• Tired of adverts on RWI? - Subscribe by clicking HERE and PMing Trailboss for instructions and they will magically go away!

First NH38 build

geoffdragon

Member
Patron
Supporter
Certified
18/5/21
784
1,283
93
Uk
For the hands, they are the same size apart from the second hand....so you could pinch the tube to fit the NHS...

 
Last edited:

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
For the hands, they are the same size apart from the second hand....
Thanks, good to know. I’m sure I have a spare nh seconds hand lying around, got an nh38 coming over the weekend so hoping that’ll fit the case
 

geoffdragon

Member
Patron
Supporter
Certified
18/5/21
784
1,283
93
Uk
I've not tried a JFK case with an NH....
You may find you need to remove the grey ring and use case clamp tabs...there are holes in NH movements to take the screws....or you may find you can keep the grey ring it just needs reducing slightly...sandpaper is your friend....then dial dots to attach the dial to the movement....lots of space for that on a nh38.

Next problem, stem height....just be careful and make sure all looks lined up through the tube.....I have snapped a stem (or three) thinking it was all good until I tightened the case back....SNAP... luckily managed to shake them out of the movement without too much bother.

Good luck.

Oh and with regards to ETA hands fitting NH movements....it's a great upgrade for decent sword hands (especially the minute hands)
 

Karbon74

Pika Factory
Patron
Certified
5/5/23
12,278
25,844
113
EU - Kalos Region
I mean a2824, not a gen ETA, I’m not fucking around with expensive stuff

It’s not that hard to reset a keyless…at least it isn’t after you failed 100 times 😅
Daunting when you start, but there are many youtube tutorials or assembly videos

I fucked up a keyless in my early days, learned to do the thing and got immense satisfaction when I succeeded. You only need a good set of screwdrivers and a pair of tweezers.
 

Karbon74

Pika Factory
Patron
Certified
5/5/23
12,278
25,844
113
EU - Kalos Region
Nh38 1.92
A2824 1.80

It can work. I have seen people put a nh38 in a 2824 raffles case

@geoffdragon snapped stem…yeah been there too (feel the pain)
Then you need to open up the movement to go take out the splinter that stayed inside 😭
 
  • Like
Reactions: geoffdragon

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
It’s not that hard to reset a keyless…at least it isn’t after you failed 100 times 😅
Daunting when you start, but there are many youtube tutorials or assembly videos

I fucked up a keyless in my early days, learned to do the thing and got immense satisfaction when I succeeded. You only need a good set of screwdrivers and a pair of tweezers.
I was determined to get it working today, so everything seemed to be perfect until it was time to put the stem back in 😂

Iv swapped it out for the nh38 now and made it fit, and now I have a couple of spare 2824’s to play with, I’ll take them apart and try to learn more from youtube.

Also the minute hand didn’t fit the nh38, hour hand did. Maybe I was a little heavy handed removing from the 2824. Anyway I raided my baggie full of hands iv been practising luming and aging on. Means the minute hand and second hands are a little brighter, I can live with that, looks like they’ve just been swapped out along the way.

The story so far



 

geoffdragon

Member
Patron
Supporter
Certified
18/5/21
784
1,283
93
Uk
@Jip7645 - looking good.

Now if a watch has had that much of a hard life, the brushing on the lugs would be much less obvious by now....I'd add some nice bevels to the lugs, polish them up, not too much and whilst your at it, polish the brushing on the lugs, 70 odd years of manual sleeve polishing would have taken place....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jip7645

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
@Jip7645 - looking good.

Now if a watch has had that much of a hard life, the brushing on the lugs would be much less obvious by now....I'd add some nice bevels to the lugs, polish them up, not too much and whilst your at it, polish the brushing on the lugs, 70 odd years of manual sleeve polishing would have taken place....
I’ll revel in today’s victory for the moment, but will defo do some case work after iv practiced on a few shitters first
 
  • Like
Reactions: geoffdragon

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Started on the case, slowly making progress with the lugs and mild grassing of the bezel


 

geoffdragon

Member
Patron
Supporter
Certified
18/5/21
784
1,283
93
Uk
Great. What "brassing" method are you, did you use?
Remove it and heat it up?
 

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Have to say I’m enjoying tweaking this so much I’m now tempted to upgrade to a better dial :ROFLMAO:
 
  • Like
Reactions: geoffdragon

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
More casework today, starting to get really happy with it. Definitely going to upgrade the dial after all this effort on the case, all done by hand so going to take a break as iv got wankers cramp.


 
  • Love
Reactions: geoffdragon

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Ok so I forgot I ordered two dials from raffles for my other build. Wasn’t happy with the cartel stock dial so iv aged this one a little more subtle, also got some new hands delivered today. So I’m nearly there with this, but I’m so obsessive il probably find something else I need to do soon.

I think this looks better with the new dial, what do you guys think?

 
  • Love
Reactions: geoffdragon

freddy333

Former RWG Mod
10/10/24
135
241
43
Ok so I forgot I ordered two dials from raffles for my other build. Wasn’t happy with the cartel stock dial so iv aged this one a little more subtle, also got some new hands delivered today. So I’m nearly there with this, but I’m so obsessive il probably find something else I need to do soon.
I think this looks better with the new dial, what do you guys think?
Excellent work & I see where you are heading. But I think you need a bit less patination of the dial & a bit more on the case & crown (so the watch looks more cohesive with the parts appearing to have similar life experiences). There is a fine line separating natural patina & what looks like induced age/wear.



 
Last edited:

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Excellent work & I see where you are heading. But I think you need a bit less patination of the dial & a bit more on the case & crown (so the watch looks more cohesive with the parts appearing to have similar life experiences). There is a fine line separating natural patina & what looks like induced age/wear.



Totally agree, think I’m starting to learn less is more when it comes to the dial. Good advice, thanks 🙏
 
  • Like
Reactions: freddy333

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Now contemplating an athaya crown and tube (I just can’t leave this alone) can anyone explain how easy they are to fit?
 

Jip7645

Renowned Member
Supporter
Certified
18/9/24
712
1,180
93
UK
Right, I’m putting my budget 6538 build journey to bed. The insanity of keep coming back and tweaking things is officially over. On the left we have pure raffles build except for what I believe are bliger hands, significantly aged all round. On the right cartel base, reshaped slightly and my attempt at chamfers, with raffles dial aged and relumed (not pretty but not bad for a second attempt). That’s it, we can all go home and stop thinking about 6538’s.




……ok so I’m going to build a slightly higher budget 5512 and 5513, here we go again
 
  • Love
Reactions: geoffdragon