predfan2001 Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) I figured this out today by accident. It's not perfect but it's pretty good. I was fooling around with one of my 5517s and one of the fixed bars was "not so" fixed. It came out. So I knocked the other one out. A set of gen spring bars fit though a little loose in the lugholes. But they are larger than the holes so no worries, they're not going anywhere. What this means is you can get a 5517 military Sub. Take out the bars (with a twist from vise grips-comes out towards the knurled end) and install a Oyster band. Pull the movement and gently remove the "T" and install Sub hands. Then you have the "non-existant" 5513 with white fonts. Granted the lugholes are 1 size larger than correct but that's not that big of a deal to me, much cheaper than a MBW plus a gen dial. I'm not a fan of all of those 5513s with yellow script. I wish I had known this about 3 reps ago, I'd have saved money! Ok here's all I have so far. I pulled the bars out. Beveled and buffed the lugholes. Drilled the ends of a good solid link band and drilled the inner end link eyelets. Installed the Oyster with gen springbars and added a 5513 bezel insert in place of the 5517 (ever notice the difference. Look at the pic in my sig ): Tomorrow the "T" comes off and Submariner hands go on. Here's the last 5517 dial that I removed the "T" off of. Just a few strokes of ultra fine sandpaper and a shot of Testors Dullcoat: I really like these 5517s and I hope they keep making them awhile. It's the most versitile starting point for mod's at a low price that I know of. It has a gen sized dial. Accepts a Tropic and now I know that it will accept an Oyster band. Edited January 13, 2008 by predfan2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnBeever Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 Very interesting thanks for the info. Who supplies these 5517’s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
predfan2001 Posted January 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 Very interesting thanks for the info. Who supplies these 5517 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
predfan2001 Posted January 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) Here's the final results. I didn't vintage the dial or hands any more than they already were. I did bleach and age the bezel insert. Edited January 13, 2008 by predfan2001 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azgjav Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 looks really really good! love how the insert turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellomen Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Excellent dial work again Predfan!! I love your dial work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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