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DOXA diver dials ... is it a virus or just an obsession ?

GabiZ

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Impressing!
I will try to do it, and mybe make a font file to share.
Thanx.
 

manodeoro

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Last week I have prepared some orange sprayed dial plates for Doxas ... no more "orange peel" and glossy enough IMHO ...

b3c3175c4add4ae0550e9f4ff513e93b.jpg
 

manodeoro

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Some news about my "now glossy" Doxa dials in progress ...

I have 5 dials on my bench those days ... 3 gens specs for ETA movements and 2 for NH35
The dials for ETA are still waiting for varnish finsih but here are the 2 for NH35 ...
Sorry for the bad pics ... I'll make better shoots when finished

SUB 300 T Professional "no logo" ... waiting for lume work

SUB 300 T "Blacklung" ... I still have to print the yellow dot and put the "Blacklung" logo on

​​​​​
 

manodeoro

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manodeoro https://www.dagazwatch.com/apps/webstore/products/show/7359443

How about this one? Could you slap your custom dial into one and maybe swap out the bezel? Case and handset look similar though in a weird colour scheme

ZOHO85.png

YES about the dial ... PROBABLY about the handset ... POSSIBLY about the bezel

DIAL :
All my Doxa dials are custom hand made one by one, according to the specs of the watch that will receive them ...
So no problem about making one for any specific watch as long as I can get the following informations :
- dial overall diameter
- rehaut opening diameter
- movement used

HANDSET :
The handsets availaible from Dagaz or other sellers are OK for almost all the vintage Doxa models ,,, and if the color is wrong (like yours) I can remove it and lacquer the hands in black before luming
The "Blacklung" handset is "something else" ... really specific and, as far as I know, not available on the market ...
But all problems (almost all at the least) can be solved ...
I have designed a vector file for that handset and I'm already waiting for 3 "Blacklung handsets" (1 for NH35 and 2 for ETA)
I should receive all that end of December so I'll be able to check the quality and, if quality is good, show a complete "Blacklung" set (dial and hands) here early January

BEZEL :
I'm working on a SUB 300 custom bezel insert and will show pics of it when finished ... it will be made in stainless steel, engraved and varnish painted so it should look really close to the original
The specific problem with your bezel is that it's solid stell with no insert
So the only way to go would be to source the same bezel but blank (without any engravement) then engrave it one and varnish paint it according to the original SUB 300
Engravement and painting process is not a problem but sourcing the blank bezel will be much more tricky.
 

Peguine

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At a mcdonalds birthday party
YES about the dial ... PROBABLY about the handset ... POSSIBLY about the bezel

DIAL :
All my Doxa dials are custom hand made one by one, according to the specs of the watch that will receive them ...
So no problem about making one for any specific watch as long as I can get the following informations :
- dial overall diameter
- rehaut opening diameter
- movement used

HANDSET :
The handsets availaible from Dagaz or other sellers are OK for almost all the vintage Doxa models ,,, and if the color is wrong (like yours) I can remove it and lacquer the hands in black before luming
The "Blacklung" handset is "something else" ... really specific and, as far as I know, not available on the market ...
But all problems (almost all at the least) can be solved ...
I have designed a vector file for that handset and I'm already waiting for 3 "Blacklung handsets" (1 for NH35 and 2 for ETA)
I should receive all that end of December so I'll be able to check the quality and, if quality is good, show a complete "Blacklung" set (dial and hands) here early January

BEZEL :
I'm working on a SUB 300 custom bezel insert and will show pics of it when finished ... it will be made in stainless steel, engraved and varnish painted so it should look really close to the original
The specific problem with your bezel is that it's solid stell with no insert
So the only way to go would be to source the same bezel but blank (without any engravement) then engrave it one and varnish paint it according to the original SUB 300
Engravement and painting process is not a problem but sourcing the blank bezel will be much more tricky.

Awesome, i dont have this watch yet but i LOVE doxa and now since i've been following this thread i've been heavily invested!

What a difficult process for the bezel is it possible to just machine/fabricate a blank for the bezel? Though it may be some kind of nightmare to get it ready to use.
 

manodeoro

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Awesome, i dont have this watch yet but i LOVE doxa and now since i've been following this thread i've been heavily invested!

What a difficult process for the bezel is it possible to just machine/fabricate a blank for the bezel? Though it may be some kind of nightmare to get it ready to use.

Making a complte custom bezel is possible but it would be too expensive IMHO ... nevertheless I could ask a friend who already made custom bezels for me but I would need to have the bezel to replicate in hand ...
So PM me or post here when you receive the watch from Dagaz if you're alreday waitig for it.

