Gabus Posted June 18, 2010 Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 I have a MBW 5513 coming, and I'm already looking/planning mods. Ubi's work on Ronin's has me drooling. After studying dials from NDT, Yuki and on VRF my novice eyes don't see a lot of differences. I know pictures don't always capture the texture/colors accurately, is there a difference between NDT and Yuki that justifies 2 or 3 times the price? I would like a vintage dial but the lume color looks way too yellow. I have a early 70's gen and it's brown not yellow, the thing that throws me off is that on VFR most look yellow too. Since our resident relumer is not taking on new work, seems like white is the way to go. Which brings me full circle to, are either of the above aftermarket dials really much better then MBW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted June 18, 2010 Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 What I would do is spend time at the "Vintage Rolex Forums - Dial Archive". Compare Yuki, NDT, etc against the look you want. Also, if you find a dial at any of the mentioned sources EMAIL them and confirm their pictures are WYSIWIG. I recently bought a 1665 dial that was not what was pictured, but actually BETTER, but that was a fluke. Price wise I would gamble with Yuki, unless the NDT really rings your bell. Mine went from the MBW dial to Ubi's NDT dial. I would could have lived with the MBW dial - BUT even though Rolex made "R O LEX" spaced dials I did not care for the MBW spacing in matching that. Tritium ages to yellow/brown hues, so also think about if you want a aged beater look, or a well cared for possible serviced looking vintage. For your inspiration: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star69 Posted June 18, 2010 Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 get a used gen one - u can get them relativly cheap. the MBW-dial is horrible - NDTs price is a joke - Yuki is for the price okay - but gen dials costs only a littly more / same.... cheers, Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 18, 2010 Report Share Posted June 18, 2010 the MBK dial is a very specific MAXI one, there are so many variations i've found with the 5513 gen dials, i personally dislike the choice they made with the MBK 5513 dial but it's not incorrect per se. Yukis are good at $140 and that would probably be my choice. NDT will cost you $220...not sure if it's worth the $90 more. try modding up the stock MBK one first and see how that makes you feel. bake it and matte it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Ronin, your watch is a knock out. The color looks accurate, nothing like this yellow on NDT's site. So is your dial a different color or it just doesn't look right on the site? highoeyazmuhudee, care to share your recipe for baking? Star69, Please be sure to let me know next time you run into a pristine gen for "little more / same" as a Yuki dial. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Ronin, your watch is a knock out. The color looks accurate, nothing like this yellow on NDT's site. So is your dial a different color or it just doesn't look right on the site? highoeyazmuhudee, care to share your recipe for baking? Star69, Please be sure to let me know next time you run into a pristine gen for "little more / same" as a Yuki dial. The pictures above are pretty accurate for the color (at least on my monitor). Actually, in certain light, my lume appears more "peach" color, or more flesh tone. I think Ubi may have re-dyed it to be honest. Hopefully he will chime in here. I know he dyed the hands to match successfully. I will post a better macro of the dial a little later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 yes, i believe Ubi had something to do with it. perhaps some iodine was used in this process. I know the hands were brewed up by Ubi. as for a recipe, there's lots of ideas floating around. some i've heard: iodine on the indices 30min cigar smoke in a glass (too stinky im thinking) baked/broiled in a toaster over for x amount of time baked on a halogen lamp finish it off with some matte krylon spray. I have an MBK 5513 dial im going to try a method on. probably an iodine/baking combo, hopefully i can still sell it afterwards maybe attempt this weekend if im not too busy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star69 Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Star69, Please be sure to let me know next time you run into a pristine gen for "little more / same" as a Yuki dial. check ebay .... #200479633062 or #160443449388 or #160443451926 ..... no reason to put an overpriced asian painting in the watch cheers, Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 +1 on the iodine, it makes a nice patina. But than again: I have a yelllow yuki and the color is really nice, but now As I have another white yuki dial on another watch I wish I had taken the white Index for the first Watch too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 yes, i believe Ubi had something to do with it. perhaps some iodine was used in this process. I know the hands were brewed up by Ubi. as for a recipe, there's lots of ideas floating around. some i've heard: iodine on the indices 30min cigar smoke in a glass (too stinky im thinking) baked/broiled in a toaster over for x amount of time baked on a halogen lamp finish it off with some matte krylon spray. I have an MBK 5513 dial im going to try a method on. probably an iodine/baking combo, hopefully i can still sell it afterwards maybe attempt this weekend if im not too busy. Please keep me posted on your attempt, I would me interested in even just a slight mellowing of the white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted June 19, 2010 Report Share Posted June 19, 2010 Just one more thing: If You planing to just use a bit of iodine on a Yuki dial, be