My humble 2533 Rolerai build

[Henio]

Greetings everyone!

I had an idea for a build that I am yet to see and wanted to give it a shout. I wanted to build a 2533 Rolerai using a 3-6-9 Rolex dial and a rare 3603 molnija fully overhauled by Belkin himself.

Here are my goodies:

Molnija 3603:

Dial:

Case set:

As you can see I have my work cut out for me but am looking forward to the progress

Stay tuned

H

[Henio]

I was able to spend sometime on the case while away. I started off by just soldering the lugs. After the lugs were soldered and shaped properly, I started reshaping the entire case.

Here is the before shot

Definitely not pretty, lol

And after

I still need to go over it with a few layers of different sandpaper grits and give it a good polishing when all the sanding is complete, and she will be ready to go.

Almost there!

[Henio]

I took a break from reshaping the case and worked on the dial. FYI this dial is extremely difficult do work on imo. Had to do over many times.

First treatment steps was painting and coloring

Here's the raw dial

After coloring phase I

Now cleaned up

Just finished luming it

Once the lume dries I can clean it up and give it a few touch ups. Then I will finish her off with a pinch of a clear flat coat

Here's a lume shot

Urhhhh very tedious :-/

Back to the case I go . . .

[Henio]

Hands are ready to go

Here are the stock Athaya tall tube curved angelus hands for 3603

After some lite vintage love and vintage lume

And a lume shot

Almost there

[Malkovich]

What an effort! Keep going, would love to see how this turns out!

[Henio]

Thank you much malk. I am going to dry to get this done today or close to being done :thumbup:

[Malkovich]

I'm been studying up on how to apply lume, so if could post up pics of that process (as a mini tutorial), that would be much appreciated!

Edited August 17, 2014 by Malkovich

[Henio]

I'm been studying up on how to apply lume, so if could post up pics of that process (as a mini tutorial), that would be much appreciated!

I don't have a tutorial that I have done personally, but there are a ton if you search through the forums

Dial and hands are ready for assemble on the 3603 moli

Always want to make sure our washer is in place

Since Im using Athaya tall tube angelus hands, I used a dial plate to give the dial thickness so I didn't have to shave the hands down, which is a pita

Now the dial is ready

Quick lumie

Angelus hands are now good to go. I filed and rounded a nice faux cannon pinion, just slightly flushed and below surface level

A little peak at our 3603 engine. Had to slightly mod the movt rind to fit nice and snug

Just an idea with the bezels

Almost there still a lot of work to do I that case

Cheers!

[Henio]

Finally had some time to work on my case set. I was able to finish reshaping and actually polished it as well, everything all done by hand

I think the soldered lugs came out pretty good too. As suggested by a few members I took a little more off the solder on the lugs

I'm pretty satisfied with the smooth edges. All of the sharp squarish ridges are gone

I softened all of the edges of the caseback using 800 grit and upgraded sand paper to give her the smoothness finish. Also text filled. I can't recall if any gens had the text fill or not but I like the finish it gives the over all case. It also makes the movt pop and adds depth. Guess it's like a signature finish

Normally this caseback comes with that annoying domed plexi that kinda of sits awkward on the wrist. I took a NW Jackson sapphire and shaved it down1.2mm, took about 2 hrs. Here's the comparison. River domed in the left, NW sapphire on the right

Here's the flat sapphire installed using some apoxy

Here's an idea of the case pieces together

Almost ready for the sales section.

[pam 816]

WOW! 

[ogladio]

Sexy back! Could you explain how you shaved down the sapphire?

[WalkerDH]

Tempting!!! Waiting to see the final product!

Tempting!!! Waiting to see the final product!

[Henio]

WOW!

Thank you much :thumbup:

Sexy back! Could you explain how you shaved down the sapphire?

It's a very very slow process lol I used a mix of 800-1000 grit sand paper. Very lightly pass the crystal back and forth. If you go too hard, sapphire pieces will begin to chip off and leave cracked dents. Test fit and keep sanding. Take your time. If it's still too tight, dont use a presser because the glass will shatter, learned that the hard way. Once it's a good fit, use a microscopic pinch of apoxy around the rim of the case back and set it in place. Wipe of any access apoxy with a moist rag and polish with a cape code for that clear water finish.

Good luck :thumbup:

[Henio]

Adventures adventures.

This has been quite and adventurous evening completing this build.

While refitting the stem, apparently they were not heat treated properly after re-threading. This is the end result

Yes I know. Wtfffffff

Luckily for me I horde stems for all movements and had one that didn't break on me

The Stem and crown is nice and snug and ready to rock and roll

The build is done!! Here are some quick and dirty shots

Case

And here's a head shot

Here are some strap options

And here's a night vision shot

Tomorrow I will give this beauty it's proper runway shot! Almost there

[Henio]

So I was able to take some shots this evening, I hope you guys like her.

Without further delay, i present to you my Humble 2533 "3-6-9" Rolerai

This piece is for sale if anyone is interested.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! :wave:

[Henio]

A few wristies

Lume in the day light

Lume in the dark

Some vintage love dial close ups