obiwan

32 minutes ago, jackflash said:

Best thing to do is to choose images of a 5517 gen that you like and ask your watchmaker to match the appearance.

Indeed  🙌👌

6 hours ago, freddy333 said:

Overall, I think it looks reasonable, but the yellow 'patina' is an obvious tell. 

It is very difficult for a factory to produce a realistic patina. If the dial is offered with whiter lume, I would opt for that. While rare, I still occasionally see gen Subs of the period with whitish lume. So you could pull that off if the rest of the dial, watch & you look the part.

Faking patina is definitely more ART than science. It requires ALOT of knowledge, experience, testingtestingtesting & hand-work to produce a 'natural' looking result. For a factory produced dial, I think it looks good. But I doubt it will fool a serious collector. Here is a macro shot of the lume on 1 of my gen Sub dials for comparison --

Really appreciate your feedback. It's frustrating as my helenrou dial has (to my eye at least) a better overall look. However, the structure of the lume on the kuared dial is closer to the finish on your gen sub. I may have to ask the watchmaker to use the helenrou dial and get him to match the kuared hands to the to helenrou colour 🤔 

6 hours ago, freddy333 said:

Overall, I think it looks reasonable, but the yellow 'patina' is an obvious tell. 

It is very difficult for a factory to produce a realistic patina. If the dial is offered with whiter lume, I would opt for that. While rare, I still occasionally see gen Subs of the period with whitish lume. So you could pull that off if the rest of the dial, watch & you look the part.

Faking patina is definitely more ART than science. It requires ALOT of knowledge, experience, testingtestingtesting & hand-work to produce a 'natural' looking result. For a factory produced dial, I think it looks good. But I doubt it will fool a serious collector. Here is a macro shot of the lume on 1 of my gen Sub dials for comparison --

Really appreciate your feedback. It's frustrating as my helenrou dial has (to my eye at least) a better overall look. However, the structure of the lume on the kuared dial is closer to the finish on your gen sub. I may have to ask the watchmaker to use the helenrou dial and get him to match the kuared hands to the to helenrou colour 🤔 

6 hours ago, freddy333 said:

Overall, I think it looks reasonable, but the yellow 'patina' is an obvious tell. 

It is very difficult for a factory to produce a realistic patina. If the dial is offered with whiter lume, I would opt for that. While rare, I still occasionally see gen Subs of the period with whitish lume. So you could pull that off if the rest of the dial, watch & you look the part.

Faking patina is definitely more ART than science. It requires ALOT of knowledge, experience, testingtestingtesting & hand-work to produce a 'natural' looking result. For a factory produced dial, I think it looks good. But I doubt it will fool a serious collector. Here is a macro shot of the lume on 1 of my gen Sub dials for comparison --

Really appreciate your feedback. It's frustrating as my helenrou dial has (to my eye at least) a better overall look. However, the structure of the lume on the kuared dial is closer to the finish on your gen sub. I may have to ask the watchmaker to use the helenrou dial and get him to match the kuared hands to the to helenrou colour 🤔 

My apologies for troubling you all again but just wanted to give you an update. I purchased the case and bezel set from Kuared watches in Vietnam. Happy with those. However, I had to purchase a hand and dial set afterwards as the helenrou hands wouldn't fit the 1520 rolex movement. Kuared sent them and they arrived today. I'm not sure about  the caking on the dial plots and wanted your views. Is this acceptable as aged looking plots or do I take him to task? I'm wondering whether my watchmaker can tidy it up

10 minutes ago, mir36 said:

Just to add my two cents… for case sets check out seller Kuaredwatches on instagram, based out of VN. He offers full case sets for less than $1k.  He was on eBay until a couple of months ago. I’ve ordered dials from him. 
 

On the 5517 insert, Jensen’s (the bay) are decent. I’ve ordered many other parts from him except the 5517 insert. The shape of the ‘2’ in ‘20’ is incorrect. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. I’m referring to the bottom left curve which leads to the flat line. Even from CAC, you need to watch the shape of the ‘2’. Some are good. Some are not. I use S Mazzariol’s 5517 photos for reference. 

Appreciate your feedback. What do you think of the phong cases (images above)?

On 4/9/2024 at 12:12 PM, jackflash said:

I don’t know offhand. You’ll need to check the outer dimensions of the crystal on the HR case to make sure the retaining ring of the bezel assembly will fit.

Thank you again. It may just be easier to go for the Phong complete case set up. It's bloody expensive but looks spot on. From all the cases, it looks the most accurate 

Hey, thank you so much for responding and really appreciate your efforts. 

Do you know if the bezel assembly will fit the HR case? 

Guys,  can you help me with this. I have a full build from HR and I love it. However, the bezel has always been an issue for me, it just seems too think and small. HR also used the plexi super dome which doesn't help (I'm not sure it's even accurate for a 5517). Question is, where can I get a proper bezel and insert from, one that is true to gen? I've heard clarks do a good 5513 bezel but I'm not sure it would fit on the HR case.

I've been in touch with Phong who seems very helpful. However, be wants $1650 jjst for the complete case (no dial, hands or movement). It's a little out of my budget 

On 1/21/2016 at 12:35 PM, hugop said:

I replaced my HR bezel with one from Clark watch on ebay. They are very good but require polishing before install. Very accurate and accept gen insert np.

Hi mate, did the Clark bezel assembly go straight onto the HR case? I hate the HR bezel and need to change it as it sits too thin and exposes too much of the plexi-crystal. If it did, may I ask where you got the milsub graduated insert from? Do clerks make one?