very carefull as the lume-ink will distruct when getting wet ( it is like pressed sand and when it gets wet it distructs, I hope you understand what I am trying to say..). So be prepaired to relume with Revell nightcolor and iodine in that case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 thanks for the note of experience gorilla dame. forgot to mention coffee grounds as well for lume aging. picked up some iodine today, have an old beat up noobmariner dial im going to test the method on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 my trial combination applied some iodine with a fine brush to the 12 and 9 indices (originally bright marshmallow white markers) then baked in the toaster oven on medium... any black specks on the indices are because it accidentally fell in toaster crumbs this dial already had the matte treatment from when i was testing that out the 9 and 12 are a pinker brown/ which i'd actually call 'peach' colored, the other markers are a result of the baking. only thing i dont like about baking it is the white writing also turns a bit dulled and browned...not too bad but not sure if it give it away as being baked. so i'd use iodine to achieve that brighter peach color first. then also bake it. if you use just iodine its way too orange/brown, baking dulls it and evens the application. maybe theres some pretoective thermal film or something that will preserve the brightness of the writing when baking. (the color in the pic IS accurate to what i see with my eyes -NO color shift in the pic) the matte treatment looks slightly odd because when i applied it the dial was dirty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 I used joghurt as a protection film, no joke ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Clark Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Where did you source your MBK 5513? Eurotimez isn't around anymore... Looking for a 5512 or 5513. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Mine is from a private sale. There is mention of a dealer here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 highoeyazmuhudee, I see very little difference between the markers, if I turn up the brightness on my monitor the iodine markers are slightly pinker. Wonder if your matte treatment is what faded. I guess the noob lume is different then the Yuki, it didn't destruct. How long did you bake the dial? Gorilladame, frozen yogurt? any particular flavor? Do you know for a fact that the heat dulls the printing or are you using yogurt just a precaution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilladame Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 highoeyazmuhudee, I see very little difference between the markers, if I turn up the brightness on my monitor the iodine markers are slightly pinker. How long did you bake the dial? Gorilladame, yogurt? any particular flavor? Best go with vanilla, but strawberry is also good. And obviously don't use peach, but I guess you allready know this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 GABUS it was as white as could be before. they are now yellowish/brown more of a peach... i baked in my toaster ovens presetting of medium... it dings when done... i assume it was about 4mins...not sure the temp tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 think you misunderstood, I meant I didn't see much different between the iodine treated ones and the rest of the dial. overall I clearly see the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 oh, hah. well in person it's very apparent, the scanner doesnt have the dynamic range to capture the minute color difference. take my word for it tho, the iodine is the way to go for a truer look, it deepens the color to a peach look (it adds brown) the baking just makes the white indices look like a dirty almond white Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 The pictures above are pretty accurate for the color (at least on my monitor). Actually, in certain light, my lume appears more "peach" color, or more flesh tone. I think Ubi may have re-dyed it to be honest. Hopefully he will chime in here. I know he dyed the hands to match successfully. I will post a better macro of the dial a little later. Hi gang, Sorry for the late reply- I did indeed modify the NDT dial's lume. I actually scraped the very top surface of the lume off, which resulted in the color you see now on Ronin's watch. It's a bit time consuming and requires a steady hand to get the indicies as even and consistent as possible, but it turned out quite nice (the lume started as that yellow-ish tint). The hands were tinted with a pigment dye. Kind of interesting in that the tone actually lightened up quite a lot over the course of a week. I did a 2nd coat; hopefully the tone held up. Hope this helps! //ubi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 Excellent. Based on what Ubi said, should you end up with a NDT or overly yellow dial, I am thinking a "scratch removal brush/pen" might be used successfully to accomplish the layer of yellow removal. http://www.ofrei.com/page251.html#3067 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star69 Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 pardon my ignorance - why this trouble ? you can rub and paint and scratch as long as you want - the NDT-dial still screams FAKE i dont get it ? cheers, Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabus Posted June 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 Thanks all for your invaluable input. Ubi cleared up why his dial is different in color as well as why it doesn't have big puffy globs for markers. Think I'll start by playing with the dial, iodine and baking but will probably end up with a gen dial and a tropic 19 crystal etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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