RickFlorida

Thanks so much. It’s 28.18mm according to my cheap caliper. The Vietnam 5513 is supposed to be a pretty direct copy of the 5513 case. But even original 5513’s use different crystals I guess. my install may work out since it’s not cracked yet ( I did use magnification after install). I have an idea for next time. To put less stress on the crystal, I can use the same size next time but freeze the case to make is slightly smaller and then force the crystal on which in theory, may prevent stress.

Hi guys (and ladies if there are any here as well), I have up'd my game up and got a MQ Vietnam 5513 midcase so that I can use an ETA for now with a Yuki 55XX ETA adapter and will buy a 1520 movement in the near future. Anyways, I bought 3 different tropic 19 crystals. The GS PA 462-66, the GS PA 462-67, and some unknown tropic 19 from Ebay. The 462-67 which is at 30.48 mm is too big, when I place the crystal on the case, the retaining ring will not go over the crystal. The 462-66 which is 30.45mm will allow the retaining ring to go over the crystal but it took a lot of force and i had to use a PVC adapter method with a vice and lots of cushioning to get it done. I think it took too much force and the crystal may begin cracking in the future. It passed a water pressure test I did at 10 BAR but I think they sometimes crack over time if too tight? The third crystal was way too loose. Does anyone know which crystal works perfect on an MQ Vietnam 5513 Case? I would order one from him but it was such a pain the ass to wire money from the USA to him that I'd rather source a crystal myself if possible. And finally, my original question: What the heck tool do professional watch makers use to press 5513 retaining rings on with? I see the PVC method here and that helped but it's not perfect. The fit is not exact so it's difficult to center the retaining ring with the PVC tube method. I tried like an idiot using a crystal press and didn't realize that the dome shape and depth of 5513 crystals do not allow enough travel of crystal presses. It's impossible! I would really appreciate seeing a tool that rolex watch makers use so I can perhaps create my own tool. (I make jewelry by hobby and have some knowledge of making tools like presses). Thank you!

Cool, what movement does it have in it out of curiosity?

It's not bad if you just want to use the case and make a good rep. with it. It's also really good practice to build your own from the parts before you invest in more expensive parts. So the money is worth if for learning. The thing that worries me is that these makers don't care real hard about making everything to gen. spec. But if you spend the money on MQ Vietnam 5513 case/parts or Phong, etc, they make everything fit Gen. as a standard.

I heard a rumor that the cartel 5513 may not have correct specs anymore in terms of midcase crystal neck not being 28.2 mm? Is this rumor untrue?

Yes, the Helenarou 5513 caseback seems to be just like genuine since it fits my MQ Vietnam 5513 replacement case perfectly. So it is indeed 30.9mm.

Thank you to both of you. Sorry that is what not obvious enough to me but with the frustrations I get from keeping lint and dust off of crystals and dials, I wanted to minimize the amount of times I have to insert or flip things. So thank you very much.

After struggling with cartel cases, which don't even have good specs anymore I heard... I decided to shell out 500 bucks for a Vietnam MQ 5513 replacement case. The idea is that you could use a real rolex 1520 movement later down the road but for now I can install a ETA 28XX using the Yuki Adapter ring. The struggles to make the bezel and crystals work correctly are just so great that you mind as well spend 500 or 800 bucks on a quality 5513 case/set.

Hello everyone. When using the Yuki ETA adapter for 15XX cases, do I understand correctly that the adapter serves as a movement ring and I'm looking at the back of my case, I would inst all the movement and then this Yuki adapter with the flat side up? I thought I would ask so I don't have to do too may trial and errors. The Yuki photos looks like the adapter is used with the flat side up but I wasn't sure if that is correct or just staged for demonstration. Thanks, Rick

I had to get a better 5513 case so I got the midcase from MQ in Vietnam and am using a Helenarou 5513 caseback. So hopefully the caseback is like gen and a 5513 caseback gasket will work for me. I'll update once I test it with my water pressure device. One method I discovered is you can measure the OD of where the gasket goes, and then order gaskets that are smaller and then you can gently stretch the gaskets to fit tightly so that it stays in place when you screw it on. It seems like photos of genuine casebacks with the gasket still in them seem to always show the gasket sitting snugly and perfectly in the groove. Is that because it's already been squished in there or is it because the groove in genuine casebacks are actually rounded and not flat so the O ring stays in place?

I recently purchased a 5513 replacement case from Vietnam (MQ) and I can say that it's a very good deal in my opinion. I only purchased the midcase since it was all I needed so the price was good considering you have no choice now. (Cartel cases are no longer spec. for fitting crystals). The best part of paying for a 5513 replacement case from MQ or other high end case makers, is that you can either use an ETA adapter ring from Yuki or put a real 1520 rolex movement in them when you get the funds. I got tired of fighting with the Cartel case and just paid for an MQ 5513 case and I love it so far. The quality is amazing. They even put the small cut out where the rolex movement screws slide in. It's just like the real case as far as I can tell. I doubt it but maybe it's possible. Normally, 3D printed items that end up in metal are first material jet printed in castable resin or castable wax, and then the model is cast in the final metal. However, there are one or two types of printers that create stainless steel directly. But...... as far as I know...... Material Jetting type 3D printers have the absolute best resolution. I make my jewelry designs using services that print my models with material jetting machines and they they cast it for me or they send me the model and I cast it in my garage.

I realized it might only be in USA that old broken manual expresso machines like Pavoni's are 600 dollars. In Europe, they are probably easy to find much cheaper and then fix them. It's a unique problem we have with the hipsters driving up prices of old things.

