[TUTORIAL] Turning bad Rolex 5513 COMEX rep to nice looking Rolex 5513 COMEX rep

[KeNnY 29]

[TUTORIAL] Turning bad Rolex 5513 COMEX rep to nice looking Rolex 5513 COMEX rep

Hello all !

 

 

I would like to show you this small tutorial how to make a turd Rolex watch 5513 into quite nice grail watch first pieces of COMEX 5513 watches This is MEDIUM Skill tutorial, for someone that already done some messing around with watches, and would like take things to next level.

 

This watch comes from Watch international and has got removable indexes, what is not correct for this model, as it should have printed dial indexes. Also the Crown guards are not correctly shaped, and with no HEV escape, and incorrect lugs holes for the springbars.

 

Other than that, the bezel assembly is almost genlike, the crown is nice as well as the back of the watch, with nicelly engraved 5513 on the case and caseback. So I grab this model to do some nice modding to it

 

Here are pictures of the watch how it looks before we started modding

 

 

Here are pictures what we like to make it look like

 

 

SO as you can see WE HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO !!

 

So dissaseemble whole watch, push out the crystal, remove the bezel so you will have only the base of the watch it self. I will skip the part for this tutorial, as there are many tutorials for removing the movement or dial, and I personally think, people doing my kind of mod, need to know this before attempting what I am doing now

 

So first we will drill out LUG holes.

I recommend to use stacionary drilling machine for this job, with fine drill bits with sizes of 1,2mm and then 1,3mm. Please oil the tips and holes often, as the drill bit will get hot soon. AND USE SLOW RPM !! Like MAX 360RPM !

 

 

You can as well drill 1,4 mm drill bit hole for the HEV assembly if you have one. I don't have it so I will just make small hole where I will apply my FAKE HEV on the side You can also see, how I fixed the case in cloth, not to get damaged when holding in wrench. Best would be to have CNC machine, but well, I have only this avaiable at work.

 

 

After that you need to trim the CGs and shape whole case, as close you can get to your REFERENCE picture, but as you can see, most of the versions of 5513, 1680 or any other subs of that time, had different crownguards each toher, as it was all done by hands of operator, when he was polishing the watch, and how much pressure he applied, so use fillets and sandpaper to shape the case close to your stock picture. I had to do a lot of job with my piece, as the crownguards were completelly off ! We will then take our polishing machine, and use step by step guide for polishing metal. So First the deep scratches, then medium polish and at third we will do Mirror finish I can show you my setup for this job. I use my dremel tool for this.

 

Please, cover the area because this is DIRTY WORK !

 

 

After all this DIRTY WORK, give the case a nice bath in ultrasonic cleaner to get all the mess off. After our drilling, brushing and polishing work, we have nice case That is ready for assembly, in my case, fake HEV button. I use one type of super strong metal bond glue.

 

 

Great, so now we have finally the case finished ! Now lets assembly the crystal and bezel insert to the watch. I used here Tropic hidome plexi crystal, what should be the same specs as gen, as the rep crystal is really shittie. I also UV cured the crystal, for better bond of the crystal. But due to the construction of the crystal, and bezel insert, I don't recommend to use this watch for swimming.

 

 

After that I installed the crystal gasket and bottom base of the bezel. THe crystal was a bit more thicker then the rep one, so it was hard to push it there to hold.

 

 

Here you can see complete construction of the bezel ring, with insert and washer.

 

 

I used the aftermarket YUKI bezel insert with pearl, I had from pervious project. The pearl was lumed with C3 Superluminova with slight aged look

 

 

Now lets get to the lumming of the DIAL it self. As you know from first pics the dial has got removable indexes, that have luminous paint on them. And that looks ugly and not gen like. And we want to improove our rep with better puffy lume markers to look how we had the reference pics. And as we don't have dial printing machine we have to improvise ! I wanted to try to paint the indexes. And here is how we went.

 

Lets see our dial again untouched. Please do this with completely removed dial from movement.

 

 

So I started with the square indexes, I sticked the paint tape, that will not damage the lacquer of the dial. After that I removed the indexes and free space I filled with white enamel paint. Please around the edges use toothpick to apply pressure, so the paint will not get under. And if does, the paint is still able to work a bit when it is drying so you an get nice lines.

 

 

So when we have these two, lets try the triangle please remember, I did this as an test, to see if I can do it. Next watches will / were much better results

 

So again do the same thing

 

 

Looking good !! lets finish the last one square and lets do the hardes part the round indexes.

 

 

The best way would eb to use dosing unit for exactly same dispenced paint. But we again improvise, and use our trusty toothpick.

 

 

Some corrections and looks quite good for free hand ! you can remove extense of the paint and leave it dry, so we can lume our fresly painted indexes.

 

 

For relume I used C3 superluminova lume with superluminova lack, and simply relumed the indexes with bergeon oilers. You need steady hands for this , to make it look good.

 

 

THe hands needs to have the old lume removed, so just put them into acetone for a night, and next day clean them, and put them ready to be lummed. Use the same mixture when you lumed your watch. So best relume also hands when you are luming dial.

