shadeone

touche' fellas! thanks for the pics! i still think the "natalie" dial on the first page has too little amount of lume / too large of a gap to look authentic though

can someone please show me a REAL 6538 that has a gap between the lume marker and the gilt circle around it? I think people have been on replica boards too long without looking at the real deal and this large gap and small marker has just become acceptible on rep dials lately... a good real 6538 has marker lume that fills the whole circle:

ok yeah, must be a gen1 vs gen2 thing with the tiger cases then... got another email from tigerconcept stating that he special orders the dials for those cases and thats why his standard dials like the brown sterile one on his site (29.2) dont fit. Also just got pictures of an opened tiger case from another member on homageforum with a helenarou dial sitting in the back and it definitely does not go in all the way to the dial mount area... ill see if i can get them up here... edit, jerkstore! you replied while i was typing! can you throw those pics you sent me on homageforum up here for the definitve visual for everyone?

I finally got a response back from tiger concept directly regarding this.... I quote: "the largest dial that fit this case is 28.2mm and the opening area that can see the dial is 26.5mm" Someone on homageforum stated that the brown jiao-dragon dials that tiger concept sells seperate on their site (http://www.tiger-concept.com) do not fit the big crown cases they sell because the dials are 29.2mm joeyb, how old is your case from them? I know they used to have one with a huge tropic-39 superdome type crystal on it but now they are correct profile for a 6538... im thinking maybe they switched the dial stuff too?

there are reports on homageforum that the tiger case only accepts 28mm dials... i believe the rafflestime one takes their own 29mm dials... I had wanted to do a helenarou sterile 6538 bond gilt dial in a tiger case but it looks like it isnt possible unless you either grind down the edges of the helenarou dial (in which case the chapter ring on the dial will still be too close to the rehaut) or else open the rehaut on the tiger case AND machine the inside of the dial area out to 29mm... joeyb, what dial did you use in your tiger cased mod up there ^^ ?

Just got my completed milsub project back from the watchmaker last night and thought you guys might be interested in the details! I wanted to make the most correct 5517 homage out there, but keep it on a small budget. I know there are many replicas out there that I could have just switched dials on but there are usually a lot of tiny imperfections on them that just bother the heck out of me. Anyways here is my new beauty: Case - I used a replica case, originally from "Trevor Time", obtained from lloyd at rwg.cc. It has the fixed / welded lug springbars like the original 5517 had to enable only NATO nylon straps to be used. The movement inside is a DG2813 "21 jewel". $100.00 shipped Dial - I got an unmarked "sterlie" 29.2mm dial with white lume from Ken at rafflestime.com. It has the correct "Swiss T<25" marking near the bottom and minute marker ticks / hashes that extend under the rehaut. $10.39 shipped Hour and Minute Hands - I ordered a set of milsub sword style hands from helenarou.com. The hour and minute hand are the most correct hands for a milsub. All other sword hand sets that exist for the DG2813 dont have a minute hand with lume that forms an "arrow" shape near the tip and are usually just rectangular lume bars. The movement in my watch is a DG2813 with 100/150/17 hands and the helenarou hand set was designed for ETA which is 90/150/25, meaning the hole on the minute hand was too small and needed to be broched to fit. $29.95 shipped Second Hand - Since Helenarou's second hand is not the correct Milsub style (its design matches the old Omega Seamaster 300 and slightly curves in at the sides of the triangular lumed pointer), I bought an additional white lume hand set from Ken at rafflestime.com in order to use just the more corect second hand from the set. $22.99 shipped Bezel Insert - The case came with a bezel insert that was designed for the traditional non-milsub submariner with minute markings at only the first 15 minutes. The correct 5517 milsub insert has minute tick / hash marks all the way around the bezel instead of just the first 15. I bought a replacement insert from user wholesaleoutlet990 on ebay. It didnt snap in place and needed to be cemented to hold it. $13.00 shipped Crystal - The crystal that came on the case was a little too generic and flat on top and was replaced with a Clark 25-19 dome style replacement acrylic crystal from user nostalgia-2000 on ebay. The original milsub used a Tropic 19 and the Clark is an excellent, almost exact replacement. $17.00 shipped Strap - I bought a 20mm "Admirality Gray" NATO strap from user mickie500 on ebay who sells for Phoenix, the original suppliers of NATO straps to the British MOD (Ministry of Defense). Phoenix made the original straps that came with the real milsub. He sells some factory goof straps that are much cheaper and you cant notice the very minor errors at all. The original milsub was issued with an 18mm "Admirality Gray" strap, but Rolex themselves offer 20mm as a factory replacement so either width is correct. $11.05 shipped Assembly - Since I am not a watchmaker and dont have tools and have never played around with taking a watch apart or putting it back together, I had a Jay at Motor City Watch Works assemble all of the parts for me. The rehaut needed to be opened up a little bit for the correct amount of minute tick marks to show $120.00 shipped grand total = $324.38 I know there are a few things that could be even more correct like the bezel pearl and the lug and crown guard widths / shape, but those dont bother me as much right now as the things like hands and crystal profile etc did. Plus modding things like that would cost more and this is just a bidget watch... Maybe for my next watch I will go even more perfect.

another option... rafflestime has this complete milsub dial with all the rolex printing on it: how hard would it be to get all of the printing off of it besides the little circle t? does rubbing alcohol take off printing without damaging the black base?

Another question about this broaching deal... When you enlarge the hole, does it create a new fl@nge (dont know why it censored that word) on the border of the hole with these tools? How do they work? They look like files of some sort to me... Thanks!

Ok, is there anyone on the forums that does broaching? I found a different set of hands and it turns out I only need the hour hand enlarged from 90 to 100. The minute hand is fine and as mentioned earlier,I have a perfect second hand. These ones: http://helenarou.com/5513-6538-milsub-super-luminova-watch-hands-f5513653828242836.html

these ones specifically: http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6960394/8865330.htm there is a serious lack of good hands for the 2813 movement that closely resemble the actual 5517 milsub sword hands... the only ones really available that fit the movement outright are from rafflestime but the minute hand on those do not have the lume that forms an arrow shape near the tip of the hand:

not gen... aftermarket but made for gen rolex calibers... still cheap

I know that it is possible to go from bigger opening holes on hands to smaller using the tedious and painful task of laser welding or whatever, but I was wondering if I could go from hands that are drilled for 80/130/20 (rolex 1520 movement) and open up / bore them out to the DG2813 size of 100/150/17? I know the second hand is smaller, but I got the second hand for the 2813 covered already so ignore that.... I read something about return flanges or something, needed in order to keep the hand from rocking on the post. Can this be re-done in the newly opened up hand at all or is this whole idea just a lost cause?

can you print white onto the clear film decals?

are there any methods based on the above that would allow me to just put the letter "T" on there without having to redo the whole dial? The sterile dial is perfect the way it is, I just need a simple letter addition... this is the dial:

Wow, thats a lot of money! ha! And no this isnt a rep dial, its completely blank, I just want the "T" because it is a distinguishing feature of the Rolex Milsub and Im doing an homage watch, not a rep (yet) Now that could work! Hopefully one of them chimes in on here!