Tiyal Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Aloha all! What were doing today is a yearly update on two standards in our world. Specifically Josh’s (Perfect clones) 1680 or 5513 or 5512 / vintage sub and Angus’ (Pure Time) 1665 Sea-Dweller. Beginning with Josh’s 1680, I gave this watch to each of my grooms men when I got married last year. My paradigm then was “Vintage with a heavy lume”. Beginning with that goal for my first modding experience was good in the sense that it popped my cherry and I became comfortable breaking down an automatic watch. Last year I took three good looking watches soaked their bezels in drain-o, applied blue lume directly to the front of the hands, drilled out the lug holes and end links added overpriced gen spingbars, greased the gaskets but thankfully I stopped short of sticking the watches in a bag of coins and throwing them off the roof. This 1680 was originally waterproof and my groomsman could and would dive with it (in the open ocean) almost daily (gotta love Hawai’i). But a few months ago it started to fog up. When we’d hang out the watch was awesome, just flat gorgeous however my lume job was not so gorgeous and made the dial look sophomoric. Here we go, Parts order Clark Crystal x2 Crystal Ref. # 25-127 127 (1680) Tropic 19 (1665) Gaskets for 1680 Gen Crown and Tube Yukiwatch / Flea bay Inserts Watchbandman 50 Lume NoctiLumina Tap M3 X 0.35 D5 HSS BOTTOM TAP North Bay Cutting tools Hands & Movements Star Time Everything comes off the case simply (I love the construction on the case) The original crystal is cracked at the neck and there is a cutout for a gasket under the bezel retainer but no gasket Old tube gets pulled, case and rehaut gets sanded then polished with simichrome. Countersink and tap the case for the tube (I countersink to align the crown to 12 o-clock takes a few tries to get it right) Tube finally gets red thread lock I pull the movement then carefully remove the hands** snapped the second hands post but don’t realize it yet ** Dial comes off. The old lume while bright lacks finesse in application so I carefully remove it with a scalpel. The hands get soaked in acetone to remove their lume The dial is carefully-relumed then matte sprayed ** matte spray can cover up some imperfections but I would use an airbrush if I ever do this again. Spend the money and buy a nice dial Hands are stripped of old lume then new lume applied carefully to the back of the hands Bezel Pearl is removed, old lume is dug out new lume applied then top coated with enamel and gorilla glued into insert. **Note gorilla glue expands Everything cures Replace hands and ******* mother F#@$er I broke the post!! Movement is garbage Order new movement and hands wait and repeat plus date overlay swap. Second hand (size 17 & don’t fit, too large so I crimp gently and attach) Case the movement taking care to not sandwhich the date wheel triple check the date alignment. Remove all dust Install new gaskets- Tube, crown, case back and under retainer Install crystal (Note: this is the very, very last thing I did as to not get any dust under the crystal) Install Bezel and Insert. 1665 I used Angus for this piece last year (PureTime) I liked that it came with the ETA 2836, however how the Josh’s 1680/5513 loves the gen parts you have to modify everything on the 1665 to get them to work. The ETA lasted only a couple months before it gave up and now sits waiting for a service. I swapped in a ETA 2824 and love it! Slow beat be dammed! Same as the 1680 case is stripped, and re-polished gen tube is removed, lugs are reshaped, tube is reinstalled with fresh gaskets. I try to get the crown to line up at 12 o-clock but I don’t want to counter sink any further or over tighten the tube so I settle for 2 o-clock. Dial and movement are pulled, hands come off. My NDT singer DRSD is attached with dial dots. New Star time Hands are Lumed yellow. Soaked first in acetone stripped of old lume then new lume added. Pearl on insert is removed then dug out, new lume added epoxy’d and re-glued. The new star time hands are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and glow like the sun. I had Yuki hands before and Star Times are far superior. The NDT dial is also FK**n HOT (spend the money) The Dial I do not relume, it’s too perfect to mess with. Finally re-case, check alignment. Reglue the Insert into the bezel (another reason why the 1680 is superior) and put it all back together. Again the case gaskets are not gen spec on this watch but luckily I have a few oversize ones in the parts box. I love the vintage Rolex, there is so much you can do with joshes 1680 case but not much with the 1665. As for vintage-izing, I think a beautiful watch that you have your mark on is the best way to go. My 1665 DRSD has a military bezel with a high beat movement, the 1680 has modern Rolex blue lume and I love them because I built them, Thanks to RWG and all of you who’ve inspired and passed on your experience and knowledge Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woof* Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Wow! This is a good and inspiring writeup! Nice modding too, with good explanations as to what was done and how. You show you can do alot... with very little. Thanks for taking the time to do this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiyal Posted June 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) one more lume shot of the 1680 Edited June 11, 2012 by Tiyal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somarentals Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 I hope you are not referring to Josh's Perfect Clones. He's actually the infamous Mr. Zhao Xiao Bin from Guangdong Province, China. Infamous in a bad way. His watches look pretty good, but literally every watch my friends and I have bought breaks within a few weeks, or worse they arrive non-functioning. Do