hwa

Thanks for input, guys. Justin and I have a plan. Stay tuned if you wish. I'll post photos when I've something to report.

well, maybe this is where I need to state the obvious: For those of you who've worked with J, you know how great he is to work with. Very accommodating, and super work. For those of you who haven't had the chance, well, see above. My inclination at the moment is to order another crystal and then take the following approach: 1. sand the ID of the bezel and see how it looks with a silver lining. It's possible that it won't even be noticeable, because the top of the crystal stands proud of the top of the case neck. It might just look like a bright crystal edge. 2. if it doesn't look great, take down the ID of the bezel and repaint. In hindsight, I think either is preferable to taking down the OD of the crystal, which is asking a lot of a bit of acrylic.

Update for those interested: I removed the bezel just now in the hopes of replacing the acrylic crystal, which on inspection is cracked. Jelli rightly understood it wouldn't fit without sanding, but despite the sanding it cracked on install (or, I suppose, in transit or during wear, but it hasn't seen any hard wear, so I'm thinking it couldn't take the pressure of the bezel install. I had a new crystal on hand, and figured I'd give it a shot without sanding, but going really slowly. Nope! Cracked. Here seems to be the rub: you can see the ID of the bezel through the crystal edge, so it makes perfect sense that J painted it. Otherwise, you'd have a blacked-out watch with some silver showing. But, and here's the point, the Dura Bake is pretty thick. It's so thick that the usual crystal won't fit, so it would have to be sanded even more than the original one to install without cracking, making the edges really quite thin. The good news is, the bezel coating didn't chip on removal and I was able to reinstall the original crystal, so I'm back to square one, without any loss other than the spare crystal I had on hand. Anyone have any clever ideas for reducing uniformly the OD of an acrylic crystal?

Hey, whatever works! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s another taste. More to follow. Didn’t know there was interest, but happy to share details. J’s case and paint. Mkii Explorer dial from a friend. Hands from I cant remember where. ETA 2824-2. Erika’s MN strap. Jelli-built, because the paint is thick and I was unsure about that bezel ID versus plexi OD. Pretty squeaky, and I’m actually going to replace the crystal as soon as i let J get used to the idea of repainting the bezel when I scratch it on removal. (I promised to be careful, but wasn’t catching much enthusiasm about a re-paint!) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk