How to thin your royal oak

[Dr Fun Socks]

Well worth the effort in my book mate and it was a pleasure to read. Good luck with the thinning business

Glad you enjoyed it mate i may make it available to people at some point. If i could find a supplier of just case backs id be much happier machining and selling them. Its just a big risk for me if anything goes wrong and i owe someone a new $450 watch...

 

[Rawbe]

You could contact multiple different TDs and ask for a bulk pricing on casebacks, maybe one of them would be willing. I know they don’t like to source some parts but perhaps a bulk order would entice them, and make your liability decrease.

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

You could contact multiple different TDs and ask for a bulk pricing on casebacks, maybe one of them would be willing. I know they don’t like to source some parts but perhaps a bulk order would entice them, and make your liability decrease.

I appreciate that, but at the same time if i order 50-100 case backs at say $40 dollars a piece and only sell 3, I'm half a gen rolex out of pocket. I don't know, if people are interested hit me up but I'm in the watch game for fun not to make money. If people want thinner ap’s I'm happy to help. Maybe just wait for the zf, it cant be any bloody thicker!

 

[Copterguy]

I appreciate that, but at the same time if i order 50-100 case backs at say $40 dollars a piece and only sell 3, I'm half a gen rolex out of pocket. I don't know, if people are interested hit me up but I'm in the watch game for fun not to make money. If people want thinner ap’s I'm happy to help. Maybe just wait for the zf, it cant be any bloody thicker!

Or, get an idea of how many interested in a thin case back, a lot, find out a price for bulk if there is any and figure a worthy price each. Have us, the crazy watch enthusiasts, put up $ before hand, after a good count of how many to bulk order. I know I would be interested if not too crazy a cost..... Like a group buy...

 

[Rawbe]

I appreciate that, but at the same time if i order 50-100 case backs at say $40 dollars a piece and only sell 3, I'm half a gen rolex out of pocket. I don't know, if people are interested hit me up but I'm in the watch game for fun not to make money. If people want thinner ap’s I'm happy to help. Maybe just wait for the zf, it cant be any bloody thicker!

Yeah you would have to do it as a group buy, have people pay upfront and wait patiently for their caseback to arrive. It could work out pretty well actually, quite a few members long for a thinner caseback.

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Or, get an idea of how many interested in a thin case back, a lot, find out a price for bulk if there is any and figure a worthy price each. Have us, the crazy watch enthusiasts, put up $ before hand, after a good count of how many to bulk order. I know I would be interested if not too crazy a cost..... Like a group buy...

Yeah you would have to do it as a group buy, have people pay upfront and wait patiently for their caseback to arrive. It could work out pretty well actually, quite a few members long for a thinner caseback.

Ok well any one who’s interested contact me either here or on pm. If we can get say 10 or more people interested I’ll contact a td and ask for 10 case backs. If the price is reasonable it could be a goer. I cant for obvious reasons guarantee that the case back that fits my watch will fit everyone else’s but i guess they wont be far off. If you know people that want thinner ap’s spread the word i guess!

 

[Raddave]

Group Buys are prohibited on RWI , but if everyone agrees that no one will will complain if some thing goes wrong , ill look the the other way , dont want to ruin the fun .....do this at your own risk

 

[d4v3]

Great post Dr Fun Socks, I am in the search of a mini lathe to make my own movement rings and mod cases, it was really nice to see all the process!

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Group Buys are prohibited on RWI , but if everyone agrees that no one will will complain if some thing goes wrong , ill look the the other way , dont want to ruin the fun .....do this at your own risk

Man if its against the rules its game over sorry guys. If you can source your own case back or something maybe we can work it out, or if theres enough interest maybe ill just take the risk and buy them myself. Raddave is it against the rules to sell stuff that ive bought and changed etc? I know theres a lot of supporting vendors but i also know its against the rules to profit by selling which i guess doing mods sort of is? Just want to play it by the book!

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Great post Dr Fun Socks, I am in the search of a mini lathe to make my own movement rings and mod cases, it was really nice to see all the process!

I got mine from ebay, it was a pretty good deal as it came with all the tooling etc needed, except a parting tool and a chuck key. Its an axminster c1 if your interested.

 

[molivio]

Soooooo, say I would like you to do it with mine, how much would you charge ?

 

[Raddave]

Raddave is it against the rules to sell stuff that ive bought and changed etc? I know theres a lot of supporting vendors but i also know its against the rules to profit by selling which i guess doing mods sort of is? Just want to play it by the book!

