Aging Insert to Tropical Brown

[UmpaHimself]

I saw a picture which I now can not find of a 1680 with a black dial but a slightly tropical brown insert and would love to get something similar for my build. I was reading another thread in which the comments stated that getting this effect from bleach depends on the primary color used for the black on the insert. Blue = a more grey look where red = a more chocolate look. I was wondering if there are other, more consistent ways of achieving the tropical color on an insert regardless of the primary base color used. I was thinking about bleaching it, then soaking it in coffee or something similar but that would probably turn the silver numerals a lighter gold color too which I don't really want. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Thanks!

[Nightwatch]

Was hoping on another gmt pic:) 

I´d suppose You have to start off with a red one or one of those red and gold to get a cocoa effect later on (like starting with a blue one to get a bluish fading tint).

In the "don´t do this at home - category" I imagine hanging it on a piece of metal and pushing it in and out of a toaster together with the bleaching might achieve something (or not).

Pls. report progress:)

[UmpaHimself]

48 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Was hoping on another gmt pic:) 

I´d suppose You have to start off with a red one or one of those red and gold to get a cocoa effect later on (like starting with a blue one to get a bluish fading tint).

In the "don´t do this at home - category" I imagine hanging it on a piece of metal and pushing it in and out of a toaster together with the bleaching might achieve something (or not).

Pls. report progress:)

Unfortunately I have become pretty discouraged with the 1675. I caused some damage to the one I had and I am not sure if it's worth it putting further money/time into it. Especially since the watchmaker I typically used doesn't seem to want to take on any new GMT movement work. So I'm switching focus to the new MBW subs that arrived a few weeks ago now. Already got the 5512 to a place I am really happy with just by swapping the insert to the ghost insert I had on my cartel sub.

If you didn't catch it in the wrist check thread, here it is:

 

The only insert I have found that may work is this WSO brown insert. What's nice is that it comes with an acrylic pearl (unfortunately it's not the most accurate). However, I would definitely need to fade it further to make it a believable tropical insert and I don't know how that would turn out. Not sure if I want to spend $70 to find out it won't.

[hologramet]

My tip is using a black insert,
1) give it a nice and (slow) go with a nail buffer at about 2000-4000 grit to remove the gloss
2) Then a very light bleach
3) then use a torch lighter and lightly torch it from under (imagine a junkie with a spoon-type of way). A tip is creating a holder out of something that doesn't conduct heat very well, e.g. paper towel

The dark grey/light black will turn browner and browner..

4) Last but no least then give ita spray with a glossy varnish, let it dry very thoroughly (preferable over night)

Last finish, another go with a nailbuffer at as high grit as possible to even out the varnish layer.

 

 

 

That's my cooking recipe, I imagine there are other...

[UmpaHimself]

10 minutes ago, hologramet said:

That's my cooking recipe, I imagine there are other...

Interesting. Do you have any examples of how it turns out?

[hologramet]

I can show you the look on a Snowflake insert... How it turns from a bleached purple-ish (horrible) blue to a beautiful tropical more "natural" blue.

Don't have any spare black inserts to show you on unfortunately...

I might give it a go on my brand spanking new MBW 5512-insert, but considering it has a beautiful (rare) kissing 4's + kissing 5's insert that I don't know if there are any spares to purchse, I don't know if I'm willing to risk it on currently (the final color is a complicated mic of bleaching it right and cookind it right). And that is much easier if you can reverse an unfortunate mistake.

[UmpaHimself]

15 minutes ago, hologramet said:

I can show you the look on a Snowflake insert... How it turns from a bleached purple-ish (horrible) blue to a beautiful tropical more "natural" blue.

Don't have any spare black inserts to show you on unfortunately...

I might give it a go on my brand spanking new MBW 5512-insert, but considering it has a beautiful (rare) kissing 4's + kissing 5's insert that I don't know if there are any spares to purchse, I don't know if I'm willing to risk it on currently (the final color is a complicated mic of bleaching it right and cookind it right). And that is much easier if you can reverse an unfortunate mistake.

I definitely have a spare insert I can test it on. Does anyone know if throwing it in an oven have any effect? That's something else I was considering. A light bleaching and baking but I don't want to get any toxic fumes in my house.

[hologramet]

I can recommend the torch-style as you can see and thus control the heat much better, I tried the oven too and destroyed 2 dials (never tried inserts) before I gave up...

[UmpaHimself]

11 minutes ago, hologramet said:

I can recommend the torch-style as you can see and thus control the heat much better, I tried the oven too and destroyed 2 dials (never tried inserts) before I gave up...

Im reading around more now. Even on some of the gen forums it seems that cooking inserts at about 200c/395f for one minute will get you a very mild brown color with out doing any fading. Sounds like I have some experimenting to do tomorrow

[freddy333]

Why not just pop it in the oven along with your chocolate chip cookies until both are a nice golden brown (there is a thread floating around here that I posted many years ago describing this)?

[UmpaHimself]

54 minutes ago, freddy333 said:

Why not just pop it in the oven along with your chocolate chip cookies until both are a nice golden brown (there is a thread floating around here that I posted many years ago describing this)?

Yeah I think that's what I am going to try

[junbug5150]

18 hours ago, freddy333 said:

Why not just pop it in the oven along with your chocolate chip cookies until both are a nice golden brown (there is a thread floating around here that I posted many years ago describing this)?

What? This sounds interesting (and delicious)! Must go and search!

[UmpaHimself]

Ok. I put my MBW insert in the toaster oven on bake @390 for a total of 10 min (5 min check and 5 again) with 0 change. I had lightly bleached it before hand too. I decided to call it a day because the insert was starting to warp just a tad.