The Knucklehead - The build of a unique Monte Carlo

[meadowsweet_]

•PROLOGUE•
Over the last several years as I've built (or more accurately, had built for me essentially) franken versions of vintage watches that I admire, my interests gradually honed in on one particular area: Tudor. There's always been something so "honest" about Tudor to me and how the brand has always held its own while perpetually living in the shadow of its older sibling. Like Rolex without some of the fuss, if you will. 

Make no mistake, Rolex is unquestionably the king of the tool watch (imvho the 1016 is the greatest tool watch ever made), but for whatever reason, it has always been Tudor specifically that has spoken to me in the most "real" and personal way. This was instilled in me at a young age: my father wore an 80's-era Tudor Sub (which he always wore on an incorrectly-sized 19mm bracelet. ALWAYS... haha)

As the secondary gen vintage market soaring higher and higher into the strata of rare air, it's getting harder in my eyes for me to personally "pull off" iterations of some of the rarer, more desirable references be it Tudor or Rolex (6263/6239 I'm looking at you). I just have a hard time seeing myself wearing a (perceived) near half million or near-million dollar wristwatch whilst, say, fly fishing or working on my old rusty Fastback. And besides I like to really WEAR my watches. I tend to put them through their paces. Tool watches used as actual tools. They way they were always destined to be used imho.

Like I was saying, Tudor had always really "spoken" to me and always been my true love and focus, and gradually my (very) small collection of watches has morphed into a collection made up entirely of the Shield and the Rose (save for my gen 5500 of course lol). There was, however, a big hole in my Tudor collection that still needed to be filled: an exotic-dialed chronograph. The next move was clear: it was, of course, high time for a bad*ss Home Plate!!

(**Side note: for me, frankens tend to be "go big or go home"-type builds, thus the small size of my collection. I know this can be a fool's errand sometimes, but it's what I enjoy most about the building: seeking out the best to make the best of the best so I may enjoy it the most**)

(I*NOTE: Some reference photos via the Internet and stock photos from VintageWatchmaker are intermingled throughout some of these photos. Ok first, inspiration/reference shots for the build.)

 

•PART I: THE MOON SHOT•
So with the decision made, I contacted VintageWatchmaker Jensen and inquired about one of his Monte Carlos. Jensen and I have been friends for many years and once we talked it over a bit, he agreed he could get one started right away, and so we (mostly Jensen of course) began moving forward full steam ahead with the build, noting some modifications to make along the way and sourcing a few parts prior to assembly.

Now, my only reservation about the 7031/0 was its size. Clocking in at right about 40mm, I had never been super keen on its size nor that of some of the more substantial classic sports chronos in general, what with their beefy crown guards, larger bezels, etc. (like the Zenith Daytonas for example). For me personally, they've always felt just a bit too big and cumbersome on my admittedly diminutive/scrawny wrists.

So, in coming up with a solution to dissuade my reservations about its size and also do something I felt was completely unique, I decided to take a moon shot on an aspect the build (the quite expensive build, mind you).

But first, to be clear: I wasn't overly concerned with perfect "correctness" overall, because accuracy isn't always what I find most gratifying with certain/most frankens and builds. It's really how much I enjoy the end result that matters most (the way it should be, imvho). And as far as classic, "exotic"-dialed chronographs go, the Home Plate is already in it of itself extremely unique. 

Still, I wanted to take things FURTHER. I wanted something I had never myself seen before, yet something that still felt "vintage" and as if it still had one foot in the "real world", so to speak (clichéd I know...). So I asked Jensen if he'd be interested in helping me realize this, uh, somewhat "different" iteration of the 7031/0 with one very specific and very major modification in mind:

I wanted the crown guards removed completely.

I was concerned Jensen might just flat out say "NO" or politely tell me how stupid of an idea it was. Frankly, I wasn't even completely sold on the idea myself yet, but I said "screw it, let's roll the dice anyways". Damn the weather...

Fortunately, Jensen sounded like he was on board with the the idea right off the bat and agreed that, at the very least, it would at the make for an interesting project. Eventually, even he got pretty excited about the end result...

(Stock Phong/Jensen 7031/0, about to get a serious makeover)

 

•PART II: DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS•
Although it should be pretty clear at this point that I was hellbent on creating some sort of fever-dream vision of a borderline "6263-esque" Home Plate, but I still wanted the rest of the details to be as accurate as I might be able to make them. I was also hoping to make some additional tweaks here and there besides removing the crown guards at the get-go of the build. All said, it actually only took a few weeks of the back-and-forth with Jensen, a couple lengthy email exchanges, and some minor tweaks here and there, etc. before Jensen finally had the watch headed my way. My lovely new Home Plate, here forth dubbed "The Knucklehead" haha...

(Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Knucklehead...)

(And a couple quick shots before full specs, including a cameo from its older sibling 7924 Big Crown...)

 

•PART III: SPECS•

--Case--
Obviously, the case was the focal point of the mods and where the meat of the work had to be done. While removing the crown guards was obviously the BIG modification to be made, I also asked Jensen if he could slim down the thickness of the lug shoulders just a little when he was shaving down the CGs, making the overall dimension of the case more proportional without the CGs. All said, the crown guard removal, thinner shoulders and more "low key" pusher/crown area (nickname starting to make sense?) gives the watch's silhouette a smaller, almost Daytona-esque feel and wears much smaller on the wrist now than, say, your everyday Monte Carlo or Big Block. Again, this bodes well for me and my scrawny chicken wrists too! If ever there was supposed to be a "Paul Newman" Tudor of some sort, in my mind perhaps this could have (or should have) been it...

--Pushers--
Fortunately for me (and ol' Knucklehead), Jensen and his old man (Phong) had recently begun offering MK1 style screw-down pushers for some of their early Daytona builds. Good ones too. I had always preferred the cleaner look of the MK1 pushers with their flattened knurls and the plain tubes/buttons without that machined grooves you find on the later iterations of the screw-down pushers. Coincidentally, and from what I could find amongst a plethora of reference material, Tudor seemingly fit some of the early 7031/0s with those same pushers (they probably were, in fact, the same exact MK1s from shared Rolex/Tudor parts stock I suspect as they were also in use during the same period on the early Oyster Daytonas) and Jensen was gracious enough to fit a pair of his MK1s on the Knuck and even went so far as to file down the knurls/teeth a bit flatter for me to really give them that "smooth" look I was hoping for. In my very humble opinion, they turned out perfect. Compare the photos below (Knucklehead first; gen example second), I think Jensen just absolutely NAILED this part of the build. It might just be a trick of the eye, but with the CGs missing, the pusher tubes seems especially tall. Once I wear it for a while longer I'll decide on whether or not I think it'll be necessary to shorten the pusher tube lengths just a tiny bit so they sit more squat on the case  they look great as they are so I'm on the fence about it still...

(The Knucklehead's pushers)

(Pushers on an early gen 7032. Just ignore those crown guards lol)

 

--Crown--
Easy-peasy. Kind of haha.  I was patient and eventually nabbed a NOS 700 crown on the 'Bay for cheap (relatively speaking) and had a sealed 7000 tube in my parts drawer. Regretfully, it's didn't make it to me in time for assembly so for now, I've got a Phong twinlock on there with the gen 7000 tube; should be an easy swap next time the watch goes in for work/service. I was keen on using the slimmer 700 over the more substantial 702/703s, and they were found on early. Sessions of the 7031/0. I certainly paid a premium for a NOS  sealed twinlock, but with a fresh set of gaskets it'll give me good piece of mind regarding aesthetics and waterproof-ness and Jensen assured me that, regardless of crown choice, he would make doubly sure the watch would in fact be watertight and pressure tested before making its way to me. The Knucklehead is, after all, (now) one of my daily drivers and certainly gets put through its paces (like all of my watches). With the crown guards gone, the crown sits nice and flush right up to the case, nestling in nicely underneath the bezel when properly screwed down all the way.  

 

