bones

The single most important aspect of this watch is missing.

Please say yes!

I've checked the usual sources, Yuki, NDT and J&W but none of them seem to carry just the Prince Oysterdate dial in blue. Anyone seen anywhere that sells one?

So, as a little bit of an experiment i decided to see what I could come up with in the way of vintage/cream coloured dial dots. Mostly vintage lume doesn't actually glow any more. Or at least in most cases very very weakly. Surely this opens up the opportunities for creating custom colours in certain situations. Lume was originally this colour, which is horrendous. (another project watch btw) Mix up a bit of these two until desired shade is achieved. Apply as you would a lume mix. Fine oilers were used in this case. To achieve this Would I love to be able to create lume of this colour, of course, but I don't have the materials to hand. Thoughts?

Damnit Justin, now you've got me looking at gen Tudor subs on chrono24!!!!

Lovely build mate. Very nice indeed.

gens.

I boiled some water in the kettle and let it soak in that until cool. Popped right out. Must say though, I've not replaced a single one of these Silix rep crystals. The cyclops is actually not too bad. I will order some Clark or sternK crystals at some point and see if they are compatible with the cases.

No baking at all mate. Matte varnish and some stippling is the way to go for this effect. Here's a better close up of the dial. Its very 3d in the flesh.

I know there are some stunning franken and expensive non-franken builds on these forums, but not everyone has the ability or the inclination to spend tons on vintage reps. Taking something like a $70 and spending a few days modding the hell out of it is definitely fun And funny you should say that, the one im working on at the moment has a glued in crystal, it's bloody annoying.

Finished up my latest project. (managed to post in the correct forum this time)

Damn, some very nice, and very expensive watches in that collection!

Not the best of shots. But the only time I've had the watch box completely full. I'm heading back down towards just 4 watches now...

Oh god, how much do I want that TT 1675! So much Very proud to have one of your pieces in my watch box RA

Thanks for the comments guys, got another few pieces on the way for projects so keep an eye out.

A week to put a hand back on? 10 minutes tops.

dont care what the guy thinks, that's just a stream of inspiration for rolex builders

A bunch of blunted craft blades used to scrape out the paint in the recessed numbers would also like to attest to the ceramic nature of the inserts >.< Good job though mate.

Man, if I didn't respect the work of the master modders on here so much I would absolutely be pumping you for exact details on how to do all the steps so I could replicate for myself. But I understand that a person also has the right to safeguard his techniques. Awesome work anyway Don. Do you think you could get roughly the same results using just the PT stock watch?

I'm also curious if the NDT bezel/insert was aged or it that was how it came supplied? How about the ingod dial as well?

You get gen inserts on eBay easily enough.

so tempted, but your looking at a $780 just for base watch, dial and bezel assembly. Not including crystal and any gen parts you may want to add.

Well, you know me, not exactly and accuracy-[censored] when push comes to shove

I think that crown is safe for the time being

Gah, it's blimmin massive, but for you, i'll do it Well, modding fever is ongoing in the Bonesey household. Mrs Bonesey being very understanding Lets take apart some GMT! This is as it came from Silix Just some profile shots of before for reference. As you can see it has the reference 1680 between the lugs. Which initially led me to think that this was using the same case as my single red sub but with a different crown and insert. There are however some very minor differences in construction, especially the seating for the crystal that make me thing they are actually different, just with wrong engravings. Caseback sticker claims it's a 16700 which of course is a later edition of the GMT Master with the sapphire crystal but still with springbar holes and hollow end links. No surprises here, basic 21j GMT movement and plastic movement spacer. Engraving on the caseback says that it's a 5513 which is of course wrong Some kind of rep franken monster! Stem came out no problems at all, but after removing the movement from the case it wouldn't go back in. I really didn't want to force it in, i resorted to pressing in the stem release button and it seems to be working fine. I popped the crystal out from behind using my thumbs with no great issue. Worked around the inside of the bezel insert with the case back knife to break the glue holding it in. Most of the construction is the same as the 1680 to be honest. Not much difference at all. First thing was to soften up the case. This is the most time consuming thing so I sat down with something on the tv and worked away. This is a pre-softening lug. And afterwards. It looks a bit rough at the moment but that will get smoothed over a bit and the case sides given a re-polish. The CG's also needed a bit of re-working. Taking a bit off the top and creating the sloped angle that I have on my other 1675. Making the bottom of the lugs flush with the case and smoothing it round a bit. These are shots with one CG done and the other still un-modded. And that's as far as I've gotten today. Wife is at work all day tomorrow some I'm sure I'll keep going. Cheers for reading. Ok, so back on track. I finished off the case softening and CG shaping. I'm quite happy with how it came out. Final step for the case was to give it a once over with a cape cod cloth in an attempt to soften some of the tool marks. I must admit it didn't really do a huge amount. I think a few things might need to change, firstly, a finishing file with a much finer burr. Secondly, get a cheap bench mounted polishing wheel at some point soon. As you can see, it's taken a little of the edge off the scratches, but nothing major. Well with the case done the next step was to sort out the dial and hands. Using a dial protector so that I don't scratch the dial (kinda silly when I'm gonna go throw it under a grill) and using lever style hand removers. These are a lot easier to use than the presto ones, and a lot less chance of damaging any of the cannon pins or hands tbh. Everything lined up on midnight. As I was shifting the dial protector round it moved the GMT hand :/ And voila! all done. After that it was a simple case of loosening the dial feet screws. And pulling off the dial. How the dial looks untouched . First thing I did was to give the dial a coat of varnish. I actually cocked up and put a bit too much on. While the varnish is drying it's time to raid the cupboard under the sink. Glass of water on the left and a pair of tweezers for this one. And plop, in she goes, give it a bit of a swirl about and then wait. After about 1:30 min i move it slightly to see if there's any change. So, bezel went in and out a few times giving it about a minute soak each time. I then removed it and dried it off to check the fading. Not enough, so in it went again. And sprayed with some of the clear varnish just to seal it. Now to prepare the tastiest dial you've ever seen, just pre-heat your grill at setting one and place the dial underneath for as long as you see fit I actually was too hasty and put it in before the varnish at the bottom of the dial was totally dry. So, at the 6 o'clock area I have some bubbling, which I'm quite liking. So here's the bezel and dial all finished up. Next time to paint the lume on the hands. As this dial isn't as dark as the red sub I decided to water down the stain a little bit. Just checking them next to the dial to get a reasonable colour match. Now the dial is back on the movement, and you can see how fine the canon pin is for the seconds hand, so easy to break! Date nicely centred thankfully. The hand setters I'm using are almost identical to the ones that JMB sells on here. If you get a chance to pick some of his up I would recommend it. Setting the seconds hand is the only time i really use a loupe as well. Just to get placement spot on. And that's us all finished up.. Cyclops lined up straight and crystal pressed back in. Everything back inside the case, making sure that it is all aligned. Greasing the caseback o-ring. Replacing the insert in the bezel and using a little hypo-cement to keep it in place. All done!! Bracelet on and a few wrist shots. And with it's sibling.