RickFlorida

Excellent question because I just saw this rectangular shaped gasket on a website. But I don't think anyone uses those anymore. It looks like I have my answer (in a way) from the majority of current photos of casebacks. For the majority of photos, it looks like people use fairly thick round gaskets that fill the entire groove up. They are round and got to be at least 1mm thick based on these photos. .80 is too small from what I'm seeing.

True, but good luck. I'm not confident the case back has the same groove dimensions that a genuine 5513 caseback does. It's possible, since they did make the case neck 28.2mm, but I think they only did that so the dial is the same diameter as original. They probably didn't care what the exact gasket groove size or placement was. I will be extremely surprised if its' the same.

What you are saying makes sense, thank you! It appears I need to try a 33 mm because you are right that the 32 wants to crawl away. What i might do is order slightly different thicknesses of 33mm. Anyone know the cartel cases very well and know which gasket they like best? Of course, there could be variations on these so who knows.

Hello everyone. The simplest build steps for projects seem to always be the most difficult for me, LOL. (Like how to get a perfectly clean acrylic crystal when assembling). Now it's finding/fitting a proper fitting gasket. I'm building a 5513 with a RoloJack shaped newer Cartel 5513 case. Does anyone know what size gasket fits best in the groove of these casebacks so that it stays in the groove? I have a nicely working waterproofing/pressure tester that goes to 8 Bar so I'm wanting to seal this case up decently. The inside diameter for where I think the gasket should go is around 33mm. I'm guessing the thickness of the gasket should be between .80 and 1mm? Generally speaking, I think some people would order an inside diameter that is 1 mm smaller than the inside diameter to stretch the gasket into the groove. However, this is not really a good strategy here because there is a small "step-up" that a tight gasket would hit and then not be in the lower groove. I found a .80 thick gasket that is supposed to be 32mm and it almost works but not quite. Would a thicker gasket, like 1mm thick, hold it's shape better to stay in the groove? I'm thinking the thinner gaskets just go all over the place and don't stay in the groove. I'm thinking the gasket has to stay in the groove until you start threading the case down. Thanks for any advice.

Update. The seller says they are custom made for him so you guys were right. He's nice and I love the crystal so I will just buy several from him and hope to not need others for a long time.

I just found out they make clone 2892 movements from looking at Ebay today. When the hell did they start doing that? I get how they had a demand for 2836 and 2824 movements but is there really a demand for 2892 movements? Is there anyone else frustrated they don't clone a 1530 or 1560 movements, etc? Didn't the patent expire just as easily on the old 15XX movements just as much as the patents would have expired on 2892? Are they gonna seriously end up cloning every single ETA movement ever made before cloning any 15xx movements?

Yeah I make jewelry and I don't know even know how you could really solder on dial feet onto an already printed/painted dial. There is a super low temperature solder called "Tix" that we use in jewelry for when we want to use low temperature but even that requires some heat that I would think would burn up the paint/print on a dial. Who as ever soldered feet onto a printed/painted dial?

As soon as we figure out how to 3d print clone cases then we will all be building great watches. The "magic" is the few people who have the patience and access to original cases in order to shape them correctly. As soon as we can buy cloned cases that are mass produced and not hand shaped, we will only have to have access to good dial makers.

That is very close but I believe slightly different. Thanks for posting though as it's definitely a decent option. I guess I could go with these and then at least know the brand and item number for the future.

Good point. They are only 15 bucks with free shipping so I can I can buy 2 or 3 extras and store them. If they are custom, i wonder how he sells them for 15 bucks here in the states. If he didn't say they are swiss, I would guess they are from HK or something, only because I know they make a lot over there. GS makes nothing this flat, right? On Otto Frei they don't show generic or GS that are this flat. Are there more than one German brand?

RoloJack is done with all work or just building whole watches? I'm glad I had my cartel case shaped by him then. Sorry I can't add any more input. Good luck.

This is so weird but I could have sworn I posted a reply on this thread about 2 weeks ago, did I say something bad and it got deleted? I'm genuinely asking and sorry If I did anything wrong. Yeah, the real difference in how good 904L is to regular stainles is that it's slightly more resistant to acids and salts. But honestly, Rolex is just doing it to make their brand seem more exclusive, it's not a huge difference if I understand correctly. Like how Rolex says they make their own gold alloy, etc. It's not really better, more about being exclusive.

