brendo22

Beautiful pair of tudors there! I had one question, is the snowflake dial gen? And did you get it re-lumed, looks like different lume in those shots? Just curious...

I'm definitely diggin' it to... Man I'm getting the itch for this one haha! I might get started on adding a new brother to the snowflake

The gen 128 looks great K! Definite upgrade

Looks great K! Funny how you were looking at a tudor last week, and now... ...well deserved, now I'm jealous And big props to Ubi! Fantastic piece!

Thanks everyone! I haven't been able to take my eyes off of it for the past couple of days haha! Now I just need a tritium pearl and caseback, so I still have some leg work to do...but I'm definitely enjoying this one.

I just received this beautiful piece back from my good friend Justasgood and I just wanted to show it off! I so appreciated his help with this project and just saw that he will be receiving a cousin from Ubi, congratulations!

So I've been wanting this watch since the first time I saw the tudor snowflake models. As it has been said numerous times, the snowflake dial/hands and tudor name just give the watch that little bump in unique character. And in my personal opinion the dial is much more pleasing to the eye.

It originally started out as an MBW 5513 swiss ETA 2836-2 white dial, with some mods, which I then proceeded to convert to a Tudor Snowflake 9401. I just needed to source an appropriate movement, dial/hands, and caseback. I also want to thank my friend Ubi who helped me with answers to questions like what type of movement I needed to source and how compatible everything was to swap into my MBW.

The mods are as follows

-MBW 5513 Case

-Gen Swiss ETA 2783

-Yuki 9401 dial & hands

-93150 band / 2mm 580 ends from Puretime

-Gen 703 crown/gen tube

-Gen T19 (not superdome)

-Ubi faded insert w/Ofrei pearl

-CGs shaped

-2mm lugholes

-insert recessed

I just need an appropriate caseback which I have a lead on... and a tritium pearl which will be spendy lol.

The pics aren't the best and the lume is not as yellow as it looks in the pics.

5513 Before

Tudor

Just threw my 1665 on a military grey maratac nato - lovin' it!

5513 with freshly "Ubi'd" bezel

Thanks Ubi!

Beautiful, yes, but the crystal drove me nuts!

Sure brendo, not a problem answering your question. Sanding the crystal was relatively easy. It didn't take long before I figured out why this crystal was relegated to the parts box. I soon remembered that the crystal was in pretty bad shape, and that I was able to find another dome 117 for my last watch restoration. Not wanting to spend another $70 or more for an old crystal (if in fact I could actually find another one), I decided to sand this one into submission.

I spent most of last night sanding, and (I timed it) three hours today after I got home from work. This is time consuming when done right, but it is kinda fun to see the end result.

Last year when I bought one of these crystals from a gen dealer, I was disappointed with what I got in the mail. The crystal I had received had been evidently buffed with a dremel. The end result was an obviously uneven surface that desperately needed some TLC. Realizing the rarity of the crystal (isn't it weird how dome T-12's and C-117's are rarer that rocking horse $hit, but "original" superdome NOS 19's and 39's are all over the place?) I decided not to return the dome 117 to the seller, and sanded it the same way I did this one.

It's pretty easy actually. I used wet/dry 600, 1000, 1200, and 1500. I only started off with the 600 for really deep scratches, but for the most part I was able to start with 1000. Begin by cutting a sheet into a six inch by six inch square, and fold it so you have a corner that will fit under your index finger. Try to sand in straight lines (ok, tiny straight lines!). The reason is the same reason you should never use swirls when you polish your car. It's something about the way light reflects.... Swirl marks are bad!

As in any metal or paint finish work, use all grades of sand paper up to 1500. I found that wetting the paper was not necessary for such tiny work, since the paper didn't get loaded up, and if it did, just flick it with your fingertip or fold a new corner.

After all the sanding was done, I dug some more car stuff out of the garage and put it to good use. I figured, why the hell should I spend money on a tiny tube of polywatch when I have a garage full of auto compounds? There are many products that would probably do the same thing, but I chose 3M's "finesse it". This stuff is advertised to remove 1500 grit scratches, and I found that it worked great.

So, that's it! It's an easy and fun little hobby project that has great results (hmm.... why isn't any of this stuff ever on the gen forums?)

Awesome! Thanks for the details JoJo! And the crystal came out great, very nice job

Yes he does! I had seen your insert and actually referenced the shade he got yours to as the example, lol. It's going back onto my MBW 5513 and will be enjoyed very much!

Man R! It looks exactly how I was picturing it to be! It is appreciated deeply, and I can't wait to get it back on

Oooh, if a green milgaus crystal fit, that would be an awesome idea! And amazing watch PB!

Hey JoJo, what method did you use to sand the inside of the crystal, it seems such a small space to be able to sand around the curves evenly with just your finger? If you don't mind me asking?

Yeah I vote black nato

Haha, looking great K! I knew that case looked familiar It's going to be a cool watch! Are you sticking with the oyster band, or are you going to slap it on a nato?

I really hope it comes together for ya, it would be an awesome little custom project. I'm loving where you want to go with it!

Very nice Kurt! I think PVD on it would look killer!

Happy Birthday J!

Thanks for the input guys I dont take anyones comments as negative, the color is just a little more on the dark orange side then yellow in person. Yeah, this was actually the first time really modding a watch this thoroughly, and the first time trying to age a dial. I was going for a look of a 1665 mk1 GW that i had seen on VRF that had a really dark orange patina that I really liked, at least thats what the poster said it was haha

Yeah, JMB did a great job on the retention ring and FxrAndy, the markers are actually more dark orange in person than yellow, I was going for that dark orange patina that I've seen on some 1665 MK1 dials. Thanks for the kudos guys!

Hi guys, I just wanted to share some pics of my 1665 Great White from Puretime. I have to give a huge thanks to JMB and Justasgood for their awesome assistance with this project as well!

Here is the list of things done:

-case/bracelet edges re-worked/smoothed

-entire watch lightly vintaged

-cgs re-shaped outside/inside

-gen t39

-custom made crystal retention ring from JMB

-gen crown

-aged bezel insert

-aged dial/hands

Here are some pics though I'm not a great photographer and disregard the dates on the pics, haha!

Super cool piece J! Definite upgrade for the wife!

Looks great J! Lovin' that dial!

Thanks guys! Yeah, those 580 ends on ebay just don't look right to me but thanks for the info! And it sounds like DW is the way to go? How do you get a hold of him?

Just curious if anyone knows of a source for aftermarket 580 endlinks that take 2mm bars? I am doubting it, but I thought Id try. Thanks guys!