No if you are modding them , you can charge for your time , but not profit ...

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

No if you are modding them , you can charge for your time , but not profit ...

Ok thats cool, im like a lawyer, £200 an hour im joking its not a quick mod, takes a good 2-3 hours to get it right. It would probably work out around £90 + cost price of the part which could be anything. That could go up or down based on how it goes if i try another one. I guess if its a new watch or the case back is mint, once theres a few in circulation there could be a buy your old one off you for what ever td’s charge incentive. I just dont like the idea of modding peoples watches im not sure i can get a replacement part for should it all go tits up!

 

[Raddave]

Ok thats cool, im like a lawyer, £200 an hour im joking its not a quick mod, takes a good 2-3 hours to get it right. It would probably work out around £90 + cost price of the part which could be anything. That could go up or down based on how it goes if i try another one. I guess if its a new watch or the case back is mint, once theres a few in circulation there could be a buy your old one off you for what ever td’s charge incentive. I just dont like the idea of modding peoples watches im not sure i can get a replacement part for should it all go tits up!

Bro , if you are doing favors for ppl , it would be unreasonable to expect you to do it at a cost to you , thats all im saying ....

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

Bro , if you are doing favors for ppl , it would be unreasonable to expect you to do it at a cost to you , thats all im saying ....

Thats cool man i just don't want to end up in trouble, i spend way to much of my free time here to get banned haha! Its probably getting a bit ahead anyway, no guarantees any td’s will be able to source case backs. Ill put the feelers out.

 

[Raddave]

Thats cool man i just don't want to end up in trouble, i spend way to much of my free time here to get banned haha! Its probably getting a bit ahead anyway, no guarantees any td’s will be able to source case backs. Ill put the feelers out.

You wont get banned for this .....keep the hobby alive !

 

[Nivka]

Ok thats cool, im like a lawyer, £200 an hour im joking its not a quick mod, takes a good 2-3 hours to get it right. It would probably work out around £90 + cost price of the part which could be anything. That could go up or down based on how it goes if i try another one. I guess if its a new watch or the case back is mint, once theres a few in circulation there could be a buy your old one off you for what ever td’s charge incentive. I just dont like the idea of modding peoples watches im not sure i can get a replacement part for should it all go tits up!

You could do it as “one in, one out”. Eg buy a caseback from a TD, shave it by 0.8mm, then sell it to someone and have the buyer send you their caseback Then thin that caseback and repeat

That way you wouldnt have to invest a large amount up front, you wouldn’t have people hassling you all the time for their order, you could take time off without orders backing up and you wouldn’t have to worry about stuffing someone’s watch up

or maybe buy 5 casebacks up front, thin and sell each of them and have the buyers sell you their caseback once they’ve installed their shaved one and confirmed the rotor still has clearance. I know I’d do that. I’d love to have my 1500 thinned, but I know there’s a long waiting list for people like slaughterer and legend, it’s not a cheap mod and there’s always the cost and risk of sending a watch overseas

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

You could do it as “one in, one out”. Eg buy a caseback from a TD, shave it by 0.8mm, then sell it to someone and have the buyer send you their caseback Then thin that caseback and repeat

That way you wouldnt have to invest a large amount up front, you wouldn’t have people hassling you all the time for their order, you could take time off without orders backing up and you wouldn’t have to worry about stuffing someone’s watch up

Yeah thinking about it thats much more sensible haha. Only problem could be if there are any scratched up ones. I mean i could polish them but polishing is boring haha! I think that could be the best way forward though, the idea definitely has legs. Plus im in the uk which is great for customs

 

[d4v3]

I got mine from ebay, it was a pretty good deal as it came with all the tooling etc needed, except a parting tool and a chuck key. Its an axminster c1 if your interested.

I am for sure, its just that reading started to notice that you probably should spend only half of your budget in the lathe because tools required, make a significant amount to consider too, so making numbers again, thanks for sharing the info...

 

[Dr Fun Socks]

I am for sure, its just that reading started to notice that you probably should spend only half of your budget in the lathe because tools required, make a significant amount to consider too, so making numbers again, thanks for sharing the info...

No worries mate if you need a hand with anything let me know. I would go with cheaper carbide cutting tools because the expensive ones like sandvik are a big percentage more. If you have the space/budget just shell out for a full size colechester lathe. Its like a rolls royce compared to my little hyundai