aeromatic Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 After visiting a mobile roadshow of antique watches and seeing some great looking rolex subs with yellow patina tinted crystals i started thinking of ways to age/yellow an acrylic crystal to fit to one of my "aged" rolex subs the problem with natural (sun) yellowing of the crystal is that apart from taking too long, this usually makes the crystal crack and brittle which will affect water resistance of the watch, so i took the idea used to age a dial by using varnish. I decided to experiment on a spare crystal ,because the crystal needs to be clear enough to be able to see the dial i used a varnish spray with a tinting property in this case i used colorworks (teak) wood varnish spray here are some photos showing my results! This is the spray varnish teak stain! one of the crystal has been varnished applied under the crystal i did two passes only at a distance about 18cm this shows the yellow effect well here is one clear and one varnished the crystal is not fitted to the case but layed on top of the existing crystal this makes the dial look unclear like i said this is an experiment i will try a lighter shade next (pine) its looks much more authentic than what is seen in the photos and if you make a mistake you can wipe off the varnish before it dries and try again i found that two passes of spray were needed three was to dark you need to apply light passes so that looking at the dial it appears clearer and looks darker when viewed at an angle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Loiz Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 After visiting a mobile roadshow of antique watches and seeing some great looking rolex subs with yellow patina tinted crystals i started thinking of ways to age/yellow an acrylic crystal to fit to one of my "aged" rolex subs the problem with natural (sun) yellowing of the crystal is that apart from taking too long, this usually makes the crystal crack and brittle which will affect water resistance of the watch, so i took the idea used to age a dial by using varnish. I decided to experiment on a spare crystal ,because the crystal needs to be clear enough to be able to see the dial i used a varnish spray with a tinting property in this case i used colorworks (teak) wood varnish spray here are some photos showing my results! This is the spray varnish teak stain! one of the crystal has been varnished applied under the crystal i did two passes only at a distance about 18cm this shows the yellow effect well here is one clear and one varnished the crystal is not fitted to the case but layed on top of the existing crystal this makes the dial look unclear like i said this is an experiment i will try a lighter shade next (pine) its looks much more authentic than what is seen in the photos and if you make a mistake you can wipe off the varnish before it dries and try again i found that two passes of spray were needed three was to dark you need to apply light passes so that looking at the dial it appears clearer and looks darker when viewed at an angle! Yes my friend...u r right about cracking glass when left under t sun for too long.It's a very good experiment...carry on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Unless I am missing something, why would you want to purposely turn a good lens into a bad lens? A discolored lens, in my opinion, does not lend a rep any credibility, it just makes it difficult to read the dial & indicates that it is time for a xtal replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromatic Posted March 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Unless I am missing something, why would you want to purposely turn a good lens into a bad lens? A discolored lens, in my opinion, does not lend a rep any credibility, it just makes it difficult to read the dial & indicates that it is time for a xtal replacement. its just an experiment thats all! i read somewhere that a member was trying to yellow his crystal with exposure to the sun some people want to age there watch to extream some people dont! "patina" i have aged a crystal by scouring it lighly with a scotch 3m pad just to take away that factory fresh look!!!and you can alway polish it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Unless I am missing something, why would you want to purposely turn a good lens into a bad lens? A discolored lens, in my opinion, does not lend a rep any credibility, it just makes it difficult to read the dial & indicates that it is time for a xtal replacement. If I recall, a while back Dems said that a clear crystal was one of the things which he considered a potential tell for a rep (I believe referring to vintage Daytonas...) As with everything, I think it's a matter of finding the right balance of techniques to create the desired effect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromatic Posted March 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) If I recall, a while back Dems said that a clear crystal was one of the things which he considered a potential tell for a rep (I believe referring to vintage Daytonas...) As with everything, I think it's a matter of finding the right balance of techniques to create the desired effect Teejay i agree with you completely thats what this experiment was all about finding a balance and an aceptable affect as with all experiments it may succeed or may fail anyway, it only cost the tin of spray the crystal was a cracked one! Edited March 8, 2010 by aeromatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Teejay i agree with you completely thats what this experiment was all about finding a balance and an aceptable affect as with all experiments it may succeed or may fail anyway, it only cost the tin of spray the crystal was a cracked one! I think that attempt might have been a little too heavy, but you can probably strip the varnish off and retry I think I remember that someone tried a similar effect with a marker pen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromatic Posted March 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) I think that attempt might have been a little too heavy, but you can probably strip the varnish off and retry I think I remember that someone tried a similar effect with a marker pen yes i agree mabe a pine stain, or only one coat of spray, the desired affect should be a light patina that can mostly be seen looking at it from an angle actually its looks better in the flesh than in the photo ,the crystal was also resting on top of another crytal installed in that case so that dident help much! yellow marker pen? the varnish can be removed by rubbing it of with a cloth! Edited March 8, 2010 by aeromatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 yes i agree mabe a pine stain, or only one coat of spray, the desired affect should be a light patina that can mostly be seen looking at it from an angle actually its looks better in the flesh than in the photo ,the crystal was also resting on top of another crytal installed in that case so that dident help much! yellow marker pen? the varnish can be removed by rubbing it of with a cloth! I think just a single coat of spray would work well Indeed, marker pen on the inside of the crystal. I forget who's project it was, but it was an aged military Sub. Really looked the business, so I'm sure you can get the same effect with the stain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromatic Posted March 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 (edited) I think just a single coat of spray would work well Indeed, marker pen on the inside of the crystal. I forget who's project it was, but it was an aged military Sub. Really looked the business, so I'm sure you can get the same effect with the stain yes i will try a single coat thanks very versitile varnish is iv seen some great dials aged with varnish! at that watch road show out of the 14 rolex subs on show 3 had this yellow patina and they looked superb! i believe that by aging a crystal to desired affect this in turn will make the dial looked aged too! Edited March 9, 2010 by aeromatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 yes i will try a single coat thanks very versitile varnish is iv seen some great dials aged with varnish! at that watch road show out of the 14 rolex subs on show 3 had this yellow patina and they looked superb! i believe that by aging a crystal to desired affect this in turn will make the dial looked aged too! I guess it might be an affect which naturally only occurs when the watch is exposed to certain conditions, but the one I mentioned the other day, the crystal work really was the icing on the cake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted March 9, 2010 Report Share Posted March 9, 2010 It does look like an old crystal in the photos and if that is the effect you are looking for then i think you have a good idea, how does it look to the eye , I dont suppose you have any old crystal to compare it with???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeromatic Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 It does look like an old crystal in the photos and if that is the effect you are looking for then i think you have a good idea, how does it look to the eye , I dont suppose you have any old crystal to compare it with???? it looks much better to the eye, as i said this crystal was not fitted to the watch but layed on top of the existing crystal if you see the photos that i placed the crystal on top of the dail direct,although there wasent much space betweed the dial and the crystal(the closer to the dial the clearer it appears, i also should experiment with an amber spray paint which is used to re-colour old faded car indicator lenses although this may give too much yellow tint to the crystal. when i get down to the workshop again i will take a photo of an old crystal that has yellowed that was taken of an old omega watch in fact this old crystal gave a less clear look. unless i get the required effect i wont be fitting this to my watch! im only planning to do this to one watch that iv aged! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madasboot Posted October 3, 2018 Report Share Posted October 3, 2018 my old watchsmith once explained that acetate crystals get yellowish with age and exposure; plexi does not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobandshawn Posted October 3, 2018 Report Share Posted October 3, 2018 Good idea. I wonder if this will work on a silver/white dial for patina? I feel an experiment coming... B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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