[aurelius]

Looking for some suggestions from the experts. I got my 7549-7009 about a year ago. It came up locally and I jumped at the chance to own one. It's biggest problem seemed to be a big bite out of the black coating on the shroud which didn't bother me at first. But the longer I own it, the more it bothers me. As I can't afford to replace it (if I could even find one), I've been toying with the idea of touching it up.
First of all, would you leave well enough alone if you were in my shoes, or would you attempt a touch-up? Second, if the latter, any suggestions on what to touch it up with?
Shroud is in one piece and undented. Just the coating flaked off in one place. Sorry for the crappy pictures.

 

[TheTigerUK]

Personally i would leave it as is because the touch ups i have seen though good are not up to Seiko's original finish.

If it was mine and a keeper i would be tempted to color the area in thats flaked with a Sharpie, not a smart solution but its not permanent either and i wouldent notice the missing finish so much

 

[Chris Galbraith]

If it was mine I'd seek a solution to this dent in the surface ceramic treatment, mos definitely.

I'd sugest you 2 alternatives:

1) Locally - try to contact Bry1975 and show the shroud to him. Bry has a good contact for PVD/DLC treatment. The shroud could be blasted/stripped from its outter ceramic coating and 'get pealed' to its bare metal, so to speak. Then, it would be ready to receive the PVD treatment and become black once again. Keep in mind that it wouldn't look as the original finishing (which is rough/grainy due to the ceramic polimers coating), but at least it would look all black and awesome, once again. Plus, the PVD finishing would not 'crack' like the big gash your original powder coating finishing is showing.

2) Overseas - contact Jason at MotorCityWatchWorks (he is famous in WUS) since he is well known for his own ceramic powder coating, which is exactly the OEM method used by Seiko to coat the 600m shrouds. But then you would need guts to send such a rare watch part abroad and wait until it gets back. A few guys have did this and they thought the results were very worth the risk of mail loss.

As a last recourse, you could buy one of the 1000m aftermarket shrouds made in Titanium and with PVD finishing available through ebay (a guy in here used to sell them at the trade post in SCWF), since it is 100% interchangeable with the 7c46 1000m tunas.

Good luck, man!

edit: sorry, I was under the impression that you were located in the UK. Now I see that you are in Canada, so Jason will be easier for you to reach. As for the PVD, a local friend of mine in Brazil sent off a Panerai to Jack @ IWW for PVD treatment and he flat out loved the results, so Jack is another option for you in America, in case you decide to go PVD instead of powder coating.

Regards,
CHRIS

 

[aurelius]

Personally i would leave it as is because the touch ups i have seen though good are not up to Seiko's original finish.

If it was mine and a keeper i would be tempted to color the area in thats flaked with a Sharpie, not a smart solution but its not permanent either and i wouldent notice the missing finish so much

I know I should just leave it alone John but I've always been one to pick a scab. I detest wabbi and have to have things looking their best. Sometimes these fixes go horribly wrong for me but sometimes they work a treat. I haven't learened from my mistakes obviously.

 

[aurelius]

If it was mine I'd seek a solution to this dent in the surface ceramic treatment, mos definitely.

I'd sugest you 2 alternatives:

1) Locally - try to contact Bry1975 and show the shroud to him. Bry has a good contact for PVD/DLC treatment. The shroud could be blasted/stripped from its outter ceramic coating and 'get pealed' to its bare metal, so to speak. Then, it would be ready to receive the PVD treatment and become black once again. Keep in mind that it wouldn't look as the original finishing (which is rough/grainy due to the ceramic polimers coating), but at least it would look all black and awesome, once again. Plus, the PVD finishing would not 'crack' like the big gash your original powder coating finishing is showing.

2) Overseas - contact Jason at MotorCityWatchWorks (he is famous in WUS) since he is well known for his own ceramic powder coating, which is exactly the OEM method used by Seiko to coat the 600m shrouds. But then you would need guts to send such a rare watch part abroad and wait until it gets back. A few guys have did this and they thought the results were very worth the risk of mail loss.

As a last recourse, you could buy one of the 1000m aftermarket shrouds made in Titanium and with PVD finishing available through ebay (a guy in here used to sell them at the trade post in SCWF), since it is 100% interchangeable with the 7c46 1000m tunas.

Good luck, man!

edit: sorry, I was under the impression that you were located in the UK. Now I see that you are in Canada, so Jason will be easier for you to reach. As for the PVD, a local friend of mine in Brazil sent off a Panerai to Jack @ IWW for PVD treatment and he flat out loved the results, so Jack is another option for you in America, in case you decide to go PVD instead of powder coating.

Regards,
CHRIS

Hey Chris,nice to hear from you. I'm glad you chimed in. Yes I'm in Ontario and actually about a 2hr drive from Jason. I had completely forgotten about his cerakoting service. I just had a look at his site and the black finish appears to be extremely close to the stock Seiko finish. And the best part is I could hand deliver the part eliminating the mail worry. I had been looking for a DIY solution but I think this is a better bet.
Thanks for the tip. Hope you've been well.
Kindest regards,
Aurel

 

[Chris Galbraith]

Hey Chris,nice to hear from you. I'm glad you chimed in. Yes I'm in Ontario and actually about a 2hr drive from Jason. I had completely forgotten about his cerakoting service. I just had a look at his site and the black finish appears to be extremely close to the stock Seiko finish. And the best part is I could hand deliver the part eliminating the mail worry. I had been looking for a DIY solution but I think this is a better bet.
Thanks for the tip. Hope you've been well.
Kindest regards,
Aurel

My pleasure to help, brother!

I know at least one collector that owns a 7549 600m that had work done by Jason. The person was extremely happy with the results, and by the pics he sent me the cerakote finishing looks 1:1 to the OEM Seiko finishing. In other words, you will pretty much end up with a new shroud.

Good luck, man!
Show the results afterwards.

 

[laughinggull]

Totally recommend Jay @ MCWW for this work and restoration to an original look


God Bless, Liz

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