Watch Thread / Wrist Watch Autists - Horology 'n shieeet

[Friendly Primarina]

Hell yeah. Almost any manufacturer that does this has a great looking piece. Go right up the price scales and you’ll see that they’re all standout pieces. I love that combo too.

Also, pic unrelated.

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"I stick food up my butt but let me tell you how weird my boyfriend is."

Anyway I wanted to talk about this old watch I used to wear: Casio w-5210-h (picture not mine)

I bought this thing in 2008, or thereabouts, and I have literally never seen the (tough solar) battery indicator show less than "high." The only reason I'm not wearing it anymore is that heat from leaving it in the sun caused the LCD to fade over the years, so I can't easily read it anymore

I still miss wearing it, though. Such a good watch. Last time I picked it up, after not being adjusted for multiple years, it was only about six minutes fast.

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

"I stick food up my butt but let me tell you how weird my boyfriend is."

Anyway I wanted to talk about this old watch I used to wear: Casio w-5210-h (picture not mine)
View attachment 7774341
I bought this thing in 2008, or thereabouts, and I have literally never seen the (tough solar) battery indicator show less than "high." The only reason I'm not wearing it anymore is that heat from leaving it in the sun caused the LCD to fade over the years, so I can't easily read it anymore

I still miss wearing it, though. Such a good watch. Last time I picked it up, after not being adjusted for multiple years, it was only about six minutes fast.

You can probably repair the old LCD screen. I've done it with a few old G-Shocks.

I'm actually working on something like that now.
My lovely wife got me a Seiko G757 for our first year anniversary, I repaired a gold Omega Tank clone for her.

Anyway, it worked pretty good for about a week. Then, overnight, some numbers started to fade. Then a day or two later, it was dead-dead.

The G757 is known for this because it was so cutting edge at the time, enough to be a Bond watch. The way it was made was very "We did a bunch of weird shit to make it work right and not be 3 inches thick."
Sometimes they just die. I was butthurt, of course. They're rare, she got a crazy deal on it, and it was even inscribed "Ich Liebe Dich." on the back. So it was a likely a gift from a wife to her husband way back when.

Anyway, I got some supplies and decided "Fuck it. It can't get more broken." I took it apart, and cleaned off the corrosion. The board was in far more exceptional shape than most I've seen. Basically new. But some traces were a little corroded. So I redrew them with a silver solder pen. Then, I did some testing. I kept a spreadsheet of findings, and I won't spam the thread with em, but I did find some hopeful things.

1.) After redrawing traces and testing every single tiny trace, the watch is good. Chip is good. The shitty incandescent bulb has been dead since I got it, but I reconfirmed. All voltage goes as it's supposed to, no dead traces.

2.) There are 4 upconverter condensers. These are little ceramic guys that die due to age. The way the watch got away with being so cutting edge but also thin is that each of these 4 controls a different quadrant of the screen. This is partially why you'll see old LCD watches that are missing chunks of numbers, or have dead sections of screen while everything else works.

3.) Testing the upconverters, they are all registering lower than they should, and one is completely dead. This would kill the whole screen, since they can't flash in sequence.
This is 90% likely to be what's wrong with the watch.

So I bought 500 of the correct size and rating condensers, and also some low draw amber LCDs. I'm gonna have to unsolder and then resolder 4 tiny guys about half the size of a grain of rice, and then replace that bulb with the LED. This should bring the watch to life, light the screen fully instead of off the side with a shitty incandescent bulb from the 70's, and also reduce power draw so the batteries work about twice the lifespan as before. Will tell you guys how it goes when the rest of the supplies get in.

Also the FrankenRolex build is going well.

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

Fuck me. Someone needs to stop me from drunk eBay.

Made an offer on a Tudor Small Rose PrinceDate dial, one of the funky early 60's one and marks are correct, so no worry about the providence.
From Australia, they wanted $150 American, was drunk and offered $50 and they took it.

So now the frankenrolex is on hold. Was gonna put the tudor auto movement I fixed in the rolex and rolex case, but I think I'd prefer a basically legitimate Tudor build to a "basically half assed rolex build till I can slowly get all the parts" build.
At any rate, ecstatic about the dial and price I paid. Thing is honest worn, but not at all fucked up. Looks like it was yoinked from a watch that was worn, but then kept somewhere till now.

