Jump to content
When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
  • Current Donation Goals

DOXA diver dials ... is it a virus or just an obsession ?


manodeoro

Recommended Posts

On 11/15/2020 at 1:42 PM, cornerstone said:

The lume bit looks challenging.  Do you know how they apply it in production?  Feels like it needs some kind of mask in applying it?  (I have no clue, just speculating).

 

No the faintest idea on how they applied in production ... sorry

I do use a silk needle ... and a magnifying glass 😁

This evenig I've made a print-test of the Blacklung I have re-designed for NH35 a few days ago

 

Here's a pic showing how it will look through a Seiko rehaut

As there's no paint on the dial plate, the thin black circle around the Blacklung logo simulate where the yellow paint will go ...

May I say that I'm pretty happy with the result ?

 

1677976662_09-NH35BLACKLUNGPRINTTEST.thumb.jpg.c866c2da10a7c4e52ac54bf39d9fcb37.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Some news about my "now glossy" Doxa dials in progress ...

 

I have 5 dials on my bench those days ... 3 gens specs for ETA movements and 2 for NH35

The dials for ETA are still waiting for varnish finsih but here are the 2 for NH35 ...

Sorry for the bad pics ... I'll make better shoots when finished

 

SUB 300 T Professional "no logo" ... waiting for lume work

 

161889383_24-PROFESSIONALNOLOGO.thumb.jpg.a1c7930892ec98d4f043dc57c1880119.jpg

 

 

SUB 300 T "Blacklung" ... I still have to print the yellow dot and put the "Blacklung" logo on

 

698198016_25-BLACKLUNGINPROGRESS.thumb.jpg.88db704d402423cfb7a5c27b3d629712.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Today I'll post some news about those Doxa dials ...
I have just finished 2 dials and handsets that will be shipped tomorrow to a friend ...

I had already worked on a "sharkhunter" dial but the future owner was hesitating between that one and a "conquistador" ...
So, after some emails back and forth, we decided to make something in the beteween ...

So I'm happy to present you the "SHARQUISTADOR"
- Black "sharkhunter" dial
- "sharkhunter" handset
- "conquistador" print

That dial is for a Miyota 8215 so I've had to slightly modify the design to make it fit the dial size and the date window

The handset is a white Soxa one for Miyota movements that I have partly painted in matte black to make it look as close as possible to an original "sharkhunter" handset

The future owner wanted all that look "like it had been lost in deep water for years" ...
I've made my best to match that description and we are both pretty happy with the final result ...

 

894869850_26-SHARKISTADOR.thumb.jpg.5407b41d958c1a0e0bb6c8782d810060.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The second one is a Blacklung dial with a custom handset ...
 

Making that custom handset proved to be MUCH more difficult than I thought at first ...
I designed the hands using Blacklung close-up pics, send that to my maker and waited for some weeks ...
Just before New Years Eve the handsets arrived in my mail box and I was not that happy ...
The hands were nicely cut but the finish was so so and none of the tubes really fitted to the movement
So I decicde to rework everything :
- remove the lume
-nsqueeze the tubes on hours and minutes hands
-nbroach the tube on the seconds hand
- redo theblack varnish finish
It took me hours but at the end I achieved ti get something I liked.
So I just had to lume everything ... off-white lume with low-green glow ...
Then I proceeded to the final mounting on a an ETA 2824-2 movement ... now it's just ready to ship ...

BTW ... I have almost finished another Balcklung dial and handset, same design but made for a Seiko NH35 movement ... I just have to lume evrything so I'll post the result next week if everything goes well ...

 

1624833502_27-BLACKLUNGWITHCUSTOMHANDSET.thumb.jpg.4a08502f417910ebb9a688ccfbebe728.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hi guys … some really good news today ...

 

Members who check that thread from time to time have already read about my « Irish Star » Doxa project I posted here October 2000.

The original Irish Star dial was made for Dr Pete Millar and was quite nice but, IMHO, it looked too much"modern style".

So I decided to redo it, "vintage style" and with a real Irish shamroc, not a 4 leaves clover.

 

 

1654987531_01-PROJECT.thumb.jpg.2dbb69fb6b1a13d6088e5c3f9b672220.jpg

 

 

Since then I’ve had too much work at the office and I postponed that project.

But sometimes things catch up with you …

 

Mid-September I received a PM from the Doxa guy himself … Dr Pete McClean Millar.

For those who didn’t heard about him, Pete Millar has writen books about the Doxa subs, collaborated with the Company and is a(the!) specialist about those divers.

