R153000 - The Shape of Things That Were

[jmb]

I've taken this project about as far as I care to at this point. I now have a somewhat unusual wearable watch that doesn't look too bad - from a distance! The only major things left to do are to make the graduate conical shaped "chapter ring" and modify an Oyster Perpetual Date dial. I don't quite have marking the chapter ring figured out yet but I have some ideas. I'm thinking that about the only way I might be able to do it would be to turn out the ring on the lathe, mount the ring on a rotary table on the mill and mill a mark every 6 degrees where every fifth one is double width. I also need to find a rep "Oyster Perpetual Date" dial to modify as the markers are going to have to be moved inward a bit and I can't see doing all that work on the "wrong" dial. I have e-mailed a couple dealers to see if there might be some old a21j Perpetual Date watches laying around but so far no response... Once I'm able to put checkmarks besides these two details I will revisit the project but for the time being I think I'll just wear it around a bit and have fun with it.

After discovering the messed up threads in the case that were preventing me from screwing on the case-back I was pretty discouraged and almost just said, "Screw it, I'll grind off the threads and epoxy the SOB on..." I'm glad it was late and I would rather sleep so I called it a day. This morning I decided to measure the thread pitch of the case-back and found it to be .5mm and I started to feel better. For the first time since getting involved in this hobby the "horology gods" smiled upon me and I discovered that the finest pitch metric thread my lathe could cut was .5mm!!! I ground a small "inside" thread cutting tool, mounted the case-back into the lathe, lined up the thread and chased the old thread for about 1.5 revolutions. After doing this I was able to screw on the case-back!!!

I fixed the freakin' a21j's keyless works AGAIN and installed the movement into the case, pressed the crystal and bezel back on, and installed the band. I still need to get out the Dremel and do some final polishing on it but right now, on the wrist, it just looks like a well used watch.

Here are some pix of the semi-finished piece which, truthfully, will probably stay in this form for quite some time! The final image is a catalog page outlining this model:

Thanks for following along with me on this odyssey and hopefully I've proved the worth of "Canal Street" priced reps as far as being suitable as "mod fodder". There is no way I would have tried anything like this on a $300 rep!

[redwatch]

Very nice work J! It would be really perfect if you could find a source for the correct bracelet for this one! (Not sure where you would find such a thing in repdom, but it would be cool!) Anyways, big for taking the time to experiment and see what you can get! Also, nicely done on the caseback fix!

[TeeJay]

Absolutely fantastic work, bro, that really is a first class example of how a home build can come out with the right skills and tools

[jmb]

Thanks, T, heavy on the "tools" aspect!

S, I'm seriously thinking about the band issue. The gen band looks to me to be made out of "flat" segments whereas the Oyster band's segments are slightly curved. It might not be too difficult to get a chunk of the proper thickness stainless and mill them, and then use a vintage clasp from a rep band like I used here. The only thing that would be different would be that each link would be one, instead of three, pieces. That might not be that noticeable...

[gran]

Love that wood background to your replica and your canal project

[FxrAndy]

Looking good J, especially when you know the work to make the case that way

[jmb]

Andy, I'm half tempted to "whittle" out one from scratch. After the grief I had modifying a Datejust case I think it might be easier to start from scratch! I have though about building a case for a long time but was always worried about threading the case and case back but after discovering my lathe will cut the proper thread I may try to get a stray case back and build a case around it!

[FxrAndy]

I think it is very possible to do that, VDB did it so why not!

[mastergod]

Amazing work! I wonder whats next?

THIS?

MG

[TeeJay]

Amazing work! I wonder whats next?

THIS?

MG

+1 I love that watch, although I believe it should be Tudor branded

[jmb]

Strange lookin' critter...

[HauteHippie]

There was a minty vintage R153000 for sale not too long ago that really caught my eye. In the end, it's just too small for me personally, but I do remembering thinking "Here's one Rolex we'll never see in the rep world." Enter: jmb.

[ubiquitous]

Whoa! VERY cool, J! Looking great!