1655 build ongoing

[irate03]

I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time, I've been out of the game for a while too so digging out some tools was interesting.
The base is a perfect clones 1655 just with an asian movement for now, this was always going to be a budget build and if I found I liked the way it worked and felt on the wrist I would in time upgrade the movement to something older.
So the 1655 neat and pristine arrived and after wearing it for a very short while I took it apart 

Straight off I have noticed a few things, there were quite a few variations of the 1655 over the years it was around, various bezel fonts/sizes/thickness's, various dials with font, SWISS and coronet variations, some varying hand designs too.
So I'm going for the best options I can get hold of. I also ordered a Tiger Concept 1655 which I will pick up in the next day or so, I think from pictures i've seen that it may provide the best GMT and hour hand out of what I have so far. I also bought a set of hands and GMT from raffles. The Raffles GMT looks a nice faded orange but on arrival I realised the shaft seems a bit too thin compared to my reference pictures. The seconds hand looks great. This will replace the stock seconds hand which is clearly wrong in so many ways. The Raffles hour and minute were a disappointment but this was a mistake on my part. There are two types for asian clone and two types for ETA and I got the hands that for some reason have a longer lume strip running across in to the black area of the hands. back to the stock hands, the Perfect Clones hour hand is too long, only slightly but I'm hoping the Tiger version will look better. I'm sticking with the stock crown at the moment as it looks pretty good, I will test water resistance with the stock crown, it would be nice to have a waterproof watch for a change.
My biggest worry was with the lume indices on the stock dial. I saw lots of examples showing the outer indices sitting too far away from the rehaut. Thankfully the Perfect clones dial looks great.

stock GMT and more faded Raffles GMT

The dial has now had a light white wash which has given a slightly faded more matt look and I have stained the lume with a mixture of watered down  fiebings water based leather dye. This has worked nicely, I didn't want supper orange tanned indices but subtle creamy patina and reluming would make the indices too puffy.

It's starting to look better already.

[Sogeha]

I don’t know a lot about the 1655, so I can’t comment much on the best parts. The dial looks fantastic now though and William the owner of Tiger Concepts is a lovely guy. I’ve bought a few watches and parts from him. He will pretty much sell you anything you ask for, just hands, this watch but that dial, nothing seems a problem to him.

 

Other than that, it’s good to see you back at the game again and better to see you on our forum😀👍

[TAG Heuer]

You already make a good start for that 1655. Recieved mine from Mary last week and I have to ship it to do some modding. I tried doing it myself but it was a big disapointment.

 

Yuki sells a quite good bezel for $99 and the handset is ok too. I only not sure wich type of swiss eta I will/can put in it.

 

I will follow your build👌

[JSebWC]

Great Start!  Nice work on the dial!   looks the part!!

 

Next thing to focus on is the Bezel and then the case.

 

As mentioned Yuki has a decent bezel  its not perfect but its better that stock.

 

The case sides near the crown guards need some work now.    As you will notice the case sides come up nice and tight to the bezel and compared to your case you are going to need to shave a bunch off.  

 

 

 

I did this to my 1655 and it wasn't too difficult to do.  use a fine point felt pen and trace the bezel while its on the watch.  remove bezel and crystal and use the line as a guide and compare it to the images above.  the 3 big tells on this watch are the case side  the bezel and the shape of the orange hang.   

Look fwd to seeing more updates 

 

[Sogeha]

WSO on the bay of evil sells a bezel as well for $99 I don’t know how it compares to Yuki, but just for information 

[irate03]

16 hours ago, JSebWC said:

Great Start!  Nice work on the dial!   looks the part!!

 

Next thing to focus on is the Bezel and then the case.

 

As mentioned Yuki has a decent bezel  its not perfect but its better that stock.

 

The case sides near the crown guards need some work now.    As you will notice the case sides come up nice and tight to the bezel and compared to your case you are going to need to shave a bunch off.  

 

 

 

I did this to my 1655 and it wasn't too difficult to do.  use a fine point felt pen and trace the bezel while its on the watch.  remove bezel and crystal and use the line as a guide and compare it to the images above.  the 3 big tells on this watch are the case side  the bezel and the shape of the orange hang.   

Look fwd to seeing more updates 

 

Thanks,

 

Will the Yuki bezel fit the Perfect Clones case and fit over the plexi ?

[JSebWC]

Thanks,
 
Will the Yuki bezel fit the Perfect Clones case and fit over the plexi ?

It will be a very tight fit. I used a Clark’s crystal 25-116 Ana You will need to sand down the crystal ever so slightly to fit the bezel. Do a test fit before sanding anything and then go slow and steady. On the sanding and test fit. Sand more and test fit. Patience is key.

