The GMT BLNR-ighted

[Cdenim 0]

Ok, back at it again. But went back to the Liqmet liquid metal. Just a bit more durable and been playing with different applications. This time its on one of my all time favorites (blue and black thing) the gmt master II BLNR or Batman or Bruiser.........Either way, it shows Rolex's ground breaking work in ceramics. Making the two colors at the same time in one piece. There quality is..unmatched. Unlike our friends at Noob... Heres what you get..
 
The stock noob bezel and insert from about the best reps out for this model. The insert color isn't all to bad. But like the LV or HULK in the submariner line, although it looks close now, the fraction of a second your eyes move the slightest bit off where you were looking, the Gens color changes where the noobs...same blue as before. This makes these 6 digit sports watches such a topic for us and debated fiercely over what factory makes the closest one. IMO the noob v2 i believe, of the gmt with correct hand stack and the A3135 (which actually has a colored blue hairspring).... is the closest one might come to the right color. But as with pretty much any noob....... What the hell is the color of the number and indices. Too dark, wrong color, but ok as far as depth but in no ways close to gens deeply cut engravings. ugh..... so theres what you get. Here is what is possible with the ppm mod i came up with a few posts back. But once again coming up with a new application system that is imo, finally perfected. Perfectly smooth thin layer of material, then clear coated to protect it and give it some robustness against water, accidental scrapes ect...


And i finally found out why the six looks like it does. So a while back i had heard noob make the claim they make these the same way our swiss friends do, in one piece. NO. The six shows this because of where it ends up on a 2 piece insert. There just isn't a color difference between the blue side and black side in the #6 marker. The insert is like a tiny bit higher on the blue side causing the side in the black half to be sunken in giving the paint a different shade. Seen here after applying liqmet
 
This is what this stuff looks like mixed up ready to be applied

a real liquid metal in platinum. It gives the insert a very very close to gen quality in the way the light plays on the color depending on how your looking at it. Here is how it reflects in the winter sunlight here in Antarctica aka Chicago 

and off direct light

showing the depth of marker #s with any light from the side
 

And a last shot, putting the insert into a old sub case i had laying around. The color is pretty much right there along with the way it behaves. As the mods go for these ceramic inserts, still will say Steve's plating works the best in achieving the gen look. But with the application process becoming easier now, and the results the professional, repeatedly, the ppm is finally catching up to the plating one. Significantly cheaper without sacrificing all that much in the way of appearance. As we tackle more inserts, i will post them and tell me what you think or what needs changing. Thanks...wear um in good health guys.

Edited January 17, 2018 by greg_r
bizarre choice of reversed-out typeface cleared...

[black263 228]

Be nice if I could read this without my eyes hurting, and the pictures were embedded.

[marqtz 0]

Nice tread, but can't see the pictures...

[RepTime 0]

As far as the pictures I can see that looks so much better. If I may ask did you only use Liqmet liquid metal?

[Cdenim 0]

1 hour ago, black263 said:

Be nice if I could read this without my eyes hurting, and the pictures were embedded.

sorry guys. all fixed

 

[black263 228]

Just now, Cdenim said:

sorry guys. all fixed

 

Still don't like the white on black writing.  Was this a copy/paste from RWI?

[marqtz 0]

Looks very promising

[greg_r 81]

4 minutes ago, black263 said:

Still don't like the white on black writing.  Was this a copy/paste from RWI?

fixed

[miamiwatch 0]

Wow, this is legitttt...very good job bro!

[Luxuracer 14]

1 hour ago, Cdenim said:

 

Beautiful job ... buddy!

You are really determined ... using the whole kg of that Liqmet platinum liquid metal ... aren't you !?!

Kakaka!

[Explorr 4]

Congrats on this thread. Nicely done. There is lot's to learn from you, thanks for sharing.

E.

 

[Cdenim 0]

1 hour ago, Luxuracer said:

Beautiful job ... buddy!

You are really determined ... using the whole kg of that Liqmet platinum liquid metal ... aren't you !?!

Kakaka!

I'm not letting it go till its perfect....lol.. no i appreciate it sir. Just about there. fairly easy, can be replicated, copies the gen very close, cheap....and that blnr insert makes me want one now.

2 hours ago, miamiwatch said:

Wow, this is legitttt...very good job bro!

thank you sir. figured you'd like this one. came out really nice

[Cdenim 0]

2 hours ago, black263 said:

Still don't like the white on black writing.  Was this a copy/paste from RWI?

i wish it was that easy. .I have so many rwg friends now i have to post on both. thats why pics didn't embed.

[cbouza3 0]

Noble work you are doing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[black263 228]

I'm not a Rolex fan, but when you look at the work that went into these bezels, you'd think they could have sorted out the position at which the colours change.  In the bezel above, there is a bit of black bezel between the blue and the 8 in 18.  On all the gen pictures I've seen the blue wraps around the edge of the 8 and there is no gap.  It looks like the bezel wasn't correctly lined up when they did the engraving.