--Dial--
In preparation for the build I, of course, spent a considerable amount of time pouring over reference material, particularly looking at various dials options for the Knucklehead. With DW now out of the picture, good options can seem limited. I wasn't 100% sold on the JAW/VW stock dial that was supposed to come on the watch from Jensen, it was quite good but certainly with its faults. Yuki's Home Plate dials left much to be desired I thought and neither Tonnywatch nor Minh Q had one to sell. NDT also had a dial but it looks terrible and very sloppy from the photos I saw on their site. The DW dials were certainly great and may still be some of the best, if not the best aftermarket dial option out there (still) for a Home Plate but I certainly wasn't holding my breath about tracking one down M2M on the boards or "cold calling" someone who might be likely to take pity on me and sell me an extra. I began to compromise mentally on the idea of the Knucklehead moving forward with the JAW/VW stock dial for the time being while I made one of those desperate late night, weeks-long eBay searches we all tend to make from time to time and, 'lo and behold, I lucked out and happened upon what appeared to be a completely random dial that was somehow miraculously better than any of the above options (at least in my very, very humble opinion) and which I acquired for the grand sum of- wait for it... $88. BOOM!... Definitely not perfect, the outer track numbers were too thick, the date window a bit too small, the "Oysterdate" text was perhaps a little wonky, and the subdial numbers were a bit different than those found on the gens (hard to tell, but photo overlays tell the tale). However, the indices looked way better than those on many of the other options, the subdials were correctly sized, had a nice texture, and were colored correctly. The tone of the grey background was nice and light (but not too light, still "rich") and even had a somewhat understated, aged look to it almost. The printing was crisp/clean and there was no color bleed anywhere, something I seemed to notice on many of the other dials (hard to hide mistakes on a dial with such bold shapes and colors). At first glance, I thought it might actually be an old DW dial, but those too-thick orange numbers on the outer track, the tone of the grey, the subdials, and the lume  texture had me reconsidering that notion. I guess I'll never be 100% sure of its provenance, but the dial did ship from Vietnam so maybe there's a new wave of decent "Vietnam" dials possibly trickling onto the market (or maybe it was just some old random dial, but the seller seemed to be listing a steady stream of various aftermarket Tudor dials I'd never seen before, so who knows; these dials are definitely not the same as any of the above examples as far as I can tell). Other smaller details like the thinness of the quarter-minute hash marks I found to be very good as well. 

**UPDATE: My newfound dial's feet for some reason didn't match up to the Valjoux 7734 so as you can see I still have Jensen's stock dial on it for now (still looks great I think!) and Jensen assured me that he'll be able to get it fitted on the watch next time I send it over to him. 

(Random 7031 dial. Score! Thought/opinions?)

Hopefully Jensen can fix the date aperture and the white background behind the shield appliqué and we can hopefully get this dial on the watch soon!

(And a stock photo of the Jensen/Phong dial for comparison's sake.)

 

--Hands--
This was another area of the build I was kind of intensely focused on initially. Of course, no one can seem to get this small detail quite right out of the box, and I know it's proven to be a sticking point for many, many others who've built these in the past as well. And actually, considering how prominent the hands appear on this particular reference (what with their bright colors, large lume mid-sections, various sizes and whatnot) some modification was going to be necessary to get them where they needed to be. The "newer" hands that JAW/VW now use on their Monte Carlos make a much better base than they used to be as the H/M hands are now correctly faceted and the sweep seconds hand has a much nicer, longer tail section below the post hole; but the color is still slightly off.  I asked Jensen to slightly thin the sweep hand, strip the original paint off of it, and repainted it with Orchard Hardware Supply Orange spray enamel (I went through a several different colors swatches until I randomly came upon the OHS) I sent to him. Personally, I find it slightly more accurate than the oft-used Tamiya Orange most people gravitate towards when repainting the SS hand; Rustoleum Painter's Touch "Real Orange" is another great option as is Model Masters "Racing Orange" fyi; check out the below photo comparison I found on some random model making forum).

(Various shades of oranges for comparison's sake, options for repainting the SS hand)

Even though the new JAW/VW hands are now much better, they're both still a bit too long. It's not so noticeable with the hour hand, but with the minute hand it was very apparent and, for me at least, a dead giveaway. It incorrectly extends far into the upper black section of the dial well beyond the minute track. Hell, I think the minute hand may have originally been even longer than the SS hand was! Since the watch had to be completely disassembled for the case work anyways, Jensen was happy to take an escapement file to the tip of the minute hand and bring it down into the minute track where it should be. The stock subdial hand are one of the last remaining weak points still on the watch I feel and one of the few areas that is definitely getting re-worked in the very near future, most likely when I send the Knucklehead back to J for the dial re-fit. They are way too long and a bit "chubby", the tips too blunt, and the bases are painted black when they should be bare silver metal. Still weighing my options with these...

(For comparison: Guts from a gen 7031. Notice the lengths, shapes, and colors of the various hands)

(And a stock photo split shot of the Jensen/VW 7031 and it's not-so-great subdial hands before modification)

(And finally, the end result of the various hands mods on the Knucklehead. Not sure if the SS repainting translates in the photos all that well, sorry...)

