Just another 1016 build

[spazthecat]

Hi,

 

Be nice, this is my first attempt at "vintagizing" a watch. But, when I showed to my wife her response was "it looks old, why would you do that?" so, I think I'm at least in the ball park:)

 

The pictures aren't the greatest, I might try some outside later this week.

 

The only thing I might change is the hands. I think they need a little more work. Too shiny.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Andy

 

--

 

The parts are as follows:

 

-Case and dial from JMB.

-Ostrich strap from Stach Straps

-Seagull movement that I had where the date change mechanism never quite worked correctly. So, I removed all of that stuff and replaced the set bridge with one from a 2801 movement. So, now only two crown positions like you would expect.

-Case, dial, hands, and strap moderately aged by me.

 

Here's the dial's original state:

 

Here's after the aging process:

 

And the final product:

[mjmj]

Looks very good. Great work!!

[hcaht]

Looks really good to my amateur eye! I personally like how the branding really faded into the dial. Nice first build. You should be proud of it.

[blue.]

Congratulations on your first build!

Nicely done

I like the way you vintagized the gilt print! It is less present now and a little more discreet.

 

Enjoy wearing this nice Explorer!

[Mendota Explorer]

Looks really nice. How did you do the aging?

[StormTooper4]

Great job on that dial 

[jmb]

Very nice!  Maybe abuse the hands a bit more?

[spazthecat]

Very nice!  Maybe abuse the hands a bit more?

 

Thanks.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that. But, I hate to take it apart now that it's cased up and everything. Setting hands still gives me trouble.

[spazthecat]

Looks really nice. How did you do the aging?

 

Thanks!

 

For aging each part I did the following:

 

Case:

-removed the crystal and bezel then taped off the dial opening.

-Put the case and bezel in a box of rocks, screws, and nails and then shook it up a bit

-Took a pair of pliers and random "pinched" parts of the case and bezel.

-2500 grit sand paper the whole thing a little to give back a little shine.

 

Dial and Hands:

-Used a small paint brush to apply coffee and then baked in the oven at 350 for 2 minutes. Just enough to evaporate the coffee. I did this again after the dial cooled off a bit. As an aside, I don't see how the folks here get the indices to turn brown with baking. I had a couple of test dials that I used before doing this one and for each of them, the paint on the dial bubbled up well before there was any visible change in the lume.

-Painted with strong iodine solution (Lugol's solution) and let it dry, then repeat.

-For the dial - 2 coats of spray on semi-gloss polyurethane. I held the can moderately high over the dial. I didn't want it be evenly coated or smooth.

-For the hands I just did 1 coat of poly and held the can pretty high above them so that it wouldn't coat evenly.

 

Strap:

-Scrotch brite pad until the shine was mostly gone. It's a pretty textured strap so, I couldn't get it all off in the little nooks an crannies.

-Rubbed it with coffee grounds, seasalt, and olive oil.

-Wrapped it in foil and baked in the oven at 350 for 2 minutes.

[spazthecat]

Wrist shot.

[jmb]

Cool!  The "teeth-marks" left by the pliers is an interesting effect!