I love shooting patridge sights. I believe I have one for my classic, but never swapped it out. I carry and shoot my 629 mountain gun model much more, I am infatuated with that one, to say the least.
Did you switch out for Pachmayr grips? I had a 629 with an 8-3/8" barrel that had finger-grooved wooden 'combat' grips that I let go to land the classic. It felt actually very nice and shot like a dream. I killed a good bunch of game with it and sometimes wish I had it back, ha. Yours looks great with the bead-blast.