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Cdenim

The Platinum Question? Paint, Stock, Plate

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Cdenim

After about a year at this, lol, (in my fleeting spare time) I have been after this question. A quest so to speak. To figure out what we can all do to bring our reps to that next super list we all hear about. And nothing is a bigger tell on our reps than any of the repped ceramic inserts (arf's excluded) that the 6 digit sport / dive watches offered by our swiss friends at Rolex offer. The Cerachrom bezel insert offered by rolex has an actual thin layer of platinum ( or rather rolex's own version of this metal) PVD'd or Physical Vapour Deposition'ed  onto them. Which is basically plating in an open air chamber vs in a wet solution. giving the ions coming off the base material as its vaporized a positive charge and the target material a negative one helping those ions find a new home on the (in this case) Cerachrom insert.  The bezel insert until the AR factory finally decided to put some sort of effort forth and fix this, has been an eyesore. A Giant neon sign on your very close, extremely good, replica watch saying " THIS ISN'T REAL". Being a practicing watchsmith, with this crazy obsession for reps, but more so, to help this amazing community the (out of all places) replica watch world boasters, has led me to do some painstaking work on this issue. Funny, it was just a replica watch before. Now its the friends, heated discussions and debates and knowledge that make this so much more than what it is. 

Enough intro...... So i have been working on a fix for this, going at it for close to a year, here and there. As of late i discovered a liquid metal paint which i thought was the cats ass. Then... rwi goes down. We all look twards RWG for a place we can all get our fix from, which led to a collaboration from another refugee, thanks again @GingerBubba for the molotow paint sir. Applying it as i was with the LIQMET metal paint. Until now the Spongebob aka Steve insert has been the best option. He actually plates platinum on the noob v7 inserts, bevels and insets the numbers and indices and polishes the whole thing to a gen like shine. His work along with his work ethic and product is amazing. I love my spongebob insert on my dssd, and it  was good enough for me, leaving this paint stuff alone until now. And for one reason... one is priced according to the amount of work thats associated with his process. Not cheap by anymeans though. And the other will cost prob less than $40 if you wanna get fancy. So here it is, the ppm modded insert ontop, spongebob plated on the bottom installed on dssd.  This is what is possible and imo the best paint is ever going to get...

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side by side

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I have gotten alot of this lately so here is the 116610 Arf w/ ppm mod on left, Noob v7 w/ one of the best updated verson of the insert on right

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Stand alone

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direct sunlight for comparison

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and there you have it. Thanks to @pinkyandthebrain for entrusting his no date as a willing lab rat for this, but something tells me he's going to enjoy wearing this alot more now.  And @emmc270's fresh and ready v7 for a little platinum upgrade. The beauty of this, you don't need the Nicolas Hayek education, or the thousands in tools and equiptment i have to do this DIY. The paint is like $10 available online or blick. and the application requires you to empty paint marker into container. use a nicer brush $13 again at blick. filling the inlay number or indise with the top most matalic layer of the paint. Tossing it in front of a indirect heat source to evaporate the soloution or unused paint if you will, leavng just that tightly attached metal like platinum color behind. Again here is the paint 

Molotow one4all acrylic 227hs in metalic silver.

This was stated by my friend @ginerbubba to be something he seen on a how to over on rwi. But this paint along with some know how has led to whats in my opinion the cheapest, easiest way to solve this insert color issue once and for all. Leaving the sharpie marker alone, thank god. 

Thanks again guys, fig this be easier than pming everyone and allow for any tips or comments from the forum.. 

Only because i added some more gen to my Dssd's Yuki movement, just wanted to show her off too.... wear um in good health guys!

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Luxuracer
18 minutes ago, Cdenim said:

 

@pinkyandthebrain

Only because i added some more gen to my Dssd's Yuki movement, just wanted to show her off too.... wear um in good health guys!

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You mean I can do it myself without sending my bezels to you for paint mod?!? ... Kakaka!

Wonderful work and write-up.

You need to do a step-by-step video tutorial (or at least a pictorial) ;-)

An amazing super franken SH3135 you got there. 

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Cdenim

 

1 hour ago, Luxuracer said:

You mean I can do it myself without sending my bezels to you for paint mod?!? ... Kakaka!

Wonderful work and write-up.

You need to do a step-by-step video tutorial (or at least a pictorial) ;-)

An amazing super franken SH3135 you got there. 

Sir, either sent for me to do, or whether you want to DIY, I'm here to help . That new stuff looks damn good doesn't it.

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Surftime

@Cdenim Wowza! Nice big jewels:Applause: on your franken SH3135! Looks like you added a gen Winding rotor assembly. . . Is that correct? Was it a direct swap or did you have do any mods? I have two sh3135 I would love to send to to send you. . .

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pinkyandthebrain

@Cdenim  :blowup: amazing work. can't wait to wear em. 

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Emmc270

@Cdenim  Super stoked to see my Noob V7 Cdenim PPM! Curious to see how the deeper, recently updated bezel markers look. Your work looks amazing and I'm fortunate to have found you for my first mod!

