1680 Opinion On Hand Mods.

[ShawnBeever]

I have done al the usual mods to my MBW 1680 but have never been happy that the bright shiny hands went with the rest of the vintage look I wanted.

Have brought a set of none gen Tudor sub hand and striped off some of the chrome.

What do you think?

[pannylovernr1]

I like it, looks nice

Why did you replace the MBW hands w/ Tudor ones?? Is the white a bit more dull on those? also where did you get the tudor hands, Ebay seller?

[ShawnBeever]

I got the Tudor sub hands because the ‘Mercedes’ bit looked more genuine than the one the watch came with which was to small and the subdividers on the ball end are to thick.

They look dull because I left some of the dirt on. I got them from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Clark-Watch-Parts . The only problem is the second hand was to long and I reused the standard second hand.

[thewightstuff]

im not sure about that one im afraid. ive not seen any rollies with that sort of look. certainly neither of mine do.

the issue with replaced hands is always with the lume/tritium not matching that on the dial with that of the new hands and never with the actual hands themselves.

given that gen hands are white gold, im not sure how they would age that way. there isnt any chrome to come off like some other vintages.

with the exception of badly water damaged watches, where everything inside has crystalised, all the hands on vintages ive seen have looked as new more or less with the only variation coming with patina depth on the markers.

can i ask, did you use a photo of a gen for this inspiration? the only thing i can think of is that somehow you saw one of the early "gilt" versions of the 55xx models which used yellow gold hands and dial print and mistook this for aged white gold.

that being said, its your watch so whatever you do to it not only increases your attachment but also allows you to take it wherever YOU want it to be.

beside from that, nice watch by the way.

Edited December 3, 2006 by thewightstuff

[ShawnBeever]

In reality the striped hands don’t look as yellow as in the pic.

I’ve attached a pic of a 1680 that is on the bay at the moments. If you compare the whiteness of the chrome on the hands to the whiteness of the stainless case they look more tarnished. That is the look I am trying to achieve. If you put a brand new set of chrome hands on the gen watch I think they would look much to bright. If you look at a new sub the hands will match the case.

I have been told the dials and hands of the older plastic subs age because the plexi crystals let a water vapour through which discolours the dials and tarnishes the hand.

Would welcome any other ideas as to how I could the get the right results.

[thewightstuff]

that just the light reflecting and making it look darker in that pic. gen rlx hands are all white gold too, no chrome.

by removing chrome you are just showing up the fact that its plated and not solid....or real rlx. theres nothing to peel or flake off of the real ones

ive found though that gen gold hands are less shiny naturaly than the chrome plates on the reps so perhaps this is what you are experiencing.

im not sure how you would dull down shiny chrome tbh without ruining the finish.

ill try to put up a pic of my new addition 5513 and my 5512. the 5513 is from 61 and has its original hands. its not the most mint example and they are as shiny as the 80s replaced hands in my 5512.

Edited December 3, 2006 by thewightstuff

[ShawnBeever]

I don't think the original hands were white gold. Here’s another pic that shows the kind thing I am trying to achieve.

[rag9fx]

As thewhightstuff had mentioned on a previously the hands on a stainless steel 1680 tended to be white gold and therefore wouldn't strip to brass. that watch that you had posted as a refference looks like a guilt dial 5512 which would have used yellow gold hands to correspond with the ( what would have been) the gold guilt markations on the dial. There was no use of chrome on gen rolex hands at all. Nevertheless its a nice looking watch best of luck to you with your modding .

R

Edited December 3, 2006 by rag9fx

[thewightstuff]

to quote from james dowling site where that watch pictured is featured,

" Like most of the watches sold during this period the dial is printed in a mixture of gilt and silver paint."

it hard to tell from the pic if the hands were yellow gold originally however with it being a gilted dial it wouldnt be too much of a stretch to say this would have been the case.

you are correct that theres definately some tarnishing/growth on the hands, not surprising given its being an 8xx,xxx serial however this hasnt eaten the surface of the hands off.

as i said before, the only ones ive seen with badly tarnished hands have had water damage crusting things up. if this is the look you want to go for then great but you will need to find away to crystalize the surface of your hands, not flake the chrome off.

all sub and SD hands are made from solid gold, yellow on the early gilted dial versions and white for all others.

the 1680 was never offered in a gilt version being way too late for that so would only ever have had white gold hands.

look over on timezone in the vintage section. theres lots of pics of posters 1680s and other models if you want to get a feel for the real world variations.

from an accuracy perspective, IMHO a red sub with hands like this is all wrong however with reps its always a labour of love and a process of taking the watch where you want it to go.

if this look appeals to you then go for it, who cares if its not a fully accurate representation of what you would find on a 1680.