Slate BCE outer dial color

[Sir-Lancelot]

I am thinking that if you gently push on these, the dial may loosen enough for you to get a razor blade to fit into a crack between the dial and then gently pry it up from the outside working all the way around it MAY come apart without damage. I would try to stay on the outside lip of the dial as none of that will be seem once installed. They are surly two pieces as these holes are not for decoration. A sharp razor blade would slide into a very small crack so you just need it to lift a little bit. Just go slow so you dont slip. Hopefully the glue wont peel up the dial paint when it seperates. Dang, why cant they just sell it with the correct black outer and the grey dial?

I am going to have the exact same project in the works soon so I am not offering any advice that I have done already, but not telling you anything that I wont try either. Maybe I should order 2 spare dials just in case. lol.

The black dial looks good. If you mess up the gray, atleast you still have a nice combo.

[Mickey Padge]

Well I would keep the black/silver sub dial anyway. I have that version myself and I think it looks SO much nicer than the strange off grey finish of the other slate dial....

If you get a watchsmith to remove the parts and it goes wrong, all you have lost is a dial, just keep it as is.

[szvwj]

Thanks to your encouragement (and my inability to accept defeat), I got the outer dial off of the inner dial! SUCCESS!

I nearly pooped my pants, because I slipped with the razor (sorry Lancelot). I thought I scratched the 11:00 marker, but it just left a mark (cleaned it off with a Q-tip). The picture is from before I cleaned it up.

The good news is that the glue used to hold the inner and outer dials together isn't too strong. A razor (X-acto knife in my case) and a careful hand (not mine) seems to do the trick. I wonder if a little heat might help.

I'm going to wait until I get tired of the Black/Silver dial before I make the switch... But it appears to be possible!

[LordRasta]

Cool. Make sure you show off the finished product.

[szvwj]

Will do!

Do you have that new winder filled up already? A Slate/Black BCE would look nice in there too.

[LordRasta]

Oh yeah the winder is full. Only my 8 best gonna make the cut.

[Sir-Lancelot]

Excellent.

I am happy for you. Well, me too if I have the same results.

[stevethebest]

Update:

My limited knowledge of Breitling dials may have lead me down the wrong path.

As I stated in a previous post, my intent was to purchase the black/silver BCE and a separate slate-grey dial. Once I received the package, I would replace the inner (black/silver) dial with the Slate Grey dial giving me the correct color combination (Slate Grey inner dial, Black outer dial).

Ruby was kind enough to source a Slate dial and a black/silver BCE (see picture).

It appears, unfortunately, that the inner and outer dial is ONE PIECE. Can anyone confirm this (can they be separated easily)?

I'm still going to purchase these items from Ruby, but it appears that my "brilliant" idea may be a flop.

Hey you Breitling expert friends ...

Am I wrong or in the previous picture (assembled with black / silver dial) the date font is correct, with the serif on 1, and the dial is correct too (little mark close to 10)? Have you ever seen any pic of this in the sites of our dealers (maybe Ruby?)

Thanks steve

[Sir-Lancelot]

Date font should be more bold.

Version2 has that tick @ 10 and a better date.

[dovo1695]

szvwj,

Really nice work! Thanks for posting this for the benefit of the rest of us; I bet there will be quite a few people who tackle this project in the future. I pretty sure I'm not alone in anticipating the pictures of the final product.

[szvwj]

I finally got around to swapping the Rehaut on my Slate BCE.

While I had the watch apart I stripped the Lume and applied LumiNova.

I'm quite happy with the results.

The last picture shows (kind-of) how bright the lume is (noon in my living room). I forgot to re-lume the second hand (it still has the original rep lume).

Before (Slate/Slate):

After (Slate/Black):

[rocky78]

Stunning job! Congrats!

[RobbieG]

The rehaut ring and dial are seperate pieces. I am doing a project now. I sourced a graphite/graphite dial which has a blackish rehaut ring that matches the subdials. This is the dial with the red automatic font. The two dial parts separate easily and snap apart with your thumbnail. FYI, the black ring on the silver subdial watch will be too black and not match the slate grey dial subdials so don't use that one.

Also to note, the contrast between the rehaut dial ring and the subdials with the slate grey is MUCH more pronounced with the genuine watch, but even so, the watch with these mods is very accuurate. IMO, this dial is the best as the red font version has no contrast. The slight contrast with the darker subdials coupled with the AR just makes the piece and for me was the only dial choice.

Mine is going to Vac for lume and then it will be done and I will shoot it and post. I also put an ETA 7750 I had in the watch as well so it will be as good as it gets when I'm done. Unfortunately Lello doesn't make the datewheels any more...

Edited June 11, 2008 by RobbieG