Andei3000 0 Posted December 2, 2010 Hi fellas, the Rolex bug has bitten me, since I saw Rolexaddicts uberawesome 1675 builds. I've just bought two gen 1675 dials: What should I build with those two? Are those dials only suitable for a big arrow and pointed style crownguards build? please help a total rolex noob thanks in advance Andei Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mspangl 0 Posted December 2, 2010 whatever you are gonna build.. it surely will be amazing GL ..austrian pride Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RolexAddict 1 Posted December 2, 2010 Get them refinished, it will increase the value if you want to re-sell, and if you want to build a GMT the watch will look better if you are in Europe I have a good pro shop adress in Paris to do that, they work will the bigger collectors shops here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted December 3, 2010 It amazes me that they can refinish something that's battered! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RolexAddict 1 Posted December 4, 2010 I had 2 refinished with this French company named Atelca here : http://atelierducadran.com/ As someone said on another board refinish = garbage, this is complete vrong. No one collector would buy a vintage watch with a damaged dial and scratches on case and bracelet, this is rep forums faiths. For exemple, Romain Réa here : http://www.type22.com/liste-montre.php5?choix-marque=126 is the number one of Parisian vintage watch collector shops, a lot of old Subs and GMT have a refinished dial made from Atelca. A Rolex Explorer 1655 "Steve McQueen" or a GMT 1675 "El Corniño" are sold between 8000 and 12000 euros and both in most of the cases have refinished dials, and watches looks like new and very clean. How its done ? They first take a macro photo from the dial, work on the photo with photoshop, then the pic is engraved on a metal plate. The dial background and the markings are sanded/erased with a kind of lazer technology, they just let the tritium markers in place. Then they paint the dial plate and use the photo engraved plate to print the markings. The method is called tampographie (tampography? photo stamping? - pad printing? ) If the tritium markers are damaged, they replace with Luminova or with mixed acrylic products to give the patina apparence. Dials from NDT and Yuki have very poor quality markings, personnally, all my dials from Yuki are refinished, this cost 180 euros for the photo-engraving process and 140 euros for the dial refinishing. When I have the photo-engraving template, other dials cost only 140 euros to refinish. NDT dials are minimum 300 usd and very poor quality, Yuki is around 150 usd and better, some are o.K to use without refinishing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted December 4, 2010 Thank you for going through the process! I think I understand it... lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted December 14, 2010 Dials and insert are here (can't tell how much I love the faded insert ), now it's waiting time for Joshs 1655 Case, Wholesaleoutlet bezel assembly and my jubilee bracelet... dial has to be slightly refinished (tritium at 11), otherwise I love the worn look - so nothing to change there... here is a slight teaser of what's to come: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted December 20, 2010 Looking promising! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted December 20, 2010 Still waiting on my 1655 from josh.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted January 11, 2011 Josh's 1655 arrived yesterday, so I got to work yesterday evening (took me almost 6 hours to get everything right) Here she is: 1675 franken (gen dial and insert): Mods to be done: -change the gmt hand, as it's too long -aging the case -reshaping the crownguards -drill the lugs to the correct diameter -not shure about the bracelet either, maybe I'm going to try the folded one let me know what you think guys Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted January 11, 2011 Folded or Rivet Oyster bracelet would be awesome, I love my rivet one Looking good though! Certainly doesn't look like an OOB rep lol How did you do the hands? They match the dial really well Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted January 11, 2011 Folded was what I was thinking too Definitely looking out of the box there, if the box was laying down the sea for 30+ years The hands were really easy: - little bit of glowinc for that faint tritium glow - a little bit of ochre, brown, orange and black of this "professional watercolor set": - and a matte clear laquer just a few drops to achieve a really sticky mixture. - fortunately the laquer is shrinking when it dries - so you have the puffy old lume effect. - when the hands are dry I spray them with the tamiya matte clear coat and touch them up with a paper dowel to achieve the aged look on the metal that's it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted January 11, 2011 Bookmarked Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wiz 0 Posted January 11, 2011 Very nice project, I can't way to see the final result!