buffedupboy Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 Well, gonna try to keep it short for now. This watch was given to me by a great friend of mine who passed away. It has been sitting in a pouch for more than 10 years. I took it out recently and just had a cursory look at it. First look was it was DOA. Watch was a cheap rep with EVERYTHING wrong going for it. So I thought why don't we just make the best of this, get it up and running just as a remembrance of our friendship? But of course these things never work out the way we plan... Watch is stripped down Picture showing chrome already pitting and oxidation coming through. GMT bezel on a sub dial..... First decided to just clean up the chrome and have a brass sub. After I removed the chrome, tried to install the glass, it cracks (cheap mineral). So I thought, hmm.... always liked a tropic superdome, so ordered one from Clarks. Then reshaped the case as best I could, refinished and polished. Tried to get the watch running but it didn't want to, so stripped the movement, cleaned it and re-oiled. Missing lume on seconds hand started pissing me off, so decided to re-lume the entire dial and hands with vintage lume from Holio. Couldn't remove the lume on the dial, so had to apply over it, but it didn't take nicely to the new lume, so it was a tough task as I also wanted to get the lume to dome. All in all, case reshaped, and cleaned of chrome, new red bezel insert, new tube gasket, new CB O-ring, new 7mm tall tropic superdome form Clark, vintage relumed hands and dials, serviced movement, new nylon nato. As you can see, there is always something that can be done to even a cheap 10dollar bad rep and come up with something interesting and unique. I think it will look amazing with a black leather nato, which is my next purchase for this. More pictures later but for now, Kevin lives on: Waiting for natural patina to set in especially on bezel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiman12 Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 That looks really cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utheman Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 ...... but for now, Kevin lives on: Awesome! Nice SubDweller! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielv2000 Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 Nice way to remember a friend... That's really cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
correctime Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 Great remembrance and great work. That's a very cool looking piece. Nice job . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSTEEL Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 What an amazing transformation! Well done, and in memory of your friend is the icing on the cake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docthor Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 just wow...outstanding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted April 11, 2013 Report Share Posted April 11, 2013 Great job, You have a truly unique piece to remember your friend by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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