of your cg to end up with a nice result. If you don't, you will end up with an ugly and funny looking cg. I used sanding paper with grids 600, 1000 and 1200, this worked fine for me. A green scotch brite pad worked perfectly for making that nice brushed finish. I used Cape Cod for polishing the pin, this worked fine as well.
  
• For the cg to sit flush against the case, make sure you turn both screws with small steps at a time, continually switching between each screw.
  
• Of all the mods, this one was probably the easiest.
  

2. Fastening the crown guard pin (used this tutorial)

 

• Instead of plumbers epoxy, I used hot glue (see tutorial), this worked perfect and really makes the lever feel more gen like.
  
• If you only need to heat a part, make sure to remove the glue stick from the gun, otherwise little parts of hot glue with come out anyway, making an unnecessary mess. Excessive glue could easily be removed with your finger nails.
  
• If the cg pin doesn't go in easily, the pin or cg just isn't hot enough.
  

3. Removing the AR (this tutorial could be useful)

• It's important to know that the AR is (9 out of 10 times) on the inside of the crystal. Not on the outside.
  
• Cape Cod did the trick for me. The AR in the inner ring of the crystal will easily come off after 'polishing' for about 5-10 minutes.
  
• The AR on the outer ring of the crystal is much harder to remove. Using the large bend fork end of a Bergeon 6111 spring bar tool with two or three layers of Cape Cod wrapped around it, finally did the trick for me. Do small parts at a time and rub the same spot for about 3 minutes.
  

4. Flush canon pinion / Removing or putting back movement (used this tutorial)

 

• Before replacing the canon pinion, make sure you do not already have a tall canon pinion installed. Mine already had a tall canon pinion installed from the factory, meaning I only had to sand the minute hand to make the hands sit flush with the pinion. Unfortunately I just noticed this when the pinion was already removed, so I replaced it with a new H3 pinion and hour wheel anyway.
  
• Replacing the canon pinion means you have to remove the movement from its casing. This tutorial could be helpful during the process.
  
• When putting back the movement, make sure to position both movement tabs and screws correctly before fastening either one of them. Otherwise you will have trouble with placing your last tab or screw.
  
• Make sure that the hole for the stem is perfectly in line with the hole in the casing. Otherwise you will experience troubles with reinstalling the stem and/or winding your watch.
  
• If the stem doesn't go in immediately, turn it a bit and it should slide in easily. Don't push hard. If you need to push hard, something is not lined up the way it should or the stem screw is too tight.
  
• For tightening and loosing the stem screw only partial turns are needed. Work with max. 1/4 turns a time.
  
• You don't have to wait for your watch to completely unwind by itself. You can speed up this process by holding the crown firmly between thumb and finger. Turn the click mechanism so it releases it's 'hold' on the ratchet wheel. Keep the click in this position (with a tweezer for example) and release the pressure on the crown and control the rate at which the mainspring unwinds.
  

 

Experienced watchmakers would probably do some things completely different. But the above tutorials worked fine for me, with the additional side notes as described above. Since I expect more people are planning to do some (beginners) mods, I hope my experiences could be usefull.

 

Happy to hear your comments and thanks for all the help in the shoutbox!

[dingle 57]

great write up. The only thing I see now is the lume as your markers seem a little to 'yellow'.

 

great work!

[KinCaidk 0]

great post!

[Akira 0]

Good post. Very helpfull