5500 Cartier Explorer Build

[Got_cakes]

Hi all,

Quick disclaimer, Im still fairly new to the hobby and I believe in learning by doing, so if you see any glaring mistakes (and I'm sure you will!) it would be much appreciated if you give me a nudge in the right direction!

Parts List-

Movement: Cartier 020-06 (ETA 2824-2)
This is what started this build, I found a Cartier ETA 2824 and a Tiffany ETA 2824 on Ebay and I knew they would make a good pair of watches when complete. (Im thinking a 5513 Tiffany Dial for the remaining movement but that's a discussion for another day). Ive already removed the date complication and I've just received a couple of ETA 2801 setting lever jumpers to remove the ghost date position in the crown. When test fitting the dial I found the clearance between the hands and the dial was nearly non-existent, so I've also sourced the H4 pinons to raise the hand height. Pics will follow when I get around the fitting the parts.

Case: Rolex 1002 Case Set
Does what it says on the tin really, the case didn't come with a crown so I have one on the way, it should be here in the next week or two. Id like clear casebacks on both of these watches so I went ahead and bought a CustomWatchConcepts caseback, it was pricey but I think it will really bring the build together.

Dial: RafflesDial 1016 Cartier Explorer Dial
This is the weak point to the build, but it was the only Cartier stamped dial I could find with ETA 2824 feet. I was originally going to use a mochacha dial and have a go gluing new feet on with a jig, however I already had the raffles dial so I've done some tinkering and im happy with the results. Ive got photos of the ageing and trimming process which il add in later on tonight.

Hands: RafflesDial ETA 2824 Mercedes Hands
Nothing fancy here but cheap and good enough. Ive also done some ageing here which you'll see later.

Movement Ring: Helenarou
Couldn't find the Yuki movement rings, which I've heard are copy's of the infamous Stilty spacer, so I settled for this helenarou ring instead.



Im close to finishing the dial so the pictures will follow shortly, but for now here's a little look at my little rep collection and projects.
Thanks for attending my TED talk

 

[Weetos1]

Hi all,

Quick disclaimer, Im still fairly new to the hobby and I believe in learning by doing, so if you see any glaring mistakes (and I'm sure you will!) it would be much appreciated if you give me a nudge in the right direction!

Parts List-

Movement: Cartier 020-06 (ETA 2824-2)
This is what started this build, I found a Cartier ETA 2824 and a Tiffany ETA 2824 on Ebay and I knew they would make a good pair of watches when complete. (Im thinking a 5513 Tiffany Dial for the remaining movement but that's a discussion for another day). Ive already removed the date complication and I've just received a couple of ETA 2801 setting lever jumpers to remove the ghost date position in the crown. When test fitting the dial I found the clearance between the hands and the dial was nearly non-existent, so I've also sourced the H4 pinons to raise the hand height. Pics will follow when I get around the fitting the parts.

Case: Rolex 1002 Case Set
Does what it says on the tin really, the case didn't come with a crown so I have one on the way, it should be here in the next week or two. Id like clear casebacks on both of these watches so I went ahead and bought a CustomWatchConcepts caseback, it was pricey but I think it will really bring the build together.

Dial: RafflesDial 1016 Cartier Explorer Dial
This is the weak point to the build, but it was the only Cartier stamped dial I could find with ETA 2824 feet. I was originally going to use a mochacha dial and have a go gluing new feet on with a jig, however I already had the raffles dial so I've done some tinkering and im happy with the results. Ive got photos of the ageing and trimming process which il add in later on tonight.

Hands: RafflesDial ETA 2824 Mercedes Hands
Nothing fancy here but cheap and good enough. Ive also done some ageing here which you'll see later.

Movement Ring: Helenarou
Couldn't find the Yuki movement rings, which I've heard are copy's of the infamous Stilty spacer, so I settled for this helenarou ring instead.



Im close to finishing the dial so the pictures will follow shortly, but for now here's a little look at my little rep collection and projects.
Thanks for attending my TED talk

Lo

 

[Weetos1]

Lo

Looks great, 5500 is a great watch at 34mm so elegant, I often use mine as my travel watch it’s never inappropriate. Well done on the build so far looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Got_cakes]

Looks great, 5500 is a great watch at 34mm so elegant, I often use mine as my travel watch it’s never inappropriate. Well done on the build so far looking forward to seeing more.