 

[Doug S]

offered $50 and they took it.

That’s a good score. Those dials tend to hold up really well too. How’s the condition?

Also, more details on the FrankenRolex progress. Interested to know where you are at. I’ve seen debating putting together a vintage Oyster Date Precision.

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

That’s a good score. Those dials tend to hold up really well too. How’s the condition?

Also, more details on the FrankenRolex progress. Interested to know where you are at. I’ve seen debating putting together a vintage Oyster Date Precision.

Condition is incredible for it's age. It's a tuxedo dial, but in gold tones. There's no paint missing at all, the little lume dots have mostly degraded because of age. But they did slightly burn a halo around each one, due to the radioactivity. The indices themselves are perfect, aside from some slight clouding due to exposure. I bet it could be professionally cleaned and look like it came out of a time capsule. I'll probably end up mixing some BGW9 lume and "age" it.

For the FrankenRolex, I have a loose 36mm 1016 case. The dial I HAD gotten (an early 50's era Rolex Oyster Shockproof, made for a manual wind) was measured at 28mm in the listing, which should have worked with the case. It actually measures at 27mm, so the dial falls through the rehaut. I fixed this by making a sort of "extender" shim to allow it to catch on the rehaut. I was going to pop the Tudor automatic on it, and put it in the case with this. And then slowly rebuild an actual Rolex mechanical in a 34mm Rolex case.

But now that I've got the Tudor dial, and it actually measures at the 28mm, I may slap that into the 1016 with the Tudor auto movement in there and call her wearable. Maybe if I can find a stainless engine turned bezel to put on, I may swap to that.
Not my watch, but I've included a photo of what the Tudor dial looks like in the proper watch. It's in about the same condition as the one pictured, but the center spots has a bit more tropicalization.

I'd recommend the Frankenrolex build projects to everyone. It's a ton of fun, you end up with a damn good watch, and unique as hell. I have seen so many references and styles I never even knew existed by looking for dials, cases, parts, movements, hands, etc..... You'd be surprised to learn that Rolex and Tudor had more than like, 3 models before the 2000s.

 

[Doug S]

Condition is incredible for it's age. It's a tuxedo dial, but in gold tones. There's no paint missing at all, the little lume dots have mostly degraded because of age. But they did slightly burn a halo around each one, due to the radioactivity. The indices themselves are perfect, aside from some slight clouding due to exposure. I bet it could be professionally cleaned and look like it came out of a time capsule. I'll probably end up mixing some BGW9 lume and "age" it.

Sounds very promising.

I have a loose 36mm 1016 case.

You should just build a 1016. I could see a FrankenRolex being built from a DJ or OP case (especially a case from the 1980s, 90s, or 2000s as their so common). But a 1016 case is a lot harder to come by and I don’t think as many parts are as interchangeable.

Where do you look for parts? Specifically dials? I’ve seen some really cool dials that are aftermarket (not official Rolex) that fit into vintage references. I saw a red dial on an Oyster Date a while back. It definitely wasn’t made by Rolex but I don’t care. I just don’t know where to find them. I also saw a red Buckley dial a few years ago. I should’ve just bought it

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

Sounds very promising.


You should just build a 1016. I could see a FrankenRolex being built from a DJ or OP case (especially a case from the 1980s, 90s, or 2000s as their so common). But a 1016 case is a lot harder to come by and I don’t think as many parts are as interchangeable.

Where do you look for parts? Specifically dials? I’ve seen some really cool dials that are aftermarket (not official Rolex) that fit into vintage references. I saw a red dial on an Oyster Date a while back. It definitely wasn’t made by Rolex but I don’t care. I just don’t know where to find them. I also saw a red Buckley dial a few years ago. I should’ve just bought it

I may do the 1016 full on build in the future, sourcing a correct non-refinished dial and the 1560 movement/parts to build one is difficult and very spendy. Eventually, I'd like to. This one will be my 30th birthday present to myself this year, along with the Helm Miyako I got a few months back.
And swap these guts to a correct case when I can find one for it. But as of right now, I've got a 1016 case and a Tudor auto-movement and dial.
And a Tudor on the wrist is worth 100 Rolex parts in the bench.