 

 

--Bezel--
I knew the Phong/Jensen black Bakelite Tudor bezels were quite good, but it wasn't until I had one in hand that I realized just how good they actually are (especially considering the other rep options and prices for gens, which is, of course, insane). Comparing the Knucklehead's bezel with hi-res photos of genuine examples, I could find very few discrepancies. The printing perhaps seemed a touch heavy-handed but that'll probably diminish/subdue a bit over time with general wear and tear and environmental exposure. All I really asked Jensen to do to the bezel was take a bit of the sheen off the acrylic to give it a bit more of a matte, age-appropriate look and to polish the metal underside of the bezel. Not critical to the aesthetic in any way, but a nice touch I thought. 

(Genuine bezel)

(Knucklehead bezel)

 

--Movement--
The V72s and Tudor-decorated "in-house" movements from JAW/VW are an area where I think Jensen/Phong particularly excel. Maybe it's just my personal experiences, but pretty much every "Tudor" movement I've ever received from Jensen has been beautifully well-finished and decorated, calibrated well, and run very accurately. The Valjoux 7734 powering the Knucklehead is no exception. First off, it has the correct 45-minute totalizer at 3 o'clock; many donor movements used for these builds have the somewhat more common (albeit incorrect for a 7031/0) 30-minute totalizer. Jensen's 7734 even has nice Tudor-engraved bridges! And so instead of the very real possibility of ending up with a tired, old donor movement in need of possibly both a cleaning/service and a 45-minute totalizer conversion, I felt it was money very well spent for this portion of the build. The manual-wind movement keeps great time, all the chrono functions work perfectly, and everything resets precisely back to zero with a very satisfying "snap".

Also, I don't know where the date wheel came from or if it's a newer(?) item for VW/JAW, but it definitely has a nice serifed font that's a lot closer to those found on genuine examples than I expected. All I know is that it's better than most of what I could find on donor 7734s and seems to be yet another Phong part that seems superior to other date wheel options for these builds. 

(Love that bridge...)

 

--Crystal, Bracelet, End Links, et cetera--
So I picked up a genuine C-128 crystal for the build as aftermarket 128s with the mag at 6 can be hit-or-miss from what I could find. No cracks, not brittle, nice crisp clarity and it fit the case snugly with the cyclops lining up nicely with the dial's date aperture. Jensen sent me his stock xtal that he uses as a backup for me and honestly it is VERY close to the gen. If I were doing this build over again, I'd probably save my money and just use the VW/JAW stock one. 

(Gen service? 128 sourced from VRF ready for install on its way to VW)

 

I still need to scoop a folded-link 7836 bracelet from Mary/Watch International. I think Mary's folded link bracelets are great, and when I do eventually go that route, at most I might swap on a gen clasp if I can find a decently priced one; but I'd much rather beat the crap out of a very accurate Mary bracelet worry-free rather than fret over an overpriced, tired gen bracelet. In the meantime, with a nod to my father, I sometimes put it on an undersized 19mm bracelet. Yes it looks silly, but I think it's a chuckle and obviously 95% of folks have no clue anyways haha. Most of the time it's on a leather or Tropic anyways  

(On a 19mm. Just like dad with his sub haha...)

 

Generally speaking, most of the "usual suspects" for end links don't seem to agree very well with the 7031 from what I could gather. Even the fit on gen examples with their standard-issue 380 ELs is often quite poor apparently with most gen owners retro-fitting 589s that came along later with the Big Blocks for a better fit. As luck would have it, however, the 589 ends that came along from Jensen  actually fit better than most anything else I tried and besides, 95%  of the time I wear it on either a Hodinkee leather band or a vintage NOS Tropic I also grabbed off eBay. Jensen also provided a pair of the longer/fatter 2mm springbars and even rounded off the tips a bit for me as they poke out of the lug holes now after everything got slimmed during the case shaping/crown guard removal. Nice touch and a classy move I thought. Last but not least, Jensen gave the whole case a very understated aging treatment (something else he is REALLY talented at imvho) and finally re-polished everything (at my request), to try and further emote the feel of a well-loved, 45 year-old timepiece. 

(On a Hodinkee strap...)

•EPILOGUE•
In retrospect, the build actually went pretty fast once I had sourced the few parts I needed/wanted and got all the details ironed out with Jensen. Before I knew it, the Knucklehead was sitting on my front porch (along with my freshly serviced and also Jensen-built Tudor 7924 Big Crown, now with its new/old Rose caseback sticker!)

