The Noob and His Rolex Build.

[JSebWC]

Brief update :

After winning the Tudor case I decided to research replacement crystals for it and found that Clark does offer AM. Pieces for it. Part number 25-124 is an acrylic lens with cyclops I ordered a few and they arrived yesterday . Essentially the same as the T23 crystal the Milgauss uses sans cyclops and not selling for $500+ dollars

With it in hand I took a few measurements
OD 33mm
ID 31.43

OD of the crystal seat on my case 31.58

I can get the crystal onto the case sorta but not ideal. Cause you know having a crystal fit without modifying it would be too easy. Lol

The crystal does sorta fit kinda onto the top edge of the case and with the help of a bit of adhesive I got it to fit on and it is supported by the bezel.

Definitely not waterproof in any sense of the word but it gave me the opportunity to see what a proper crystal would look like on this set up.

I sanded down the cyclops , rushes it and I nicked the crystal. I did order a few so this was the test subject only noticeable in certain angles

The results :






Overall this watch looks pretty legit now.
The research and efforts have paid off and I am now satisfied with the results. I do like how it looks. . The crystal with its profile and slight dome do change the look of the watch. I do however prefer how the domed crystal I was using looked and how it distorts the dial it did give the watch a more unique look however this crystal is more factory correct

I’ve been wearing all morning and no issues with the crystal or bezel coming loose so this will hold me off until the Tudor case arrives


I think I will eventually send off this case and crystal to JMB to have him machine down the lip on the case ever so slightly to fit the crystal properly and to do the engravings

Stay tuned as I expect the Tudor case to arrive in the next week or two.






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[JSebWC]

Still waiting on my Jumbo cause to arrive.


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[JSebWC]

UPDATE :

 

Tudor case arrived and it’s pretty nice. It’s got a few good scrapes in it but definitely usable.

 

I also ordered a few 25-124 crystals from Clark’s.

 

I thought this would be plug and play but sadly the dial opening is just ever so slightly too big for the Milgauss dial. I was not expecting this.

The case back is also much larger than any of my Rolex covers so that’s not a swap over either.

 

The Tudor case is ever so slightly smaller than the silix case I’m using and since there isn’t much of a difference I don’t think I’m going to end up using it because it will be just too much work to make it work it would be one thing if I was starting from scratch but since I have a case that the dial and movement fit. I decided to make this one work.

 

So I meditated on this and came up with a solution. The Tudor crystals are just too small to fit on my silix case so what I did was sand down the outside edge of the case lip where the crystal should fit. It would have been an easy job if I had a lathe but I did it by hand. Not perfect but the crystal does press on and is a good snug fit and also is the correct height now the JMB bezel that I’ve been using also firs a lot better now with this set up I’ve finally nailed the promotions of the crystal bezel and case.

 

I shaved down the cyclops off the jumbo crystals. Not perfect but at 6 bucks each I bought a few to get it dialled in I finally have a crystal with a beveled edge. This was the thorn in my side on this piece and now I am finally satisfied. This is a big win for me.

 

Unfortunately in removing the movement I managed to bugger up the keyless. F#CK!! And I also buggered up my screwdriver tip so I am waiting for a new set of screw drivers to arrive before I could consider fixing the keyless. Watching a few vids on resetting the keyless seems pretty easy to do so I think I may attempt it before shipping it off to get it fixed.

 

Here is few pics of the case with Jumbo crystal installed. Also a side by side with the jumbo case.

 

Silix case with JMB bezel ans tudor crystal fit

 

 

1019 case set with crystal fit next to Tudor jumbo case set.

 

Comparison

 

 

Even tho it is one step fwd and two steps back. I am very very satisfied with the case and crystal set up now and once the movement is fixed and assembled. I will consider this project complete and a success.

 

Stay tuned for the final product

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[JSebWC]

Okay. So when I got home I set the time , wound it and dropped it into the case. Ans it looks pretty damn good. Not the best pics but I’m happy.

This thing was hella work. And fidgeting and tweeking but she’s dialled in now and once I get the keyless fixed I can button it up and stop obsessing over it cause this is as close as I possibly can get with what I got. I call that success.







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[jimcon11]

Looks really nice so far. I think you'll be able to get the keyless fixed. Working on the front of a movement is pretty straight forward, it's the back that scares me

 

I found that the Fleurier 390 movement is actually a tiny bit tall for my 6538 case, strangely enough, so I'm having the same parts fitting luck you are lately.

[JSebWC]

11 hours ago, jimcon11 said:

Looks really nice so far. I think you'll be able to get the keyless fixed. Working on the front of a movement is pretty straight forward, it's the back that scares me

 

I found that the Fleurier 390 movement is actually a tiny bit tall for my 6538 case, strangely enough, so I'm having the same parts fitting luck you are lately.

