Revere

You gotta see if the dial feet are compatible with the movement. Chances are, they aren't, which means you gotta trim the dial feet. That means you gotta use dial dots (unless you wanna solder on new dial feet) to affix the dial. That's ok, not a hugely hard thing to do, but not terribly easy to do correctly and without marring the dial. You also gotta see if the diameter of the dial will match the inner diameter of the dial lip. If it does not, the dial won't fit because it's too large. Some rep dials vary from gen dial size (I might even say most?).

speaking as someone who also didn't have patience, eventually you find a model that you just love so much you gotta figure out how to build it perfectly. or, to as much time/money as you're able to put in. you learn to be patient while you're building it

The insignia definitely adds some value, at least a couple thousand if I had to guess. Not as valuable as Kanjar subs or SDs for example but definitely demands a slight premium

You guys think the case & bezel are gen? the wear on the bezel seems totally artificial, like someone took it to a buffing wheel until brass showed. it features no pitting, something a bezel of that age with exposed brass would certainly feature. the case looks similarly all-around-buffed rather than worn.

I am not an expert but IMO the only thing gen about that is the movement...

Wow, that dial isn't like anything I've ever seen come from the manufacturer. It looks absolutely great. Dbane, I've learned a great deal from yourself, both in terms of the watches I've built and in terms of how things "go" around the circle. I do hope you'll continue to be a part of the community and share your knowledge. Thank you for sharing, now and before.

I'd also like to mention that I am willing to lend my ultra high res 3D printer to the cause. if folks end up with SolidWorks models they would like to print before talking to manufacturers about metal prototypes, I am happy to make that happen. This would likely save us a large amount of money in research & development. That said, resin is expensive, but I am willing to eat the cost of printing if the SolidWorks model looks promising (as far down the line as that may be)

I'm game to help out in any way. It's surprising to me that the factory wants to use 3D scans because I've never ever had any success with applications like this. That said, if that's what they ask for, then that's what they ask for. I would defer to them since they're the ones that will be making the damn cases

Thanks J! I appreciate your support over the process it's been a productive few months Sogeha, I will pass along the info. Phil and Bart, this is only a prototype dial, but it is on brass. I believe I won't have difficulty making the reverse relief thinner. That said, I actually purposely made it a little thick; I prefer how these "valleys" play with the light. The dial looks amazing in sunlight.

I printed the hands because I'm on a deadline and the method I invented for making brass hands hasn't been refined enough yet, so I'm sticking to these for now. The dial is not 3D printed though I'm working on a custom watch where the "theme" is that I've invented as many methods as I can for producing the parts. Not just for the sake of reinventing the wheel, but for the sake of modernizing.

Hi guys, how is this? A prototype dial for my custom watch. using a method I invented myself and unfortunately must keep private.

Wasn't it http://blog.tc-sub.com/? that's the link google shows

Hope he hasn't gone anywhere or gotten in issues. A man with that emphasis on quality would be sorely missed.

I'll be posting details on this when it's done (the coming weeks). It uses a gilt dial that was made using a method I invented myself.

That's a great question. The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes, but a faro arm or something similar would cost a lot of money! That's one piece of equipment I don't have access to anymore since I have left my previous place of employment for a while. I have an ultra high resolution 3D printer with 0.025mm resolution in Z axis and 0.005" resolution in X-Y axis. That's pretty good at printing... It's on my desk right now, printing a case for a custom watch.

I do rapid prototyping for a living. 3D scanning is not an exact science, neither is 3D printing for the sake of testing 3D scanning. Truthfully, a talented machinist might be best off taking a set of calipers and sitting down for a long time and coming up with the correct splines, lines, and other features that make up the case. I've worked with ultra-high-resolution 3D scanners and pointcloud sensors. Even at these extreme quality levels, there is so much "noise" in the scans that the models wouldn't be usable for this application. You would have to go in and "trim" points that do not actually exist on the case. Even simple reflections off of the shiny steel would throw off the scanners. The trick, then, is in trimming the points; how do you know you're trimming to the right shape? Well, by adhering to the true geometry of the case, which is best known if you model the case mathematically. Trust me on this, it's maybe the only field where I might know more than some of the more seasoned members of the board

Is there any way of sourcing a ceramic pepsi insert yet?

Not the same tool but here are some nice tools from sculpteo for DWO overlaying and other functions: http://www.sculpteo.com/en/s/richardminton/ Hope this helps.

Not sure if the original files are out there but if I remember correctly there was a link floating around to order the tool from shapeways, or one of those other 3D printing websites. I'll see if I can find it in my history. Not as good as the actual files, but beats having no tool.

I think there are certainly folks on this forum that would be knowledgeable enough for that.

Endlinks look like a fine fit to me, date wheel is nicely justified... Looks good

Are you sporting a low beat ETA in yours?

I love that relume job. The watch looks great with puffy lume.

Yeah that's 100% a re-casing.

That caseback is niiiice