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5500 Air-King Precision with patina dial - circa 1975


manodeoro

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May I introduce you to my newcomer, a 5500 Air-King Precision circa 1975.

That watch shows a really nice patina dial and offers a thrilling experience on the wrist ... for vintage watch lovers of course.

And it's been a really long journey to get that petite on my wrist.

I'll tell you the complete story a little later but for the moment … i just hope you'll enjoy the pics.

 

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Here are some close-up pics … I’m definitely in love with that crown

The complete story about that watch will come soon

 

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27_-_FINISHED.jpg

Edited by manodeoro
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1 hour ago, alligoat said:

Looks nice. I wear the 1503 Date and the size doesn't bother me in the least. I like the close up of the tritium dots- cool!

Thanks buddy :)

Well ...  to be completely honest there's no tritium dots on that dial ... just home-made water-based lume on a DIY "sunburst patina decal dial " ;)

I'll soon post the complet story of that build

29 minutes ago, bobandshawn said:

Beauty. PM in bound about...

 

B

Thanks Bob ... why not so let's talk about that

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Here's the complete build story

 

It all started when I saw, on a UK site, a watch showing a beautifull patina.
That 5500 Air-King was at £3.000, a fair price IMO though I really had a better use for such an amount at that very moment. 
But I must admit that I fell in love at first sight and I craved to have one.

 

01-_UKSPEC.jpg

 

02_-_UKSPEC.jpg

 

03_-_UKSPEC.jpg

 

I already had 2 Air-Kings, 14000 models in my drawers.
One was a DHGate I got from @English Gent for the amazing amount of £67 shipped.

 

04_-_DHGATE.jpg

 

The other one I bought from Silix, only $100 shipped, just to check if a$30 difference could imply a difference in the making.
And yes there was a real difference as the Silix had a better dial, a better movement and a much better case and bracelet.

 

Then, considering the fact that the DHGate one was a little small (not exactly 36mm) and spent almost all its time in the drawer despite the fact that she was really nice on the wrist, I decided that I could take my chance.
So I decided I could try to transform a soso 14000 into a nice 5500 ... thus the really long journey.

 

First I had to mod the dial.

 

05_-_DIAL_STRIP.jpg

 

I removed the bar indexes and the crown and put them aside then I stripped all the letterings, using acetone and Q-Tips and only kept the "soleillé" (sunburst)

 

06_-_DIAL_STRIP.jpg

 

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I had already designed a 5500 Air-King Precision patina dial and had printed it on clear decal paper so I just had to put it on

 

08_-_MOD.jpg

 

09_-_MOD.jpg

 

I picked the "right" indexes and a better crown from my spares, put them on the dial - with cyanolit because their positions had to be moved a little more close to the rehaut (about 1/2mm).
I used 8 "thin" indexes and 3 "bold" indexes (at 3/6/9) and I reworked the crown a little with a diamond files so that it could look a litte more "genlike".
Then of course a set of 5500 Precision hands and some dots of DIY vintage lume.

 

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Before putting the dial and movement in the case I had to rework it a BIG lot :

 

- thinned the case and lugs a little to get closer to the 34mm size
- drilled the lugs from scratch so that they could get vintage spring bars
- filled the existing lug holes with solder so that the spring bars could not be "stucked" inside
- erased the engravements on the rehaut and thinned it a little so that it could receive a Tropic crystal
- reworked the bezel to the outer size of the Tropic Crystal
- thinned the lugs and bezel again while smoothing everything
- chamfered the inner side of the crwon so that the final look could be more « genlike »
- mod standard springbars to vintage 1,8mm springbars

 

I did not took pics of all the phases along the process but here are some

 

13_-_CASE_MOD.jpg

 

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What else ?

It’s been a long  but really interesting process and that I’m really happy with the final result.

 

Hope you enjoyed the story.
 

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3 hours ago, Sogeha said:

I’m very impressed by your ingenuity. Well done

 

3 hours ago, Champagnesky said:

wow awesome work mate.

 

1 hour ago, RichardH said:

Great post, and really nice job! Thanks for sharing the photos, I'm just about to start a similar project myself.

 

Cheers - R

 

Thank you all buddies ^_^

 

@RichardH ... good luck on your project and hope you'll enjoy it, and fell free to chime here if you think I can be of any help.

If I started to build a twin watch I would probably start with a 34 mm Oysterdate Precision case ... though I would have to source a different caseback as the 6694 Precision has a "rounded" caseback and the 5500 looks more like a 1002 caseback (with a flat brushed center).

But the trickiest part (not so tricky) is the dial as, as far as I know, there is no 5500 Rep dial.

So you have to start with a blank sunburst no-date dial, add a set of bar markers (8 thin and 3 thicker but all of the same length) and a matching coronet and build the Air-King dial.

50% of the fun is there cause when you have finished with that a lumed everything ... you're happy.

The 5500 hands are not thatveasy to source too but if you get a complte 34mm Precision watch you can use the handset

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Great job on the dial!  Here's my early 70s franken (all gen except crystal, movement, and hands) which I sold a few years back in a fit of insanity.  Keep working on the lugs and the bezel is still a hair fat but you're getting there.

Air-King 1.JPG

Air-King 3.JPG

lug 1.JPG

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3 hours ago, jmb said:

Great job on the dial!  Here's my early 70s franken (all gen except crystal, movement, and hands) which I sold a few years back in a fit of insanity.  Keep working on the lugs and the bezel is still a hair fat but you're getting there.

Air-King 1.JPG

Air-King 3.JPG

lug 1.JPG

 

Thanks @jmb

An enthusiastic quoting from you is one of the best rewards I could have hoped for :)

Your're 100% right about the lugs and the bezel !!! so I'll certainly do some more casework within the next months.

About the bracelet I'll probably keep the Oyster (I'll age it a little) as my build is supposed to be from the mid 70ies so a rivet bracelet would'nt be period correct I suppose. 

 

I still have a question for you ...

HOW could you sold such a beauty ??? You were 100% insane when you did that

 

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