TeeJay

Not sure why you epoxied the dial; maybe you had no choice, but you can get dial feet that stick on. I'll show you a pic of my 1680 dial with the 2824 feet stuck on.

That's the truth of it, brother, I'd run out of double sided tape, and was desperate to finish 'something' My 79190's dial is only taped down, and it's never shifted a milimeter. I'd use tape again on future projects, this really was just a matter of having no other choice

For my favorite date, I'll use my favorite painting as a background

Will that lume/varnish come off TJ? Are there the shapes of the markers underneath eg printed white circle that can be used as a guide? Did you use a tooth pick and magnifying lens? If it will come off then have a few practice runs because you will get there.

PS TJ feel free to send it over for a free lume if it is salvageable We've had some good chats and it will be a pleasure to make her sparkle again

Thanks for the offer, it's very much appreciated

I'd made some guides out of one of those stickers folks use to re-use envelopes, and when they were cut, the triangle and batons were dead on accurate shapes, but the circles simply couldn't be cut perfectly round, due to the edge of the scissors fouling against the tweezers I was holding the sticker with I figured the lume would 'clean things up a bit' (' ) but I must've got a bad batch of Night Color as it was way too thick and looked nasty, when I've had no trouble using it in the past for luming, as can be seen here:

When I then varnished it, the varnish started to disintegrate the edges of the paper, which created that cloudy effect. I peeled them off without trouble, and was going to re-install the original markers, but then found that one had gotten lost... At this point, rational thought left me, and I just wanted to do something with the project so it wasn't a total waste, which was when I got the bright idea of using my snowflake dial. I've removed cyclops' before in the past, but using a butane lighter, which I didn't have this time. A regular lighter didn't do anything but put carbon on the lens, so in the end, I wound up taking a chisel to try and chip it off, but just fucked up the cyclops and broke the superglue seal which was keeping the case waterproof. By this point, I'd just had enough, and having epoxied the snowflake dial to the 16610's movement, I just put the hands back on and put it all back in the 5517 case. I've not completely given up thoughts of tackling the project, it's just a case of going to have to use vinyl stickers instead, a better quality matte varnish, and of course, a new budget 16610, as I'd rather just start fresh than trying to piece the other one back together My trusty 79190 has resumed wrist duties, albeit after a little facelift courtessy of the 16610 insert, and an upgrade of the Yuki pearl I'd bought for the 16800 (before, I'd been using an old 16610 dial marker to act as a pearl I wouldn't go so far as to say the show's totally over, just temporarily suspended, and I want to tackle another project before returning to this one

So Red swirls like brandy... I guess that means he has to warm it up...

We now know BikeMike waxes his hands...

TJ is in the closet about making a noise as he shakes it...

ASC likes to flick it about the place....

and Woof is a long term planner when it comes to shaking it....

I just wouldn't want to disturb wifey with the noise

To quote the Gunny: "Hell, I like you... you can come over to my house and fuck my sister!"

Yeah but can you do the sound as you do it.... you cant do the Nescafe unless you do the sound.... Law of England..

I'd be very worried if I did

I agree. Years ago, I had a pretty large "collection" of vintage fountain pens. A fellow pen collector visited one time and I was showing off my pens. He told me, what you have is and accumulation, not a collection. What you need to do is pick out a particular era, brand, style, etc. And collect within that area. I decided to sell about 80% of the pens I had accumulated, and stick to a particular brand and within about a 25 year period of time. It took a while, but I gradually got together a pretty nice collection that was much more structured. By concentrating on one brand and a certain year group allowed me to do a lot more focused research, and then concentrate on finding pens that would fill holes in my collection. To and extent I have tried to do that with watches, although sometimes I go off the deep end and buy something completely the opposite of my core collection!

That's an awesome way of describing an outsized collection, and how to go about having a more cohesive one To define mine in those terms, my favorites are Rolex/Tudor, primarily seated in the mid 70s, but with a few pieces going backwards and forwards from that point. The only really 'modern' watch in my collection is my Tudor Heritage, and that is still so strongly influenced by its predecessor, it still has that '70s vibe' The reason for this, being that the 70s (SanFrancisco) is my favorite era, in so much as it had good music, a mixture of fashions not too different than today, more tolerant attitudes, and enough gadgets to live a (nearly) current lifestyle, so I tend to think, "If I was living there/then now, what would I be wearing?"

As if I was about to roll dice, more wrist rotation than 'magicking the beans' (old UK coffee advert reference )

If we're going to lower the tone, I'll quote from Withnail, and I - "I fuck arses"

The easy solution to wanting a sub but not the fear of getting called out over The R Word: Build a Tudor

Welcome indeed You'll find plenty of helpful folks here, always willing to offer advice, encouragement, and the occasional required piece from a parts tray Without any more to go on, my one piece of advice, if you're planning on starting a collection, is have a plan/theme and stick to it, or you'll wind up with a dozen plus collection mostly gathering dust on a shelf while a few favored pieces get all the wrist time... I've been there before The theme to my collection, is activity/occasion/weather based, so while I may wear one watch more than others, each one gets its day eventually

Watch and babe in one easy step:

PS I call dibs

Welcome back, bro, glad to see nothing sinister had happened to you

Yes, but that is not the point here. Positioning your sleeves just above your watch tends to draw attention to your wrist, which can make you look like a tosser or a poser, depending on what the viewer finds on your wrist (tosser if your watch appears to be gen, poser if your watch appears to be a fake).

