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NCRich

Vintage Speedy Quartz Tutorial - Completed

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NCRich

So I have a handwind speedy and when the opportunity arose to get a quartz one for $60 shipped I jumped on it so I could try my hand at making a vintage speedy.  I promised @Thommo82 that I would document it.  It really should not be that hard since really all I've got to do is take it apart, matte spray and lume the dial, lume the hands to match, fade the insert, and glue in a plexi.  I'll be doing this in stages as I'm still waiting on the plexi from Cousins.  So let's see where we want to go.  Here is what I would like to get to:

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And this is what I am starting with:

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Upper right is the DhGate quartz.  Subdials are better spaced than the handwind rep on the left.  Quartz is 1mm bigger, and the crown is a bit larger. Otherwise its pretty much the same as the best rep moonwatch.  Let's get started:

I had no idea how this was assembled so I took off the bezel first, in retrospect it would have been better to take the movement out first.  So a straight razor blade and a case knife.

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Slide the razor blade under the bezel and wedge it up gently.

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Once you get the space you can use the case knife to finish removal.

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Once I popped it off and saw the unprotected dial I said crap and put it back on.   Let's do it the right way and remove the bracelet.

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Unscrew the caseback with the tool.

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We got a Miyota OS20.  Not a bad movement at all.

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You remove the stem in the running position and push the release button where it says push.

Spacer, stem, and battery removed.

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Turn the movement assembly out onto something.

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Note that I've removed the bezel assembly from the case.  I popped the crystal out with my fingers (its coke bottle green glass), and reinserted the stem.  Now I need to remove the hands.  I've never removed all the hands on a chrono so I'm not sure the best way.  I removed the central hands first with and dial protector and levers.  The small hands don't have the clearance needed so I made a protector from some typing paper and carefully levered them off.

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I can breathe again.

Dial is a friction fit with two feet.  Just levered it off carefully with a screwdriver.

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The dial is shiny plastic, I've got to tame that down before I relume.

Before (and it is really shinier than this looks)

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Matte sprayed.

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Much better in person and more appropriate.  Now to the bezel.  It has a rubber gasket to help with water resistance so I removed that.

pjctrJU.jpg

I need to fade it using bleach.  I heat up the bleach for 30 secs in the microwave and pop it in.  Never, ever walk away when you do this.  Almost immediately paint starts to float off.  I just wanted to take the shine off.  2 minutes and I've removed the shine and more of the color than I had intended.

xqdJxJK.jpg?1

I will probably hit it with a scotch brite to get it exactly like I want it later.

That is all for now.  Gonna strip the lume off the hands and I'll have to wait for the plexi.  Wanted to do this whilst it was fresh in my mind.

Brief update:  removed the lume, but the high quality paint on the hands was removed by the acetone.  Had to respray the hands.

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So after everything dried it was time to lume.  I use a water based lume that allows me to color it with inexpensive watercolors.  I'll be using some gold and brown to get the color of my model.  Here is the setup.

Iw0ld9C.jpg?1

I have my fancy lume mixer (spoon and toothpick).  Oilers and toothpicks to apply the lume.  I use oilers to do the hand lume and depending on the thickness of the area to be lumed I pick an oiler or toothpick.

The thickness of the lume is crucial.  Its one of those things you have to figure out by practice.  I'm using basically a white glue as binder.  I have water and qtips to clean up my mistakes.  The whole thing is over in a couple minutes.

Unlumed.

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Couple minutes later, lumed.

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And a better shot of the dial.  I'll let it dry till tomorrow and assemble it.

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Time to put the hands back on.  I removed them in the midnight position so that is how I will put them back on.

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And now we wait for the plexi.  Hard part should be done.

So I ordered a 33.6mm plexi.  The actual opening is about 33.52 so you have to sand off the edge a bit to get it to fit.  I carefully did it with 220 sandpaper.  Really didn't take but a few minutes.  I pressed the bezel back on with my crystal press.  You might be able to do it by hand but a press is cheap and so much easier. 

Polished the plexi with polywatch and glued it in with GS Hypo Cement.  Lest you think I'm a tool hog you can see the fancy clamping mechanism.

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After the plexi dried I cleaned it and dropped the movement and spacer in.  Couple of quick snaps.  Better pictures when the sun comes out.

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Got some decent light, not sun but some light.  Grey days lately.

Back

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Plexi makes a huge difference for a couple $

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Nikosaldente

WOW!

Great tutorial!

Can't wait to see it completed!

Thanks for sharing pal

P.S. Link for the Quartz Speedy?

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BM284

Looking forward to seeing how this works out - knowing your skills Rich, it will look great! ;)

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repmaster1234

Looks like a blast Rich. I've definitely thought about a doing a similar project myself! Looking forward to the next update.

