A recipe for a decent 5517

[jackflash]

5517 MilSub. A very difficult to build to get right on a budget. Here’s my recipe below, by no means perfect:

Cartel midcase and back

WSO bezel assembly

Phong insert

Yuki pearl

Ingod44 dial

Mixed handset, second hand tail trimmed

Gen T19 service crystal

Gen 703 crown

Gen ETA 2846 movement

Phoenix NATO Admiralty grey strap, original supplier to MOD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sogeha]

I love your builds @jackflash Two little points, I thought Ingod44 was gone and is there no better option for a second hand? Something about the tip doesn’t quite work for me.

 

Ruby’s dial any good or is it MQ now?

[jackflash]

Thanks! Yes, quite right. It’s an older build and ingod44 hasn’t been around for 2-3 years now. Agree with you about the tip of the second hand, it could be better. There’s an ETA second hand from Rafflestime with a more pointed tip (minute hand is wrong in this set though).

http://rafflestime.com/submariner-milsub-seamaster-300-watch-hands-for-eta-2824-2836-sword-yellow/

 

All the second hands I’ve seen need the tail trimmed too. Which is a bit of a pain to say the least!

 

Ruby’s 5517 dial is pretty good. The Tritium T slightly too bold perhaps:

http://rubyswatch.com/Products/replacement-parts/sub-5517

 

MQ good but pricy:

http://vintagewatchesmq.com/minhquy/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=800&category_id=146&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

 

[Sogeha]

I could live with that Ruby dial, actually a little aging might tone the “T” down just enough. Actually this model is very much a build that has to be good enough not to offend my sensibilities, but not necessarily accurate to the tiniest detail. 99.9% of the population will have no idea what it is and the other 0.1% will be pretty sure that if I am wearing it in public, it isn’t gen

[jackflash]

Yeah, know what you mean. Can’t help thinking though, that if Phong increased the size of numerals on the insert slightly, it would be pretty damn close. It’s a hobby for nitpicking

[Sogeha]

Sometimes you have to wonder about all these guys. The font is spot on, it must have taken a lot of work to get that right, then to screw up the font size, which is such an easy fix? Still it is the best available apart from the limited run of perfect ones a few years ago. IIRC an insert, dial and hands was once for sale right here. Perfect, but an eye watering price

[jackflash]

Side by side with a gen:

[rm1406]

Wow, that side-by-side. Looks the business, great build

 

A very minor detail, but Sogeha is bang-on about the tip. Little too short and too wide.

 

Quote

I could live with that Ruby dial, actually a little aging might tone the “T” down just enough. Actually this model is very much a build that has to be good enough not to offend my sensibilities, but not necessarily accurate to the tiniest detail. 99.9% of the population will have no idea what it is and the other 0.1% will be pretty sure that if I am wearing it in public, it isn’t gen

Jeez, might be lower than 0.1% "Hey buddy, nice invicta. Did you get yours at costco too?"

 

On some level, I don't understand the point in owning such an expensive piece (in gen, that is). It would break my heart to have such a fantastic watch both in design and history, and not feel comfortable wearing it out and about (which I certainly would not).

[Sogeha]

Your hour and minute hands are slightly too long, but jeez, I would never notice unless if you hadn’t posted side by side. I wonder what it would cost to commission some proper hands? Anyway a good few gen are now running omega hands.

 

@rm1406Costco? I posted elsewhere today, the only time my Omega got complimented in the real world, the follow up question was “Is it a Fossil?” Actually I said “I don’t think so, it’s just something I picked up secondhand”. It was worth it for the fleeting look of pity😀

[capice]

21 hours ago, jackflash said:

Side by side with a gen:

amazing work, hands don't bother me if you wanna sell it...👍

[Sogeha]

53 minutes ago, capice said:

amazing work, hands don't bother me if you wanna sell it...👍

Yes it certainly is, I wasn’t being bitchy, just constructive criticism among friends😀

@jackflash is sort of our resident MilSub expert. He might not sell you his watch, but shoot him a PM, he might help you create your own

[capice]

@ sohega fully agree

[jackflash]

Thanks guys! All valid points.