I've rolled the cuffs of my sleeves back two folds ever since I saw the cover to the Jean-Michel Jarre album Images when I was about 12, and thought it looked like the perfect blend of casualness and formality. Of course, in a business or formal setting, I always wear my cuffs closed, and likewise, can't stand button-down shirts with short sleeves (I've always felt they just scream 'fastfood management') yet am happy to wear a T-shirt I'd never really considered the sleeve-rolling to be drawing attention to my wrists, but I definitely see the point you're making

I prefer the first one I admit, I do like a bit of wabi-sabi in my watches, but the second one isn't really particularly aged, other than the state of the hands (which just look a state IMHO) where the first one is just Clean

With Squinky tropic strap. Very comfy! Thanks japanic. Pearl situation is yet to be addressed, alternatively I will just leave it as it is

Perfect Tropic-style straps really are awesome

looking good TJ

Thanks, amigo To be fair, they're still both my favorite dials from the house of Tudex, I'd just grown rather attached to the 16610 and was very much looking forward to a successful conversion I actually already had a movement to use for the snowflake, I just don't have the hands, so had let it sit a while, but after today's shennanigans, I felt it was time to give it an outing

pics of the tudor?

Only quick and dirty, but here's the evil twins The79190 is still powered by the movement you kindly gifted me

What about the Yuki 16800 matte dial, Tee?

http://www.yukiwatch...817/7597436.htm

Maybe you could relume it if you were so inclined.

Oh that would definitely work, but my plan had been to convert the 16610 dial and to keep the build as much a 'budget project' as possible. Ironically, the datewheel on the a21j has the curved 3s and open 6s and 9s which were perfect for the 16800, and now hidden beneath a no-date dial

some times days go like that TJ

They do indeed If I was to re-attempt the project, I would use vinyl instead of paper stickers, and would definitely try JMBs suggestion of using a piece of metal tubing as a punch to get the round markers. I think once the dial went wrong, it was just a downhill spiral of me trying to salvage something for my efforts At least I still have my 79190 in prime condition

So today, I decided to try and make a start on my 16610 to 16800 conversion project. Let's just say that anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. My plan to convert the dial almost went to plan, to start with, the stickers didn't come out perfectly round, nor were they the right size of a 16610 dial markers, but Maxi Dial size instead... Oh well, thought I, it would just have to be a 16800M, so I got the Night Color to start luming. Only problem was the paint was really thick, and looked terrible when it went on. I then applied a second coat of another luminous paint, which actually flattened out the appearance quite nicely, so I then proceeded to matte varnish the dial. The varnish and the paper of the stickers didn't exactly react well together, and this is the result... Those of a nervous disposition, with a heart condition or just eaten may wish to avert their eyes...

On the plus side, the lume went into the Yukipearl without issue, and after I widened the hole on the insert, it looked absolutely awesome on the case This is the only good news of the project... I knew the dial was unuseable, but somehow, I had lost one of the hour markers, so I couldn't even replace them over the varnished dial. I then decided to try installing my snowflake dial, although that meant removing the cyclops from the crystal Let's just say that without a butane lighter, that didn't go to plan either, and I only succeded in fucking up the cyclops and breaking the seal around the crystal, so that's the case now naffed up (I can't be bothered to replace the crystal) Not having any double-sided tape, I had to resort to using epoxy to fix the snowflake dial onto the movement, and then put that in the 5517 case, as I was unable to decase the 79190 dial/movement. In the end, I wound up with one totally destroyed 16610 dial and a case I can't be bothered to salvage at present, however, I installed the clean insert with Yuki pearl on my 79190, and that will be resuming its duties as my daily beater, with my snowflake (still sans snowflake hands) on NATO for hotter weather. Next project will be a custom GMT based on the 6542. I might pick up another budget 16610 and simply matte varnish the dial for a circa 1984 16800, but I really did want to get a circa 1981 built. Oh well, such is life...

I had the cream dial, and it was a nice watch, but I never bonded with it and traded it for some Panerai straps after a few days ownership

Never, and I only buy budget reps... Worrying about getting called out is like dreaming of how you'll spend the money if you win the lotto

Fantastic work To edit the title is easy... Click on the 'edit post' tab on the first post, then click the 'use full editor' tab, and simply re-type the correct title

Yes

Awesome results

That's hard to believe. A quartz Miyota powered watch on Obama's wrist ? Well, I guess he is not really a watch guy.

I'm sure he has better watchs that he prefers not to wear in public, as far as he is the president of the United States.

I wonder if there is a thread about "presidential" watches. I know The Pope wears Prada shoes and the late John Paul II used to wear a Rolex Datejust (steel or white gold ??)

Cheers

Alter

Believe it...