Couldn't agree more, the Franken OP date (15210) you see above has been my daily wear since I built it. Absolutely Love the thing! Appreciate the support

 

[Got_cakes]

So, onto the dial.

I started with the raffles dial which isn't perfect by any means, and the diameter is 1,5mm too large for the 34mm OP cases. To fix this I aged the dial before trimming it down. Ive seen people use coffee and heat so I gave it a shot and it came out nicely. There's definetley room for improvement but for a first attempt I can't complain.

The starting point:


Covering the dial in strong coffee and baking at 70 C. At first this looked like it had worked but all the patina came off when cleaning the dial. In the end I used a much stronger coffee slurry and baked at temps of 200 C ish.


After cooking the dial at 200 C for 30 mins (below some garlic bread to go with dinner!) I left it to cool down in the oven, then cleaned all the baked coffee off using a brush leaving this gem behind. There is a little coffee melted into the dial but it looks a bit like water damage so I think I can live with it. The clear coat looks like it burnt away in some areas leaving a nice patina.







Onto the next problem, the dial diameter. I did some research into this and found recommendations to go slow and use light pressure, I followed this advice for the first ,5mm before getting bored, cranking up the speed and being more aggressive with the file. I found it useful to position my light behind the dial so I could see the brass dust shavings and gauge how much material was removed. To mount the dial I followed more advice and used a rotary cutting disc tool to clamp the dial as you see below.




Once I got close to 27mm I started test fitting the dial using my calibers, the final size was a hair above 27,1mm. I definitely chipped some of the dial paint but luckily you can't make out any damage once in the case.




Im sure the eagle eyed among you have already spotted the problem with the dial, the Swiss 25 markings are cut off by the rehaut. Annoyingly I've only just noticed this, and the dial is already clear coated but im sure il figure out something. Im thinking perhaps smudge the markings with a soldering iron or hot needle? Il figure that bit out later I guess.


Heres the dial in its current state, I clear coated using a matt hycote lacquer, it's bloody freezing all the time here in the UK so I preheated the dial in the oven and warmed the can with some hot water.


Once the dials dry il try and find a fix for the Swiss lettering, any advice would be welcome. In the meantime it's on to the movement when I get a chance.

 

[geoffdragon]

Great work so far. I am following with interest.

When you reduce a dial like this, if you score round the painted area first...hard in a neat circle I know, it helps reduce the chances of paint chipping off...also angling the file helps too.
As for the swiss wording....sorry no suggestions yet.

 

[Got_cakes]

Great work so far. I am following with interest.

When you reduce a dial like this, if you score round the painted area first...hard in a neat circle I know, it helps reduce the chances of paint chipping off...also angling the file helps too.
As for the swiss wording....sorry no suggestions yet.

That's a really good actually, bet you could make a tool to run around the OD and score the paint

 

[369mafia]

I wouldnt sweat the swiss text at 6 its a minor detail and would be better thats its there as is than mess with it and ruin the dial. You did a great job weathering the dial, dont sweat the small stuff and get the watch done.

 

[matzemedia]

It's great to see that you're taking a courageous approach to the topics. Looks great so far. I'm looking forward to your further reports.
About the swiss font... maybe remove it completely by covering it with black paint.

 

[Got_cakes]

Had a bit of a disaster during drying last night, luckily it turned out an easy fix. I checked on the dial before I went to bed last night and it was looking like this, Im still not really sure what caused this if I had to guess id say I didn't clean the dial well enough and some of the coffee patina lifted into the top of the clear coat. It looked pretty awful in person but the picture somehow makes it look even worse.



I started by sorting out the Swiss text, I heated up a ,8mm piece of steel round stock I had laying around and very slowly and carefully smudged the text downwards. This was by no means a perfect solution but it looks way better so im happy with the result, under magnification it's not perfect but to the naked eye the patina blends the text perfectly.


Next I cleaned all the debris from the dial, I used a pair of tweezers to scrape away the debris and the brush to clean up after, it was a little bit painstaking but it all cleaned up without any problems. I gave the dial another light covering of lacquer and left to dry. Below is the now dry dial, it's been a rollercoaster of emotions but it was worth it in the end.

 

[369mafia]

Nice save.

 

[Weetos1]

Looks to be going great, mine says hello !

 

[Got_cakes]

Looks to be going great, mine says hello !

That thing looks ace! What have you used to age the dial? It’s subtle but looks great. And is that a raffles bracelet?