You can check his website here http://www.doxa300t.com/ , his books about Doxas here http://www.thedoxabook.com/ an his last book about the Aquastar here http://www.adiveintotime.com/ ...

I was really honored to read what Dr Millar wrote about the work I had already done on those Doxa dials, saying I had progressed to almost perfection … though I’m still far from it …

 

We chated about Doxas, divers, dial-making, Oil & Gas industry, etc … and decided that the Irish Star project had to exist « in real ».

 

First thing I did was to prepare a blank ETA dial plate to the exact dimensions needed to fit in the Doxa Sub 1200T case were it will be … no pics of that step as it’s standard work …

 

The next step was to select the perfect « Irish » green I would apply on the blank plate.

We agreed that « Mickey Finn’s Irsih Green Apple » was nice

 

1689652407_02-IRISHGREENAPPLE.jpeg.cb1f954bcb5521066a07e318b754a70e.jpeg

 

So I painted the dial using the same green, then I applied 2 coats of glossy lacquer

 

439902188_03-PAINTEDDIAL.jpg.d736904c2a5ff6f2c29481fc9951e6f3.jpg

 

 

1598674964_04-GLOSSYCOAT.thumb.jpg.699c9b06e7381528d54c7aec6233719c.jpg

 

While the final glossy coat was drying, I did a print test on a blank copper ETA dial, just to check that the position of the date window was good enough

 

2138649945_05-BLANKDIALFORPRINTTEST.thumb.jpg.345be2b9a39afd4389905e2020d9d01d.jpg

 

295591984_06-PRINTTEST.thumb.jpg.1b0101979ff7453e29e2525c12b7eac3.jpg

 

Everything looked OK … both for me and Pete, so I went to the print process and got that result

 

1489715325_07-PRINTEDDIAL.thumb.jpg.1fe5c8ebde3aeca24bcd9652675dc0cd.jpg

 

Here we were really close to the end …

 

But there was still the lume work to do and though the last ones I had done were nice they were not good enough … that one had to be as « close to perfect » as I could do…

 

I wanted to achieve sharp angles on the white rectangles in daylight and on the lume in darkness …

So I searched for a new method to apply the lume

I searched and finally found the way to proceed … simple and easy, no expensive tools, just steady hands and some imagination …

 

And today I’m glad to show you the result …

The « Irish Star » is alive and glows in the dark …

 

227574862_08-FINISHEDDIAL.thumb.jpg.8c38238252bcc77cd1f86d84b2051419.jpg

 

2081026927_09-LUMEPIC.thumb.jpg.23e3c93db925dc0827c76a362f0e29ff.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites



yes, that Irish dial is good. And the lume looks good too




What a magnificent result!


Thanks
I didn't had the handset while luming the dial so there's a slight difference ...
But Peter said me it's soooo slight that not really noticeable ...

I'll post some pics of a lumed BlackLung dial next week's ... I thought I could do that sooner but I've found a better way to make the yellow dot so I've decided to remove everything and start from a blank dial plate
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Finished some more Doxa dials last week ...

 

BLACKLUNG DIAL and HANDSET ... for NH35

 

308103696_01-DIALFACE.thumb.jpg.d2a2008afa64439d50348288a4514a49.jpg

 

148781033_02-LUMESHOT.thumb.jpg.10870c93b0d2c561f040f8c0308366cb.jpg

 

 

 

SUB 300 T "NO LOGO" DIAL

 

2109237386_01-DIALFRONTSIDE.thumb.jpg.58eb4f41a705d350f3a55fa1a13bc4a6.jpg

 

11610849_03-LUMESHOT.thumb.jpg.959ea5e8caff90bbb435279626480044.jpg

SUB 300 T "IRISHSTAR" DIAL

 

1897606966_04-DIALLUMED.thumb.jpg.45130b6207e157a83cef75d75262ed7d.jpg

 

599608025_05-LUMESHOT.thumb.jpg.cda0b3753f40b675a813ed60dd0171c3.jpg

 

I'm still waiting to hear back about the SUB 200 CORALLINE print test ...
As soon I'll get a "GO" I'll resize the dial down to 17.5mm and proceed to lume work 

 

 

1050149619_01-PRINTTEST.thumb.jpg.9867ee88d8a8f349ff514ae9f3052795.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Some weeks of friend of a friend sent me a pic of a rarely seen *doxa sUB 300 T dial ... something you'll certainly never se in real

 

1733438722_01-REDISHCOLOR.jpg.a18e2e43c1e7bb071ea91aa6506233be.jpg

 

He asked my if I could print the same dial with some customisation.
He is a former U.S. Navy Commander and his initials are H.G. ... so I worked on the design and made the print test below.

