Bezel Painting/Colouring

[petrichor]

Hi everyone. So I ordered a Rhodium YM a while ago and after owning it for a year I appreciate its position as a not too flashy but still flashier than your standard tool watch.

While I love it, it is still my least loved out of my collection. Have been trying to figure out why this is, and thus have come to the conclusion that the bezel shade is too similar enough to the dial and should be darker.

I ordered a black ceramic insert to see what it might look like with a swap but it just doesn't work. The black insert is way too dark and the fact that the bezel digits are also black really doesn't work aesthetically with the dial.

I came across the picture below and really want to recreate it. I think the darker grey and having the 'face' of the bezel digits polished works very well with the dial.

So.........anyone got any suggestions of how best to mod a bezel insert to achieve this:

 

[KJ2020]

That's an interesting look. I bought an all black YM insert too and tried it on my Rhodium and blue but it didn't really do it for me either.

If I were to attempt achieving the look you are after, I would spray paint an entire silver insert with matte or satin black. Let it dry thoroughly - I often set paint modded inserts aside for several days or longer while working on other projects. Then use a soft cloth pulled taut over a forefinger after dampened (not saturated) in thinner. Swipe across the raised markers to remove the black paint.

Here's an example of one I did exactly the same way. The only difference is the markers are indented instead of raised. Achieving a perfect result may take more than one attempt, as a small slip or drip of thinner can ruin the whole attempt. You could probably also use a highly compressed felt wheel on a dremel to polish off the paint on the markers. I've often thought about trying this but I can do it well enough by hand so I'm sticking with what I know.

I repainted and relumed the hands also because they were off a shade. Using a high quality paint will make a big difference.

 

[KJ2020]

 

[Labedudel]

The results you can see on the watches are very nice. i like it.

 

[petrichor]

That's an interesting look. I bought an all black YM insert too and tried it on my Rhodium and blue but it didn't really do it for me either.

If I were to attempt achieving the look you are after, I would spray paint an entire silver insert with matte or satin black. Let it dry thoroughly - I often set paint modded inserts aside for several days or longer while working on other projects. Then use a soft cloth pulled taut over a forefinger after dampened (not saturated) in thinner. Swipe across the raised markers to remove the black paint.

Here's an example of one I did exactly the same way. The only difference is the markers are indented instead of raised. Achieving a perfect result may take more than one attempt, as a small slip or drip of thinner can ruin the whole attempt. You could probably also use a highly compressed felt wheel on a dremel to polish off the paint on the markers. I've often thought about trying this but I can do it well enough by hand so I'm sticking with what I know.

I repainted and relumed the hands also because they were off a shade. Using a high quality paint will make a big difference.

Amazing work! Thank you so much for the tips!

 

[shinynewbling25]

Not familiar with YM bezels or if they're aluminum but could it be anodized and then brush the numbers so the aluminum shows? Looks like the Breitling Superocean bezels from that picture. I think those are pvd though as they're stainless steel. From ytube vids anodizing at home seems pretty straight forward if you could buy some aluminum YM bezels to try out and you could preserve yours if you wanted to revert back to stock.