ninjagaiden

Hi Ninga, thought I would share this now you've decided to buy the DSSD D-Blue.

Firstly, if you go to my thread on "regulating the A2836 movement" (it's a couple of places below the one on the noob DSSD), you will see that apart from regulation I also commented on doing a waterproofing job on the case. I have done this very well following the previous thread by "gioarmani" posted on the 1st August 2009. When you've finished reading this, suggest you read that also.

So, this afternoon I decided to have a look inside the noob to do the same. First thing I noticed was that the back was not very tightly screwed down at all, in fact when I put the die on the back I could turn it with my hand. Therefore, first piece of advice is "don't jump in the pool with it yet". Just as gioarmani says, it wont be waterproof yet. Still, don't panic , it gets better. It may simply be they forgot to re-tighten it after regulation.

On taking the back off I noticed the following compared to the other DSSD black.

1. Much higher quality finish.

2. The two piece back is the correct profile as the gen.

3. Unlike the black DSSD, the noob didn't need any micro fettling of the gasket groove on the inner part of the back - the titanium bit on the gen.

4. The movement seems to be a high quality gold plated affair and is marked "25 Jewels"

5. On taking the winder shaft out and inspecting the seals it has the 3 seals like the triple lock gen. These are :- outer tube (visible when you pull winder out. Inner tube (which shaft passes through) and inner crown which tightens down onto end of winder tube. Gioarmani says in his post that sometimes with rep's you only get 2 of these and the inner tube gasket is somtimes missing. Not the case here.

So, I was very happy and took the opportunity with the back off to carry out minor adjustment/correction of the timing.

Now, it would be worth your while to do the same so as not to risk your lovely new DSSD getting water inside it. If, like me, you have all the correct dies, screwdrivers and a watch case clamp/mini vice and you're used to doing this, then it's a couple of hours enjoyable work one afternoon.

If not and you don't feel comfortable with doing it yourself, then it's worth spending a few quid giving it to a good watchmaker to do for you. The important thing on re-assembly is to use the silicone grease on all the gaskets. I also greased the threads and the chamfer on the case back to aid tighening down.

If you want to do it yourself, but don't have the Rolex back dies, then make sure if you order some (usually China) that they include the 36.5mm die which fits the DSSD. Many don't and only go up to the size die that does the Sub.

Also, If you don't have one of those nice little yellow plastic watch case vices which are on e-bay for about £8 and want to buy one of those also, the standard screw supplied isn't long enough to let you open the vice jaws enough to accomodate either a Sub or DSSD case. No matter, it's a standard thread (either BSF or Metric) and you'll get a longer one at your local "nuts and bolts are us" or DIY store.

Remember, if you do it yourself, you don't need to tighten the nuts off it when putting the case back - back on. The grease will help you get it good and tight and it's never going to see 12900 metres, as won't any humans I know!!

Hope this is helpful

Richard