16800 build

[APjumbo]

So the date window alignment was driving me crazy.
One quick fix was I swapped the crystal gasket to give a little more magnification.
This made it so that the edge of the date window was right on the edge of the cyclops.

It still bothered me a little.



Was it just mochachas singer plates? Or does a 3035 dial have a slightly different date position than a 3135 (my datewheel)

It doesn’t make sense that they both use the same crystal with cyclops position. The cyclops on my crystal lines up perfectly with the datewheel, it’s just the date window that is off.

I can’t move the dial feet as the case machine tolerances are way too tight and won’t let the dial be off centered

 

[APjumbo]

I am also doing a 16660 seadweller build. It was a toss up weather to go with mochacha again or hope a MQ dial would have better date window placement

I ended up going with mochacha (Ritchie) again and am super pleased
The 16660 dial aligns better (it has been adjusted again better than this pic)

 

[APjumbo]

I should have taken more pics and documented it here but anyways, this is where it's at.

Dial sanded down by hand on left hand side, centre hole lightly filed out a little on the right side.

Feet completely removed, so dial could be pushed way over.

I practiced on two spare dials using a small butane torch to patina the lume, it worked wonderful. Put it on a cookie rack (idea from popperini) and hit from the bottom on the outside edge to try to heat the indices and keep the lettering white. (Pagani dial has stock gold lettering)


Those dials were glossy with indices though. It did NOT work well on this matte dial, the heat started to blister the paint, fuck.

Maybe I was overconfident after the glossy practice dials went so easily. Maybe I rushed and got too close.

Oh well, gotta learn somehow.

I didn't want to put it in the oven because I really wanted the printing to stay more white.


I ended up applying dark drip coffee to the indices with a q-tip, and using a heat gun on the top to dry the coffee on there.

That worked well to stain the lume plots but the dial had dried coffee lines, I think I may have hit it then with isoprophly ( I can't remember) to clean it up.

Then a few coats of matte spray paint, then a couple light passes of it to create more texture.



The Hands were also sitting in coffee, pulled out every 5 min and hit with a heatgun.
Lost the seconds hand twice due to the blowing air (tie that sucker down)

The amount of patina is perfect for me, I didn't want too dark.
In fact maybe next time I would use less patina overall and try more of an off white cream instead of tan color.

I don't know if it was the acidity of the coffee or heat of the heatr gun or just my sloppy handiwork but the silver of the hands were all mucked up.

So I did what kj2020 mentioned and hit them up with some cape cod under a loupe, then dried off with soft wipes.
Still not very great but definitely better.

I need to practice on more hand sets before I buy some gen luminova ones to patina. (the tritium gen hands are $$$)

 

[Pinion Minion]

Thanks for documenting your wins as well as your losses- helps everyone!

 

[APjumbo]

If anyone has a suggestion on staining luminova hands to look more tritium please speak up.

Not interested in reluming or trying to paint them in. I want tight clean lines and even some of the pros on here appear to struggle with getting lume and paint perfectly straight.

I might try black tea next (less acidic)? and use my plastic tweezers or toothpicks instead of stupidly using my steel tweezers.

It is a huge pain to try to repolish them up shiny.

I might also try throwing a cheap set in the oven to see what happens

 

[Pinion Minion]

If anyone has a suggestion on staining luminova hands to look more tritium please speak up.

Not interested in reluming or trying to paint them in. I want tight clean lines and even some of the pros on here appear to struggle with getting lume and paint perfectly straight.

I might try black tea next (less acidic)? and use my plastic tweezers or toothpicks instead of stupidly using my steel tweezers.

It is a huge pain to try to repolish them up shiny.

I might also try throwing a cheap set in the oven to see what happens

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802819082188.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.3.5b275e18aQghCq&algo_pvid=b2d2963a-6962-4326-9dbf-b5fe9078a9c7&algo_exp_id=b2d2963a-6962-4326-9dbf-b5fe9078a9c7-1&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2123.93%2123.93%21%21%21173.00%21%21%402103250d16920296262865259efacd%2112000023181981362%21sea%21US%214106202505%21&curPageLogUid=dZOD6edHk0Ur

you can buy a bunch in bulk and just start experimenting!

 

[Pinion Minion]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802819082188.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.3.5b275e18aQghCq&algo_pvid=b2d2963a-6962-4326-9dbf-b5fe9078a9c7&algo_exp_id=b2d2963a-6962-4326-9dbf-b5fe9078a9c7-1&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2123.93%2123.93%21%21%21173.00%21%21%402103250d16920296262865259efacd%2112000023181981362%21sea%21US%214106202505%21&curPageLogUid=dZOD6edHk0Ur

you can buy a bunch in bulk and just start experimenting!

