mellons Posted February 25, 2013 Report Share Posted February 25, 2013 I ordered one of dsn's new 6152 no cg builds recently to see what the case was like. Although the shape is a bit controversial some photos were very interesting. I suspected the case could make an alternative to athaya/river/silix 6154 set. The stock model received is a very nice piece: solid construction, good qualith high-plexi, nice movement and 100% accuracy out of the box. This one had a rolerai dial, push-fit plexi and engraved stick-on plates inside. It really is the small details on dsn's watches that elevate them: the little rubber washer in the cg lever or in this case the dimple on the movement ring that slides into the groove inside the midcase stopping any ring movement internally. Here are a few stock case set images (unmodded on timeband): Notice the excess of material in the lug-ends (at the sides towards the bottom) and the accentuated length of the lugs. These two aspects of this case, the ones that made it an odd shaped case for a 6152, are the ones that both the silix and athaya case fall down in. The one critiscism of the athaya case seemed to be the shorter lugs, and the silix has a lack of material at the lug ends (underside). Both are superb cases in their own right. Obviously athaya case (and river form photos) is the correct thin height so it has a huge advantage on all others due to cost of machining and also labour involved in getting creases. Anyway I wanted to give this a go and see how the stock case would look without any machining and no huge reworking of lugs. The only slight mod atm of the lugs is to counter-sink the hole for the (very nice) vintage spring-bars to make the holes visually bigger (thanks southy for idea!) here are a few in-progress shots nice movement here is a temp mock-up of reshape (almost done) with modded necky plexi. Case has been reshaped with crease all round, crown lightly modded also. Final dial/ hand configuration to be decided and i will probably revert back to a lowered high-plexi (probably gaposis + athaya high hands) My own conclusion is this this case set could be the basis for a seriously good finished case- if someone like nightwatch was to get his hands on this and work his magic, machining top and bottom and also re-threading midcase for caseback- you could end up with a thin case, good long lugs and also plenty of curvature under the crease at the sides. For ocd members you could micro-weld lug holed and re-position also... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris5264 Posted February 25, 2013 Report Share Posted February 25, 2013 I just picked up the same case, different dial, from dsn....nothing but good stuff to say....I had a similar one from river and think dsn's has a better quality feel to it...I've always thought that dsn,,,may not be the more accurate...but the quality is worth it. I've left it as is...but just begg'n for some vintage mods.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted February 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2013 (edited) another step along the route: getting closer... kemmner tuned engine with southy gaposis + athaya high collar double-pencil hands back on with stock plexi cp mod along with plexi to be dropped...it's sort of a 6154 on steriods! Edited February 25, 2013 by mellons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 here we go- southy gaposis dial with athaya high-collar hands (lightly vintagised) and cp mod; stock plexi reduced. if mid-case was reduced by 1mm and lug holes moved this would be a serious case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 (edited) quick and dirty gen comparison case scaled-up to approx length and midcase height photo of reshaped dsn case needs to be re-taken to get straight (looks shorter but that is photo) lugs look ok if hole was re-located: underside of lugs looks good also. Case would be really super if reduced by around 1mm in height- say 0.8mm off underside and 0.2mm off topside (or 1mm total) Edited February 27, 2013 by mellons 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmg Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 That's a helluva 1st atempt Mellon's, nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted March 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 midcase further work- couldn't resist midcase height reduced from 7.27mm to 6.4mm. Material taken off top and bottom, bezel reduced also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) Edit: case has been reduced by approx. 086mm overall: 0.48mm off the top and 0.38 off the bottom top reduction required bezel seat height to be taken down bottom reduction was done without altering caseback or having to re-thread case etc slight groove still there for gasket Edited March 5, 2013 by mellons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 EDIT: Comparison between dsn reshaped and reduced 6154 and a silix vintage build (thanks uwe); dsn is on rhs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex6340 Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 This is just a beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted April 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 just back from the works- i wanted to see how far this case would go (i.e. test to destruction): case is still around!!! microwelding of lug holes and additional material added around crown (crown tapped) - thanks elias new lug-holes drilles furrther along lugs and micro-welds cleaned up - thanks necky i await athaya crown to see how it looks/ how much i need to take back here are some shots of case as-is atm: comparo with river reshaped 6154 (better to come) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted May 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2013 finally got build back together today big thanks to elias who tapped case for athaya tube and got micro-welding done, and also to necky for tidying up welds and re-drilling new lug holes work completed: existing lug holes micro-welded, new holes drilled and micro-welding additional material around crown tube. Case tapped and has athaya brevet crown and tube installed. I had tried a modded two-piece bezel along with a nightwatch slid thinner caseback- decided on keeping the stock (higher) one-piece bezel and thicker caseback and go for lower dome. Further modding required (more work to crown area + plexi to be lowered slightly). Build has southy gaposis + seagul 6497 from roland kemmner. More work to be done: shorten lug bars, lower plexi and more work to crown area. revised dimensions as follows: lug-to-lug 54.64mm (wider), 12mm from bottom of dsn caseback to top of bezel, 15.5mm overall height. Case shots: ] hanging shot modded crown area wristies beside river unmodded display-back 6154 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin kang Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 Excellent built, and I really love such work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptTripps Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 I love it when a plan comes together.... Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aajaxx007 Posted May 22, 2013 Report Share Posted May 22, 2013 Dang Mellons you all really took that case to task. Nice work all around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 some images on a sunny day on buhr strap: wristies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mir36 Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 I'm a big fan of your no CG projects Mellons. Always awe-inspiring to see your build journey! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozerov Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 If you'll sell let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altesporsche Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 Amazing build ! I'm having one built now hopefully the same treatment as yours looks amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted July 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 comparo between modded new case 6154 and older dsn 6152 no cg case set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onealyan Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 great job ! Like the onion crown than the rolerai crown ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellons Posted October 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2013 few shots on really nice neckyzips stand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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