[shw24]

Man, as a noob in rep world.... this recipe thread is a starter thread for me... learning, ... maybe someday I will have my own

[Sogeha]

1 minute ago, shw24 said:

Man, as a noob in rep world.... this recipe thread is a starter thread for me... learning, ... maybe someday I will have my own

It ain’t that hard buddy, just takes practice. Read lots of threads like you are doing, get an idea of what can be done and how. Buy a base watch or parts to start a build. Start a build thread, that way you will get lots of advice on techniques and how to do things from more established members. Believe it or not we were all noobs once. Also you have a great supplier in @Athaya right on your doorstep 

[shw24]

Thank you for encouragement @Sogeha, yes, I have plenty to read and learn. I started my watch hobby with vintage gen omega world. In that world, I should not and dare to touch anything and give it to expert. So my hand is totally untrained to do delicate stuff. I recall building a toy car model which made from metal back then in high school and I at that time have no patient on shaving it slow. Now I want Rolex sport world but I know that my financials will not support and there where I start thinking on building.

 

This forum I find very wonderful for a noob like me because I find very helpful people... Well, the truth is 1 of this established forum member is now helping me to build a dream watch for me and when the watch click.... I might deep dive into this world... (but need to invest on tool first)

[Sogeha]

It comes slowly if you keep trying. I started my watch obsession with vintage Omega as well and at that time I had not even the thought that I might learn how to work on them. Start with cheap watches, even Seiko is good for practice, broken watches, pocket watches, but things of no great value, because you will break things, we all have. Slowly you will learn, then suddenly you will catch yourself competently doing something you never dreamed possible. I am no watchsmith. We have some very, very talented ones here, but I am definitely not one of them, I’m just a guy who enjoys messing about with watches.

[automatico]

"Start with cheap watches..."

 

Very good advice.  A lot of running watches have been kia by diving in with a screwdriver too early in the game.

In my experience the two worst things about mechanical watches are:

1...Hairsprings.  An absolutely devious device.  No wonder quartz watches are a huge success.

2...Periodic service.  No way around it.  Another reason for the success of quartz watches.

 

On mechanical and quartz analog watches, fitting hands can also be a real hassle.  They have to be spaced so they do not hit each other, the dial, or the crystal.  They have to be in correspondence.  Correspondence = when the hour hand is centered on a marker, the minute hand should be dead on the 12. 

Note:  Sometimes the M hand will be dead on the 12 when the H hand is also on 12 but a hair off when the H hand is at 6 or some other number.  This is caused by slack in the 'cogs' etc so it's a good idea to always center the H and M hands at 12 and let it go.

The hands also have to be in the correct position when the date changes.  Fitting new hands is often a challenge because they may not fit properly.  The worst is the second hand imho because a broach to open the hole in the tube is so small that you can go from too small to too big in a split second...or break the broach off in the tube.  Hour and M hands are easy to ruin by making the holes too big and it is usually not possible (or very hard) to tighten them up.  There is also the danger of flexing the hands during r/r and cracking the lume or scratching the dial.

The only way to get the hang of it is to practice.

 

A good cheap movement to practice on is the larger gent's size Seagull ST6D (D=date).  It is made in the traditional manner where the autowind assembly is simply screwed onto a basic manual wind movement like many swiss automatics. 

Movements like the '21 jewel' Miyota clones with the autowind reverser buried between the main plates is a hassle and working on them might be saved for later...or never.

[capice]

these threads and of e30m3 made me order 3 5513's for modding my very own vintage 5513....it is addictive once you start reading.

[Replica01]

Magnificent build!

[HaydenM]

On 6/12/2018 at 6:50 PM, Sogeha said:

Start with cheap watches

This 100% is the best advice for starting out. I most certainly broke it working on my nice new Tudor BB back in the day. I now have a bag full of 2824 parts and an empty case with a dial in it. Work within your skill level 😛

My advice for a first build is 3 hand, no date. It's about as easy as they come to work on and it's how I started out with my 1016 (which thankfully the only things I broke were hands which I had spares of).