I'm not a sub guy but.....

[JSebWC]

As some of you know,  I am not a sub guy.   It was one of my first watches back in the late 90's and after a number of years I got tired of looking at it. 

Fast forward to  Nov / 22  I thought I would dip my toe back in the pool to see if I can rekindle the love I once had...but this time I wanted to try something a lil different, so I decided to build a Tudor Snowflake Sub to see  if the design cues of the Tudor could sway me back....

I went with the standard issue parts .:

Raffles case set and bracelet 

Raffles 29mm blue dial & Insert

raffles snowflake hands

T19 superdome crystal 

a whole lot of ageing and patina.  I wanted it to look like it had a very adventurous life and was left in the bottom of a gear bag to be found years later. 

I really wanted to like it but it  didn't scratch the itch.  I did like the case and the crystal , but the fact that I couldn't get a proper fade on the bezel insert, just left me uninspired.   I ghosted a few bezels and they were cool but again, not what I was after .  

 

So after a few attempts, I hated it and  lost that feeling and thought about selling it on......then after creeping  online at Mil Subs .. I wanted to go that route, however with the fixed spring bars, I am more of bracelet guy than a nato and I didnt want to go half way.  so I dropped that idea.  That and the lack of available engraved case back 

Then after looking further at the other dials offered in this size  I decided to go 5513  Matte Maxi .   so I added one to my last order and it arrived  earlier this week.   Having some time today, I thought I would do the transition .  

After a bit of aging on the dial and hands  I swapped the parts and dropped it back in the case. 

Now that's more like it!! 

Oh , and I made one last attempt at fading out an insert.   after baking it for close to an hour at 450 and checking it every 10 mins , I achieved what turned out to be a very cool fade.   It started off as a blue insert  now its a  Ghosted  Mauve....again not what I was after but I dig it.  looks authentic IRL 

I think I will pick up a few black inserts on my next parts order and see if I can get a nice faded grey.  The raffles inserts dont respond well to bleach and if you use anything a bit stronger, it strips them and are blotchy.  Bunk.

So does this scratch the itch??  YOU BET!!  I am really diggin it thus far.  from an abandoned project collecting dust to new hotness in rotation.  The explorers are going to be collecting some dust for a while during the honeymoon .

Oh and the Tudor parts are up for grabs if anyone is interested , if you have been itching for an aged blue snowflake sub on a budget, I got what you need. 

 

Thanks for looking , Questions and comments welcomed as always. 

cheers

[oldtools]

Beautiful!