jmb

Hard part will be getting a dial made...

This is a Snowflake built with one of the "old" Cartel 5512 cases. I thinned the CGs a little but there's not much that can be done about the length. I have read lately that the new Cartel cases have better CGs, if so that is very good news.

It's gonna have to go to dbane to get a bevel like that! If you get the Cartel watch you will have a movement spacer. For all practical purposes if you start with an A2836 Cartel 5512/13 all you need to do is massage the CGs a bit, drill lugs, get the back engraved, and do a dial/hand swap.

Try raffles or helenarue, they may have 28mm - 29mm dials for the low-end cases.

Thanks, Mike, you made it possible!

Sssshhhhhhh, don't tell anybody...

When I prototyped a White 6601 rep it seems that a lot of folks were turned off by my generic beat-up SS bracelet. Our own mcotter felt sorry enough for me to brew up a nice vintage looking strap to put on it. Probably most of you know that I'm not the biggest fan of straps but I have to admit this looks right at home on it and I think the watch and strap "work and play well" together! Thanks to Mike's craftsmanship I think this now looks more the part and I'm glad convinced me to give it a try.

Good snag! Congrats on retiring - I kept threatening to retire every time my dip-$hit boss did something stupid (at least once/day) so he fired me...

Great job! Explorers on a Jubilee are very classy...

I've got a 20 ton press so it could go one of two ways! I've turned Delrin dies that put the pressure on the edge of the case-back so don't ned to worry about denting anything...

C'mon, Mr. Freeze, he does have a squirrel humpin' his ear for an excuse! I didn't realize a gen was thin. I have engraved a couple of the HR case backs and they were almost a no-go due to being so thin...

If these are anything like the HR case-backs they are extremely thin.

If it's supposed to be flat in the middle it could be milled, and while being milled it could have a PanAm logo added...

On my Monte Carlo I used a plain crystal and then used clear epoxy to glue on a glass magnifier.

Thanks, and it's really easy if you have the correct "dirt" to do it with! After looking at a lot of "naturally aged" dials in movement donor watches it appeared to me that a lot of the grunge on lighter dials came from the grunge created by the less cared for movements themselves. I've bought dozens of 30-40 year old watches, that probably had seen few services, and they usually had black crap floating around both behind and in front of the dials.

Mike, yes, 20mm.

The mesh was a freebie...

Had to clip and glue...

I almost feel like I'm spamming but I figured the finished version of this project should be in i's own thread. This is the culmination of several versions of the dial and different case "vintagizing" techniques based on feedback from kindly Brothers in this forum! When researching the White Explorer 1016 I discovered that it's predecessor, the 6610, also came in a white dialed version so I figured I might as well go for it since I already had dial artwork. After conferring with alligoat he gently convinced me of the error of my ways insofar as putting a 1016 dial in a 6610 case. He correctly pointed out that the 6610 dials were not "Superlative" Chronometers but just "Officially Certified" Chronometers. I thought, "Crap, back to AutoCad!" After a few revision (mainly to get fonts slimmed down to where they didn't look too bold and bleed together) I had the CAD drawing finished. I took a 28mm dial blank, sprayed it with gloss white paint, and applied the decal. After allowing the decal to dry for a day I put a light coat of matte clear spray on it and after it dried I rubbed on some very fine "dirt" from behind my buffer and then sealed in the dirt with another coat of matter clear. I then mixed some lume and did my best. After several iterations this is what I have wound up with. It's not perfect and although the dial (as any waterslide based dial) will not hold up under extreme magnification I have to say the wrist presence at 1:1 size is super! I had originally meant for this to be on a strap but while I was rooting through some boxes for a black leather strap I ran across this no-name folded link bracelet that looked right at home and also allowed the lug engraving to be seen. Trying to give the impression of a late 50s case I put some dings on one area of the case, some scratching, and over-buffed it to smooth the edges. I decided to power it with an ETA 2451 movement which is an 18k vph movement. Here's some pics...

Figger I'll wear my just completed prototype White 6610 for a few days...

OK, here's my final prototype. I darkened and aged the dial, dinged up the case and buffed all edges smooth, and tossed on a ghetto no-name bracelet from an old movement donor. I finished this out with an 18k vph ETA 2451 movement to keep with the spirit of the project.

I just finished building it a couple weeks ago, haven't even had time to test it, yet. Hopefully it will go bang, in a good way!

OK, this is my final dial. I think the lume is about the right color and I thinned the fonts down so nothing bleeds together. I'm pretty happy with it and as soon as my movement gets here it will be on my wrist!

I thinned the fonts down and think it looks much better and also got some powdered dye to tint my lume so will post up attempt two tomorrow.