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aren 27 Posted January 12, 2011 Wow, great project Andei. I wish you lots of success in this. I saw this on the wrist check. If you like the finish and don't want to resell then definitely keep the existing finish. JMO. You have only to please yourself. If you planned to resell, then consider the refinishing. I don't know much about the watches, but it seems to me like an analogy to a fine automobile Would you prefer to have one which is restored or one which is not? I would appreciate this watch either way, but look forward to the photographs and whatever you post about the process. It looks interesting and challenging. All the best with it. and I always love to see Catweazle getting belted by the bathing beauty. Clever avatar. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slim 0 Posted January 12, 2011 It looks very convincingly distressed. But do Oyster dials and hands really age that much inside the case? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks all for those positive comments :P The outcome and how the watch has to look was clear as I got the dial, as it has a really interesting story behind it: The whole watch was found 10 years ago near Betania in Colombia. It has been parted out, as most parts where not repairable due to the fact, that this watch was found near a plane crash site which crashed in 1972. This got me interested and I searched for that crash and came to the horrible fact, that 39 people died in this tragedy. So the watch was lying there for almost 28 years, with broken plexi and that's why the dial looks that way. My goal was to achieve the look of that particular watch which has been exposed to the elements for almost three decades. IMHO it would be a shame to restore a dial with such an interesting background! Don't you love this faint tritium glow on the hands Thanks for reading Andei ps.: Aren,if you like my avatar you should definitely see this one too pp.s.: FYI - story is totally made up and now my urban legend to this watch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
solkryssare 109 Posted January 12, 2011 Fantastic project! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RolexAddict 1 Posted January 14, 2011 Folded was what I was thinking too Definitely looking out of the box there, if the box was laying down the sea for 30+ years The hands were really easy: - little bit of glowinc for that faint tritium glow - a little bit of ochre, brown, orange and black of this "professional watercolor set": - and a matte clear laquer just a few drops to achieve a really sticky mixture. - fortunately the laquer is shrinking when it dries - so you have the puffy old lume effect. - when the hands are dry I spray them with the tamiya matte clear coat and touch them up with a paper dowel to achieve the aged look on the metal that's it Absolutely great project ! the watch is perfect ! now, just send it to me, I can sell here for €€€€... I like your "professional watercolor set" and explications of the job, I work in the same way, just using powder color pigments ready to mix with a liquid acrylic base. For the acrylic base : Lifecolor product brand ref. LC33 Matt Phosphor the result is good whit also shrinking and granular effects exactly like old dead tritium try steelwhool #000 on hands Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted January 14, 2011 powder color pigments ready to mix with a liquid acrylic base.For the acrylic base : Lifecolor product brand ref. LC33 Matt Phosphor the result is good whit also shrinking and granular effects exactly like old dead tritium Awesome, this is the sort of info I've been looking for recently! I need to start luming but I don't want to pay $10 for 5ml of 'proper' lume binder Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted January 14, 2011 Absolutely great project ! the watch is perfect ! now, just send it to me, I can sell here for €€€€... I like your "professional watercolor set" and explications of the job, I work in the same way, just using powder color pigments ready to mix with a liquid acrylic base. For the acrylic base : Lifecolor product brand ref. LC33 Matt Phosphor the result is good whit also shrinking and granular effects exactly like old dead tritium try steelwhool #000 on hands Thanks RA, those words mean a lot to me, as I was just trying to achieve what you already had created I would love to get those color pigments in Austria as pulverizing the watercolors is not really how I want to create my vintage lume These were my first hands I tried to get the vintage look, I'm definitely going to try the tip with the steel wool -Btw. what crown would be the right size for this particular model? (1972 is the year I'm trying to imitate) -which size should the lugholes have? -where do I get a shorter gmt hand? And now for the eyecandy: (boy I love my new close-up rings - cheapest way for awesome macro shots ) Andei Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RolexAddict 1 Posted January 15, 2011 Excellent pics, this is my prefered Some on other boards told 5.1mm, this is vrong, all models since the origin have a 5.3mm crown have a look here, its in french but interesting and easy to understand http://oysterpassion.fr/6.html for the small triangle GMT hand : http://www.classicwatchparts.com/catpart/c...90151f62c73da16 great pics of vintage GMT (and others), parts, stickers, papers etc. for inspiration http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm1/stefanomazzariol/GMT/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andei3000 0 Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks RA for making this clear I have Stefanos site already bookmarked - there is quite a lot of inspiration to get from there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
