manodeoro

Hi guys … some really good news today ... Members who check that thread from time to time have already read about my « Irish Star » Doxa project I posted here October 2000. The original Irish Star dial was made for Dr Pete Millar and was quite nice but, IMHO, it looked too much"modern style". So I decided to redo it, "vintage style" and with a real Irish shamroc, not a 4 leaves clover. Since then I’ve had too much work at the office and I postponed that project. But sometimes things catch up with you … Mid-September I received a PM from the Doxa guy himself … Dr Pete McClean Millar. For those who didn’t heard about him, Pete Millar has writen books about the Doxa subs, collaborated with the Company and is a(the!) specialist about those divers. You can check his website here http://www.doxa300t.com/ , his books about Doxas here http://www.thedoxabook.com/ an his last book about the Aquastar here http://www.adiveintotime.com/ ... I was really honored to read what Dr Millar wrote about the work I had already done on those Doxa dials, saying I had progressed to almost perfection … though I’m still far from it … We chated about Doxas, divers, dial-making, Oil & Gas industry, etc … and decided that the Irish Star project had to exist « in real ». First thing I did was to prepare a blank ETA dial plate to the exact dimensions needed to fit in the Doxa Sub 1200T case were it will be … no pics of that step as it’s standard work … The next step was to select the perfect « Irish » green I would apply on the blank plate. We agreed that « Mickey Finn’s Irsih Green Apple » was nice So I painted the dial using the same green, then I applied 2 coats of glossy lacquer While the final glossy coat was drying, I did a print test on a blank copper ETA dial, just to check that the position of the date window was good enough Everything looked OK … both for me and Pete, so I went to the print process and got that result Here we were really close to the end … But there was still the lume work to do and though the last ones I had done were nice they were not good enough … that one had to be as « close to perfect » as I could do… I wanted to achieve sharp angles on the white rectangles in daylight and on the lume in darkness … So I searched for a new method to apply the lume I searched and finally found the way to proceed … simple and easy, no expensive tools, just steady hands and some imagination … And today I’m glad to show you the result … The « Irish Star » is alive and glows in the dark …

Thanks buddy ... Custom dial made by myself a few years ago ... Custom Burford dial, custom (and fully working) A/6538 german silver bezel, fixed bars, engraved midcase and caseback, etc ... almost every part of that watch has been custom made or reworked by me I took me months of work but that's one of the really few A/6538 Reps available ...

The second one is a Blacklung dial with a custom handset ... Making that custom handset proved to be MUCH more difficult than I thought at first ... I designed the hands using Blacklung close-up pics, send that to my maker and waited for some weeks ... Just before New Years Eve the handsets arrived in my mail box and I was not that happy ... The hands were nicely cut but the finish was so so and none of the tubes really fitted to the movement So I decicde to rework everything : - remove the lume -nsqueeze the tubes on hours and minutes hands -nbroach the tube on the seconds hand - redo theblack varnish finish It took me hours but at the end I achieved ti get something I liked. So I just had to lume everything ... off-white lume with low-green glow ... Then I proceeded to the final mounting on a an ETA 2824-2 movement ... now it's just ready to ship ... BTW ... I have almost finished another Balcklung dial and handset, same design but made for a Seiko NH35 movement ... I just have to lume evrything so I'll post the result next week if everything goes well ...

Today I'll post some news about those Doxa dials ... I have just finished 2 dials and handsets that will be shipped tomorrow to a friend ... I had already worked on a "sharkhunter" dial but the future owner was hesitating between that one and a "conquistador" ... So, after some emails back and forth, we decided to make something in the beteween ... So I'm happy to present you the "SHARQUISTADOR" - Black "sharkhunter" dial - "sharkhunter" handset - "conquistador" print That dial is for a Miyota 8215 so I've had to slightly modify the design to make it fit the dial size and the date window The handset is a white Soxa one for Miyota movements that I have partly painted in matte black to make it look as close as possible to an original "sharkhunter" handset The future owner wanted all that look "like it had been lost in deep water for years" ... I've made my best to match that description and we are both pretty happy with the final result ...