not bother sending them back to him for repair under warranty because he refuses delivery of the parcels in China. Twice this happened to me. I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. Twice. The man is a dishonest, unscrupulous thief. I also know that Paypal is investigating him. I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woof* Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 I hope you are not referring to Josh's Perfect Clones. He's actually the infamous Mr. Zhao Xiao Bin from Guangdong Province, China. Infamous in a bad way. His watches look pretty good, but literally every watch my friends and I have bought breaks within a few weeks, or worse they arrive non-functioning. Do not bother sending them back to him for repair under warranty because he refuses delivery of the parcels in China. Twice this happened to me. I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. Twice. The man is a dishonest, unscrupulous thief. I also know that Paypal is investigating him. I hope this helps. Don't be ridiculous. Most here have bought from Josh. I have probably a dozen from him over the last couple years.....never a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbh Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 That was a nice first post. I'll bet it's because of him that Josh lost his PP account this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiyal Posted June 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 I hope you are not referring to Josh's Perfect Clones. He's actually the infamous Mr. Zhao Xiao Bin from Guangdong Province, China. Infamous in a bad way. His watches look pretty good, but literally every watch my friends and I have bought breaks within a few weeks, or worse they arrive non-functioning. Do not bother sending them back to him for repair under warranty because he refuses delivery of the parcels in China. Twice this happened to me. I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. Twice. The man is a dishonest, unscrupulous thief. I also know that Paypal is investigating him. I hope this helps. WTF? First, Josh Rocks I'll spend money with him any day. There's his budget submariner watch taking gen parts all day long, LIKE A CHAMP! Second, Take your [censored] wine about "parcels in china" & "your friends" some where else to some other forum. douche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japanic Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 Hmm, the thread seems to have hit a log-jam. Having said that, how do you find the Noctilumina? Better than Superluminova? Same? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 The man is a dishonest, unscrupulous thief. Unfortunately, you've posted this in a forum where Josh @ Perfect Clones has been a well-respected and trusted dealer for years and years. I don't think your comment will be received well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiyal Posted June 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Hmm, the thread seems to have hit a log-jam. Having said that, how do you find the Noctilumina? Better than Superluminova? Same? Thanks man, lol I've only ever used the Noctilumina, the blue is great for anything modern. I bought a kit this last time with the blue, green, oilers, binders etc.. I stripped my Star Time Hands with nail polish remover (thank you wife) then applied the green lume to the back of the cleaned hands. It took a few tries to get it just right, but it was worth it! that stuff GLOWS!! you hear guys talk about all night long, This stuff really works 4:00 am and still a torch. Both the green and blue cure white, When I compare it to a GMT that Vac did to any that Ive done his lume seems more porcelain like (perfection), while mine is a little more powdery or ruff. That's probably because he's pro and I'm a three fisted guerrilla. The company seems cool to, shipping to Hawaii only takes 3 days the kit with two colors was maybe $45 http://www.noctilumina.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacher62 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 I hope you are not referring to Josh's Perfect Clones. He's actually the infamous Mr. Zhao Xiao Bin from Guangdong Province, China. Infamous in a bad way. His watches look pretty good, but literally every watch my friends and I have bought breaks within a few weeks, or worse they arrive non-functioning. Do not bother sending them back to him for repair under warranty because he refuses delivery of the parcels in China. Twice this happened to me. I stupidly gave him the benefit of the doubt. Twice. The man is a dishonest, unscrupulous thief. I also know that Paypal is investigating him. I hope this helps. That's not been my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 That's not been my experience. More than likely, this person has bought from a copycat site, and is blaming the "real guy" .. it happens all the time to newbs. If you were a new guy, and went to some scam site like perfect-clones.com .. who would you blame? Especially since the people there say their name is "josh". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke1973 Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Excellent write up and pictures! This was an awesome thread until the "one post warrior" showed up and tried to threadcrap.... Why is that tool not banned?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Excellent write up and pictures! This was an awesome thread until the "one post warrior" showed up and tried to threadcrap.... Why is that tool not banned?? He is not banned becasuse we dont ban people for saying something bad about a dealer, This is not WUS you know And it may well be that he has bought from a copy cat site and maybe he could offer some information that may help us all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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