Cortebert Vintage hands set - our next project

[t]

Hi friends

the Angelus hands are in production and should ready in 2-3 months

so let

Edited July 17, 2009 by t

[Watchmeister]

T-

Another great project. My vote is for no lume on both and satin yellow on the gold but that is just my opinion. I actually think the electroplating should look good on the blue hands as I have a few of the original hands and they are much brighter blue than on contemporary blued hands. You shouldn't need to worry about second hands.

So the Angelus hands will be available in a couple of months? Very exciting and can't wait. Are we supposed to have placed orders already on those?

[flyback]

One question i think will interest a lot of people : Is the hole size from Cortebert hand smaller than the Unitas ? In other words is it possible to resize the holes to fit a Unitas caliber ?

[unfertiger]

Hi,

that is annother great project! I will be interested for both hands and I would like to vote for no lume as well :-)

Best Regards

Daniel

[rmcsherry]

One question i think will interest a lot of people : Is the hole size from Cortebert hand smaller than the Unitas ? In other words is it possible to resize the holes to fit a Unitas caliber ?

Broaching hands is sometimes easier than staking (from a DIY perspective!). Not sure what others think.

I'll get you the hand sizes this evening - I've got a couple of sets of Cort 616 hands, and a Bergeon hand sizer which should give you accurate enough dimensions. I'd say 13mm and 17.5-18mm is about right, certainly no longer than that (for the blued ones).

I think there'll be huge demand for the blued ones - there really is nothing even close in the market at the moment. Thanks for bringing us this great project!

[paralizer]

I agree that the hands should come with no lume, it makes sense for the type of projects we'd build that we'd want to do it ourselves or have the masters do their thing. I'd argue that it might be worth making the seconds hands as I've seen some vintage projects with corteberts that use the seconds hands. I say this because the cortebert movements, while being somewhat difficult to find, are far easier to attain than an angelus.

Either way I like the ambition to make this happen and I'm excited to place an order when the time comes

[t]

Ok

small update

1. Hands length 13mm/17,5mm

2. Hands hole size ?????

3. electroplating blue hands

4. yellow gold hands

5. gold hands should be: satin finish or polished?????

6. no small second hand

7. no lume

any other votes?

Edited July 17, 2009 by t

[charmquark]

3. The blue hands. Genuine flame blued hands made by stainless steel are to expensive and not available. So we will make it in special IP blue (electroplating blue). Or any other ideas?

use gun blue?

[dadog13]

T, thanks for the update & thanks for making this projects...

I thought that the Cortebert hands will be the first one to be produced...but actually it doesn't matter!

This will be great, I really need a nice pair of Cortebert hands (as a matter of fact, one pair of each! )...

[JCYL]

this is a very exciting project!

[ayrtontre]

great i need it

[unfertiger]

Ok

small update

1. Hands length 13mm/17,5mm

2. Hands hole size ?????

3. electroplating blue hands

4. yellow gold hands

5. gold hands should be: satin finish or polished?????

6. no small second hand

7. no lume

any other votes?

Sounds very good and promising to me :-)

I would vote for 5. satin. The hands hole size should fit the Cortebert 616 to 618. Especially for the blue hands.

How should we order or participate to this project?

Best regards

Daniel

[Merlin]

wow - sounds interesting. in opposite to the angelus hands they are nearly impossible to find in their correct shape, so this project is a great help to build some really great vintage homages.

[Clint Eastwood]

Correct blues hands is what i wait for a long time.

If you need it i can send you a pair of standart cort hands for hole size.

For blued hands, if possible you can make it in steel, not stainless steel, i think it will be more easy, and we can use gun blue who exist in blue color (the color use from the first Colt SAA 1873 revolver, or others from periode 1858-1878, so a lot of gun maker made this color).

About blue hands, on gen 3646, the end of minute one is bend, 3 mm from end.

Without lume will be the better choice beacause a lot of buyer will mod it to theire choice.

[rmcsherry]

I've just checked two Cortebert 616's, and both have hands that measure 110 and 185 (actually, they are more like 112 and 187, but the size variance will be from installing / removing the hands!). Can anybody confirm?

[t]

Ok

2nd update

1. Hands length 13mm/17,5mm

2. Hands hole size 110 / 185

3. electroplating blue hands

4. yellow gold hands

5. gold hands should be satin finished

6. no small second hand

7. no lume

any other ideas before i

[athan]

2nd update

1. Hands length 13mm/17,5mm

2. Hands hole size 110 / 185

3. electroplating blue hands

4. yellow gold hands

5. gold hands should be satin finished

6. no small second hand

7. no lume

4. I would also buy the rose gold ones if available

6. I would buy some small hands if available

[capice]

Gonna need some too, for my 620project, have to measure the right size

[rmcsherry]

Ok

2nd update

1. Hands length 13mm/17,5mm

2. Hands hole size 110 / 185

3. electroplating blue hands

4. yellow gold hands

5. gold hands should be satin finished

6. no small second hand

7. no lume

any other ideas before i

[t]

I can have a look at drawing up some 2D CAD artwork - if these are just being stamped, 3D drawings probably won't be of any extra help (the manufacturer will import a 2D reference in order to tool up for the hands, I'd assume!).

2D would good enough... send me the drawings by mail please... the manufacturer is waiting for my final order

Edited July 21, 2009 by t

[rmcsherry]

Still working on this one. There are two types of blued hands; the shorter, fatter minute hand for the California dial and the longer, thinner minute hand for the Radiomir dial - both hour hands are slightly different, but the dimensions are very close (+/- 0.3mm). Image attached:

So, question:

Is the shorter or longer hand more desirable (or are both possible?), and does anybody have accurate measurements? My estimation is that the Radiomir cali hands are 14.5mm and 18.0mm (13.0 and 17.0mm centre to tip), and the cali hands are 14.3mm and 17.5mm (13.0 and 16.5mm centre to tip). Could anybody check this? All other dimensions (angles, thickness, tube height / diameter etc. are taken care of).

[rmcsherry]

Also, if anybody has a cali dial / set of cali hands, it

[Clint Eastwood]

Will try to do some measure this evening if i have enough time.

My vote go for the type of the Kmapfschwimmer one, more long and thin.

About lenght of minutes hand, we need to consider the fact that the gen was bend from around 40

[rmcsherry]

Will try to do some measure this evening if i have enough time.

My vote go for the type of the Kmapfschwimmer one, more long and thin.

About lenght of minutes hand, we need to consider the fact that the gen was bend from around 40

[Clint Eastwood]

I thought about that, but it could add expense, difficulty shipping and cause lume problems - perhaps if they are being shipped unlumed, the best option is flat hands that people can bend if they wish (as not all vintage Cali hands were bent).

Yes i also think it is best to ship it flat and the buyer will decided to bend or not, just saying we need to take it consideration to do the correct measure.

I haved not take the pic of mine (you know i am very busy this time )but will do it this weekend to show.

Wat will be nice is if someone will know the inside diameter of a gen bezel to calcutale the correct lenght.