Some news about my "now glossy" Doxa dials in progress ... I have 5 dials on my bench those days ... 3 gens specs for ETA movements and 2 for NH35 The dials for ETA are still waiting for varnish finsih but here are the 2 for NH35 ... Sorry for the bad pics ... I'll make better shoots when finished SUB 300 T Professional "no logo" ... waiting for lume work SUB 300 T "Blacklung" ... I still have to print the yellow dot and put the "Blacklung" logo on

Last week I have prepared some orange sprayed dial plates for Doxas ... no more "orange peel" and glossy enough IMHO ...

No the faintest idea on how they applied in production ... sorry I do use a silk needle ... and a magnifying glass 😁 This evenig I've made a print-test of the Blacklung I have re-designed for NH35 a few days ago Here's a pic showing how it will look through a Seiko rehaut As there's no paint on the dial plate, the thin black circle around the Blacklung logo simulate where the yellow paint will go ... May I say that I'm pretty happy with the result ?

Somebody here asked me if I would lume those dials ... and the answer is "YES Sir" ... Here are some pics of the lumed dials and handsets ... "Sub 300 T Aqualung" day light pic and lume pic "Sub 300 Blacklung" day light pic and lume pic I even achieved to make the 1/3mm lume dot to the left of the date window ...

caSt ... no caTs

the die is cats ... I'll try my chanve to make them glossy ...

I don't have no idea if the original dials were printed glossy or semi-glossy ... but looking at the pics I found on the web it seems they have all become semi glossy or even matte ... except for the sunbursts of course ... The blacklung below, published by Michael Stockton from on Fratello Magazine, is a good example IMHO ... I'll do some trials with glossy finish, just to see how it looks, but I don't want my dials to look brand new so I'll probably keep on doing them semi-glossy or matte ... BTW ... I avoid using varnish on my dials ... as few varnishes can withstand a stay in water

Some days ago a member here asked me if I would make a Black Lung for his Seiko Prospex ... so I started working on the design as the one I already made was for an ETA dial While doing that I realized that I had made a BIG mistake while designing the first version of that dial On almost all the SUB 300 T, including the early Seamasters : - the 5mn marks "touch" the rehaut - there are 1 to 3 tiny marks between the lumed 15mn marks and the rehaut - there are 3 tiny marks between the date window and the rehaut If you look closer at the SUB 300 Black Lung (no T) dials you can notice that there's a tiny gap between rehaut and the 5mn marks so I have modified my design to respect that specificity The second specific point is that on the Gen Black Lung watches (ETA dials) the date window is really close to the rehaut. Considering the internal diameter of the metal chapter on the Seikos (27.72mm) and the dimensions and position of the date window, it is clearly impossible to keep the same design and the date window will be more distant from the rehaut (metal chapter on Seiko's). So there are 2 options : 1 - keep the exact "Black Lung" design and accept that there will be a larger blank part between the black rectangle around the date window and the rehaut 2 - modify a little the design and add 3 tiny printed marks between the black rectangle and the rehaut Below are 2 comparison pics that illustrate those 2 options. Left is a Gen SUB 300 Black Lung dial and right is the design for a NH35 movement. On the NH35 design the black exterior circle shows the size of the Seiko dial (28.55mm) and the orange part shows the part of the dial that will be visible through the metal chapter (of course in real all the surface of the blank dial plate will be painted orange). OPTION 1 - respectful of the original design OPTION 2 - modified to match Seiko's window date position My opinion is that the second option, though less respectful of the original design, would be a better choice as the 3 tiny printed indices on the right of the date window will be less noticable than the "gap" between the date window and the rehaut on the first option. The future owner agrees with me ... plus he thinks the 3 tiny marks on the right of the date window will be a perfect "tell" so people will easily know that the dial is not a genuine one ... so we have decided to go with option 2 which is definitely better balanced. BTW ... I'm a honest guy and I always stand by my work ... So the guy for whom I made the first ETA Black Lung will get a new dial with the new better design ... I have already prepared a blank ETA dial plate and I'll modify the ETA design and print it within a few days ...

You know what ?... I can't wait to see it in real ... I have some blank dial plates coming to me so as soon as they arrive I'll make that one and post some pics ... I hope shipping won't be delayed because of Covid 19 ... I'm waiting for this too ... from a retired watchmaker near Paris ...

Another design ... just a project for now ... I had seen the "Irsih Star" that Doxa made for the Flying Doctor and it looked much too "modern style' IMHO ... So I plan to redo it, more "vintage style" and with a real shamrock ...

Thanks ... If I ever decide to replace the "Aware" logo on the Palawai dial ... that watch is "French Made" so I would probably use "la spirotechnique" logo About adding a mark on the back of my dials ... I know my work is thousand miles away from the work Dark Lord did ... when I look at his dials I feel like a candle looking at a supernova Nevertheless I think it's a really good idea and I'll search a way to do that ... possibly some sort of "stamp" if I find a way to do that

and now the last one ... for some days or weeks ... SUB 300 T "searambler" outlined "U.S. Divers Co." Aqua-Lung logotype To be 100% honest I'm definitely not a real fan of the "searambler" ... I prefer all those with funny colours ... But I really wondered if I could make a sunburst Doxa dial so I just had to try ...

Thanks buddies .. Voilà la suite 😃 SUB 300 T "Divingstar" ... no logo As the first Seiko modded dial, the "Palawaï", looked really nice IMO, I decided to make some more dials for Seiko watches ... Some are just hommage and some are still "in progress" ... But I like the yellow "Divingstar" so much that I've decided to make it exist ...

PALAWAÏ SUB 300 T ... Divinstar hommage "Adopt a Dive Site" logotype Some weeks after I finished the first SUB 300 T dial my elder son saw it and asked me if I could make a Doxa hommage based on a Seiko turtle. I ordered a blank NH35 dial from a Seiko parts website, measured the date window dimensions and position and modified the general dial design so that it could fit the dial plate. Then I worked on the "name" and "logotype" ... Name : Around his 20ies my son had an "ephemeral" surf shop ... The shop name was "Palawai" ... from Palavas in south of France, where his shop was based, and Hawaï ... guess why ... So the name of that Doxa hommage had to be "PALAWAI" ... Logotype : My son, though working as an Oil and Gas engineer, is involved in ocean protection ... plus he's a seasoned diver ... So I've decided to place an "adopt a dive site" logotype on the 3rd quadrant of that custom dial ... Of course the dial feet are placed for a date window at 3:00 The dial was supposed to be yellow at first, as it's a Divingstar hommage, but lately my son asked me to make it orange

SUB 300 "professional" no T ... nicknamed "blacklung" black "U.S. Divers Co." Aqua-Lung logotype on yellow background That one is the last I've made ... I just finsihed it 2 days ago after wandering some time in the "hommage" and "modded seiko" lands ... But as it's the second "real" Doxa Sub dial I've made ... printed on a vintage ETA 2783 dial plate and ready to be put in a Doxa case ... I post it just after the first one ... I used the same making process ... apart from the fact that there were much more steps along that making ... The orange background was made first, then the general black print without the "blacklung" ... Then I made the yellow disk on the 3rd quadrant and printed the "blacklung" on it ... Below is a close-up of the "blacklung" ... "Hmmm ... not that crispy" would you say ?.. please remember that the yellow disk is 6.5 mm only (dial diameter is 27.5 mm) ... ... to be continued ...

SUB 300 T "professional" outlined "U.S. Divers Co." Aqua-Lung logotype I won't detail all the making process of that dial as it could be a little boring ... I'll just say that it includes multiple coats of solvant based spray paint, a kitchen oven that can heat up to 572 F°, film-free decal sheets, a professional laser printer and a ceramic hair-dryer that could put your hair in fire ... plus patience, thoroughness and some of those tricks you can learn only from too many failures and too rare successes ...

