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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!

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Geez @Nanuq I’m kind of disappointed in you. This is the Mods lounge on the number one rep modding forum. Don’t need no stinking keys. I taught myself to lock pick years ago Oh and I would stay away from that Johnny Walker, it’s the only decanter where the level keeps going up. I’m not sure Kernow always makes it to the heads

"Excellent question because I just saw this rectangular shaped gasket on a website. But I don't think anyone uses those anymore." Seiko uses a lot of the flat gaskets but they tend to crawl out of their shallow groove in the case and get cut or distorted quite a bit. Some of this trouble is because they are so thin. Most of them fit around the case back (not in a groove in the case) and as soon as the case back starts compressing the gasket you can not really tell what is happening to the gasket. The gasket groove in the case is shallow and the gasket is thin...not a good combo imho. In this type of case the 'groove' in the case is really just a slight relief cut into the case to help position the gasket. Sometimes you can see some of the gasket sticking out before you open the watch. Almost all gasket grooves in cases have flat sides and flat bottom areas. The correct round cross section gasket compresses enough to make it seal in the square area. Bought an assortment of thin flat gaskets from J. Borel years ago and half were black rubber and half were gray plastic. I might use one or two a year, mostly on Seiko, Pulsar etc. They are half price now: http://www.julesborel.com/s.nl/it.A/id.10511/.f?sc=31&category=973256

Definitely great advice from all those who responded! Are you confident with a watchmakers lathe? The other possibility is that you can fill in that section completely to make it as flush as possible to even out the step section. Then you can use a seal of any thickness you like provided that the mid case does not have he same issue! The old submariner cases had no groove (from what I remember) to seat the gaskets so I cannot see how this would not work. Check out the following product. https://www.jbweld.com/products/steelstik-epoxy-putty-stick. This product is the best invention for me since sliced bread as it keeps me sane especially that I can use it on stainless steel-- one of my worst enemy! LOL!! i used this to fill in the gasket groove of a heavily pitted case and then evened it out by smoothing it flush with the surface to have a uniform groove so that the seal would sit in nicely! Let us know how you go? Good luck!

While climbing last night, enjoying a late Fall evening.

Updated my 1680 build with the VN dial (relumed, shaved to fit case, and dial feet soldered on) and a pip made from scratch (tiny ball of lume covered in epoxy 330).

Great information, Timelord. Thanks for sharing. At this point, I'm going with the 1mm thick cross section and will try those 2 or 3 different inner diameters. I will just use silicone grease for watches and then simply use my water/pressure testing device to test for leaks up to 6 or 8 bar. thanks for sharing how you did yours.

I have been following this thread very carefully and my understanding is that Automatico has the best experience on this with his detailed and informative response. I believe you seem to have a type of case which was most common from Silix which are good cases as I had this same type of case back on an Omega I bought from the original owner of the site some 12 years ago. Great watch but not a good watch to wear in summer as it too had a flimsy back seal and moisture seemed to creep in on a hot day as the crystal fogged up. I ordered more then a few back seals all 1.0mm in thickness and they were oval instead of flat. I eventually got the right diameter but still I was not so confident with the thickness as a 1.2mm one would have been better. I then considered that it couldn't get any worse, so, I had some rocker cover gasket sealant which sealed a nice leak on my car and I slowly used a sharped toothpick to fill in a small film in the groove which was also stepped to make it thicker. I know it sounds charlatanism but I just wanted something that worked. Before the sealant totally dried I placed gasket to adhere it in place for it to cure while slowly putting a few light turns onto the mid case just to level out the gasket in the case back. Once it was cured, I passed some lithium grease from CRC with my forefinger around the gasket. I then tightened it just enough to feel the gasket compressing. Don't overtighten as it isn't necessary. I also ran out of lubricant so I used singer sewing machine oil on a very small cotton bud onto a tooth pick to lubricate the threads. Most watch makers and even those here would frown on my ways but I never ever had problems again even with dipping my arm into the lake with it. Replacing the seal was easy as it just needed to be scraped out with a soft object. Regarding 1.2 mm seals, I recall getting one from a forum member in Australia for a watch that was built there. So I know they exist but I have since been unsuccessful in locating one To answer your question on getting a new case back, I believe that the replica cases are a smitch bigger than the genuine cases and it may be risky to get a new case back which may not fit or marry up with the threads especially if the thread taps are different I suppose someone can correct me on this but unless you prefer to change over the case completely with a case back without this step It then defeats the purpose of your outcome as it is a learning game as well as a project achievement!!!

