A modernized vintage Air King

[JTL12]

Incredible build.

The amount of intricate and detailed work that you perform is amazing.

 

[johnchpark]

Part 1

So I've had this Raffles 114270 OG POFY DESN case for a while. @jmb has famously modded these with drilled lugs and a better bezel (V1), and then additionally slimming the height profile (V2). This was a leftover V1 he had lying around doing nothing.

Originally I was going to make the usual vintage Explorer or maybe a Space Dweller but after looking at the dials I kind of lost interest since my case lacked the V2 mod. I like making different, even unique builds so I came up with this plan.

A modernized vintage Air King, yeah that's the ticket! Some things old, some things new! I decided on an all polished case and started working on smoothing up the case and bezel. I replaced the crystal and got the vintage Air King dial from Raffles. The hands came from Ali Express.

I wanted a green second hand like the modern Air King has but couldn't find anything suitable from aftermarket vendors. So I just painted one. It's not so hard, you just need to make sure the tape mask is stuck tight and use very light coats. Also get the hand up out of the paint bed immediately. You can just paint it while suspended but I find it easier to do it flat when masking is involved. No luming was necessary on this one.

I roughed up the hand a little with some 3000 grit to ready it for paint.

Mask it off and really press the edges down

Tape it off and use really light coats

After it’s even and smooth, pick it up right away

Next I figured I should get rid of the 2nd stem position since there's no date. You can buy the setting lever spring from an ETA 2801 (about $12), or just sand down one of the bumps on the regular one. Also the other calendar parts were removed.

I had a jubilee I wanted to use for this piece. The end link needed a little reshaping for a better fit.

*Continued in next post

This instructional for the setting jumper was something ive been looking everywhere for!

I always heard you had to shave the little bump off but couldn’t ever figure how to go about that. Using a thin strip of sand paper is a genius idea!

Thanks and im gonna give it a try!