jmb

Don't let our friend from the "Great Whate North" hear you say that!!! But, I agree... On the Franken front, I somewhat agree. I try to classify my builds into three categories: 1 - Franken Lites. A rep with just a gen dial or gen dial and gen crown. I don't consider just a crown to be any kind of Franken just a modded rep. 2 - Franken - A gen case, gen dial, and gen crown. 3 - Super or Uber Franken - All gen except movement, in other words indistinguishable from a gen without removing the case-back.

My thoughts exactly. I am going to take one of the gilt dials, spray with gloss clear, and then "dull" the markers and see what it looks like. I requested that the numbers and markers be "slimmed" a bit and I just got an e-mail from my supplier telling me that it would be too expensive. I have committed to 20 dials so we'll see what happens. These are "rep" dials and not rep dials disguised as "refinished" gen dials so there will be no clipping and gluing needed. The only clipping involved will be the removal of the unwanted feet as they come with feet for ETA and a21j - I like that!

Well, my goal was not to find a $50 dial that would make a "macro-lover" drool but to find something that someone who had always wanted a Vintage Explorer but couldn't afford/justify $400+ could use to build up something that looked "reasonable".

I think yours is the only glossy one I've built - then you made me abuse it!

Are all gilt glossy?

Definitely budget, depending on how many I commit to they will be under $50. I have been looking for an "affordable" vintage Explorer dial for folks to be able to build a decent Explorer without breaking the bank for 4 years. This is the best I have been able to come up with staying within the budget. With this dial someone should be able to put together a half-way decent looking Explorer for under $300 depending on movement cost...

Here are pics of some Gilt 1016 dials I can get pretty reasonable. I'm trying to negotiate a minimum order of less than 100. The markers and numerals on these are a bit on the "fat" side as was the white dial but after looking at the $300 early 1016 dial on NDT's site I think this is on par with it and will be well over $200 cheaper... I haven't checked the lume on the Gilt samples yet but on my white sample it is exceptional, for a rep, and will last most of the night when charged for a few seconds with an LED flashlight...

I love it! Nice and clean, crisp, uncluttered... That dial might not be that hard to produce...

Gnarly, Dude!

I haven't looked at their stuff for a while but I seem to remember some watches being available (so they say) in either A7750 or ETA 7750. I really don't know for sure except the ones advertised as "Swiss" were considerably higher priced than the Asian version... But, after taking a look just now I see what you mean...

Yes, I like the text - very crisp "in person." I am going to ask if the numerals and markers can be "skinnied" up a bit...

They do look a tad fat in the close-ups but really not that bad on the wrist. It is a very "readable" dial when wearing it...

I wuz thinkin' a reflection off a mirror or window...

I'm not sure what a 217 or 470 is but I build these from time-to-time...

OK, I build a lot of Explorers and my quest has always been to be able to make the best looking Explorer I can for an affordable price-tag. The big sticking point has always been what I would term a "reasonably priced" dial. To me a $100+ dial is not really a budget item. I have been after my parts guy for years to get me some vintage Explorer dials and it's always , "No, can't get them..." Well, I guess he finally got tired of me hounding him and said he could get me some samples. I was ordering cases so I told him to get me an "assortment". I received my order today and have samples of three different dials. "Regular" with yellow lume, Gilt with yellow lume, and gilt with white lume. Not being much of a gilt freak I took my prototype White Explorer and swapped dials with the Standard/yellow lume dial and I think I like it. The numbers are placed about right, the printing seems crisp, and it had feet to fit ETA 2824 family so no clipping and gluing required. If feedback is good I may commit to a batch of these. The down-side is that minimum quantity is 100 of each type. Here's a pic...

A reflection of a reflection?

I remember there was a "Midnight Sun" softball league when I lived in Fairbanks...

I have been transitioning the domestic folks I deal with over to Amazon Payments. No fees on a personal account but I'm not sure if it's available internationally...

I ground a lathe bit to cut the groove when I made the Oysterquartz case but it doesn't seem worth it to me as it's way easier to get a case that already has a groove...

Some of the cases used in ultra-low price applications lack the internal groove the case clamp/tabs slip into. They are meant to be used with the "springy" plastic movement spacer... This pic is a bit fuzzy but there may be a groove in this one. I recently had someone send me a couple of projects to "finish" and the DJ cases had no tab groove...

Now that I'm "employment challenged" I've had more time to think about things like this!

I just put together an Explorer for a member using a Felsa 4000 series movement. After removing the date gizmos, making a special movment spacer the dial glued directly to it and stem height was just about perfect + it's an 18k vph movement.

Those being "reproduction" replacement cases?

One thing I've noticed between rep and gen cases is the "smoothness" when screwing the case-back onto the case. The case-back on Gen cases I've dealt with (maybe because they are old) usually feel as smooth as silk when screwing down while a lot of (most) feel a bit rough. I know, you can't see it and nobody is going to call you out for it but if you occasionally get into your case you would probably appreciate smooth threads. I grabbed a DJ case, screwed a back on it and it felt just a bit rough (screwed down fine) so I removed it, painted on some very fine polishing compound (S100 I got from a MC dealer) and screwed the case on and off many times. What this does is lap the case-back threads to the internal case threads and removes microscopic "high spots" which result in the rough feeling. After lapping I scrubbed the case and back thoroughly and now the case-back screws down with an almost Gen like feel. I feel better now...

It's going to be a very rude awakening for a lot of people when the Fed quits printing money and the Market crawls into the gutter again...