Marina Militare 3646 Modded

[Falco]

Marina Militare 3646 Davidsen with Germano custom-made strap incl. sewn-in buckle

Hope you like it

Mods done:

Replaced dial with thin lume version

Aged dial/hands, case, crystals and strap using various methods

Aged/darkened Rolex bridges using phosphoric acid & steel wool

EDIT UPDATE:

Vintageing process;

First, most of these instructions I've found on the forums and my sincere thanks to those posted

similar instructions before. Second, try at on risk.

Dial: brushed lightly w/ steel wool and a thick mix of (chewing) tobacco, Nescafe and sugar

mixed in just a little cold water is rubbed on the dial with q-tips.

Careful around dial text since the text is water soluble in luke warm water.

Extra sugar can be added into mix and placed onto dial numbers if you want a more glassy/shiny look

on these.

Hands: Fine sandpaper onto surface, then paint them w/ diluted mix of the dial mixture

Case: Press granite stones onto case, use sandpaper, steel wool and cape cod polish.

Crystal: steel wool around outside edges, diluted yellow ethanol marker pen at inside vertical edges

Strap: steel wool on buckle, soaking strap overnight in leather oils, dry, and wiggle the strap in

all possible directions. Polish leather when dry w/ cloth to get a shine.

Rolex plates:

First note that winding stem of Molijna movement needs to be removed in time-setting position,

but still can be messed up. Movement also prone to rust. Please read The Zigmeisters posts about it.

Also acid is dangerous, wear gloves and goggles.

Remove rolex plates and leave in at least 40% phosphoric acid at least overnight until darkened in right shade.

give it a light polish with steel wool and apply light coat of anti-rust oil like WD40.

Alternative to phosphoric acid is gun bluing but movement will get a blue/black instead of grey/black tint.

Additional mods possible but not tried yet:

Davidsens crown doesn't fit close to the case, tube can be removed & grind down for this and inserted deeper.

Did sort of like it the way it is though.

Lug welding, need to find proper cheap equipment or a good watchsmith.

That's it, don't be afraid to try and if I can do it you can do it

[lionsandtigers]

WOW!!!! very nice, and a nice luger to boot

[Falco]

WOW!!!! very nice, and a nice luger to boot

Thanks!

PS. The Luger P08 is ww2 german issue, just finished restoring it

[lionsandtigers]

amazing

[hambone]

Very Cool watch Falco. Enjoy it!

[Willith]

It looks great! Nice work with the aged look, I don't know if I would have the heart to do that to the Rolex movement though.

[mrnixon]

Marina Militare 3646 Davidsen with Germano custom-made strap incl. sewn-in buckle

Hope you like it

Mods done:

Replaced dial with thin lume version

Aged dial/hands, case, crystals and strap using various methods

Aged/darkened Rolex bridges using phosphoric acid & steel wool

Wow! Very beautiful work. Do you mind telling us bit more how you got that vintage look at the dial and the hands? Would be very interesting to hear.

Thanks

[Falco]

Thanks everyone

I'll post a full vintage/distressing instruction later today for those interested (at work now).

[aronax]

Waow !!! impressive work...look very nice !

thanx for sharing

cheers

Aronax

[blackseal]

a great watch. cannot stop staring at your pics. what happenend to the crown ? isn´t it srewed in or what ?

please hurry with your instruction...

[sssurfer]

Really amazing!

Can't wait for your tutorial.

[dadog13]

this one looks like it survived WWIII...looks really fantastic!...I am waiting to see the tutorial too...

cheers,

Vladimir

[pabra]

Got me drooling

[madasboot]

Hi Falco,

Congratulations. I am totally impressed with your work!

It makes my work on my 6152/1 look like garbage...

This is certainly an abuse but would you help doing me a dial and a pair of hands for a future project I have in mind?

Cheers,

Marco

[Pugwash]

Nice work with the aged look, I don't know if I would have the heart to do that to the Rolex movement though.

It's not a Rolex movement.

ps. One more saying nice work here.

[Guest RiverwindMDS]

I love it...

I'm trying to do one of that with the Angelus Movement...

[russ]

looks like it came right out of the back of the bottom of a 60 year old foot locker.

[Falco]

Hi Falco,

Congratulations. I am totally impressed with your work!

It makes my work on my 6152/1 look like garbage...

This is certainly an abuse but would you help doing me a dial and a pair of hands for a future project I have in mind?

Cheers,

Marco

Marco, most of these vintageing techniques are from your excellent post :

Marco's 6152/1

I just added some chemicals and distressing

[madasboot]

Marco, most of these vintageing techniques are from your excellent post :

Marco's 6152/1

I just added some chemicals and distressing

Hey Falco, thanks for the compliment! I am flattered but technique is one thing and art is other.

I still think your work on vintageizing the dial and hands is way better than mine and I would really appreciate your help.

I am now working on something that will be very useful for all of us vintage lovers but I will only unveil it later on when I am positively sure of its production conditions.

Cheers,

Marco

[Falco]

Marco, by comparing your 6152/1 dial to my 3646 dial I think there's only few differences;

you used more sugar on dial numbers which in my opinion looks better

Try to use (thewatchboys) steel wool to slightly roughen the dial surface and smear some some chewed tobacco (really great stuff )

on dials and hands and it should be identical (if not a lot better)

[madasboot]

you used more sugar on dial numbers which in my opinion looks better

Try to use (thewatchboys) steel wool to slightly roughen the dial surface and smear some some chewed tobacco (really great stuff )

on dials and hands and it should be identical (if not a lot better)

Great! this looks like Chef's talk! Special dial "confit"...

In the meantime do you have an alternative to tobacco? I quitted the smokes 8 months ago and I can not have proximity to that stuff...

BTW do not forget to seal the "sugared" numeral cutouts with a coat of satin varnish being careful not to stain the dial surface with it!

Cheers,

Marco

[Falco]

Yes the dial should be pretty tasty by now

Smokers hate chewing tobacco so hopefully you're safe

Thanks for the tip about varnish forgot about that, got some spare varnish I can use from a superlumina package

The dial soaks up most of the solution, but I'll do it just to be safe, and it will get a bit more glossy surface, great!

[madasboot]

Yes the dial should be pretty tasty by now

Smokers hate chewing tobacco so hopefully you're safe

Thanks for the tip about varnish forgot about that, got some spare varnish I can use from a superlumina package

The dial soaks up most of the solution, but I'll do it just to be safe, and it will get a bit more glossy surface, great!

The cherry on top of our "cakes" will be thick plexis correctly produced but we will talk about that later on....

[mrnixon]

Now this is becomming more like a cook book than a watch forum :-) , but could you mention which proportions you are using when you make that mix you put on the dial and hands?

I will try to do something similar within a near future and since I only have one dial, I get no second chance.

Thanks

[madasboot]

Now this is becomming more like a cook book than a watch forum :-) , but could you mention which proportions you are using when you make that mix you put on the dial and hands?

I will try to do something similar within a near future and since I only have one dial, I get no second chance.

Thanks

If my memory doesnt fail me I think I PMd you a recipe some time ago...