Same goes with the case work.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[irate03]

i've reshaped lots of Pam vintage cases over the years, slow and steady is the name of the game.

Today the Tiger Concept 1655 I ordered arrived

 I had a feeling it would offer better hands and after seeing the Raffles GMT shaft was a bit thin I hoped the Tiger GMT would be my better option.

Here's what I see, The case is a fairly raw shape, the crown guards are very shaped but look like more of a sub build option. The plexi has no cyclops and is the wrong shape. The bezel has nice engravings but the shape is all wrong (see the side profile pic)

The hour and minute are better dimensions and I think the GMT is the best of teh bunch I now have. The seconds hand is ok but I think I'm going to go for the raffles seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

Tiger bezel profile and CG shape below

 

 

Perfect clones bezel profile and CG shape below

 

 

 

 

Hour hands left to right Tiger, Raffles (the 'custom') and Perfect Clones

 

 

Seconds hands left to right Tiger, Raffles and Perfect Clones

 

 

GMT hands left to right Tiger, Raffles and Perfect Clones

 

 

Minute  hands left to right Tiger, Raffles ('custom version') and Perfect Clones

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by irate03

[Sogeha]

I’m not a 100% certain, but I think William (Tiger Concepts)uses his 5513 style mid case for these, it is a homage and not meant to be a rep. Isn’t the crystal mineral glass on these? If he is fitting a plexi that is new. Some difference on the hands! Those pictures will be a very useful reference for future builders, thank you. Any reason you bought the whole watch, just to get the hands?

[irate03]

6 hours ago, Sogeha said:

I’m not a 100% certain, but I think William (Tiger Concepts)uses his 5513 style mid case for these, it is a homage and not meant to be a rep. Isn’t the crystal mineral glass on these? If he is fitting a plexi that is new. Some difference on the hands! Those pictures will be a very useful reference for future builders, thank you. Any reason you bought the whole watch, just to get the hands?

Firstly i ordered the watch because i had built from a TC before and thought it a good place to start, this was before a friend suggested perfect clones and i did some research on this forum about their watches.  So once this is all done i will have parts to sell on, maybe someone wants to do a 5513 build with the case. 

[irate03]

case shaping

[JSebWC]

good job on the case.   Are you going to bevel the lugs?  

[irate03]

5 hours ago, JSebWC said:

good job on the case.   Are you going to bevel the lugs?  

The case already has the beveled lug edges, I didn't cut that far enough back to remove them, I followed the line through along the case.

 

Another little update, I've actually had some time today to really get stuck in to this so.....
Case reshaped and polished with subtle ageing. Hands lumed, the GMT and seconds are slightly warmer just because I saw a few ref. pics that had these hands more aged for some reason and I liked the look  Oh and I lightly stained the date wheel to add some patina but only very subtle. Older models had a silver date wheel, maybe this will be a future upgrade along with a "flat four" bezel and more gen like plexi with a more magnified cyclops.

[irate03]

quick question. The perfect clones folded steel oyster bracelet squeeks like a granny’s four poster bed. What’s a good way to slightly age the bracelet and kill the squeek?? 

[Sogeha]

Take it off the watch, if it has any sharp edges, deal with them, then throw it in Johnson’s baby oil for at least 24 hours.

[irate03]

[JSebWC]

Nicely done!!  The bezel and crystal will be the icing on the cake.

 

Checked Ruby and she doesnt have just the bezel on her site...but a case set and even so, it would need work   bezel is close to a mk3

 

 

Yuki is the small thick font which is more suited to the mk1 straight hand or the fornitura 

 

 

 

[capice]

looking good m8,...really....👏

[irate03]

bracelet aged.

 

[irate03]

You know me, I always love a little photoshoot when I finish (for now) a build.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSebWC]

I didnt know that about you before  But I know now!!  Holy crap that turned out fantastic!!  Great work....love it!! 

[mir36]

1655 was never on my radar, but your journey thread is truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on a fantastic build. 

[capice]

27 minutes ago, mir36 said:

1655 was never on my radar, but your journey thread is truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on a fantastic build. 

+1.....

[irate03]

does anybody know if it's possible to remove a link from Joshua's oyster folded bracelet ?

[JSebWC]

40 minutes ago, irate03 said:

does anybody know if it's possible to remove a link from Joshua's oyster folded bracelet ?

Yup...on the underside you will need to pry apart the folded link  portion.  Rolex has a tool to do this but I used a flat head screwdriver  be careful not to slip and stab yourself.  also be careful not to bend it too much or you will crimp the front side of the link   open it enough to slip it out and then use some tape and plyers to press the link back down.    I did this to add a link to mine..I am blessed with big wrists.