Leaderboard

The first one was completed quite a while back and I had enough parts for another one so here is where it stands. Here is the first one with a cal 1560 and Yuki dial... Basic 1570 non hack from the mid 1960s for the second one shown below. It came out of an old DJ that got water in it and was put away wet. The stem was rusted solid in the main plate and a lot of screws etc. were rusty, plus it needed a balance staff, set bridge, rotor axle, mainspring etc. It had been c/o a while back as it was in my 'shortcut 1655'...so it runs just fine, exactly the same movement minus the 24 hour parts. Had to put a new minute wheel post in it though because the minute wheel from the aftmkt 24 hour conversion had an arbor on it that turned in the movement where the minute wheel post used to be...long story. Quite a bit of the plating was damaged by water but it does not make one bit of difference in the way it runs. The case is from early 1964 and is in very good condition with just a tiny bit of corrosion on the gasket area of the case. Put a new case tube in it today and it turned out to be a real hassle...not the first case tube hassle btw. It was an old style nickel silver tube that had been cemented and tightened to the max. It's a wonder it did not break off when it was installed...so it waited until I was removing it. Broached most of the remaining tube down to the case threads and of course it cut a lot more on one side and not much on the other side of the remaining tube. Had to file what I could away, being careful not to damage the threads, but it still left about half of the threads in the tube but there was enough of the threaded hole toward the outside of the case to start a case tube tap so I finally got it cleaned up and a new case tube back in the case. That is where it stands today, next will be to put the crystal on the case, dial/hands on the movement, and a few other parts plus the auto wind assembly to finish it. The bezel on the case is from a 34mm Raffles 'toot' case and hopefully it will work on a 25-12 size crystal. I may end up making one but would rather not. I'll post again when I get more done. Damaged plating on the brass main plate... Might replace the detent screw (top outer screw on right side pic) it works Ok but it looks bad. Funny how the plating was damaged on the main plate, but the plated bridges were all Ok. 2-17-2023 I was looking at the first '1002 explorer' just now. It is a 1003. Ratty set of letters, but original.

"Have you considered using another dial? The print of the Yuki dial pictured is pretty poor. I think even most standard rep dials today might be a better option, let alone 1 from 1 of the better franken parts sellers." Yeah, it is not too hot. The one for my AK 5501with yellow letters is a little bit better. "Also, will you be removing the corrosion on the metal before finishing? It looks like mostly surface rust that could easily be removed." The corrosion/rust is gone. What you see is the brass base metal of the main plate showing through heavily damaged rhodium plating. The rust was removed by soaking in white vinegar plus two trips through an ultrasonic cleaning machine. This is about as good as it going to get. Polishing the damaged areas with Simichrome polish etc. would make it look better but I skipped it because it would remove more plating. Here is the other 5500 'explorer' dial, it might be a little bit better: Close up, it is really no better: These AK 'explorer' dials were $110 each with hands including shipping in 2014/15. The other dial with goldtone letters is a little bit better, but it looks a lot better at a distance of 12 to 18 inches: Since these are project watches made out of miscellaneous parts, I guess I'll go with these dials and not spend any more $$ on them. The original dial on the 5501 AK has been badly refinished and dented so the Yuki dial will be an improvement. The rough original dial/hands will be included when it sells to help the deal a little bit. These '90% genuine rolex 'lost cause' projects are now numbering over 100 with 10 or more 'originals' left to finish so I am slacking off on project watches a bit. Hopefully these projects will be Ok along with 'full disclosure' as long as no one is too picky. Q...What is left? A...Two 16xx DJ, one (? ref number) manual wind with date, one 1675 GMT, two 5500 AK, one 5501 AK, one 1500 OPD with a 'blistered' movement, two 6422 (iirc ref number) manual wind no dates plus a few others. 'Blistered' = movement discolored by harsh cleaning solvents. I am beginning to see piles of shucked oysters in my sleep. Ha! Update later in the day: I found another yellow letter Yuki 'explorer' dial with a matte finish in my box of dials. The one above has a glossy finish. The matte dial with yellow letters is about the same quality as any matte dial with white letters in this thread. All are from 2014/15.