TeeJay

Me as well. There are a lot of watches I feel this way about. The 16613 and the PO Chrono are two of them that I own. I don't think I've ever seen the Summer Blue look better in photograph than it does on Raijor's wrist shot. There it looks tempting. It is a nice watch with an interesting history.

Do you mean that you own them simply as collection pieces, rather than them getting wrist time? Is the Blue Sub a limited editition? I have to admit, I've never seen anything about them online, I'd certainly be interested to find out more about them

He says he has been servicing an A7750 a day for 3 months and watch-smithing is his business - doubt there would be many of these movements going through his shop in general.

Maybe it was an exaggeration, maybe it was not, either way, as I said, if watch-smithing is his business, then he is probably dealing with a lot of clients. What kind of gen watches might have A7750s installed? I know how busy commercial 'watch shops/stalls' get just with simple stuff like changing batteries and adjusting straps. It's bread and butter work, but it still takes time, and takes time away from more complex work like movement servicing, in order to get that particular watch back to the owner. Is it fair to the customer who had to leave the watch for a service? In the 'first come first served' scheme of things, no, I guess it isn't, but, I do appreciate how people have to sometimes do the quick jobs to get in the cash, so they can then take their time over the more complex jobs. As I mentioned, my 127 was in a watch-smith's shop for over six months. I think it was probably closer to eight. I appreciate that people get nervous about property they have sent away and can't just 'pop into town' to pick up, but given that he is a commercial watch-smith, certain delays are inevitable... I hope it gets resolved to the satisfaction of the OP

I like the blue Sub, but I don't know if I like them enough to actually wear one... I think I'd have to try one on to actually decide. Blue SMP, no problem... Blue Sub... Not too sure...

I've seen TJ Thyne wearing a blue sub on Bones, and always wondered if it was a rep

My project Sub got some new shoes

Not quite (well, nowhere near ) a tropic strap, but certainly more functional and water resistant than the camel hide strap it was on

Heres a quick pic...

Thanks for the pic, that is class

I believe Michael has said previously that he has a shop, and watch-smithing is his primary income. If he does work for the public, it's quite likely that he would be very busy. My 127 was a good six months in the clutches of a watchsmith...

The oils are going to dry up and turn hard and slightly acidic during that time, you can't avoid it.

If you were doing this from scratch, then I would suggest that the best option would be a completely dry movement, with no oils anywhere. In other words, tear it down, clean and rinse it, assemble without any oils. If there is no oil, it can't dry up and turn hard. Getting it running again would be simple, a slight teardown to apply the required oils, and your off to the races...

Sealed with a dessicant is mandatory to ensure no corrosion.

RG

Thanks for your input, that definitely sounds like the best way to go. Do you think a couple of small packs of silica gel would be sufficient?

That's a question I don't know the answer to. All I can say is I use T Cut and an electric buffer to put the final polish on guitars finished in nitrocellulose lacquer, and that's after going up to about 8000 grit with Micromesh (which is used for polishing aircraft acrylic window panels) so it is fairly gentle. And you have to ask yourself - will a dial with a nice white smile be convincing................. And you can get T Cut in Halfords, a bottle will last years and years (as long as you don't use it on your car!) You can also use Brasso but that is even more gentle than T Cut. Probably very good on acrylic crystals as a final polish.

Thanks all for your comments, all I will say is thank goodness the world is not full of Freddies, I wouldn't dare go outside the house wearing this watch if so, but thank goodness there is one on this forum, that level of knowledge is incredble!!

I guess I'll just have to give it a try, and, if it doesn't work, move up to T-Cut

Text book perfect or not, it's still an awesome project build If anything, it's things like this which I find interesting, as it's an historical anomaly (aka an aged item from the future ) I would absolutely love a watch thus vintagized, the only thing which I wonder about though, is how strong the lume would remain... I need a watch to have good lume so I can see it at night, and I have a feeling a vintaged watch might not meet that criteria

The 6263 definitely is!

Spotted the distance between the subdials!!!

Wearing fake Rolexes in public, this thread just gets better and better

Just thought it worth noting.

