Presenting my custom Speedmaster Pro Panda...

[mav]

Over the past few months, I've been debating if I should mod one of my Speedmasters with a silver dial (similar to ASRSPR's Building the most beautiful Speedmaster Pro (big pictures)) or a panda dial (similar to Derek N's Mitsukoshi Speedmaster mod.). Which one should I modify, my modern 3570.50 or vintage 145.022?

I took inspiration from the Rolex Daytona Panda...



I decided to modify my 3570.50 with the panda dial, with white subdial hands, black chrono seconds hand and silver hour and minute hands. I just couldn't bring myself to change my 145.022 so radically.

I ordered the required parts from Ofrei last week and had Dalton at ABC Watchwerks in Downtown LA do the transformation and also regulate it. For those that don't know, ABC Watchwerks is well known over at the Rolex Forums for their restoration and refinishing work. They do everything from simple regulation to full servicing to PVD and modifications. They are excellent and I wouldn't trust anyone else to work on my watches.

[peitron]

The three-style hand combination looks awesome. Congrats.

[David Woo]

The white/black/polished thing is kinda different, a lot going on but it's growing on me.
Well done, enjoy it!!

[jwalther]

That looks great!

[Spit161]

It looks fantastic.
Congratulations!

cheers,
Jake.

[MFB71]

I am getting very impatient after seeing your pictures.

3 custom mods on the go at once...different coloured hands.....broad arrow hands for me and Kevin (Dixan) going classic silver.

[Dixan]

I am getting very impatient after seeing your pictures.

3 custom mods on the go at once...different coloured hands.....broad arrow hands for me and Kevin (Dixan) going classic silver.

Looks great, mav! Nice photos, too. Sounds like your guys in LA are legit. Congrats on the successful mod.

Michael, yours is taking a bit long to finish, isn't it? I hope you get yours back soon. Can't wait to see photos.

I actually got mine back a couple of days ago. I've been a bit bummed because even though I asked several times for my watchmaker to make sure the hands were all aligned perfectly, he failed to do so, and the chrono seconds hand is a bit off to the right. Also, the bezel itself was already off a bit to the right when I bought the watch from Japan. I was hoping this would be the perfect opportunity for it to be re-aligned. Not so, in the end. It's taken the wind out of my sails a bit, sadly. Oh well. Off to Nesbit's it will go someday soon.

On a more positive note, I have to say, in the flesh and on the wrist, it really is now the most beautiful watch I've ever seen. Honestly, that's no hyperbole, either. The silvery cream colored dial, set off by the nice applied markers and the semi-glossy black sub-dials, with their very visible concentric rings, looks so very elegant. And together with the silver hands, the dial totally changes the character of the watch. I'm head over heels over the resulting look. I'm so very happy I decided to do this.

[MFB71]

Looks great, mav! Nice photos, too. Sounds like your guys in LA Are legit. Congrats on the successful mod.

Michael, yours is taking a bit long to finish, isn't it? I hope you your back soon. Can't wait to see photos.

I actually got mine back a couple of days ago. I've been a bit bummed because even though I asked several times for my watchmaker to make sure the hands were all aligned perfectly, he failed to do so, and the chrono seconds hand is a bit off to the right. Also, the bezel itself was already off a bit to the right when I bought the watch from Japan. I was hoping this would be the perfect opportunity for it to be re-aligned. Not so, in the end.

On a more positive note, I have to say, in the flesh and on the wrist, it really is now the most beautiful watch I've ever seen. Honestly, that's no hyperbole, either. The silvery cream colored dial, set off by the nice applied markers and the very detailed sub-dials, with their very visible concentric rings, looks so very elegant. And together with the silver hands, the dial totally changes the character of the watch. I'm head over heels over the resulting aesthetics. I'm so very happy I decided to do this.

Kevin..looking forward to the photos...its unfortunate the bezel and alignment were not corrected.

