Vintage Panerai 3646
Tale of a 618
Tale of a 618
Sometimes the stars align and you are given an opportunity you have been waiting for years. This was one of those.
This was the starting point:
I was contacted by a fine member who had been preparing this project for a while and needed some help to make it real.
He had already got a hold of a serviced Rolex 618, just perfect for this project.
We then joined forces and contacted the best:
Esdee sent me a case and fitted the movement to a tailored movement holder.
Neckyzips took care of engraving the solid caseback kampfschwimmer style.
We needed a 2mm thick, 37mm wide dial. NW was the best choice in terms of engraving and numbers shape. We bought one and had him sent it to Bigwaved. He brought it to life.
Once I got the case here, I took care of reshaping, aging, polishing everything up. Then the midcase was sent to the strapmaker so he could stitch the strap directly to the lugs, just like they did on the gen 80 years ago.
The maker of choice was none other than Kostas. Just for those who don't know, he's the same Kostas that OP hired to make a few straps for their museum pieces
Needless to say his work was simply perfect for this build.
I was holding a GPF buckle specially made for me by SD for a special project. This was a good time to use it.
While I was waiting for the strap I had some time to take care of the steel blued hands. They were carefully relumed then rusted. As a final touch the tip of the minute hand was bent, like in the old times.
Once Kostas work was done I was able to put everthing together and give the final aging touches. I learnt through a lot of experimentation that the last bit of patina must be added once a watch is completed in order to make it look like it developed naturally.
Finally, watch was done
A few more pics in the next post.