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NCRich
18 minutes ago, Nikosaldente said:

WOW!

Great tutorial!

Can't wait to see it completed!

Thanks for sharing pal

P.S. Link for the Quartz Speedy?

Thanks, the quartz speedy at that price only lasted a short time.  It is so hard to tell what versions they have on Dhgate now I'd hate to venture a guess.  If you type in moonwatch quartz you will see them at $90-100.

 

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aitcharGMT

Wow! Coincidentally I just got one on the way with a broken glass for a project. Now I know what i want to do with it! Can't wait for the rest of the tuto.

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Glaude

Excellent ! Nice start and thanks for sharing !

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Moondustesp

Great post Rich can’t wait to see the next instalment 

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TRANSPORTER

Nice one mate. I can see my speedy from the gate through this, so I’ll be following your posts, particularly what plexi you’ve ordered from cousins and also your mix of lume

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Nikosaldente
49 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Thanks, the quartz speedy at that price only lasted a short time.  It is so hard to tell what versions they have on Dhgate now I'd hate to venture a guess.  If you type in moonwatch quartz you will see them at $90-100.

 

Thanks!

How do you intend on "Freezing" the Subdial Hand @6?

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NCRich
5 minutes ago, Nikosaldente said:

Thanks!

How do you intend on "Freezing" the Subdial Hand @6?

Not gonna do it.  I know nothing about a quartz movement.  Its wrong anyhow, why freeze it?  I'll look at it, but I'm not gonna mess with it unless it is easy.

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GC

Oh, this will be good... 

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Nikosaldente
11 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Not gonna do it.  I know nothing about a quartz movement.  Its wrong anyhow, why freeze it?  I'll look at it, but I'm not gonna mess with it unless it is easy.

That would probably be the best thing to do...or in this case; not do:D

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gmchris

Brilliant.  I've always said that the quartz is a closer rep than  the handwinds or 21j autos. Can't wait to see this project.

 

Would be perfect with a vk mircostepper but they always seem to be in 44mm versions.

 

I've had 3 of these off dhgate from different sellers in different years to give to friends and the only difference I've noticed is the dial print quality and the sundial numbering can vary, but asking for pics before ordering is best.

7 minutes ago, Nikosaldente said:

That would probably be the best thing to do...or in this case; not do:D

Or maybe grind off the post and glue the hand to the dial. Gets rid of the ticking seconds. 

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GingerApple

Lovely start, well done Rich!  Subscribed! I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Working on the basis it turns out okay, you need to get a conveyor belt production system going! I want one! Get this bad boy (or it's twin brother) on M2M sharpish.

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Thommo82

That looks like a lot of work mate

Maybe when you’re done we can just swap?

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out 

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brang1

Braver man than I Gunga Din, look forward to the next steps

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NCRich

Updated with dial and hand lume.

ANh7rJo.jpg?1

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deju
10 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Updated with dial and hand lume.

ANh7rJo.jpg?1

That’s really cool, you going to do an mk2 as well? 

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NCRich
2 minutes ago, deju said:

That’s really cool, you going to do an mk2 as well? 

Dunno, might do my handwind one next.  This one is practice

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deju
35 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Dunno, might do my handwind one next.  This one is practice

Vintage mk2 would look epic, the vintage lume looks great! 

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Haltec

@NCRich. 

Can you please find some place in background of your following photos for caseback engravings ?

This is great work.   I am thinking to get one manual wind with st1903 (24 hours subdial @6) and try to change

       12                                            24

9               3         into      18                    6

         6                                             12

 

 inscription on that subdial.  It is a fantasy model but it suit its purpose (as breitling cosmonaut - If I remember model name correct) for wearer to know wether is day or night on earth.  (AM/PM)

Edited by Haltec

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NCRich
21 hours ago, Haltec said:

@NCRich. 

Can you please find some place in background of your following photos for caseback engravings ?

This is great work.   I am thinking to get one manual wind with st1903 (24 hours subdial @6) and try to change

       12                                            24

9               3         into      18                    6

         6                                             12

 

 inscription on that subdial.  It is a fantasy model but it suit its purpose (as breitling cosmonaut - If I remember model name correct) for wearer to know wether is day or night on earth.  (AM/PM)

Do you want me to take a picture of the case back?  Anyway movement, dial, and hands are assembled.

e5r7xPz.jpg?1

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Thommo82
56 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Do you want me to take a picture of the case back?  Anyway movement, dial, and hands are assembled.

e5r7xPz.jpg?1

Mate that is looking great!

Every time I look at mine now I just see all the WHITE!!!! Haha

The vintage colour (yes, that’s how you spell colour) lume really changes the look for the better

 

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