How to further improve my gilt 5513?

[fitch]

Hi all,

I recently purchased this great 5513 with the following specs:

MBW/MBK case (CGs shaved)

OEM 93150 bracelet, 580 link

OEM insert

OEM crown

OEM T19

Yuki gilt dial (baked)

Yuki gilt Tudor hands

ETA 2824/36

I have baked and faded both OEM inserts and am very happy with the outcome;

baked and faded bezel;

baked and faded more extreme and baked again;

the two inserts together;

and again;

New hands (both silver as well as gold) are on their way to do experiments on aging to replace the current golden hands.

I will also do some more work on the cg's

I'm wundering if there is anything else to do... might a gen bezel be a worhtwhile improvement (and more important; will the mbw case accept the gen parts that any of you know of?)

gen movement + hands will acquire work on the case in order to fit correctly which is something I can't do myself so that's off the table for now..

any other suggestions..?

I look forward reading your replies!

Cheers,

fitch

[wiesn089]

Beautiful watch, great looking inserts, could you elaborate a little more on how you did that? I'd get pearls for the inserts, the ones you can fill yourself so you can match the patina of the lume, maybe gen relumed Tudor hands or have the current ones relumed (again to match the hour markers). I always feel like the aftermarket mercedes hand look a little bit pointy compared to gen ones, but maybe that's just me, I'm absolutely no experts on them, though.

[dluddy]

It might just be me but I am not a fan of faded to brown inserts. I think your hands are just fine as is

[fitch]

Beautiful watch, great looking inserts, could you elaborate a little more on how you did that? I'd get pearls for the inserts, the ones you can fill yourself so you can match the patina of the lume, maybe gen relumed Tudor hands or have the current ones relumed (again to match the hour markers). I always feel like the aftermarket mercedes hand look a little bit pointy compared to gen ones, but maybe that's just me, I'm absolutely no experts on them, though.

sure; the darker one; baked at 250 degrees celsius for 25 minutes, after that for 1 minute in household bleach (bleaching process went very quickly; be carefull with it!), rinse and capecodded it a bit, after that another rinse with mild soap and warm wather; that did the trick!

the lighter one; I received it backed (so it was very dark brown), I put in in bleach for 2~3 minutes, after that I backed them again to get a yellow fade on the entire bezel for 20 minutes in 250 degrees celcius. capecodded and rinsed it and that was it!

the yuki pearl has been ordered yesterday thanks for the tip though!!

[sardonix]

Your watch looks nice and sharp as it is! Very sweet, i also have a 5513 project going, not such a nice case as you but an old not 1:1 Chinese bastard, dial looks also rather baked, laquered and trashy.

May i ask where you ordered the new hand sets? i have a 2824-2 movement in it.

Minute hand on mine seems to fat and is bent, second hand is also bent, and the hour hand is a litlle skew i guess it drags a circle on the dial

Here is a vintaged pic of my dial:

Edited May 30, 2012 by sardonix

[woof*]

Wether or not you change the color scheme, those inserts need pearls.

If you've never worked with these pearls, make sure you get spares. They are very easy to lose.

If you like the brown, your inserts and dial match. If you change to regular black, I recommend Ingod44 dials or gen.

Very nice watch

[wiesn089]

Thanks for the explanation, will definitely try that when I put the finishing touches on my current project.

[FxrAndy]

Personally I would just fade a black insert to grey. But still nice

[dutchguy2]

Personally I would just fade a black insert to grey. But still nice

+1

Not a fan of the brown inserts.

[TeeJay]

My only suggestion would be to give the bracelet and case a bit of a flogging: A watch which was sun-damaged to such a degree would not have been a safe-queen Other than that, I can't make any suggestions for such a fine piece

[fitch]

May i ask where you ordered the new hand sets?

These are the ones I ordered:

http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6960394/9192114.htm

http://helenarou.com/silver-anodize-luminous-benz-watch-hand-for-eta-28282428342836.html

http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6960394/7061069.htm

Nice vintage dial btw

[fitch]

My only suggestion would be to give the bracelet and case a bit of a flogging: A watch which was sun-damaged to such a degree would not have been a safe-queen Other than that, I can't make any suggestions for such a fine piece

I agree but I'm still contemplating the degree of 'wear' I would like to give it I think I will start gently with smoothing things up and see how far I can take it

[TeeJay]

I agree but I'm still contemplating the degree of 'wear' I would like to give it I think I will start gently with smoothing things up and see how far I can take it

I'd suggest some scuffing on the underside of the bracelet at the edges of the wrist and the clasp to simulate wear, and maybe the occasional ding on the case wouldn't look out of place

[StormTooper4]

Way Nice ....love the brown insert

[panerai153]

Replace the chocolate inserts with aged grey, and add a pearl. I have seen a lot of vintage Rolex watches and I cannot remember ever seeing one in the wild that didn't have a pearl.

[woof*]

I don't know if I'd put anything but natural wear on a gen bracelet

[dluddy]

I dont get the fascination with extreme aging. Guess I like the safe queen look better.

Gently aged lume and pearl and I am happy

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Akira]

+1 on the grey faded insert

Edited May 31, 2012 by Akira

[watchguy51]

Looks awesome. I'd add a pearl though. It looks better, and a watch in that good condition should have one. I don't see the need for aging the case though..

[TeeJay]

I dont get the fascination with extreme aging. Guess I like the safe queen look better.

Gently aged lume and pearl and I am happy

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Consistency/realism... That's not to say it has to be heavily abused, but as above, a watch which had been exposed to enough sun to get that level of insert fading, would not be in safe queen condition

[Akira]

Actually, you probably won't find a 5512/3 with a thin font service insert faded that heavily by nature.

Those inserts first appeared sometime in the 90's to my knowledge.

So max. 20 years of sub exposure

Correct me if l'm wrong

[TeeJay]

Actually, you probably won't find a 5512/3 with a thin font service insert faded that heavily by nature.

Those inserts first appeared sometime in the 90's to my knowledge.

So max. 20 years of sub exposure

Correct me if l'm wrong

Ahh, I can't see 20 years achieving that kind of brown color, afterall, 16800's still have black inserts That said, I do have a 6542-esque project planned which will feature some non 'period-accurate' parts