Thank you and great advice. Automatico pointed out that they often charge more for black colored datewheels as opposed to white.

Hello everyone, I was thinking of buying a SeaGull 2130 for a build which is a 2824-2 clone. Does anyone know if there are two different grades or versions? The reason I ask is because on Ebay, I noticed that out of all of the many listings for them, they are all either 90 dollars or they are 61 dollars. Why the 30 dollar difference on so many listings? Are there 2 different grades of the SeaGull 2130 or do you guys think the 61 dollar listings might be fake SeaGull and actually a cheaper copy? Thanks for any input.

I can confirm Helenarou has casebacks right now. I just got one shipped to be for around 50 bucks. I'm hoping that fixes my 5513 cartel case threading problem. After 50 plus years of rolex using those 30.9mm diameter threads... did watch makers not develop a threadchasing tool to clean up and realign the threads? 7928 Tudor Subs actually used the same exact 5513 Sub cases so yes, same 30.9mm threading. The good old days when Subs only cast 200 bucks or maybe 1000 dollars in today's money.

I bought a new caseback so once I get that in my hands, I will see if that does the trick. After 50 plus years of the 30.9mm diameter case thread production, I'm betting that a "threadchaser" was made for watchmakers to clean up (re-align the threads) of cases. Am I correct about this? When you look up metric thread sizes, I only see a 31.5mm thread. So 30.9mm threads on rolex cases might be a Swiss specific watch thread or perhaps French like the lignes?

My build is fighting me all the way to the finish. Now that I have my RoloJack shaped cartel 5513 case all shaped and ready for me to do some final assembly, my case and caseback threads need repair. What is the thread/pitch of the midcase and caseback on Joshua/Cartel 5513's? It's from 2 or 3 years ago. Even if my case was not shaped by RoloJack I can't just buy a new Cartel 5513 Case because I heard they no longer have genuine specs. Is the Cartel Case threaded the same as Rolex 5513 but even if it is, I don't know what that thread/pitch is or how to fix it. Does anyone machine fix these? Thanks

That is worth it to pay just 25 more for custom color. I didn't know that it was only 25 more dollars and an option. He does the hands too?

Thanks, it's great to be back! Now that I actually have information to give back, I feel more at home.

Hello everyone. It's been a long time and now that I'm finally going to finish my project the way I really always wanted it....I wanted to give back and offer some information on how I fixed the green/modern color lume of the Helenarou 5513 dial. I received so much help and support here so it's time I help someone else. The Helenarou 5513 dial is a great dial but it comes with greenish, modern lume color. Someone on another thread said water color marker might be a good way to add vintage color to lume. I gave it a shot and purchased Artist's Loft branded water color markers. The color is "Golden Ochre" and you need a "Colorless Blender" which helps you lighten the color if it goes too dark. You simply start with the golden ochre, and if it's too dark, use the colorless blender. When you are happy and all of the indicators look good, you use a light coating of matte lacquer spray. Best yet, the lume still glows brightly which I guess it shouldn't if it's supposed to be very old lume but who cares. Artist Loft water color markers are found in Michael's Art stores in the U.S. The yellow color don't work, only the golden ochre works correctly for this. If you want less brown and more yellow, just use the colorless blender more and it will look more yellow.

Does anyone know what the best microfiber cloth is for acrylic watch crystals? I once got a watchmaker to say they use a "special one that they wash and dry without fabric softener". But I couldn't get them to say what brand. I'm still striving to find a way to make an acrylic crystal sparkling clean. I'm guessing there are multiple premium microfiber cloths that are OK to use. I see one on Esslinger.com that is probably fine but does anyone have experience getting an acrylic crystal absolutely shiny clean? Thanks,

LOL, I think it's great. Good info all around, gents!

Hi there. Great information. Actually, I did have to use a lathe to completely remove the front of midcase caseneck where the crystal fits over because it was too small. I'm in the painstaking process of creating a new 'caseneck' and then will have to solder it on or have it laser welded. As for the back of the case, I'll just try fit a good gasket. But I like your idea of JB Weld. For me, I'd rather make repairs with stainless steel as I have a lot of torch and solder equipment as well as skills from making jewelry. Thanks for the JB weld idea but I don't know how it would hold up in saltwater, chlorine, and humidity over time but it does sound very tough. 900 PSI tensile strength and it has steel in the epoxy. In my experience, very few epoxies can hold up to Florida conditions at the beach which is where I'm at 20% of every day.

Great information, Timelord. Thanks for sharing. At this point, I'm going with the 1mm thick cross section and will try those 2 or 3 different inner diameters. I will just use silicone grease for watches and then simply use my water/pressure testing device to test for leaks up to 6 or 8 bar. thanks for sharing how you did yours.

update: It seems the thickest gaskets you see for sale are 1mm. The groove appears to be 1.2mm but a 1 mm gasket should work because it will "fill" it up as it compresses. It seems the best place to order precise gaskets and choices is Esslinger.com They have a 32.5mm inside diamter gasket 1mm thick and a 32.75mm gasket at 1mm thick. I might even order the 33mm gasket as well and then I will just try all three. Overall the main problem is just the flimsy .60mm thick gaskets they ship with the Cartel case. Those don't work, you probably need at least .90 to 1mm thick. While we are on the subject, does anyone know if the cartel casebacks use the same exact threading as an original 5513? In other words, will original or aftermarket 5513 casebacks screw onto the cartel midcase? Has anyone found 1.1 or 1.2mm thick gaskets for sale?