Hee hee

Awesome find

[Edit to add]

If I recall, Craig wore something along the Rolex/Tudor line in L4yer Cake. Given those photos, possibly his own watch at the time

Well, if you want to give him an isotonic sports drink (regardless of why) I would recommend Coconut Water. I use Coconut water as it is the perfectly ph balanced isotonic. Best cure for a hangover, and many many times more effective then gatorade, which is trash. I buy this brand at whole foods stores http://www.vitacoco.com/

Thanks for the recommendation

TJ,

I have had many -old- "been in the drawer for X years" watches come across my bench.

It is truly amazing, that some actually run with winding; after these major time outs, and MANY others will again operate, after some time on the wrist (read - body heat) or a few hours on the kitchen window ledge ...in the sun! (read- heat again)

If I was going to "lock a movement down" for a number of years, I would probably avoid too much lubrication in it!

(Maybe even think about some sort of "surface coating" - WD40 comes to mind)

So I think a cleaned movement, without too much/or no, lube, but with some form of surface protectorent, and then sealed, (even better- vacuum sealed) may be the way I would look. ????????????????????

Just guessing....

Offshore

Awesome input, thank you Vacuum sealing would certainly be an interesting way to go

If the movement is not moving (in other words not in a winder for 15 years), there will be no wear on anything so you won't have to worry about the parts wearing out. Assuming it's not in a high humidity environment and the watch is reasonably sealed, there shouldn't be any rust issues.

Ziggy has said that grease/oil gums up over time with or without usage and that's why it needs to be replaced over time regardless of use. So, likely a servicing in 15 years is what it will need...essentially changing out the old grease and oil and replacing the seals which will have dried out.

Thanks for the input I had wondered about the issue of it gumming up over time. I guess if I put it to one side once it's built, but keep hold of it, rather than giving it to his mother to look after, in fifteen years, I'll be able to get it serviced myself, rather than making her pay for it I'll just have to spend the next fifteen years getting him hooked on watches

Tee-Jay, the depth marking was polished out of the dial using T-Cut (car polishing product, slightly abrasive). It required careful use of masks and even more careful rubbing!

Ahh, thanks for the tip I've previously used toothpaste to buff up an acrylic crystal, would you say T-Cut was more abrasive than toothpaste, or might that also work as a rubbing compound for removing dial print? Or, if toothpaste was less abrasive, might that even be a more forgiving medium to work with?

I know that five years is the average time between services for a watch which is being worn and in use, but how about a watch which was going into longterm storage? I'm thinking about building a watch for my godson, and essentially locking it away for fifteen years, so it will be in pristine condition for when he's old enough to appreciate it. As the watch would be totally 'run down' and not operating at all, would it need periodic servicing during the storage period, or servicing afterwards? As it wouldn't be in operation, would the movement 'seize up'? What would be the best way to handle a situation like this?

Thanks in advance for any advice

i always negotiate price..its cultural....or maybe its me...hahaha...but its good depending on dealler we get some good discounts...

Oh for sure, it's always nice to receive a discount, but I've always been of the opinion that discounts should be at the seller's offer, rather than customer request

Have you used Watcheden as a dealer before? I've always been very happy with our transactions

I nearly forgot Rolex did a wood dial president in the 80's. Imagine his pen on the center console of a Caddy with the wood steering wheel while driving wearing the wood dial President. Oh and wood temple Cartier sunglasses of course......

That sounds soooo cool I don't suppose you have any pictures of it, or recall what it looked like? Did it carry markings, or was the dial more plain? Absolutely fantastic idea

i don't want to play myself down or anything, but, i mean i also don't want to hold out that i sculpted the gold or anything. I do work on these, i enjoy it very much and i try to make it interesting to the finest detail. But, I am no Ziggy, i wouldn't think of touching a movement or trying a relume

teejay and others have all done fantastic work on this forum. What i do in comparison is pasting macaroni on a paper plate

having said that - these pens are fantastic gifts, every person i have given these to at my office and to my family have all flipped out, not believing that i could have made it So they are great. Its almost like being able to make your own watches, i enjoy my watches and pens in the same way.