Thank you!  Yes I am very pleased with the results...It is a shame about the keyless.    

I watched this video where he fixes the keyless on an eta movement from the back....he doesn't even pull it out of the case.     Undo 3-4 screws and a third hand and I think I should have it back in action.   Clearly he makes it look easy!  As long as I dont lose any of the bits   I should be able to manage to get the yoke back onto the sliding pinion and bob's your uncle! 

 

 

[manodeoro]

Thank you!  Yes I am very pleased with the results...It is a shame about the keyless.    
I watched this video where he fixes the keyless on an eta movement from the back....he doesn't even pull it out of the case.     Undo 3-4 screws and a third hand and I think I should have it back in action.   Clearly he makes it look easy!  As long as I dont lose any of the bits   I should be able to manage to get the yoke back onto the sliding pinion and bob's your uncle! 
 
 

I tried "both ways" and I found it easier to do do from the dial side.
Plus you can put some grease where needed on the keyless works so that it works smoothly.
But I'll have a look at this video nevertheless

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[automatico]

Very nice project!

I admire your perseverance. 

[JSebWC]

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[JSebWC]

[JSebWC]

Okay. Update time.

After a few days. The eta movement that was in the watch stopped running. Not sure why.

So instead of trying to fix the keyless on the movement I got another ....in this case an ETA 2824-2.

I disassembled the watch and mounted the new dial to the movement. Went to install the hands and was finding that the hour hand was slightly too big for the 2824 movement. I tried the whiskers fix. Which seemed to snugg things up but it let go shortly afterwards and the hour hand was loosely goosey.

Talking with@pompompurin. About my issue. He had told me about how another builder.@mymanmatt I believe fixed a similar problem by gluing the hand to another proper fitting hand fit it. Basically a piggy back idea. I was intrigued

So having the Dummy hand that comes with movements. I tried fitting that hand with the Milgauss hand on top and then the min and seconds hand. And it appeared that I would have enough clearance. So I trimmed the dummy hand down and glued it to the hour hand. Reassembled the watch and how the hands are good and tight and fit like factory

I also had to sand the tip of the hour hand down slightly for two reasons. It was longer than gen and it was hitting the applied markers. They clear them nicer now

Great idea and it’s not noticeable at all

This was before the trim and gluing but gives you an idea of how I stacked them. A genius solution



I sanded the cyclops off the new Clark’s crystal and fit it to case carefully.

Cut the stem just a wee too short but still works. Fought with the keyless ( like I always do ) and got it together and in the case.

The 2824 being an automatic. Where the old movement was hand wind only. I want to keep the rotor. Which would mean loosing the faraday cage.

The cage is what held the movement in place once the case back was on because of the custom movement holder to fit the eta to the case. Movement tabs won’t work. I confirmed this as they are just too short so I will have to make or modify tabs to extend them so they can reach the case. In the meantime I pulled the rotor and put the cage back in.

The watch is now back together and is running well and keeping good time. Hand wind for now until I feel motivated to tackle the tabs. Happy to have it back in rotation






Holy [censored] this thing is a labor of love. This was a serious challenge and I have learned so much by doing this and as difficult as it can be at time. I find it quite relaxing and enjoyable.

It would have been easier to come up with the 40 grand to buy a gen but this was a lot more fun.

Besides the few minor tweets. I am very happy with the watch now and it’s pride of accomplishment

Thanks for following me on this journey



.


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[jimcon11]

You need higher resolution pics of this baby. I prefer your 6350 but the milgauss is no slouch

 

That's an interesting fix for the hour hand, I'll have to remember that trick. 

 

Dial says perpetual so you need to get that autowinder going. I'm thinking of household items that could be fashioned into extra long movement tabs... pen pocket clip, old Zippo lighter.. I'm sure you have something.

 

Man, the way that offwhite dial catches the light is something else 

[JSebWC]

8 hours ago, jimcon11 said:

You need higher resolution pics of this baby. I prefer your 6350 but the milgauss is no slouch

 

That's an interesting fix for the hour hand, I'll have to remember that trick. 

 

Dial says perpetual so you need to get that autowinder going. I'm thinking of household items that could be fashioned into extra long movement tabs... pen pocket clip, old Zippo lighter.. I'm sure you have something.

 

Man, the way that offwhite dial catches the light is something else 

 

Thanks Brother

 

somehow the seconds hand fell off last night so I opened it back up this morning to reinstall it.   Hope this isnt gonna be a common issue...would like to wear it again trouble free. 

