satin gilt mercedes handset for 5513 project - eta 2836

[hackR]

deciding to build a gilt 5513...any advice on where to source some satin gilt hands w/ meatball second hand is appreciated...need to fit an eta 2836-2; which i know isn't the right movement...but its what i have at the moment...

thanks...R

[LIBBY!]

I'm cobbling parts for a gilt dial now too, got a case and a movement, need a gilt dial and matching hands. I know Yuki sells hands wirh dial combos, you get a set of gilt-ed hands with his gilt 5513 dial. Not sure if it fits ETA though.

[alligoat]

Yuki's gold 5513 hands won't fit an eta movement- they're made for the 1500 series of Rolex movements, 1520, 1530, 1560 and 1570.

You could buy a set of gilt eta (Tudor) hands from Clark's, but then you'd need to age them. The meatball seconds hand will be hard to find.

Eta hand sizes are 90/150/25.

Ubi is the only person that I know of who can take a set of silver (white) hands and turn them to satin gilt. It's like his own secret recipe!

Gilt dials with silver hands are acceptable, but just not as nice as the gilt hands.

[FxrAndy]

You can always brush then and then gold plate them

[cjjoyce1]

Some rep hands are crome plated base metal. I tried using a cape cod to polish a scratch off an hour hand once and ended up rubbing off the crome to a degree. So now at certain angles or light, I have a "gilt" hand.

[Rolexaddict]

Excuse my nob attitude, but what is a meatball seconds hand ?

Some rep hands are crome plated base metal. I tried using a cape cod to polish a scratch off an hour hand once and ended up rubbing off the crome to a degree. So now at certain angles or light, I have a "gilt" hand.

right, as basically the electrolyse process to fix the chrome/white gold, needs a cooper layer as base. If you polish the hand with something stronger than cap cod, you will have a yellow color. But this will fade/rust with ambiant air, need a coat of clear varnish

One solution is to go in an artist shop and buy gold leaves and the liquid base to fix the gold. Tricky to realise and need good skills but the result is 100% realistic. Gold leaves are less than 5 microns thick and are "platted" using a small and very soft make up brush. Also to do that, lume material has to be removed from hands, then hand must be re-lumed.

Edited April 15, 2011 by Rolexaddict

[hackR]

thanks for all the advice, guys...

Don had/has a beautiful Sub piece where the hands were Clark's Rolex/Tudor mercedes hands w/ meatball second hand (essentially the round lume cicle on the second hand shaft)...the hands are gold, but the lume is white...i may pick them up and sort thru the "vintaging" process...was hoping to find gilt hands like Clark's with vintage/tritium look hands - but haven't found a source yet...

[chiman12]

Use 8 micron finishing paper and gently sand down the hands...you'll get a satin finish without the heavy sand marks. In addition, you can use a satin metal polish or respray the hands with a clear satin lacquer.

One last thing, you can submerse the hands in 100% bleach for an extended period of time and they will go dull...almost satin like. I've never tried this on gold hands, but have on steel hands.

I think CWP sells the meatball sweep hand...might be for the wrong movement, but you can either crimp or broach (can't remember which way) to make it fit an ETA.

[JoeyB]

Excuse my nob attitude, but what is a meatball seconds hand ?

This is.

I took the silver hands, lightly sanded and used a toothpick and gold enamel, then relumed.

[Gabus]

Here's the one The Master (Ubi) did for me.