 

442082162_03-PRINTTEST.thumb.jpg.70c44a55956209b85cdb63fa8c0612b1.jpg


The future owner said he wanted a dial to be more reddish than the  "standard SUB 300 orange"

So I sent him a color chart and made some color tests so that he could choose the color he wanted

 

984436849_04-COLORCHART.JPG.b21a0bd6591470ad9fb0112b1576987e.JPG

 

1136623522_05-RV-2004ORANGE.thumb.jpg.b278bf787f621767168ed53a617b93e5.jpg

 

477122734_06-RV-107MARSORANGE.thumb.jpg.f687eb066a303ac86ae460e021ef36aa.jpg

 

and here we are ... still orange but more close to red ... and ready for lumework 🙂 

the orange/yellow dial with "la spirotechnique" logo on the background is one I'm making for my son

 

2008127164_07-ANCHORSUB300T.thumb.jpg.5a9dc4f91a7d94b7a0db9c6d51294679.jpg

 

17866176_08-ANCHORSUB300T.thumb.jpg.8d1fc311e4faf02cc4de8fc921d3148a.jpg

 

195687536_09-ANCHORSUB300T.thumb.jpg.0fac8db3e00888d1fa650583e3d36927.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every time I look at this thread you take it up another notch. I love that Spirotechnique dial!!!
Back to the origins ...
1946 - Air Liquide founded "La Spirotechnique" to sell the "Scaphandre Cousteau-Gagnan", aka C45, aka Aqua-Lung ...
1952 - René Bussoz, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan founded U.S Divers Company ...
1957 - Bussoz sold U.S. Divers Co. to La Spirotechnique / Aqualung International
216 - Air Liquide sold Aqualung International to Montagu Private Equity ...
Next ???
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi folks ... it's been almost months since I haven't posted here ...

I've had to put dialmaking and watchmaking aside and stay off from the forums for a while because I moved to a new house with my new GF and kids ... reconstructing a new family takes a lot of time.

Then, early 2022, I had to take care of 2 old guys I love ... really close family ...
One is almost OK now, though his brain is still so so ...
The other one leaved our good hearth last week ... not in a starship I mean, he died after hard weeks of intensive care at the hospital ...
Sometimes life is shitty and old age is not a bed of roses ...

Now I start again working on watches and it proves to be helpful to avoid thinking about bad things ... so let's put sadness aside ... I'm happy to be back here ...
So during the past week I 've been making some Doxa dials ... precision work was helpfull to sothe the mind ...

Aqualungs ... one standard early Doxa and two from the Synchron era ...

5ab531e9827c27a4d6bbfa6a3eae98bd.jpg

Blacklungs too ... not that much cause they require specific dial plates (I'm waiting for some more) ...

198556a35f36141226b5aa72bf3d9fa4.jpg


Divingstars ... All Synchron era ... two standards and one "Poseidon" with that nice logo

780233e18c1adf8b39aaca0c26aa148e.jpg


And two Sharkhunters ... those are not as popular than the others but they are really nice too ...

3803efd5fe1f104c3e7509df674d8e67.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, manodeoro said:

Hi folks ... it's been almost months since I haven't posted here ...

I've had to put dialmaking and watchmaking aside and stay off from the forums for a while because I moved to a new house with my new GF and kids ... reconstructing a new family takes a lot of time.

Then, early 2022, I had to take care of 2 old guys I love ... really close family ...
One is almost OK now, though his brain is still so so ...
The other one leaved our good hearth last week ... not in a starship I mean, he died after hard weeks of intensive care at the hospital ...
Sometimes life is shitty and old age is not a bed of roses ...

Now I start again working on watches and it proves to be helpful to avoid thinking about bad things ... so let's put sadness aside ... I'm happy to be back here ...
So during the past week I 've been making some Doxa dials ... precision work was helpfull to sothe the mind ...

Aqualungs ... one standard early Doxa and two from the Synchron era ...

5ab531e9827c27a4d6bbfa6a3eae98bd.jpg

Blacklungs too ... not that much cause they require specific dial plates (I'm waiting for some more) ...

198556a35f36141226b5aa72bf3d9fa4.jpg


Divingstars ... All Synchron era ... two standards and one "Poseidon" with that nice logo

780233e18c1adf8b39aaca0c26aa148e.jpg


And two Sharkhunters ... those are not as popular than the others but they are really nice too ...

3803efd5fe1f104c3e7509df674d8e67.jpg

 

Sorry to hear about your sadness.

 

Inspiring dial work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up