The first thing I did was to download a bunch of pics from the web and use them as template to design the "professional" dial. After hours spent on Illustrator I achieved to get what I would call a "nice design" ... After finishing the design I wanted to check how it would look when printed, so I did a first "test print" on a blank copper dial plate Along the process the guy asked me if I could try to make a black "sharkhunter" ... so I designed that one too and made another "print test", still on a blank dial plate The results proved to be good enough so I decided to go further and started to work on an orange "professional" dial ...

Some months ago a US watch lover contacted me to ask if I could make a new dial for his Doxa SUB. He specifically wanted an early 300 T dial, the orange one with an "Aqua Lung /U.S. Divers" logo. Aqua Lung is the US name of a French company, "La Spirotechnique", who's chairman was the French "lieutenant de vaisseau" Jacques-Yves Cousteau. I'm French too and when I was about 10 years old I spent hours and hours looking at "Le Monde du Silence" from Commandant Cousteau. So there was no way for me to say "no" ... and I said "I'll try to" ... But let's first talk about the history behind the watch ... Aqua Lung : In 1943 Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan patented their invention of diving equipment, a regulator inspired by the one patented in 1860 and 1864 by Benoît Rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze. Once the war ended, in 1945, they patented an improved their model under the names of "Scaphandre Cousteau-Gagnan", "CG45" (for Cousteau-Gagnan 1945) and "Aqua Lung", the latter name being for export to English-speaking countries. . In 1946, Air Liquide founded "La Spirotechnique", its own division destined to conceive and mass-produce regulators and other diving equipment, and marketed the "CG45". The latter's English-speaking name, "Aqua Lung", became the common name of the company itself, which nowadays is officially called "Aqua Lung / La Spirotechnique", although it communicates only under the "Aqua Lung" name alone. U.S. Divers Company : At the end of the 40ies, the company "René Sporting foods", based in Los Angeles and directed by René Bussoz, bought the rights to import Aqualung for the east coast of the United States. In 1952 René Bussoz changed the name of his company to "U.S. Divers Company" and registered the Aqualung brand in the United States. In 1957 he sold his company and the trade name to "La Spirotechnique". By the end of 2016 Air-Liquide sold "Aqualung International" and it's US branch, "U.S. Divers Company", was renamed Aqua Lung America Doxa SUB 300 T: Doxa is a Swiss watch brand founded in 1889 by Georges Ducommun. At the end of the 1960s, Doxa decided to produce a professional diving watch. The brand hired Jaques-Yves Cousteau, then director of US Divers Co., and Claude Wesly, a well known french diver, to write the specifications of that watch ... (some years later Claude Wesly worked at Comex with Henri Germain Delauze). In 1967 the Doxa SUB 300 T was produced and "U.S. Divers Co." (American branch of "La Spirotechnique") commercialized it in the United States with its own branding added on the dial ... including both the name "Aqualung" and the name "US Divers Co.". After the "Aqualung / U.S. Divers Co." Doxa produced other diver watches, independently or in collaboration with different companies specializing in scuba diving, like "Poseidon", or non-profit organisations like "Project Aware" ...

Thanks again ... About the Samui ... I know they come with a flat sapphire but it will good enough as I'm not trying to build a perfect Rep I started making some Doxa Sub dials on request for a collector but I liked those so much that I've decided to build more of the variants ... Divingstar, Searambler, etc ... and even to design some "hommage" dials and adapt all those for diver watches ...

Thanks buddy ... that exact one is 27.4mm large and dials feets are for an ETA 2783 movement ... it's made to be installed in a gen Doxa diver case ...

Hi Nanuq ... nice divers collection !!! I won't try to stop you but ... I'm working on a Sub 300 dial (aqualung and lume still missing) that could nicely fit in you Maranez Samui case ... So if you ever decide to let it go please PM me [emoji6]