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I’ve just wrapped up (for now) another one of my ongoing projects - a 1680 Red Submariner. Inspired by some of the mid-70’s versions I’ve seen on Chrono24, etc I imagine this was a fairly well care-for watch serviced several times with a replacement, service dial and insert. Case isn’t too beat up and isn’t over-polished. The specs on the project: - JK Factory Case, Caseback, 93250 Bracelet, Open 6/9 Datewheel and Dial (purchased from TrustyTime) - Clark’s 25-127 Crystal - WSO Bezel Assembly - Athaya 702 Tube and Crown - WSO 580 Endlinks - Sellita SW-200-1 Movement - Raffle’s Time Hand Set I relumed the hand set, pearl, and dial to match. Pearl was lumed then finished with clear coat of binder for durability and gloss. Like my other vintage project, I went for a vintage tone lume a high-intensity, green glow. Insert has been very lightly bleached, just enough to eliminate the gloss finish. Crown guards have been squared off in the front, case was lightly aged via a tumble in a bag of screws, all exposed edges were eased, and case was repolished. Athaya tube installed with Blue Loctite and tube hole countersunk to ensure tight fit of crown when screwed down. SW200-1 was purchased from a fellow member but needed the keyless works to be repaired. I repaired the keyless works then installed H5 second wheel, minute cannon, and hour cannon along with a date wheel from an ETA2836-2. Dial was fitted with a slightly thicker dial spacer. This modification allowed me to fit the slimmer SW200-1 into a case designed for an ETA2836-2 while maintaining stem alignment. Everything has been installed as friction fit, gaskets sealed and siliconed. Bracelet has been minimally aged. Sometime in the future I will likely swap out the DW Overlay and Dial for better quality. Working with a Ruby’s Watch dial on my 1675 project, the quality difference is super obvious. I should also get around to doing a water resistance test - I’d like to know how water resistant I’ve built this. I honestly worry the most about the crown tube since I countersunk the top edge but otherwise feel good about things. Here’s some pics, thanks for looking!

Refinished Vietnam case and custom dial. Nice gloss finish on the dial with a fine white 3D print. Extra flat lume as it should on GMTs to allow the GMT hand to operate smoothly.

Well it is very nice to see you here @lhooq

On genuine watches a cal 3135 will not work in a case made for a cal 1570/5 date movement because the stem will not line up in the case tube. A 3035 will fit, depending on dial size. The beat rate is also wrong with the 3035 and 3135, both running at 28800 bph and a 1570/5 at 19800 bph. Cal 1530/1560 run at 18000 bph but they were not used in 1665 watches. The beat rate is really not important except it is a 'tell' because the second hand travel is much smoother on faster beat movements.

did you ever find anyone?

Is that your toilet ?

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What’s there not to like bro?! Haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Much loves bro. Congrats. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yay!! [emoji847] Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

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Ahhhhh, nothing a few rolls of duct tape won't fix!

Nice Don! Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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I really need to rebuild my collection of them. I sold off a lot to do some Rolex builds, hopefully this year is an AP year

W o w

Follow on to my Jan 22 post on Yuki 3135 and manufacturing or modifying to cal.3185: I have been doing some research and what is probably the largest challenge with manufacturing an all-Chinese 3185 or 3186 movement is the hour jumping module. I have not had one on my bench but from what I can see from pictures this module is about the size of a regular movement wheel, a bit thick, but is actually sandwich assembly of ruby/sapphire plates with springs and 12 precision detents (12 hour jumps) inside which are only functional when the hour quickset is being used. The top of the Chinese watch industry could probably pull this off but it is likely an order of magnitude or two of precision required to manufacture this one modular assembly. It seems to me that everything else is just watch making. Many good and I suspect most cheap Chinese watch factories are already running robotic CNC milling and assembly of their movements but I don't know if they are precise enough to make this part. It comes down to engineering capability of the factory making these parts. I recall that even Rolex changed the cal.3135 and renamed that modified calibre to 3136 to correct some minor alignment issues with the hour jumping quickset mechanism, so it was a challenge even for Rolex who should have access to amongst the best and most expensive large scale manufacturing line in the world and all of the money in the watch world to get the design correct. I suppose that the movement could be copied without jumping as is done with the non-CHS DG3804 and HZ6460(gmt mod Asian 2836-2), though it seems that the unreliable so called SA3136 movements have managed this. The problem is the human eye is very good at seeing non-aligned scale markings, this is what makes a vernier scale work on precision tools like older micrometer calipers, so most of us want a watch that all of the hands line up perfectly every time the minute hand hits the hour. Corrections welcome, especially with pics!

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