[manodeoro 19]

i wish it was that easy. .I have so many rwg friends now i have to post on both. thats why pics didn't embed.

Greater and greater !!!
BTW ... do you use liqmet pure or do you mix with something else ?

sent from my Moto G5 Plus using Tapatalk

[domsdaddy123 0]

Fantastic work you are doing brother.

I am curious, do you have a gen bezel on hand for comparison? I ask because the gen does look quite a bit different from the work you are doing. The first thing that jumps out at me is the gen has a much, much finer and uniform texture. In fact the texture of the gen is so fine that with the naked eye one can not really see individual specs of the material. The material is of such a fine application that when each tiny particle reflects light, all together it looks as if the numbers have a "glow" or "sheen" to them. Its not until you magnify the view that you can see that the platinum color is made of of particles and not a smooth "paint". Have you seen spongebob's mod in person yet? So far, whatever he's doing seems to be the closest to gen, but of course he is not cheap and it takes a long time to ship both ways. 

 

Anyway, your work here is fantastic, Im wondering if there are any airbrush experts here who can chime in on getting the paint finer...but the big hurdle as I see it is re-cutting the numbers that divide the blue and black. There has got to be some pros here who could smooth out the texture with a dremel to allow a uniform color application..that in my mind is the big hurdle... Any dremel pros out there????

[Cdenim 0]

3 hours ago, domsdaddy123 said:

Fantastic work you are doing brother.

I am curious, do you have a gen bezel on hand for comparison? I ask because the gen does look quite a bit different from the work you are doing. The first thing that jumps out at me is the gen has a much, much finer and uniform texture. In fact the texture of the gen is so fine that with the naked eye one can not really see individual specs of the material. The material is of such a fine application that when each tiny particle reflects light, all together it looks as if the numbers have a "glow" or "sheen" to them. Its not until you magnify the view that you can see that the platinum color is made of of particles and not a smooth "paint". Have you seen spongebob's mod in person yet? So far, whatever he's doing seems to be the closest to gen, but of course he is not cheap and it takes a long time to ship both ways. 

 

Anyway, your work here is fantastic, Im wondering if there are any airbrush experts here who can chime in on getting the paint finer...but the big hurdle as I see it is re-cutting the numbers that divide the blue and black. There has got to be some pros here who could smooth out the texture with a dremel to allow a uniform color application..that in my mind is the big hurdle... Any dremel pros out there????

I don't happen to have one on hand, but its all to do with the lighting,. I have seen gens look as matalic sparkly as seen there and gens look like this as sunup

exact same insert i did last night just under different lighting

[Cdenim 0]

like i said, it looks and behaves same as gen

 

 

[GingerApple 7,285]

Sorry to hijack, but I know you like your bezel mods. I've just tried the Molotow mod on a new Hulk. I've only done the first coat, so it's looking a bit ropey, but for literally five minutes work, not too shabby. Top pic is night time, indoors, low light (unlit room save for light from the TV), the lower pic is same, but with the ceiling light turned on. 

[Luxuracer 14]

5 minutes ago, GingerBubba said:

Sorry to hijack, but I know you like your bezel mods. I've just tried the Molotow mod on a new Hulk. I've only done the first coat, so it's looking a bit ropey, but for literally five minutes work, not too shabby. Top pic is night time, indoors, low light (unlit room save for light from the TV), the lower pic is same, but with the ceiling light turned on. 

Bubba ... A Hulk ?!?

I am not really seeing you with a hulk ... I will let it slide thus time, ... make sure there is NO bling sub ... OK?

[GingerApple 7,285]

22 minutes ago, Luxuracer said:

Bubba ... A Hulk ?!?

I am not really seeing you with a hulk ... I will let it slide thus time, ... make sure there is NO bling sub ... OK?

Shush. I will buy crazy bling if I want crazy bling.

 Although I would swap this for a TC LV, so if you could just track one down for me, that would be great....

Let me know when you've got it for me. Ta.

[Luxuracer 14]

I have a JF LV non-engraving on its way to me. I am not interested in any TC watch. 

I love the Kermit but can't see myself wearing a Hulk.

[GingerApple 7,285]

3 minutes ago, Luxuracer said:

I have a JF LV non-engraving on its way to me. I am not interested in any TC watch. 

I love the Kermit but can't see myself wearing a Hulk.

 I love the Kermit too, but this came up on M2M and I was weak....

[Luxuracer 14]

3 minutes ago, GingerBubba said:

 I love the Kermit too, but this came up on M2M and I was weak....

Kakaka! ... Damn M2M section.

I bought 2 PAM and 1 IWC off M2M the last few weeks ... which are NOT in my wish list.

So I know the feeling.