I have been advised that Ofrei may have made a mistake in their despatch (one of the sub-dial hands is not fitting). i have checked and double checked and my order was correct.

The other issue with mine is that the Company is currently very busy and 2 weeks have turned into 4.

[Dixan]

Kevin..looking forward to the photos...its unfortunate the bezel and alignment were not corrected.

I have been advised that Ofrei may have made a mistake in their despatch (one of the sub-dial hands is not fitting). i have checked and double checked and my order was correct.

The other issue with mine is that the Company is currently very busy and 2 weeks have turned into 4.

Well, I've found through personal experience that even if your order was meticulously placed, what ends up being shipped may be something not entirely true to that order. Hope it gets sorted for you soon. Please keep us apprised. I'm sure it will be worth all the effort in the end!

Sorry, mav, for the slight detour. ;)

[mav]

Thanks for the comments.

Dixan, I agree, it's absolutely beautiful. The dial itself is an off white, creamy silver and shows some metallic under certain lighting. As for your seconds hand misalignment, try running your chrono for a couple of hours. Mine came back slightly off as well but I ran the chrono for some time and it reset to dead center.

MFB Scotland, hang in there. I hope it works out soon. The board arrow hands sounds interesting. There are some legibility issues with my current tri-color set up with the hour and minute hands due to the color and thinness of the hands themselves. I think the thicker board arrow hands will be perfect.

I'm looking forward to seeing photos of both your pandas.

[EL]

Beautiful watch! Has anyone seen one of these up on the FS boards recently? I was trying to talk Dixan into selling his to me!!!

[john wilson]

Beautiful mav!

[GTTIME]

Excellent watch! I can relate with Dixan I have had a bezel from Ofrei that was sent but not what was ordered. They did quickly fix the problem.

I also know the defeat of not getting exactly what you wanted from a watchmaker, as Kevin already knows not getting it from the same exact watchmaker in this case.

[NoleenELT]

Looks amazing! I really want a panda Speedmaster!

[Ultraman]

Congrats!! I agreed the Speedmaster Panda is one of the best looking variant there is. I kind of have regrets now that I just sold off my Apollo 35th. I hope to purchase Speedy pro doing the same mods sometime down the road!

Enjoy your panda Speedy and wear it in good health!

[John_in_SC]

Very nice. I also used the vintage Daytona as inspiration though I went with black main hands with silver centers. For the subdial hands to get the asme two-tone look I used silver hands and painted the tips white.

Dalton is an awesome guy to have work on watches and I recommend him as well.

[mav]

Very nice. I also used the vintage Daytona as inspiration though I went with black main hands with silver centers. For the subdial hands to get the asme two-tone look I used silver hands and painted the tips white.

Dalton is an awesome guy to have work on watches and I recommend him as well.

Wow, nice! I almost brought the same chrono seconds hand, but went with the traditional design in black instead.

[mav]

Congrats!! I agreed the Speedmaster Panda is one of the best looking variant there is. I kind of have regrets now that I just sold off my Apollo 35th. I hope to purchase Speedy pro doing the same mods sometime down the road!

Enjoy your panda Speedy and wear it in good health!

I love the Apollo 35th Anniversary model. The dial looks to be the same one except for the addition of the July 20, 1969 date in red, which looks great.

[WIS_Chronomaster]

Very nice!

[Dixan]

I love the Apollo 35th Anniversary model. The dial looks to be the same one except for the addition of the July 20, 1969 date in red, which looks great.

Yup. Early last decade Omega made just three hundred examples of the Mitsukoshi Limited Edition Speedmaster Professional. They quickly sold out, and the color scheme was much admired, so a couple of years later Omega used the same color scheme for the 35th Anniversary LE model, but with the added date in red. They produced three thousand examples of that watch. Both versions are very nice, IMO, though I slightly prefer the cleaner, simpler original. ;)

BTW, I am more and more (pleasantly) surprised each day that the dial looks so cream colored in real life, as opposed to the stark white that it looks like in photos.