(The Knuck with its big brother Big Crown)

 

(And bonus shots of the BC and its new-old gen caseback sticker. Couldn't resist, thought this was cool addition. Grabbed this when I got the MC xtal. Not sure how "correct" it is though lol)

(A little pre-aging and wear and tear and I'm liking the way it looks on there)

 

 

(And 3/4 of the Tudor family. Including another "fantasy" Tudor 7750 chrono built with a DW 6239 case. Not pictured: the blue Snowflake, currently with Mr. Jensen getting an "MN" engraving and a COA...)

 

In retrospect this seemed like it could have been a VERY expensive gamble; adulterating a classic in such a way, possibly "ruining" it in one way or another. However, I did have a gut feeling it was going to turn out pretty great and that in the end I would be pleased with the result (in truth, I had been daydreaming about this idea for a loooong while). Having finally pulled the trigger, I really truly couldn't be happier with the Knucklehead. And that's all that really matters at the end of the day, right?

All in all, it manages to almost "hide in plain sight" and I think overall it actually looks/feels quite restrained and understated. 99% of folks won't have any idea what they're looking at or what it's "supposed" to look like anyways. This watch perhaps won't jive with purists too much (ha!), and I'm sure there's probably some franken-watch folks that may raise an eyebrow at "hacking up" a Phong/Jensen MC like this. C'est la vie I guess, to each their own...

So with the MN 9411 Snowflake (gen dial incoming soon!), a 7924 Big Crown, the 6239-cases fantasy "Small Block", and now finally the Knucklehead, I'm starting to finally feel like my Tudor itch has been more or less scratched and my collection is starting to feel "complete" to me (famous last words, right?), Haha... And like LHOOQ has said somewhere in the past, I think I've got pretty much "all the good boxes checked off" now on my personal list of vintage Tudors. 

Thank You to any and everyone who actually read this A-Bomb of a post in its entirety (if anyone actually bothered to do so lol) and of course to my friend and watchmaker Jensen for his amazing work as always! For me anyways, this was one for the books, and a build that I'll certainly remember fondly every time I slap it on the wrist. Cheers...

--Meadowsweet

[Bart Cordell]

Wonderful watch and thread !
I am speechless

[meadowsweet_]

Thanks Bart. Took a gamble and love how it turned out. Satisfies my urge to blow a wad of cash on a Daytona too haha!!

Man, in retrospect the subdials and their hands look BAD up close. Definitely going to be a huge improvement I think with that other dial and mods to the sub hands...

[Bart Cordell]

Can't see any bad things in this beauty. you're probably right

[Sogeha]

Well that was a fun read. I like a well executed fantasy watch.

[indyberetta]

Great read. Thank you for sharing!

[Nanuq]

I like it! Much better than the original actually!

[RickFlorida]

Nice!   I too love Tudor very much. 

Is that a Tudor Rose tattoo on your hand?  Awesome.

[Retina]

this is an absolute masterpiece. many meticulous effort to get the piece done right as a whole. true work of art. thanks for sharing!

[edgematic1]

Wonderful piece, your own personal created MC. Amazing work.

[netniet]

Very very nice build. Love reading about creating amazing builds like this.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

very very nice

[dbane883]

Well done. Congrats!

[gasebah]

Epic!

[jmb]

Outfuc#ingstanding!  That is a killer rendition...

[mcotter]

 Amazing, I can't remember a more spellbinding build story ever! I share your Tudor passion & an Outlaw

MC is a very cool  project indeed....thanks for sharing!

regards, mcotter.       ( Jensen & Phong get stars for this one!)

[ogladio]

Love it when passionate members here take artistic freedom, while still respecting history, and creating fantastic builds. This is one of the best I've seen in that category - hope this will be with you for a long time!!

[SSTEEL]

Well done, bloody marvellous build, the gen is my grail.

[HaydenM]

Amazingly written thread and and amazing watch as the end product. Quite like the look with the liberties you took. Wear it in good health mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[themannier]

Catching up on a lot of old threads.... This is really superb. I had no idea that better dials were now available for the Homeplate!  

[Euphoricall78]

Hats off to an amazing and unique Homeplate 7032 build!  I have recently fallen down the 7032 rabbit-hole and glad I came across your build thread.  The indented subdial within the subdial on the Jensen/Phong dial is just like gen (if that makes any sense), and if the outer track numbers were only thinner like DW it would be a killer dial superior to DW.  

 

 

[hugop]

Wasn't sure how I would feel about the absence of the CG's but you have pulled off and incredible build there Sir. Very impressive!