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"The Official Big Crown Club" - post your pics!

Scalawag

Horology Curious
18/9/23
20
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3
Much appreciated!
BP looks to be the best of the best if you're looking for as close to gen as possible. If you're just looking to toy around with your own build and experiment with some techniques, I really have zero complaints with raffles case at the moment. From a watch geek perspective I would love a smaller 1030 sized build with all the little accurate engravings and what not but I'm not sure I care enough to spend 15x more.
 
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DeLoMan

Active Member
3/2/19
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BP looks to be the best of the best if you're looking for as close to gen as possible. If you're just looking to toy around with your own build and experiment with some techniques, I really have zero complaints with raffles case at the moment. From a watch geek perspective I would love a smaller 1030 sized build with all the little accurate engravings and what not but I'm not sure I care enough to spend 15x more.
Funny you say this, as I ordered a Raffles case last night for this very reason. Looking forward to doing a build.
 

316lad

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8/8/23
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C Master

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Excuse my ignorance but when you say BP ..?
I'm looking at using this;
as a base for my 6538 with a big crown from raffles...
Is that BP?

Ta
This is the base I use http://trustytime888.io/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_7&products_id=15561

I buy them off Sead. I think I rememeber a while ago that he told me BP made them. I could be wrong as I have a lot of watches.
 
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C Master

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Maybe it's just the photo, but this crystal looks enormous, no? What's the reasoning there?
It is an old style T39. They are big. I guess they were originally designed for max water pressure.
 
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316lad

Renowned Member
8/8/23
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And there was I thinking a T22 was a bit excessive for my Explorer 1016 build!
 

Scalawag

Horology Curious
18/9/23
20
14
3
It is an old style T39. They are big. I guess they were originally designed for max water pressure.
Did you swap that in yourself as a modification to the base you linked above? I've been eyeing that same build (on TrustyTime) as a starting point. Did the ETA movement come with a date wheel installed by any chance?
 

C Master

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Did you swap that in yourself as a modification to the base you linked above? I've been eyeing that same build (on TrustyTime) as a starting point. Did the ETA movement come with a date wheel installed by any chance?
I (well my watchmaker) changed the xtal. I did not like the one that came with it. The ETA has a date changing mechanism. I do not know if there is a DW underneath.
 
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DeLoMan

Active Member
3/2/19
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Started my build last night with Raffles’ case. Softened the edges, drilled the springbar holes, brassed the bezel, etc. Having fun with it. I’m going to attempt to make my own gilt dial for this and will use an NH38 movement.

Htr4uL.jpeg
 

369mafia

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Started my build last night with Raffles’ case. Softened the edges, drilled the springbar holes, brassed the bezel, etc. Having fun with it. I’m going to attempt to make my own gilt dial for this and will use an NH38 movement.

Htr4uL.jpeg
looks legit!
 
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316lad

Renowned Member
8/8/23
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Making your own gilt dial - that sounds brilliant. Ad I understand it, rolex used clear varnish silk screen printed on the brass face as a mask for the indices and writing. Then electro-plated the black paint on to the rest of the syrface to leave the gilt areas shining from beneath.
Are you thinking of a similar procedure but with dry-transfer printing?

Sounds great and will be watching with great interest. I know various dial makers have tried hard to make good gilt dials but they remain gold paint and not the above method and as a result just don't have that depth and light relecting qualities.
 

DeLoMan

Active Member
3/2/19
208
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Making your own gilt dial - that sounds brilliant. Ad I understand it, rolex used clear varnish silk screen printed on the brass face as a mask for the indices and writing. Then electro-plated the black paint on to the rest of the syrface to leave the gilt areas shining from beneath.
Are you thinking of a similar procedure but with dry-transfer printing?

Sounds great and will be watching with great interest. I know various dial makers have tried hard to make good gilt dials but they remain gold paint and not the above method and as a result just don't have that depth and light relecting qualities.
I’m going to give this method a shot that others have successfully used: https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...dial-on-the-cheap-tropical-or-black.10925422/
 
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bigtiddygothgf

Active Member
7/10/18
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Making your own gilt dial - that sounds brilliant. Ad I understand it, rolex used clear varnish silk screen printed on the brass face as a mask for the indices and writing. Then electro-plated the black paint on to the rest of the syrface to leave the gilt areas shining from beneath.
Are you thinking of a similar procedure but with dry-transfer printing?

Sounds great and will be watching with great interest. I know various dial makers have tried hard to make good gilt dials but they remain gold paint and not the above method and as a result just don't have that depth and light relecting qualities.
Vietnamese sellers like Ruby, MQ and Phong have true negative relief gilt dials that are pretty good. Users here on RWI have also made them with both decal paper and with a process a little closer to what you described but more suitable for a DIY'er, as linked by DeLoMan above.

Here's the decal dial thread along with another one

I am interested in the fact that you've mentioned screen printing. I think a lot of us were under the assumption that they originally pad printed the 'mask'. I'm not very knowledgable on screenprinting, would it really be able to achieve the exceptionally small details, sharpness and consistency needed? I know there are levels of "fineness" to the screens/mesh but didn't think tiny, fraction-of-a-millimeter details could be achieved. I do know it's a lot easier and more accessible than a pad printing setup so this could be an interesting developement.