these pens are definitely unique - other people sell pens on the internet of course, but, each one is different, even when i try to make them the same, they are different. I try to work with whatever is there and develop it as i comes, I have a general vision going in with where i want to go, but they all come out different then i think. You start shaping the wood, and maybe on purpose or maybe by accident you knick a piece and start working it and then you go in a different direction.

wih this "godfather" pen, i did not intend the flange to be that big, but after putting the pen together i really like it.

anyway - just wanted to fairly represent what i'm doing

Bro, different strokes for different folks, and art is art, regardless of the medium Your pens are fine examples of hand-crafting, and I'm sure with time, you'll only get more and more creative with that medium I've never used a lathe, so, although I know the basic idea of turning, I wouldn't know where to begin with a project like these As for movements, well, my latest incident with the movement of my GMTSub has taught me to either not try and cut corners, and do the job properly, or, leave well alone We can't all be good at every kind of art, but that doesn't make us bad artists, after all, we can't all be Leonardo da Vinci's, we just have to figure out what we are good at, and then focus on being the best we can be within that discipline Sometimes, it's the 'mistakes' in art which produce the best work, or teach new techniques, look at how solarization was discovered by Lee Miller and ManRay... Hardly a planned outcome, but one which had lasting applications

It may not be 'text book perfect', but it's a very nice project in its own right Out of curiosity, how did you remove the depth marking from the dial?

Thanks for all the feedback and good wishes, guys I've been PMd some very useful information, which has been passed on to my friend's wife. (they live quite a distance away, and were the witnesses at my wedding) I guess my main concern was that he is an older gentleman, and might have found something beneficial in such a drink Thanks again, it's much appreciated

he is not so good on negotiation...i was thining about to get a fantasy pam 1950 pvd and he offer me 128 usd...10 usd more expensive than if i use the coupom...i told sarah about it and she said that i can choose wich option is better....not so good in my opinion

You were given an option, it was up to you to choose which was better, or not To be honest, they don't have to negotiate on prices, and if it was only a single item being purchased, I certainly wouldn't expect them to. It could be that they're feeling the pinch economically the same as everyone else, and simply can't afford to negotiate as much as previously. For example, I saw a silver dial Yacht-Master on their site, shipped, for $108. I've seen the same watch (or rather, the photo of the same watch ) on another site, shipped, for

Being a gen, there's not much to really say, other than "Nice watch" I'm sure it'll get a lot of wear

Agreed. I've got the gloves, the ball and the duct tape in my drawer-o-tools! And yes, they're only for working on watches, I swear!!

Looks like me in the morning when trying to operate the coffee maker!

So much for the 'special parties'

Good point. For most of us, 'diving' isn't on the requirement list, so the rubber glove deal is probably fine. But I doubt you'd have a problem deforming the o-ring by over tightening - unless you're a gorilla?

Personally, for as cheap as a proper case back tool is, I'd still rather do it the right way.

I think you're right, that actual diving isn't necessarily a requirement for many of us, rather than say, splashing about in the pool, or acting like a pimp with our wives' friends in the hot-tub, and making their Casio-wearing husbands feel inferior

I think there's definitely no argument that the right for the right job will get it done the best, but, that's not to say that 'budget shortcuts' don't have a place as well

This amazing looking wood faced wrist watch might not be available in stores, but Instructables user BLADE was kind enough to post a thorough how to showing how he turned a simple Fossil Zane into a stunning custom accessory using a few common tools, a few homemade tools, and a lot of time. Next up on MTV: Pimp My Watch. ....

Faaaarrrrrrk ME! That is one awesome look for a watch

actually yes, sort of, i live near a huge mall, at the mall there is a "jewelery exchange" which is a big building that had like 10 watch and jewelery dealers in it. This is where my watchmaker is, he sells watches and some jewelery and stuff. He is a good friend, so i'm going to put a few in his display case and see how they do. I want to have a few ready to go though before i put them out and they take so long to make and i give alot of them away, i have to do a few.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

I think the Big Bang is one of the more interesting choices so far

No problem at all, I'm always interested to see another artists work

That definitely sounds like a good way of getting some exposure from interested parties, after all, watches and pens are a good combination