Dizzy Posted October 8, 2010 Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Well here it is... We all know the flaws of the new vintages, but we are starting to figure out the fix's for them. JMB got the retaining ring figured out and this is an easy mod for the datewindow that everyone can do with the right tools. The datewindow on the 1680 dial is way too small and barely lets the font show through and also makes the cyclops appear out of alignment. Mods: Pulled the dial off used very small square file to slowly open the window touched up filed edges with black paint, worked the 5min markers a bit and sprayed dial with matt clearcoat. Its not "perfect" but dont forget this pic is supersized. At normal size with the naked eye, it looks pretty damn good compared to before. The opening is aprox 75% larger than before. I dont have a before pic but you guys will instantly see what i mean. I removed material mostly from the inside edge and some from the bottom to expose more of the font. This is a pic from the website showing how the datewindow is too small and almost covers the font on the left side of the window. Here is my Puretime dial after mods Looks 100x better. It really needed the matt clearcoat to add some texture to the plastic looking finish. This watch just keeps getting better and better. Its actually more fun doing all this work instead of buying an MBW. Swapping a dial is easy, but modding the datewindow and refinishing it adds a sense of pride to the build. I guess if you wanted to get really fancy, you could even bevel the edges of the window to make it perfect, but i didnt want to run the risk of my touchup paint not matching and making a mess of it. Oh and YES the gen/aftermarket dial fit perfect and datewindow aligned bang on. I used the NDtrading dial as an example while i removed material. I suspect all the cyclops alignment issues are caused from the too small and right justified datewindow. Hopefully this fixes all the datewindow issues. Good luck and have fun dizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiman12 Posted October 8, 2010 Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Looking good L! Looking good.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiesn089 Posted October 8, 2010 Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Looks very nice! So PT's 1680 dial diameter is 26.5mm, not 26mm? I was thinking of converting one to a 5513 beater, but if an aftermarket dial is to small I'll have to go for MBW. Wonder how these 0.5mm would affect the looks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 The PT dial is slightly larger than my ndTrading dial. The ndT dial would have worked in the PT case as it didnt fall through the rehaut... would be very close but it would work. I'll go measure mine, hang on... Ok I'm back PT1680 case rehaut 25.89mm ndTrading 1680 dial 26.16mm PT1680 dial 27.03mm MBW 1665 dial 26.50 Even thought the ndT dial is smaller, the datewindow lines up perfect. The only difference is that the diameter is smaller and the minute markers are shorter because of the smaller outside dia. Looks correct when mounted into the case. There should also be no problems mounting a gen dial (without mods) into this case as the PT dial is already larger than the MBW dials. This PT dial actually looks really good now. The matt clearcoat and 5min marker modding made a BIG difference. I see no need to put in a more expensive dial after doing this mod. dizz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapman57 Posted October 8, 2010 Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Great work Dizzy.....looks like you have opened up the height and the width? Did you lose the bevelled edge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiesn089 Posted October 8, 2010 Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Thanks, seems like it's worth a try then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 8, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2010 Yes i opened up the width quite a lot by filing the inside closer to the dial center. Also a little bit of height to center the font. The dial still has the feet on it so there is no adjustment. I kept placing the dial on the movement and removing more material slowly until it looked correct. Yes i lost the bevel on 2 of the edges but you cant see it without magnification anyways. Like i said, you can re-bevel it if you want to run the risk of your touchup paint not matching... remember, after you file it out, you will have bare metal exposed... needs touchup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 The Clark 25-127 I have on my watch has the cyclops too far to the RIGHT, not the left. And yes, on days with a 1 at the beginning, you can only see half of the 1 ... the 12th looks like the 2nd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyd3 Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 I think this is a great mod, but now the height of date window looks too big to me. The width looks perfect. Why not cut the feet off the dial and then center the date in the window? You could use dial dots to reattach the dial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmb Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 Good job, dizz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star69 Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 cool ! good job ! cheers, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 I think this is a great mod, but now the height of date window looks too big to me. The width looks perfect. Why not cut the feet off the dial and then center the date in the window? You could use dial dots to reattach the dial. You are correct. I took a little too much off the bottom but after I filed it, it wasnt even so i had to take more off. I was in a hurry when i did it. Next time i will take my time. No need to take off the dial feet. The height needed to be filed anyways but i just took too much off. No big deal as it looks pretty darn good at actual size. Im not too worried about it. dizz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosnik Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 PT1680 case rehaut 25.89mm ndTrading 1680 dial 26.16mm PT1680 dial 27.03mm MBW 1665 dial 26.50 Thank you! Do you know GEN 1680 rehault measure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Thank you! Do you know GEN 1680 rehault measure? No I dont... If we cant get an answer, I can pull apart my gold 1680/8 as I assume it would be the same as the steel version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Update Watch is back together. Datewindow looks awesome! Date font is centered in the window and a nice spacing around the numbers. With the naked eye you cannot tell the window was modded. It just looks correct and now you can really see those sweet flat top threes!! Im very happy with the way this dial turned out considering how easy it actually was to do. Took some time, but anyone with the right tools can do it. I'll take some pics in the next couple days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmb Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky driver Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 nice one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 Dizz - The size looks like an improvement, but why did you round the corners off? By the way, if you have a Dremel & you are careful, you may be able to reapply the beveling around the edges. That is, unless you removed it purposely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 I didnt intentionally round off the corners. The top right hand corner wasnt even touched. My files may not have been "sharp" enough to replicate exact 90 degree corners on such a small scale.... but Yes, like i said, I could have remade the bevel around the edges but i was too concerned about the touchup paint not matching the rest of the dial and making a mess so i left it as is with only a small area inside the window to touch up. If you re-beveled it, there was be a lot of metal showing through that would require touchup and refinishing. This is the first time I have ever tried pulling off a dial and modifying it. This was just a fun project for me to see if everything worked and lined up and it did. If someone is concerned about the bevel and other small details like that, I would suggest just buying a Yuki dial for $180 and installing that. A gen dial will fit this case without modification as the stock PT dial is over 27mm in diameter. dizz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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