eBay is your best friend. There are other sources for watch parts like chrono24 if you're looking for rare stuff like the Rolex wood dials, but you can't beat the prices of someone who found a Rolex dial in grandpa's desk and listed it up for $200 because that was the going rate for the 5 minutes they spent on ebay looking. If you don't mind (I try to steer clear of them for the 'legit' builds of these, you can never tell if it's fake) some less than provable providence, there are toooooons of refinished and repainted dials on eBay. But be careful. I regularly see "legit TIFFANY EXPLORER DIAL!" for like $300 that I know for a fact is a $20 RafflesDial based on the markings. And yeah, you really should have gotten that Buckley, haha.

Barring that, places like DHGate have chinese super and shitter tier clones of the higher end watches. They also make not-so-clones, things like red datejust dials with all the branding. Their movements range from middling to almost parts interchangeable with the genuine article, depending on the factory and who they're cloning. But their dials and hands are usually pretty spot on, or at least close enough so that you wouldn't know unless you knew.

As someone who enjoys building and repairing super high end, historic watches I can see the appeal of the fakes. I've built a few for friends and families, and a ton of homages. Wear a Rolex that you won't cry about if it falls to the bottom of the lake.
You could search on there for a cheap datejust that catches your fancy and scavenge parts. There's also a bunch of rep factories, but the more vintage dials come up less frequently.

 

[Alcoholism]

Anyone have any experience with Sinn?

 

[SaltyFantaMan]

Anyone have any experience with Sinn?

I know they have a license to make old school breitling navitimer (sinn 903)

 

[BallsMcLongDong]

Not a lot of activity, so I figured I'd post a pic of the latest, greatest project. Wanted a luxury watch before I turned 30 earlier this year. Couldn't afford one. So I built one.
Finally finished getting everything mated and perfected. Lots of ebay parts searching, rebuilding, reshaping, filing, etc... over the past year or so.
Got the proper Roulette 50's style date wheel on him this morning. His case is 36mm 100m WR and sapphire, so he is at home at an Opera or raiding Egyptian tombs. Got a sapphire exhibition caseback to see the monstrosity I put together. Had a plain blued secondhand, but I'd rather a lumed one so I can track elapsed seconds at night. Gold merc hands with pro-level BGW9. He's blue throughout the whole night. The Radium pips came off the dial while touching it up, but I actually prefer the non-lumed indices on a dressier EDC watch. My other tool watches have far more lume than I could need.

I present the Golden Ranger. Hodgepodge of random Tudor movement parts, Sellita parts, Rolex parts, etc...
He's every bit of a Rolex or Tudor, probably better spec wise. And he's my every day.

EDIT: @Doug S here he is finished. He's got a frankenmovement made of ETA, Sellita, and Tudor 2824 parts. I forgot I found that original photo of what he SHOULD look like earlier in the thread, but I'd be lying if I said that the tropicalization and aging didn't look a million times better than the one above. I may also be heavily biased. And you were right. Swapped to this case, I'm saving the 1016 case for a legit Explorer build eventually. I was able to get an acrylic cyclops Rolex crystal and modify it to fit until I found this case, But I'm probably gonna use it for now for the custom copper dial I designed and an NH38 made to fit till I can get all the parts.

 

[Leylon Sneed]

So I would like to get my mom a nice watch as a post Christmas gift... What brand should I be looking at? Metal band obviously, braided gold/steel most likely. Help out a bro?

 

[TruffleSpark]

So I would like to get my mom a nice watch as a post Christmas gift... What brand should I be looking at? Metal band obviously, braided gold/steel most likely. Help out a bro?

The real question is "what is your budget?" Depending on how much you want to spend I think it goes Casio -> Citizen/Timex -> Seiko -> (no mans land of about a dozen or so decent watch brands, Sinn is my personal favorite) -> Rolex/Omega/Grand Seiko -> a real "fuck you wallet" brand like Patek Phillipe or something. As strange is it sounds cheaper quartz watches can actually be better than expensive mechanical watches, they are more accurate/reliable and lower maintenance. But you can't flex with them as much and there is something conceptually cool about how far we've refined mechanical watches given that at their core they are still powered by extremely basic Newtonian physics.