update: It seems the thickest gaskets you see for sale are 1mm. The groove appears to be 1.2mm but a 1 mm gasket should work because it will "fill" it up as it compresses. It seems the best place to order precise gaskets and choices is Esslinger.com They have a 32.5mm inside diamter gasket 1mm thick and a 32.75mm gasket at 1mm thick. I might even order the 33mm gasket as well and then I will just try all three. Overall the main problem is just the flimsy .60mm thick gaskets they ship with the Cartel case. Those don't work, you probably need at least .90 to 1mm thick. While we are on the subject, does anyone know if the cartel casebacks use the same exact threading as an original 5513? In other words, will original or aftermarket 5513 casebacks screw onto the cartel midcase? Has anyone found 1.1 or 1.2mm thick gaskets for sale?

Update... so nothing really surprising to report. As you stated@Automatico the dial opening was pretty much bang on 26mm (and original dial 26.5mm) when I put the Digi calliper on them. As dial was in flight I decided to wait and see... but unsurprisingly the dial is pretty much 25.9something :-( so it is not going to work for this project. Just for completeness the pics if dial that arrived from the eBay seller are below. I'm not really qualified to comment on quality but it might help others to make a choice at some point. This was a $160 5513 feet first dial from ebay seller richview8i8 (hope that matches any searches here) It isn't the dial pictured on the listing and guess what it doesn't look anywhere near as good - to my eye at least. Having put that one down to experience I now need some help please. If I'm to carry on with this project and try to create a decent mid budget 5514 pre-Comex with the dial opening of 26mm what are my best option s for dial!? Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Just updating this thread as I decided to go down the road towards a 'better' and less conspicuous pre-comex 5514 build. I'm not intending to go down the path of gen parts - even if they were available. Just trying to lift the overall quality of the rep case and parts to what would pass (to regular folks) on the wrist as a nice looking submariner and to more knowledgeable folks as a decent rep 5514 :-) So far I have been evaluating all the dial options and on basis of cost v quality I have decided to go with a refinished feet first dial off the bay (on Singer plate?! maybe). Also going to try a WSO bezel assembly and see if it is more faithful representation. A Clark Tropic plexi is waiting to try if needed. Sterile case back also. Whilst waiting for parts I decided to work on the bracelet and drilled lugs on the case... opening them up to gen spec successfully. I already had some Gen Spec bars waiting to snap in - thanks[mention=73322]sogeha[/mention] for those super nice Swiss ones [emoji1786] Oh... I need to get brave and tackle the CGs... I've been eyeballing as many 5514 photographs to appreciate the shape. Just trying to learn as much as I can before removing any steel! @Autimatico thanks again your knowledge regarding this 5514 case has been invaluable [emoji572][emoji16][emoji106]

I still can't believe we are even having to have this discussion. In the last 2 years my hobby has been making jewelry by designing them in either Zbrush or Matrix Gemvision (Rhino based) and then having my models professionally printed with the latest 3d printing software which is called material jetting. Material Jetting is so precise that you could 3d print finger prints if you wanted to. For the love of God and all that is mighty, let's create a team of people from this forum including myself and make 3D models of the 5513 case. Now, I can't cast models into stainless steel, but maybe I can help with the workflow of the whole process of making a 3d model of the midcase which can then be CNC machined, etc. At the vary least, we could have the midcase designed with just final thread cutting left which people like JMB could advice on. Let's freaking do this people. Let me give you an example of what can be done with technology. A friend of mine wanted a treasure coin but didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for even just a replica. So I created an exact replica using Zbrush and then casting it in Silver. For the Love of God. With 3D scanning, we could high resolution scan an original 5513 mid case.