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Cdenim
16 hours ago, Surftime said:

@Cdenim Wowza! Nice big jewels:Applause: on your franken SH3135! Looks like you added a gen Winding rotor assembly. . . Is that correct? Was it a direct swap or did you have do any mods? I have two sh3135 I would love to send to to send you. . .

That one was a an easy slip in. and OMG when you wind it.....got @pinkyandthebrain pretty new arf 904 dayjust wrapped up with new setting wheels, sliding pinion, and winding gear in his SH to help lug that gen roulette wheel around just like a gen. sweet................man to go from building custom cars and bikes..putting together engines like my busa's putting down 270hp on pump, just motor alone, to building custom "motors" aka movements in custom watches........its been one bad ass ride let me tell ya.

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Cdenim

Update.... that new updated V7 noob you see there, just got her pretty new insert markers all platinum-ed too 

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Really doesn't get more gen than that

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Emmc270
1 hour ago, Cdenim said:

Update.... that new updated V7 noob you see there, just got her pretty new insert markers all platinum-ed too 

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Really doesn't get more gen than that

@Cdenim I'm loving it! It looks amazing. I can't wait to get this baby back on my wrist and wear it proudly! Thanks you rock!!

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Cdenim

dude wait till its on your wrist. these last two subs came out so damn good

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LiZnoGouD

26829471_10155960636480797_853839317_o_z

 

The best I could get mine with paint

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imjustabasicman

Awesome work man! I am still a little new to the world, but when people mean that the Noob V7 Inserts SUCK (i myself have the "new" hulk, worst insert ever), do they mean that the entire insert is bad or just the numeral engravings? And when f.e Spongebob does the platinum mod, does he only mod the numeral engravings on the insert or does he do platinum coating on the ENTIRE bezel? :-)

Thanks everyone!

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Cdenim
4 hours ago, LiZnoGouD said:

26829471_10155960636480797_853839317_o_z

 

The best I could get mine with paint

hell yeah, thats nice. and way better than any stock insert less the sd4k. i know its adding a tiny amount of paint on even smaller numbers around a black ring around a replica watch,....but thats what makes this the insanely addicting, fun as hell hobby it is. Because you took the time you did to put that paint there, that guy who opened the door for you at work walked away going....a rolex huh..

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LiZnoGouD

Thanks mate, I appreciate it :D

It has been a little project of mine for a while and I have tried a few different methods. This is the best result I have got

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Howitzer

Just landed from Steve AKA Spongebob:

Photos to follow when I get Postimage working again... 

Edited by Howitzer23
Photo fail!

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Howitzer

Right, sorry about that. Tried to insert an image link and hit Submit. D'oh. Profile pic even more appropriate than normal. 

Here is a brand-spanking Spongebob AKA Steve platinum mod insert on an equally new Noob V7  that arrived this morning (it made it through customs, yay!) and I have to say that I am incredibly impressed. I used to own a stock V6S Sub Date and the difference between the bezels is night and day (or so my memory tells me). I may be biased given the relative outlay, but I'm delighted and entirely satisfied that I went with Steve's mod rather having a go myself. It just has an overall air of quality to the work and materials, particularly the extra graft that Steve puts in on the polishing work around the edges of the engraving that takes it a different level.  I should also say that Steve is an absolute pleasure to work with, and even serviced the movement and corrected a couple of assembly problems for a very reasonable fee. In for a penny and all that :) 

All that said, I am also impressed with the DIY paint mods that you guys are coming up with, especially for the minimal cost, but I wanted this watch to be bang on after the disappointment of the V6S bezel and was prepared to pay extra for it. Each to their own I suppose.  

Anyway, here are some pics. Not the best I'm afraid but have limited resources as at work.... 

Natural light indoors (heavily frosted skylight so low-ish)

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image5.jpg

Outdoors:

image3.jpg

Indoor under fluorescent office lighting:

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image2.jpg

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GingerApple

That is great to be fair.

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cbouza3

New guy question: So with a spongebob mod you receive a replacement insert, rather than send him yours?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Howitzer
4 hours ago, cbouza3 said:

New guy question: So with a spongebob mod you receive a replacement insert, rather than send him yours?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can either send your own watch or just the bezel or order a replacement. It is more expensive for the replacement option as Steve has to include the cost of a new bezel from a TD. 

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imjustabasicman

Hi @Cdenim real good work with the DIY mod. Seriously fascinated that this only cost 10-30 bucks to accomplish. 

Just one question, the Molotov paint. What size did you use for the brush? Because the 227HS one in my store is 4mm pen size, other sizes are like 127HS, and 627HS etc... 

And also, if I understood correctly, you pumped the paint out of the pen into a cup, and then used a fine brush into the engravings. Did you scrape of any paint from the insert after this was done? And if the result is bad, can you get rid of it? With like regular alcohol (I.E vodka?)

Blessings,

I

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M1911

Yes i also would like to know whats the proper DIY way to paint the numerals. I just tried it myself but find the result quite messy. It looked tremendous at distance glance, but upon closer look, its scary!!! 

 

So if anyone could share how to make it so tidy, i will truly appreciate it.

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