Some tear-down observations from the DSSD

[gioarmani]

Hopefully this info might get relayed to the factories in order to improve the dial; more than likely not...

After inspecting the V4 & V3 dial, trying to figure out the best way to get the more "matte" look, I noticed something very different about the these dials--as opposed to the V2--when I was putting together my mod tutorial.

I noticed on my Submariners, DayDates, etc., the dial print was printed/painted directly onto a gloss-painted dial. On the DSSDs, from the V3 on up, the dial print is actually printed on the inside of a clear, glossy, plastic sticker laminated on a black, glossy dial. The V2 was simply matte paint with no laminate.

After attempting to remove the print from a damaged dial I bought, I noticed unlike the Subs and what-not, the print would not come off with nail-polish remover/acetone.

I didn't even notice it was a sticker until the acetone began to loosen the sticker's adhesive from the edge of the dial:

At first, I figured it was just a laminate to make the dial gloss appear thicker, until I started to peel off the sticker & found the print was on the inside of the sticker, as opposed to the dial itself:

On the latest version of the dial ( http://www.rwg.cc/members/Stopped-AD-DeepSea-t97161.html ), I don't have a spare to tear-down to see if the construction is the same, but I think I have a idea on how to get a perfectly correctly constructed & colored dial.

From the V3 on up to the V5 (or whatever it is we're on now), the dials are too black and too glossy, and the date window not beveled enough--until they finally got it perfect on the latest one.

The genuine DSSD's dial is more of a charcoal gray in appearance, and is a semi-gloss--not truly glossy and not truly matte. It's actually a semi-gloss; i.e., you can see the reflection of the underside of the hands on the face of the dial, whereas on a matte dial, there are no reflective properties, and a gloss dial is too reflective.

The reps appear to be a gloss black painted dial, coated with a gloss plastic laminate. If the manufacturers would simply paint the dial a matte charcoal instead of a gloss black, then coat it with the laminate, with the newly perfected date-window, that dial would look true to gen.

On a bright note, the bezel insert is actually a high-tech ceramic, on not merely a piece of coated metal.

It doesn't show up well in this light, but the cross section of the insert shows it's clearly ceramic:

I've heard stories of people losing the pearls on these quite easily, even though that has not been my experience, but they appear to be fitted quite snug into to insert itself, rather than just glued in like most of the rep Sub inserts are. There is a modicum of glue added to the back for reinforcement, so if you're worried about losing yours, you might pop it out & re-glue it with a two-ply epoxy or gorilla glue to steady it. Unless the "factory" worker happen to bore the hole too big on the insets that day, these pearls--for the most part--are fitted pretty tightly.

In case you're wondering how to remove the insert from the bezel on these, I found the easiest & safest way was to remove the movement, push the crystal out from the inside, and take the tip of an X-acto blade/pen-knife and slice parallel to the bottom of the insert, in order to separate the insert from the adhesive holding it to the bezel. Be very gentle & take your time doing this: because this insert is ceramic & not metal, you have to think of it like a sheet of glass--it does have tensile strength, but not torsional strength. In other words it does not give to flexing; they won't bend, but they will break, so use kid-gloves when removing one.

Edited May 7, 2009 by gioarmani

[OmegaPOFL]

damn gio, you took that thing apart!!!!

broke the ceramic bezel!?! i thought you liked this watch

[JoJo35]

Thanks for the informative post gio. Although the hockey puck isn't my cup of tea, it's nice to see they keep improving it

[ThinkBachs]

This should sell a ton of DSSD's for Eurotimez! Glad I didn't spring for that updated dial and bezel, I can get it all in one package. Looking at that bezel insert cross section, you'll notice that the engravings will make the dial more accurate, as opposed to painting the engravings to make them stand out more which would leave paint on the engraved walls. My goal now is to swap the dial and bezel (maybe even the case back) to make my V3 the best of the best. That way I can have the correct HEV to go with the other parts. Thanks for taking the time to do this for us.

Peace

[gioarmani]

Rock on.

[MAHLER]

@Gioarmani great info!! and is the diameter of the dial compatible with the v3 and DW of v3?

[gioarmani]

@Gioarmani great info!! and is the diameter of the dial compatible with the v3 and DW of v3?

It absolutely is. I've also switched parts back and forth between mine to see which looks best--even the crystal and insert are an exact fit. Fortunately, the inner case construction was the same between both--the same spacer rings & screws worked in each. But even if they didn't, you wouldn't need to swap whole movements, one could easily just swap out dials.

Edited May 8, 2009 by gioarmani

[MAHLER]

It absolutely is. I've also switched parts back and forth between mine to see which looks best--even the crystal and insert are an exact fit. Fortunately, the inner case construction was the same between both--the same spacer rings & screws worked in each. But even if they didn't, you wouldn't need to swap whole movements, one could easily just swap out dials.