Anyway an extremely safe choice is a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. But if you don't mind a cheaper brand even brands like Casio make some classy looking watches.

 

[Leylon Sneed]

The real question is "what is your budget?"

I saw this looking around, the watch scene is fucking insane. I just found out she lost her old Citizen, so that's kinda what I'm figuring. When I talked to her on Christmas I got some ideas on. I found a Dutch watch company that makes something nice at around $500, I think that'll make her happy. Thanks for the reply Fren.

 

[creamy]

Here's my watch "collection"

probably 1960s manual winding buren (heirloom)
2017 vostok amphibia ref. 060358 I bought for myself as a gift.



I sort of wanted to put the buren on a horween color 8 shell cordovan strap, or maybe a dark green alligator strap, but I also don't want to spend a bunch of money when it looks fine as is
I want to put the vostok on a knockoff tropic strap if the band on it ever breaks. I also wanted to get a different bezel because I think the compass thing is stupid, and I wanted to grab a few replacement "crystals" because I did get a noticeable nick in it, but I don't know if I were to order stuff, if it would arrive due to geopolitical events not within my control.

 

[Eukodal_Addict]

...the watch scene is fucking insane.

Tell me about it. My bf finally got the call from his AD. It's gonna be his first time putting in the request, patiently waiting, and successfully having those motherfuckers actually call you back. God it gets worse every year, the snottiness and wait times. Wednesday afternoon he gets his Submariner Date (126610LN) black bezel Oystersteel w/ all the goodies and paperwork, certification, and box. He's been waiting almost a year now instead of buying from a third party for double just to get it home asap! He has 2 others but not from an authorized dealer so who really knows; I certainly don't. They could be fake as fuck this whole time we'd never be able to tell its 100% real and accurate with all new parts/pieces. It's to replace his Sport Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5064 he never takes off.
How long has your AD Rolex dealer near you make you wait and what was the model you were after?

Spoiler: Spoiler

Fuck don't you just love the Everose pink gold bands so bad, on any model. I do! (Especially if it has the Jubilee band) And the new Land Dweller- and in platinum too?? Oh brother it's so fucking sweeeet! I saw it in the flesh. Doubt I'll ever be in the position to pick that up for him in my lifetime unfortunately
Platinum nor Everose for that matter...

 

[Stackbodiesbro]

How long has your AD Rolex dealer near you make you wait and what was the model you were after?

I've been waiting a year with an AD but just moved to a new city so now I just started all over again. I even bought some of their shitty jewelry to help things along so we'll see. I'm waiting for a Sub date and or a datejust fluted on jubilee.

 

[Eukodal_Addict]

Haha the cufflinks? They got you too?

 

[Stackbodiesbro]

Haha the cufflinks? They got you too?

No not rolex jewelry just some overpriced stuff for my wife that the jewelry store sells to build a purchase history at the new store.

 

[Alcoholism]

How long has your AD Rolex dealer near you make you wait and what was the model you were after?

I don't own any Rolex. Breitlings, Glashutte, expensive Grand Seiko's, etc are my bag. Longines on the cheaper side. Though I think it may be time to buy a Rolex.

Local Rolex AD near me is connected directly to a vanilla boutique that always has brand new used Rolex with a 40% markup. I've been thinking of a Cartier Santos recently so might just buy new from them to get started.

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

I've been using Timex TW4B09000 for the past couple of years and while I love the look, it is a piece of shit. The crown just fell off and it's the third thing that broke in the past couple of months. First it was one of the buttons, followed by backlight.

I'm currently looking for a replacement and I still don't want to spend more than $250/€215. Analog, circular case, 39-44mm, blue dial, no bracelet, non-automatic, pereferably no chronograph or date display.

I like this one a lot. Yeah, I know, a clothing brand watch is probably equally bad as a cheap Timex. I assume that all watches in that price range are like that, though. This is Timberland TDWGA9000603.

Atlantic Seaflight 70351.41.55 is another candidate. I can get it for $250. It's exactly twice the price of the Timberland. If you think it's worth it, please let me know!