Hello everyone. I'm in the process of repairing a cartel case that has been nicely shaped to look like an actual 5513 case. The repair is to make and solder on a whole new crystal neck because the last one was too small. Anyways, long story short, because I can still make small adjustments to the new crystal neck before welding it onto the case, I'd like to make it a perfect fit for these very flat looking 5513 crystals I get on Ebay from California. I've never seen any other flat looking crystals for tropic 19 except for this seller. I don't mind buying from just him but what if he goes out of business. I'd like to feel comfortable knowing if this crystal is made by a certain brand so I can have the same water tight fit. (you guys know how hard it is to fit a crystal so it doesn't crack but is also water proof) He says it's Swiss so it can't be the well known German brand... any ideas which brand makes this crystal? The package he sends them in has no name on it and he so far refuses to tell me what brand they are. I guess he thinks I'll buy it else where but I swear I just want to know in case he goes out of business. It's such hard work building the case neck to fit water tight that I need to know who is manufacturing this crystal. Thanks guys.

Very cool? Who is casting this in Stainless steel for him after 3d Printing?

Wow, how high is that case neck? (Where the crystal goes over) It looks pretty high and I also didn't know they have a "stepped lip" under it. Although I guess that stepped lip makes the case neck height less. Is this what Gen ones have? I'm just curious because I'm repairing a mid case right now so I'm been trying to research the average height the case neck should be.

Sorry guys but I don't think anyone said which exact Raffles movement ring will make the ST Case fit a 2836-2 movement. There are lots of different movement rings so which one fits, please? Thanks Today is 8/26/18 and they are still listed on the website. So either they don't ever update their website after years or they are selling them again?

Awesome, thank you sir!

Thank you! That's the one I was looking for that you might have posted in the past but when I searched the forums I could not find it. So thank you much! On this dial, I'm going to try to darken the lume with water color markers instead of the tea/coffee halogen method. That method worked fine on my Tudor dial but want to try something different. Jackflash, approximately what distance do you like to have this can away from your dial when you do the "texture adding" spray?

Glad you cleared that up. I didn't know this. I incorrectly assumed people just ask this to get cheaper tax or fees. Thanks for correcting.

It's a common request. There is less tax or fees for the recipient when you send the money as/to a friend. I'm not sure but it seems to be only for when I sent money to Europeans that this is a big deal or saves any money. This is what I believe so someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, please read above. Sorry if we hijacked post everyone. Our intention is to solve the problem that is in the original post.

Ah, you and I should talk soon. Maybe we can help with all of this. Stay tuned. Do you know if there are companies that will cast your 3D model into stainless steel? I assume some do but I am only aware of jewelry and bronze type casting places. CNC type places will involve lots of start up costs. Ideally, we need an online company that you can upload your model to and then then they 3D print it using material jetting (fine detail) and then they cast it in stainless steel. If any company does that, our workflow should be based on that with only final thread cutting, surface finishing, and getting the case neck where the crystal fits exactly 28.2mm left to do. The holes for where the crown tube and back case are should be left slightly too big due to shrinkage that occurs with casting metal. Maybe the cases will have to be finished by machinist who will do a final drilling and threading for where the case tube goes and the back of the case. Another problem could be getting the case neck where the crystal fits perfectly 28.2mm. Since castings have shrinkage, this too would have to be left slightly big and then faced off to exactly 28.2mm by a machinist with a lathe. But...this would still be far cheaper than a Phong case.

I still can't believe we are even having to have this discussion. In the last 2 years my hobby has been making jewelry by designing them in either Zbrush or Matrix Gemvision (Rhino based) and then having my models professionally printed with the latest 3d printing software which is called material jetting. Material Jetting is so precise that you could 3d print finger prints if you wanted to. For the love of God and all that is mighty, let's create a team of people from this forum including myself and make 3D models of the 5513 case. Now, I can't cast models into stainless steel, but maybe I can help with the workflow of the whole process of making a 3d model of the midcase which can then be CNC machined, etc. At the vary least, we could have the midcase designed with just final thread cutting left which people like JMB could advice on. Let's freaking do this people. Let me give you an example of what can be done with technology. A friend of mine wanted a treasure coin but didn't want to pay hundreds of dollars for even just a replica. So I created an exact replica using Zbrush and then casting it in Silver. For the Love of God. With 3D scanning, we could high resolution scan an original 5513 mid case.

This is one of the annoying things that Rolex does in my opinion. They want to always try to make their watches exclusive but at this point, they are only doing it to make them exclusive, not for functionality or practicality. For example, they added the ugly "Rolex" all around the inside of their watch faces and it's tacky and unnecessary. They also now make their watches 904 which is highly unnecessary. My 304 stainless watch is in salt water, chlorine, and humidity almost every day and shows zero problems with corrosion. A better product to me would be to make things more functional. No wonder a submariner is so overpriced today then they were in the 1960's, they are adding a bunch of bullcrap to them.

Thanks for the answer/advice. I just mean to do a light spray to add texture after I darken/yellow the lume. If I understand correctly, you just spray a little bit from far away to add some texture so it should not be runny/messy. I don't think any dial refurb. shops specialize in making a perfectly new printed dial look vintage but please correct me if I'm wrong. Don't we have to modify these ourselves? What does MMM stand for by the way from your answer please? Thanks again for your time.