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WM 6538A with mods


XRT

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6538A: mods by RBJ69

-base model from WM

-case refinished

-lug holes drilled for 2mm pins

-brevet mold casted over ETA crown tube...the effort that goes into this mod paid off but requires a ton of work

-bubble seconds hand made for ETA movement (Michael Young), painted white

-OEM gold Tudor hands

-hands painted (vintagized)

-aftermarket insert painted (red arrow) and pearl dot fasioned with lume and epoxy

-installed aftermarket bezel assembly (Michael Young)

6263: mods by RBJ69

-case refinished

-lug holes drilled for 2mm pins

-new Tropic installed (by Ubiquitous)

-Michael Young custom dial installed

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Those are some pretty awesome watches! That 6538A looks like it's right out of Skeet and Urul's book- page 31! I wonder what the guys over at Timezone would say if you posted a pic over there! Of course I realize that we can't do that, but we take this whole watch thing to a level those guys don't even think of!

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Euno-

I bought the dial from Michael Young (classicwatchparts.com).

The original dial that came on it was scratched and DW had gone MIA at the time, so I had to find someone else to source me that dial...Michael to the rescue.

The brevet crown was a hell of a project for Joe. I bought a brevet off of Ebay and sent it to him. He still has it in his shop. He made a mold of the crown (more like 20+ molds to get it right) and poured in a molten alloy(you'll have to ask him about the composition- but it is damn hard when it solidifies.) He then quickly took a 7mm ETA rollie crown (which he had prepared already- grounded off the teeth, shortened and thinned), fixed it to a jig that hangs perpendicular to the mold and pressed it into the molten alloy (many iterations had to be done to get the darn thing perpendicular so it will sit flush with the watch case and so the alloy wouldn't drip into the backside of the crown -buggering-up the threads.) Then you wait for the composite to cool and remove it from the mold...voila (not quite that easy as the brevet symbol or lettering or crown teeth many times-over would not come out looking quite right, so the whole process would have to be repeated at least 10+ times.) He still hasn't made another one successfully for his own watch (he gave me the first and only one made so far since I am such a persistent pest) as he has been busy working on everyone else's watches.

-Brian

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Thanks. It sure is a fun hobby. It gets expensive, and sometimes frustrating, when you start getting obsessive about the details. Fortunately for me, RBJ gets equally as excited about trying to recreate the look of some of these rare parts and get them to work on our watches.

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it was hit with some green rouge on a jewelers buffing wheel , it comes kind of dull but dont do it too much or it may make the lines thinner quickly cause i dont think the bezels r made of sturdy steel , feels like a cheap alloy acutally but looks great, thanks for your compliments guys makes me want to get on those pointy cgs for the gmt now wowowowo lol

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no progress yet on the 1675

the parts have all been acquired though (except the silvered date wheels)

...if people would stop sending Joe their watches and he would be more careful with that thumb we could get him to focus :whistling:

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