 

Anyway I  was thinking on how I coud secure the movement and instead of fabricating longer tabs   I founda  thin plastic business card in my drawer and cut small pieces from it.  I think was able to snuggly fit the pieces between the case and movement holder...then mounted the movement tabs over the plastic pieces and screwed down the tabs.  problem solved.   I see we were on the same wavelength here...

 

Rotor is mounted and its back in full perpetual action!!   

 

I plan on taking some better pics...there are a few higher res ones a few posts up to enjoy for now.

 

I plan on doing a SOTC post ....was meaning to do that in december but been busy .

 

Its keeping time and lookin fine...  This build kicked my ass but its finally DONE!!    it isn't perfect but its mine!! 

 

 

 

[JSebWC]

A few years have passed and I bring this one back from the dead  with a new update.  Many moons ago , very early in my watch building journey I decided that I liked shiny things and realized that I had to own a 1019  and the only way to do that without selling the farm was to build it myself.

 

Before the great (forum ) reset   I had started a thread on my first watch project.  At the time it was a toss up between a 6542 and the 1019   at that time , pieces fell into place for the gmt build and the 1019 fell to the back burner for a bit.

 

a year after  I decided to tackle the challenge with the help of Tripdog.

 

I originally started with a 1655 cartel base  that I then polished the machined and polished the bezel smooth and was going to use .

This case set ended up being used on the GMT , which I am sure a number of you have seen by now.

 

 

Fast forward, I  got distracted and instead of buying another 1655 case  I  picked up a modified 6538 case set that had been machined to accept a smooth bezel and , so I went that route.

 

It was close in size  38.6mm

however I was never a fan of how the crystal and bezel fit and the gap between the dial chapter ring and the ring of the bezel  the proportions were off and I hated it.

 

 

 

[USER=43197]@tripdog[/USER]   was kind enough to assist with this build at the time as the only hands available were from Yuki  to fit the 1570 gen cal.  so they had to be broached which made them very delicate  and eventually came lose and the metal deformed and the hands were garbage after a few failed attempts to reinstall them.   No  shade to tripdog He did the best he could with what he had to work with, but the metal was just too thin.

 

Also finding a beveled crystal to fit the modified sub case was a challenge as well and after a few attempts I used a modified Tudor jumbo crystal but  it wasn't ideal or fit well.

 

 

Since there was no reasonable hand set for an ETA in the Milgauss style   I abandoned the project. and it ended up in the parts bin.

 

Years later  [USER=245554]@1016 lover[/USER]  and I were discussing a milgauss build and I shared my experiences with him and passed on my second  YUKI dial and hands that I had bought to him for his project.

 

The major roadblock for me on this build was the hands..... Yuki and others in the past just used a variation of dj hands.   not correct.

 

(pick from Yuki site way back when showing their dial  - note the hand set.   .

 

Just when I thought I had gotten over my obsession....I stumble across a nice set of hands that would be suitable for a 1019 on ebay so I picked up a few sets.   Rare as hens teeth.

 

Well they arrived yesterday.

 

 

 

This , and I have been noticing  ppl; posting pics of their 1019s on instagram lately...its like it happens in cycles.  - this was the universe telling me it was time.

 

So last night I did a thing.

 

 

When the hands arrived,  I dug out my old Yuki dial and  Ofrie  seconds hand and  decided to do a quick and dirty to see if  the spark returns..

 

 well it  did rekindle my love for it. 

 

Specs:

Raffles Explorer case set.

5,3mm crown

drilled lugs to 1.3

no case work at all

Yuki Silver chapter ring dial

T22 beveled service crystal

1016 L  T 22 bezel

Asian 2824

Ebay Hands

Ofrie red arrow seconds hand  

Folded oyster bracelet.

 

I am more pleased with the results that I expected.   I have tried this build with an explorer case in the past but it just didnt scratch the itch.  however with the new hand set and the flat bezel, it really hits those design cues for me .

 

The sharp stock lugs on the case give the case some size to it.

The smooth very flat and wide bezel  from 1016L really sells me on this build  its really quite similar to gen.  the flatness of the bezel makes it look wider than it is which is a noticeable design feature of the 1019

 

The hands ,  aged to match the dial lume look great in my opinion.  not perfect, as the lume plots are bigger than gen, but  its an acceptable compromise for having the correct shape and perfect lengths for this project. to match with the 29mm yuki dial

 

Using a raffles 5.3 crown also gives the visual appearance that the case set is larger than it is.

Id say  its a solid 7/10 .   giving the few mentioned issues earlier and that the case is 2mm smaller in diameter.

 

I think I want to add it back into my personal collection so  I have 2 options here.

 

Keep the explorer case bezel crown combo and  add some bevels to the lugs and some minor lug  and side shaping to the mid case.