That watch is marked out of stock now so if you have not already ordered it from Dagaz you'd better take a chance with the Maranez Samui Steel.
That one is out of stock too but they are working on a nw batch which should be available next January.
The bezel of the Samui Steel is really Doxa-like apart from the engravings and, though the case is a little thicker than the vintage SUB 300, it seems to be the perfect candidate for a SUB 300 T project.
I have asked Sara if it could be possible to buy a sterile Samui Steel (no engravings on case nor bezel) but I'm still waiting for her answer.

Here's a comparison pic with, left to right ... third generation SUB 300 T / Maranez Samaui Steel / early SUB 300 T aqualung
 

manodeoro

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Today I'll post some news about those Doxa dials ...
I have just finished 2 dials and handsets that will be shipped tomorrow to a friend ...
 

manodeoro

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I had already worked on a "sharkhunter" dial but the future owner was hesitating between that one and a "conquistador" ...
So, after some emails back and forth, we decided to make something in the beteween ...

So I'm happy to present you the "SHARQUISTADOR"
- Black "sharkhunter" dial
- "sharkhunter" handset
- "conquistador" print

That dial is for a Miyota 8215 so I've had to slightly modify the design to make it fit the dial size and the date window

The handset is a white Soxa one for Miyota movements that I have partly painted in matte black to make it look as close as possible to an original "sharkhunter" handset

The future owner wanted all that look "like it had been lost in deep water for years" ...
I've made my best to match that description and we are both pretty happy with the final result ...

 

schtozo

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Amazing work! Congratulations to owner and cudos for your awesome interpretation here!
 

manodeoro

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The second one is a Blacklung dial with a custom handset ...
 
Last edited:

manodeoro

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Making that custom handset proved to be MUCH more difficult than I thought at first ...
I designed the hands using Blacklung close-up pics, send that to my maker and waited for some weeks ...
Just before New Years Eve the handsets arrived in my mail box and I was not that happy ...
The hands were nicely cut but the finish was so so and none of the tubes really fitted to the movement
So I decicde to rework everything :
- remove the lume
-nsqueeze the tubes on hours and minutes hands
-nbroach the tube on the seconds hand
- redo theblack varnish finish
It took me hours but at the end I achieved ti get something I liked.
So I just had to lume everything ... off-white lume with low-green glow ...
Then I proceeded to the final mounting on a an ETA 2824-2 movement ... now it's just ready to ship ...

BTW ... I have almost finished another Balcklung dial and handset, same design but made for a Seiko NH35 movement ... I just have to lume evrything so I'll post the result next week if everything goes well ...

 
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manodeoro

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What a legend, manodeoro. Are these going in Soxas or straight doxa builds? Post em when you're done pretty please

Thanks buddy ...
Dials and handsets for Miyota and ETA are going in vintage Doxa cases ... those for NH35 are going in Soxas.
Unfortunately I can't post pics of completed builds as those sets leave my workbench before being cased.
I could make complete builds and I'll certainly do one before summer but right now I'm just the cadranier (dial maker) ...
 

manodeoro

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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Hi guys … some really good news today ...[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Members who check that thread from time to time have already read about my « Irish Star » Doxa project I posted here October 2000.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The original Irish Star dial was made for Dr Pete Millar and was quite nice but, IMHO, it looked too much"modern style".[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]So I decided to redo it, "vintage style" and with a real Irish shamroc, not a 4 leaves clover.[/FONT]


 

manodeoro

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Since then I’ve had too much work at the office and I postponed that project.
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]But sometimes things catch up with you …[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mid-September I received a PM from the Doxa guy himself … Dr Pete McClean Millar.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]For those who didn’t heard about him, Pete Millar has writen books about the Doxa subs, collaborated with the Company and is a(the!) specialist about those divers.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]You can check his website here http://www.doxa300t.com/ , his books about Doxas here http://www.thedoxabook.com/ an his last book about the Aquastar here http://www.adiveintotime.com/ ...[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I was really honored to read what Dr Millar wrote about the work I had already done on those Doxa dials, saying I had progressed to almost perfection … though I’m still far from it …[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]We chated[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif] about Doxas, diver[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]s[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif], dial-making, [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Oil & Gas ind[/FONT]ustry, etc … and decided that the Irish Star project had to exist « in real ».[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]First thing I did was to prepare a blank ETA dial plate to the exact dimensions needed to fit in the Doxa Sub 1200T case were it will be … no pics of that step as it’s standard work …[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The next step was to select the perfect « Irish » green I would apply on the blank plate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]We agreed that « Mickey Finn’s Irsih Green Apple » was nice[/FONT]


 

manodeoro

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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]So I painted the dial using the same green, then I applied 2 coats of glossy lacquer[/FONT]




 
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manodeoro

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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]While the final glossy coat was drying, I did a print test on a blank copper ETA dial, just to check that the position of the date window was good enough[/FONT]





[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Everything looked OK … both for me and Pete, so I went to the print process and got that result[/FONT]