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mellons

Bronze MilleMetri Case Mods

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mellons

This post will be a step by step illustration of some mods you can do to a stock bronze millemetri homage case from River. I am particularly taken with this case as it’s relatively inexpensive, can take a bit of manual hand carving, and with relatively little modding can achieve 1000m water resistance. I’ve had a few of these and have attempted a number of mods over the years, but for this post I will consolidate all into one build. The river set is a perfect homage base as it has 8 clear identifiers that are different to the genuine article, so even a heavily modified case set is clearly different yet overall will give the same impression as the original (perfect homage definition).

The stock case set finish initially was pretty rough and required quite a bit of hand sanding and polishing to get acceptable, particularly around the crown guard. Current versions are better and the machining lines are a lot fainter, and will age better imo.

For this build I am going to use a sterile 24hr dial, one I have had my eye on for some time (a stunner by @pvirus)

Here is the stock case with dial and gasket mods installed. First step, replace bezel ring gasket (black) witha red one (thanks @Emilio ) and also install a proper crown gasket to get wr up to 1000m- remember to grease all the gaskets as these usually come dry.
AA1427-B0-9-B82-4598-8-B2-D-41-D8691640-
F70696-AA-619-A-493-B-8613-6828-A8-BFC89

Crown guard lever is slightly proud of crownguard when in closed position, will need a fair bit of work. Junction with midcase and fit also need some work. More on this later

F6229-C6-A-A672-428-F-9361-C522-CB547-D3

Here are the tools you need- pretty simple, just plenty if patience and elbow grease. I don't think a dremel or similar will work on this- the tolerances are too small
402-D8-B32-CB28-4-A7-F-B4-C2-08681758-D9

Im going to start on the trickiest mod, the bezel. My preference is the variant of millemetri case shape with ennebi-style rounded edges to bezel screw seats. Hint- get a spare to practice on and to gain confidence. Stock bezel-

C52-F2-B42-B66-F-4-C9-C-A10-D-AF5817-A51

Prepare bezel by marking amount you want removed from lug seats with a sharpie and protect the main bezel sides with thick masking tape. Hint- start shaping seat furthest away from view (say at 10 o’clock) so any mistake will not catch your eye when mounted.

603213-BE-F848-4-A74-A249-2-FE67-E3-D275
BA87011-B-591-F-4-B33-976-E-06-AC342146-

This is slow and time consuming- try to keep the amount of material removed consistent and also keep curvature similar on all 6 corners. Ideally do this mod in one sitting; its much easier to do corners in series rather than individually. Remove material on each seat, sand down and leave. Come back, mark up and go again. Repeat a number of cycles until you are getting smooth curves. When you think you are finally finished do again. You will end up with something like this.

30372-E5-C-56-A3-49-A0-B438-0-E86-C55-D0
36-F4503-D-DA81-4-BE9-824-B-E79-F829-FB2

Next one is the crown mod- a bit easier. Here is stock crown with sharp edges top and bottom. We need to take these down slightly.

DA883-AED-3-D3-A-45-A1-9-AED-23-B38-E8-A

Remove crown (be careful of kelyess),place in drill spin and file top and bottom, clean down and re-install. Should look a bit softer like this.

BED251-C5-663-E-4638-BAD3-ECE7-D3741-D26

Next take out the cg pin- is well stuck in and I use a corkscrew to push out from the back. Put pin in a drill, spin, sand- down to get back to steel With tip rounded. 

Reassemble and try it out on the wrist, prior to hand finishing complete case.

IMG-7989.jpg

These are the basic mods to the shape, now all you have to do is finish off the case to the required standard and have a go at that crown guard and lever. This requires a bit of elbow grease, around lever and outer curvature of crown guard but also junction of mid-case and crown guard to get flush.