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802305562482.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.0.0.77e88fi28fi2qr&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.281175.0&scm_id=1007.40050.281175.0&scm-url=1007.40050.281175.0&pvid=c1f246b4-c003-4e1a-b13e-3d5c03332fdd&_t=gps-id:pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.281175.0,pvid:c1f246b4-c003-4e1a-b13e-3d5c03332fdd,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238115%232000&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%219.99%214.1%21%21%219.99%21%21%402101c6e316920296713826159ec649%2112000020854546179%21rec%21US%214106202505%21

even better- MUCH cheaper!

 

[Pinion Minion]

you have me motivated- going to order a couple of these dials - 10USD shipped apiece to experiment on:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805444161550.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.5.26194885ievFHq&algo_pvid=7adbd928-b45c-4c99-b121-44f6354c1486&algo_exp_id=7adbd928-b45c-4c99-b121-44f6354c1486-2&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2111.06%215.97%21%21%2180.00%21%21%40210321ea16920301229184482e4b16%2112000033815015398%21sea%21US%214106202505%21&curPageLogUid=Sgd0q9793vBe

 

[APjumbo]

So as much as I was tempted to buy a MQ dial, mochacha (ritchie) is in canada and has really great customer service.

He sent me another 16800 Dial.

I know I should have probably just left it alone, but I can't help myself. I must love torturing myself learning how to mod these watches.

There has been a lot of great info on here, but sometimes it is geared towards older stuff, I want a creme patina.

These were helpful

 

[APjumbo]

So I was worried that if I put the dial in the oven that the text would also turn brown like I have seen many others here do.
Really the text should stay white, and only the lumed parts should look cream.

In the video, his markers turned brown, and text stayed white, maybe this has to do with his dfial actually having "Lume" and my dial just being white non lumed marterial.

Like I said I can't help myself.

I remember someone saying it still cooks for a bit after you remove it, so I pulled it out early.

It was perfect, I should have stopped there......

Ugh

For some stupid reason I though I could experiment with trying to brighten the text. Big mistake.
Don't put Isoprophyl on a dial
In fact, it looked great before any liquid had touched it,
It just ended up looking blotchy, and it softened the plots enough that a little chunk fell off.

Luckily, as before on my first dial, Matte Spray bomb saves the day (at least somewhat)

A couple coats, then a bunch of super light passes from a distance to create texture to hide all my fuckups.

 

[APjumbo]

For the hands, I experimented with the cheap ones and just baking them didn't really do anything.
Next time I will try baking hotter and for longer.

I swear using coffee in liquid form has an acedic effect, and marrs up the shiny parts.
Baking them seemed to keep the shiny bits more shiny.

But it wasn't aggressive enough, so I grabbed the startime set, pushed face down in fresh espresso grinds (nespresso pod)
Baked on high, I think maybe 5-10 min.

I think the hands turned out great.
It took the bright blue away and just left a pale tan/white cream.

 

[APjumbo]

 

[APjumbo]

One of the raffles dials I tried putting tinfoil over the text in the centre of the dial and put face down in the espresso grinds and baked for a bit.

It helped save the text from turning brown, so that’s good. But the cheap ass raffles dial isn’t puffy lume plots, it’s just shiny crap white paint, so the paint on the plots just melted and grinds stuck to them.

If I were to try another good quality dial with puffy plots, I would try again the tinfoil over the text, face down in really fine fresh dry grinds, bake carefully, checking every 5 min. (About 300-330F)
Pull out, blow off grinds, then spray with matte parts paint to cover up where the tinfoil left any marks.

 

[APjumbo]

The good news is I am happy with the hands and am tempted now to bake some gen luminova ones instead of paying a silly price for tritium ones.
Bad news is I’m still working towards figuring out how to get a cream plot dial with bright white text. Most I see that already have patina are too orange and dark.

I may have to buy another dial in the future and try again.

Ritchie, if you are reading this one day, I’m sorry I keep fucking yo your beautiful dials

 

[APjumbo]

My dream watch

If anyone has any suggestions please speak up. Just don’t tell me to go gen

 

[McDuck888]

Loving this!

 

[Karbon74]

have you tried to put expresso coffee drops directly on the lume dots and let them dry alone?

 

[Karbon74]

another "idea"
put damp ground coffee on the dots but not the text with the dial face up, and then bake

you need to have the temp and timing set before start as it would be tedious to check every 5 mins

 

[idinwo01]

I’ve seen high quality watercolors suggested as well as “patina” kits for modeling. Have you tried either of those?

 

[APjumbo]

have you tried to put expresso coffee drops directly on the lume dots and let them dry alone?

Not yet, the first dial I dipped the outer edge right in dark coffee. It sort of worked. I like your idea.