The gen has flatter case flanks.

 

or

 

As a Christmas gift to myself,  I am about to pull the trigger on  1655 case set from Tiger concepts and go that route.

shave crown guards.

drill lug holes.

machine and polish the bezel

shave the cyclops off the crystal

 

I was considering  the new raffles gmt case but the way the crown guards are in relation with the crown,  I dont think it will look right once I grind off those crown guards. where as I know the 1655 case will work for me as I had done it  previously.

 

Stay tuned for when those parts arrive and I go in hot on that mid case to make some milgauss magic.

In the meantime,   Here is some eye candy for ya .    not bad,  but that extra 2mm will make all the difference.

 

Size apparently does matter. 

 

As always, questions and comments welcome,  Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flat bezel makes it look wider than it is , which is a design cue of the 1019 -  this flatter bezel combined with the flat service crystal really  nails the proportions for me and makes the watch look larger than  it is.

    

a tell is the proportion of the width of the bracelet in relation to the case .  If someone was to analyze this they would notice that the case appears smaller than the gen spec of 38mm  but the smaller crown, flat bezel and T22 crystal fool the eye to make it larger than it is.

    

[automatico]

Fine looking MG!   

 

"two domed crystals ( very similar to my original 6538 crystal)  but these have a metal retaining ring on the inside edge.  Did not fit the case with the ring installed,   removed the ring and the crystal fit the case.   slightly smaller on the outside diameter so bezel is not a snug fit.  Added some dial dots for extra security and it seems good.....might replace the dial dots with clear silicone."

The 'gap obsession'...
I know what you mean about 'the gap' around the outside of the dial.  I did a '5512' project a few years back using a DW case, 1570, and Yuki dial.  The case was made for 26.5mm dials so there was a very small gap around the OD of the dial and only the dial foot screws were holding the dial down.  I made a very thin spacer out of aluminum to fill the gap and felt better about it...until I read later that a few of the earliest 5512 watches had the gap because they were using leftover dials with a smaller diameter than needed. 

 

Speaking of 'the gap',..here is an example of an early 5512 with the gap and without the SCOC blurb that came later...

 

 

Rolex Submariner Eagle Beak Tropical Dial Ref. 5512 - Rolex Passion Market

[freddy333]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:13 PM, automatico said:

Speaking of 'the gap',..here is an example of an early 5512 with the gap and without the SCOC blurb that came later... 

 

Are you sure about that gap? Here is a better pic --

[Sogeha]

On 12/23/2023 at 5:13 PM, automatico said:

Fine looking MG!   

 

"two domed crystals ( very similar to my original 6538 crystal)  but these have a metal retaining ring on the inside edge.  Did not fit the case with the ring installed,   removed the ring and the crystal fit the case.   slightly smaller on the outside diameter so bezel is not a snug fit.  Added some dial dots for extra security and it seems good.....might replace the dial dots with clear silicone."

Using G-S crystal nomenclature...the type of crystal above with a 'tension ring' is a G-S  ET type.  They are made to be pressed into crystal seats in cases using a crystal with an OD about .01mm (+/-) larger than the ID of the crystal seat in the case.  Many are also used as you did without the tension ring on projects etc.  The main difference between an ET type crystal and a PA type (like used on a vintage Rolex) is the ET has a thinned down area at the bottom edge of the 'skirt' where the tension ring fits and the PA type has a straight sidewall with no relief cut at the bottom.

Sometimes you can go up or down one size on an ET type crystal and find a pretty good fit.  The main drawback is the area where they are machined for the tension ring is pretty thin and the crystal skirt may crack when the bezel is pressed down over it.
One other option is using a G-S  DT (Diver Tite) double thick tension ring type crystal, they are thicker overall but they do not come in as many sizes as ET crystals, and few supply houses stock many of them.

The 'gap obsession'...
I know what you mean about 'the gap' around the outside of the dial.  I did a '5512' project a few years back using a DW case, 1570, and Yuki dial.  The case was made for 26.5mm dials so there was a very small gap around the OD of the dial and only the dial foot screws were holding the dial down.  I made a very thin spacer out of aluminum to fill the gap and felt better about it...until I read later that a few of the earliest 5512 watches had the gap because they were using leftover dials with a smaller diameter than needed.  Ha!

Also did a '5513' project with the same case and spacer but it bothered me too.  Now the empty case is back in the project box, maybe to be used in a '1680' project later.

 

Speaking of 'the gap',..here is an example of an early 5512 with the gap and without the SCOC blurb that came later...

 

 

Rolex Submariner Eagle Beak Tropical Dial Ref. 5512 - Rolex Passion Market

I love that dial and have had it saved for a few years on my hard drive. I would love a fake of that