3-A4683-E3-CE5-A-4-FFF-A46-B-70-C63-D41-

You should end up with pretty good lines-

11890771-9-D5-B-4-B42-957-A-7-E2-AC0796-
54-EC0677-5-CE7-4-F59-90-A9-CFA4377-D82-
963-D7-FC6-8-B7-C-486-B-A035-4-F3-E68312

Use the opportunity when sanding down the side of the bezel to get the bezel screws back down to a steel finish. River’s steel bezel screws are not interchangeable, so you need to mod the stock plated screws to get to the finish you require.

There is one last mod you can do if you are feeling confident. 

This is the lug tip mod- have a look at gen images and you will see that the lugs had a splay just before the tip. 

CAB47867-EE22-4148-A372-EFD375-F8-EF62.j

Back you go with the sharpie to mark a guide on each lug for the crease, and get filing. Again similar to the bezel mod its better to do this in one sitting, as its hard to replicate the angle of crease if you do in multiple sittings.

Mark out-E6-EBA29-E-A838-4118-8-D1-B-E18-C2-DD8-C

And after elbow grease

F6-C24625-83-AA-443-D-B59-D-FBADFA470-DB
You should end up with this very attractive profile when done-
996-E400-A-764-B-412-B-88-D4-C36-F1-B2-F

And here we go some finished shots. More polishing to do and patina needs to develop etc.

1-C4-DF6-B3-6-F0-B-43-E6-B1-DE-9-A3-CD25

26-C288-F1-3312-4637-A459-11590-E760-C40

2-F35-DCA0-9-F37-45-ED-B500-3-A98192-F2-

703-C38-B1-5-CD4-490-B-B7-B4-1340-F26968

DD568-C41-8719-41-EC-BF3-E-3984570375-ED

E22-DDADA-D5-B2-4-F38-A17-D-103247-AA9-C

E54-B505-C-9-CE9-48-E9-BBB0-A260-A6661-A

Also you will notice caseback. It is a different material and not the stock steel version- this is an aluminium one. If you can manage to obtain one they makes a big difference to the overall weight and wearability of the build.

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Piccolo

Thanks for sharing - really like these builds that you do. Shows the time and effort that goes into them. 

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tribefan

Holy smokes! I saw the finished product in the weekly wrist thread and had no idea you did all these mods. Beautiful work.

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mellons
On 23/02/2020 at 23:15, tribefan said:

Holy smokes! I saw the finished product in the weekly wrist thread and had no idea you did all these mods. Beautiful work.

Thanks - small case mods make a big difference and bronze is very forgiving to mistakes!

5-C8-C608-A-E21-A-4-C80-85-BC-3-BAA8-E2-

 

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NCRich

Super job!

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Popperini

Apologies for the necro post, but every time I see one of these builds I get a hankering to add a Mille Metri to my ever expanding and never to be completed list of projects.

So my question is - where does one go to get a case set from River (that is, if they’re still available)? I’ve done the usual half-arsed Googling, and not come up with anything except very old posts and build posts like this one.

Oh, and belated thanks to the OP for the excellent case modding guide! :) 

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Jibuti

try tps-tempus on flea

@Popperini

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Popperini

It took me a little while to work out what your message meant, @Jibuti - but got it eventually, cheers. 

However, a search on eBay for a seller with that name yields zero results. 

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Jibuti
8 minutes ago, Popperini said:

It took me a little while to work out what your message meant, @Jibuti - but got it eventually, cheers. 

However, a search on eBay for a seller with that name yields zero results. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133941865037?hash=item1f2f8eaa4d:g:4kgAAOSwDkVaX~1l

 

try PMing him 

 

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Popperini

:thumbsup: Bless you sir!

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mellons

River is also active on HF. Imo the bronze is as good as an ennebi case, has been tested by two people i know up to 1200m wr.

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Popperini

I've no idea what a HF is. Is it like VHF?

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tribefan
1 hour ago, Popperini said:

I've no idea what a HF is. Is it like VHF?

http://homage-forum.com

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Popperini

Ahhhhhh... Cheers m'dear.

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