Mbw 1680 & 1665 Dial Relume (the Ultimate Mod!)

[Sherrington]

OK. Thought I would share with you all the best relume that I have ever seen on a MBW dial. I have been modding both my 1680 and 1665 for 9 months now, on and off, but the one thing that really bugged me is you can see the false painted markers on a MBW dial. This is neither accurate or realistic. So off 2 spare dials went to the master of all the dial relumers out there for a make over.

I was very specific with my request to The Zigmeister, providing exact photos of what I required. This was basically a relume were the markers were flat rather than domed, and with a realistic gritty old tritium look.

When I received them back I was amazed at how perfect the reluming was. The markers were just as I requested and nearly ready to be installed into my 2 watches.

What you have to bear in mind is having a dial relumed by hand is not exactly the same as the machine applied markers of the vintage Rollies. If you hold them at a very accute angle you can see slight ripples in the markers caused by the paint drying out as the markers are being relumed. With The Zigmeister's raw talent these are to an absolute minimum (this guy has the steadiest hands there is). However, being a perfectionist, I decided to make a tool to smooth them out and set to work. Here's how it was done:-

First making the tool. I took a cocktail stick (no not out of my Martini!!!) and cut the tip off at an angle. Then I cut out a 1mm (yes 1mm!!!) circle of 400 grit wet and dry emery paper and stuck it on the end with superglue. And thus the tool was born:-

Next I set to work very carefully sanding down each individual marker to a smooth flatish finish.

It took over a hour to get just the perfect finish to each marker that I was looking for. And here's the result.

Here's a full dial shot prior to being fitted back into my 1680.

Here's the GENUINE photo we were trying to emulate.

And here's the relumed MBW from the master The Zigmeister.

So you see, there are relumers out there.......and then there is The Zigmeister. I know which one I would use. Oh BTW he also did a MBW 1665 DRSD dial that I refinished as well. Just need to take some photos of the assembled watches, when I have the time.

[alligoat]

That's pretty cool, and now your watch glows in the dark?? The one thing I don't like about my WM 1680 is the dead lume, hands and all, except the bezel pearl- one little glowing dot in the nite. Guess I'll have to talk to Ziggy sooner or later!

[mikellem]

Excellent job Sherriington!

looks incredible...

[Tribal]

Yeah,

thats great....

Looks damm good to me,nice work...

[ubiquitous]

Beautiful, Dave! Ziggy is a man of many talents, all of which he is a master at. Your dial looks great! I can't wait to see it installed in your 1680!