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Budget building the Tudor 9411

Hugop

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I have built several snowflakes now and they range from entry level efforts to the very high end gen dialed, Phong cased wonder I wear now.

I have used yuki dials, rafflestine dials, HR dials and gen.

Hands from Yuki, rafflestime and onlinestorehk (ebay)

Cases I have used include Helenaroo, cartel, JKF and Phong

Plexi crystals from Clark, Sternkruz, cartel and gen

Swiss eta movements, eta clones and asian 21j

All that said here is the way I see the choice before you if you are building on a budget.

Obviously for the best most accurate a 9411 would have a gen dial, Phong case and back, a gen plexi, a gen 702 or 703 crown, gen 125 plexi, Clark bezel assembly, gen insert (easy in black almost impossible and expensive in blue), and a gen swiss 2784 movement. This is basically my set up now. Easily $2k.

Two weeks ago I bought another gen Tudor sub dial. This time a triangle no date. I wanted to get it into a case quick and had a JK fact case on hand. I am not sure but think this is the same as the cartel cases now? Someone chime in if you know. Ether way very similar. Long crown guards that give you plenty of material to reshape. I found this case to be good base to start with inexpensively.

I used some expensive parts with the rest of the build so I will stop there since I am discussing a budget build.

Knowing what I have used on these builds this is my opinion of the best budget build. The dial is key to the finished product. Next hands then crown guards followed by crown. I would use these parts and will try to approximate the cost as well.

9411 Dial and hand combo from yuki about $125
New JK fac or Cartel 1680 base watch with the extended crown guards. $218 with asian 2836. We are talking 9411 so the date disc has to be in the eta position. The date disc can be picked up for about $10 on the bay. You do have to have the skill to Change this disc when changing the dial and hands off. This also means you have to put a 125 plexi on there too. The cyclops is further to the right to accommodate the eta date position. Clark watch for $6?

You can stop there and have a decent snowy for $359. OR...


Aythaya crown and tube $35

If you are going blue you will need the dark blue clark 5513 insert $16

A plastic pearl pip from Aythaya $10 (they have to be lumed or colored by you)

At this point you would have a very presentable snowy for $420. The labor is all on you.

You can take all the parts here and with some skill and elbow greese change out parts and reshape the case. You will also want to drill those lug holes to 1.25mm to take gen spec fat spring bars. You should also polish the heck out of the clark 125 with polywatch (makes a new crystal look a lot more believable imo)

This will produce an even better looking finished product. It is all up to how far you want to take your efforts (and pocketbook).
 
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Hugop

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Here is a photo of the gen triangle dial in the JK fac case. (It also has a gen 703 crown)

efb2406816e15e8330e787c80a924373.jpg


And this is the gen dialed 9411 in a Phong case
6c713add98fa331be6a4e4bbecf4fff3.jpg


And another of the Phong/gen combo...
1743f6e442cabd0f08eeffca945071a7.jpg
 
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Hugop

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If you want to make the yuki hand setup more correct the most glaring problem is the short tail on the second hand. Buy a set from onlinestorehk for $19 or so. The tail length is much more correct.

On a gen the hands align with certain spots on the dial. You will want to make choices that will be the most accurate to the gen positions.

Here are my observations of those alignments. The diamond of the second hand should split the inner edge of the 3 6 9 rectangles. The end of the hour hand should hit the same place. The tip of the minute hand should hit the back edge of the hour markers and where the minute hand flares back to the sides it makes an angle there. On the gen that angle Hangs over the inside edge of the minute markers.

These pics show that mine are close by not gen perfect.
c404676f6d534c954dcac9e832ff8be9.jpg


5eeaeef6d4df7fd92f2b3de47a58767c.jpg


And this one is a little long...
3e6c2415a9a214b092d4f672b165bf9e.jpg


On the gen 9411 the tail of the second hand will end up just short of reaching the depth rating text on the dial.

b12fc36e9d602a4fb92706e13915699f.jpg
 
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tepekei

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2/3/16
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Very informative thread! Now I need to go and double check the hands I used for my build.
 
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rawrzhu

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21/12/14
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thanks for the info, was thinking about building one of these tudors subs
 

Azel

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Great post thank you.
I see here the difference between a true specialist and the Tudor lover I am. Happy to see that the hands of my Snowflake are pretty good except the small tail of the second hand which is a bit short.
If you know the different cases can you rank them in terme of quality/close to gen ? I always wonder the pro and cons of the different case between : Phong/Helenarou/Yuki/Cartel and now JKF.

Regarding the plexi i give a great role to this piece…right after the dial. I use to work in a office and the reflexion of the artificial light is completly different from one plexi to another. Clark are not bad and better than the stock one, for the price it is a good improvement but remains way behind the gen. The good surprise comes from the sternkruz and I was impressed how good it looks.
 

Hugop

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[MENTION=86235]Azel21[/MENTION]

In my opinion the Phong is the closest to gen I have had.

The second choice for me is the Vietnamese case we have been seeing on the bay. Visually they look a lot like the Yuki case. I haven't owned a yuki so I cant say for sure.

My third choice is the new JKF case and it requires a great deal of shaping to the crown guards. Also the case bevels are too wide.

The Helenaroo 5513 case is nice if you want a well worn look on the crown guards. It requires replacement of the bezel. The HR bezel is too shallow to use a gen bezel insert.

Good to know about the Sternkruz I have had the dome version before and they are nice.
 

Hugop

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[MENTION=139254]jaspert[/MENTION] [MENTION=95602]mrbrown0916[/MENTION]

Thank you gentlemen, I hope to see you posting your efforts in the future!
 

Ciccio_started_it

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[MENTION=86235]Azel21[/MENTION]

In my opinion the Phong is the closest to gen I have had.

The second choice for me is the Vietnamese case we have been seeing on the bay. Visually they look a lot like the Yuki case. I haven't owned a yuki so I cant say for sure.

My third choice is the new JKF case and it requires a great deal of shaping to the crown guards. Also the case bevels are too wide.

The Helenaroo 5513 case is nice if you want a well worn look on the crown guards. It requires replacement of the bezel. The HR bezel is too shallow to use a gen bezel.

Good to know about the Sternkruz I have had the dome version before and they are nice.

First off thanks for this thread, just getting into these types of builds and you've provided a wealth of information. Curious about the Vietnamese case on the bay, where can I find it?


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kkgkkg

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obviously the Yuki dial is way better - but is the raffles one any good? can't work out if it is dark, or just a dark photo.
 

Hugop

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obviously the Yuki dial is way better - but is the raffles one any good? can't work out if it is dark, or just a dark photo.
The yuki is light blue. I have two of them.
The helanaroo is darker and the vintage lume is pretty nice.
 

SuperC2

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29/8/16
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Thanks for the tips. I also have a jk Cartel but with a broken 21j movement. Don't know yet if I should do an overhaul with movement and dial or just get the black Bay. Thoughts? I get the feeling that my project will become a money black hole lol

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J!m1

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[MENTION=17786]Hugop[/MENTION] great write up on the hands. It is so hard to explain that in words so thank you for posting.
 

Hugop

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Thanks for the tips. I also have a jk Cartel but with a broken 21j movement. Don't know yet if I should do an overhaul with movement and dial or just get the black Bay. Thoughts? I get the feeling that my project will become a money black hole lol

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C2 I have this extra...it is the new HR dial with vintage lume and an eta 2846.
254151ba522f4c0841f48d1a92218145.jpg