 

Here is assembled dial with hands on the movement, ready to be assembled together with case.

 

 

Looking good don't you think ? But we still need a LUMESHOT !

 

 

Now lets just regulate the watch within COSC

 

 

All good lets assembly the watch

 

 

I also aqquired GEN 5513 (I hope) Sticker to cover the back, as the model i had didn't have engraved caseback, so some nice touch to it

 

 

PART 2 IN NEXT POST

[KeNnY 29]

PART 2

 

And now put gen like 2mm thick push springbars we are DONE !

 

 

And now GLAMOROUS SHOTS of out better looking ROLEX 5513 COMEX

 

 

And here is BUND strap I felt that will be awesome for this combo

 

 

I hope you like it and I inspired you for any future builds and moddings

 

Thanks for watching and good luck for your modding of your ULTIMATE COMEX 5513 or any other Vintage Rolex

[Pob 73]

Very nice my friend, as always

[KeNnY 29]

Very nice my friend, as always

 

Thank you my friend,

[Mechwarrior 2]

Great

[NCRich 13,751]

Nice work Kenny!

[johnnyjazz 0]

Very nice Kenny. If you take the dial to your local sign shop they should be able to scan the dial and make you an exact size stencil out of self adhesive vinyl, usually called appli-mask.

Once applied to the bare dial it will give you razor sharp spacing and edges.

Look up sign manufacturers in your area and ask them, for future projects. If they also do silk screen printing then the complete dial including text and second markers can in effect be anything you design.

[KeNnY 29]

Great

 

thank you buddy

 

Nice work Kenny!

 

Thank you buddy !

 

Very nice Kenny. If you take the dial to your local sign shop they should be able to scan the dial and make you an exact size stencil out of self adhesive vinyl, usually called appli-mask.

Once applied to the bare dial it will give you razor sharp spacing and edges.

Look up sign manufacturers in your area and ask them, for future projects. If they also do silk screen printing then the complete dial including text and second markers can in effect be anything you design.

 

Thank you for the tip mate ! We are making some films here in my work, so I could ask them

 

Thanks again !

[gtwc 1]

As usual - another great and informative tutorial KeNnY.

I would need to start at 'cack-handed moron' level !

[KeNnY 29]

As usual - another great and informative tutorial KeNnY.

I would need to start at 'cack-handed moron' level !

 

hahahahahahhahaa Mate you can start with my old old old first tutorial with DSSD disassembly, but with updated methods I written here.

 

Thank you very much buddy

[Pihlippe 1,264]

Great work!! but were is it?

Cant seem to find it in my mailbox. :(

You didn't sell it did you?

 

[KeNnY 29]

Great work!! but were is it?

Cant seem to find it in my mailbox. :(

You didn't sell it did you?

 

 

oh I did LOL

 

SARDONIX has it now !

 

[Jose Betancur 0]

damn! Kenny you got skills! and Sardonix you got style!

[KeNnY 29]

damn! Kenny you got skills! and Sardonix you got style!

 

Thank you mate !

 

And I Agree he does !

[jjm4a2 0]

Beautiful

[TT88 1]

very nice tut again kenny. makes me wanna start messing around with my failed project again.

 

let see the 'there's only 1 kenny!' level tut!!

kudos!

[KeNnY 29]

Beautiful

 

Thank you mate

 

very nice tut again kenny. makes me wanna start messing around with my failed project again.

 

let see the 'there's only 1 kenny!' level tut!!

kudos!

 

Thank you buddy !! And good luck mate !

[andygt 0]

Great work, Kenny! I'm getting an itch for a Comex now

 

By the way are you able drill fresh lug holes in cases that have no lug holes?

[KeNnY 29]

Great work, Kenny! I'm getting an itch for a Comex now

 

By the way are you able drill fresh lug holes in cases that have no lug holes?

 

Thank you buddy !

 

GET ONE ! amazing watch for sure

 

YOu need diamond coated drill bits heads, or simply bits that have strong tip that will make new hole. After that you can just simply enlarge the hole

[edwinowl 180]

Great work KeNnY. Agree the wooden toothpick for Lume is the way to go, I sharpen mine for the finer work. Not a fan of the bund mate but this one looks good. Well done buddy. Clap clap.

[KeNnY 29]

Great work KeNnY. Agree the wooden toothpick for Lume is the way to go, I sharpen mine for the finer work. Not a fan of the bund mate but this one looks good. Well done buddy. Clap clap.

 

THanks mate but you need to be careful not to scratch the polished side, so bamboo is best

[edwinowl 180]

Bamboo. Okay not sure where I'll get some of those though lol.

[andepad 0]

Kenny

Very nice work!... alway enjoyed your tutorials and videos ;-)

....man, the drilling at low RPM must have taken some time...

[KeNnY 29]

Bamboo. Okay not sure where I'll get some of those though lol.

 

Almost all premium toothpicks are made from Bamboo tree

 

Kenny

Very nice work!... alway enjoyed your tutorials and videos ;-)

....man, the drilling at low RPM must have taken some time...

 

Thank you buddy ! yeah it did, but much better as you will not break the drill bit that easy.

[wagner 0]

Thanks for sharing