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Best Submariner hands for ETA movement?


pompompurin

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After hours of evaluating the best choices for sub hands...
Clarks/Watchman 'Tudor' hands = seconds hand has the wrong proportions (i.e. the dot behind the seconds hand's pinion is too close), hour hand has the wrong rectangular lume proportion? the hands are a bit shorter than gen 3135 sub hands (because it seems like Tudor hands were always shorter than Rolex counterpart hands), no 3D-looking polish, poor lume?
Startime 'Tudor' hands = seems like it has same problem as the Clarks hands, except the seconds hand looked improvement proportionally (i.e. the dot behind the seconds hand's pinion is further away like gen)
Raffles = hour hand's rectangular lume area has skinny proportion that isn't gen-like (and commonly associated to lower-end or cheap reps), poor lume
TC V2/V3 = best ETA sub hands ever made (i.e. tapered front on the seconds hand, 3D-looking polish, correct dimensions with correct rectangular lume area/location, capped pinion on v3, pointy ends, excellent lume)... but TC is gone

Overall = TC hands were hands-down the best sub hands ever made - period. But now that TC stuff is pretty much discontinued, the second best seems like to be Startime? 

Any idea what the best available ETA Submariner hands? Have I missed out on better alternatives?
Can someone please recommend me the best ETA Submariner hands out there? i have spent a long time researching and it seems like the current market for ETA Sub hands have a combination of fatal flaws

Thank you!

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You covered it very well. Helenarou, Yuki and JK Horological (pretty much identical to Clark, but much cheaper) offer sets too.

 

Sometimes it pays to mix and match. Hands can also vary from batch to batch.

 

Here was a comparison, some broken links to images unfortunately:

https://rwg.cc/topic/179042-ultimate-rolex-mercedes-hands-comparison/

 

Here's my 5513 with a Clark handset and Helenarou dial.

ee4e87addce5dd2858f4aabec633bb7a.jpg

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1 hour ago, jackflash said:

 

You covered it very well. Helenarou, Yuki and JK Horological (pretty much identical to Clark, but much cheaper) offer sets too.

 

Sometimes it pays to mix and match. Hands can also vary from batch to batch.

 

Here was a comparison, some broken links to images unfortunately:

https://rwg.cc/topic/179042-ultimate-rolex-mercedes-hands-comparison/

 

Here's my 5513 with a Clark handset and Helenarou dial.

ee4e87addce5dd2858f4aabec633bb7a.jpg

Thank you for your reply and the link, I have read it before but unfortunately some of the hands set from there are discontinued e.g. CWR doesn't sell them anymore (IMO the closest) and the Clarks second hand has changed into something that is ugly

I agree with you that mix and match is probably the only way to go, but the problem is, even the mix and match combination is still terrible haha

Clarks is supplying a different batch of sub hands nowadays - there was an old 2012 thread that compared Clarks sub hands with gen and the difference can be seen. Clarks hands back then had the a more correct-looking seconds hand. But nowadays, the seconds hand from Clarks is wrong and cannot be modified. Below is a picture of a franken 5513 with current Clarks hands (notice how the seconds hand is totally wrong): https://forum.replica-watch.info/proxy/12TxxsrMwQXI%2B07HJOYOTZTWmWy2tmcczME3AD2F/image.png

 

Helenarou's 5513 hour hand is too long, according to the pictures i was sent by MK (i.e. the hour hand is longer than the front of the rectangular lume on the dial). The minute hands look too long as well

Yuki's hour hand looks identical to the raffle hands - skinny rectangular lume plot

I really hate how what's seen cannot be unseen

I wish TC was still around :(
His V3 hands were perfect in every way.. it even has tapered ends and the correct mercedes dimensions on the hour hand


 

by the way, thank you for the jkhorological link @jackflash, the hands from there are much cheaper than clarks yet they look identical
 

Edited by godkiller
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6 hours ago, highoeyazmuhudee said:

Clarks with a Yuki second hand trimmed for length is a decent combo if TC aren't available.

Comparison

 

CLARKS -GEN -YUKI

 

6986769699_3f16ec90be_o.jpg

 

6840648962_25be077b81_o.jpg

 

6986769655_f032cb7c4e_o.jpg

 

 

Thank you for the pics, i have read your awesome thread from 2012
I bought a set from jkhorological - the stock pics from jkhorological look identical to clarks and they are cheaper 
I will recheck the raffles seconds hand - the yuki seconds hand's circle is too far up

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