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Milguass 1019 - another kick at the can.

Baron Rees

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The only suitable case set avalible is from phong and its 1400 usd.

This went up for sale in 2020 and it was as good as you can get without going gen.

IIRC it had a gen dial , hands and 1580 movement.


It was a 1575 movement with the calendar parts removed, to allow the hands to clear the hour markers.
 
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369mafia

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It was a 1575 movement with the calendar parts removed, to allow the hands to clear the hour markers.
Hey! Thanks for dropping by and the clarification. Hope you dont mind me sharing your pics from your sale. Had money been no object at the time , I would have been first in line for your watch . that thing was sweet. Any regrets selling it?
 

Baron Rees

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Hey! Thanks for dropping by and the clarification. Hope you dont mind me sharing your pics from your sale. Had money been no object at the time , I would have been first in line for your watch . that thing was sweet. Any regrets selling it?
No problem. Yes, I definitely regret selling it. Think daily about building another one, but the increase in parts prices since then makes me balk slightly.
 
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369mafia

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Had the same problem with the 39mm explorer case but thought it was due to the facture that IS saphire case...

I was considering this route as well. drilling the lugs was one hurdle and then finding an acrylic was the next. The case defiantly had enough meat to it to shape . The raffles case takes a larger dial so the rehaut opening may be larger and perhaps balance out the proportions of the watch. I would like to hear your further analysis and input on using a exp 39 case. you can get them cheap off ali express . I will probably not pursue this now but may make a third attempt later next year. cause apparently I enjoy torturing myself with these types of problems.

What was the case like from the black dialed rep that you bought years ago? standard 36mm? was the bezel special on it? Any pics you can share of the watch complete when you got it?
 
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369mafia

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I think you’ve really achieved the right balance of accuracy, overall appearance, and cost. Like you said, all reps have trade offs, and yours are very acceptable. Brilliant.

Ring in the new year with this one!
Thanks brother. This has been a 5 year adventure and it is a relief to finally have landed on a combination that pleases me. I think I shall, Happy New Year to you and all the best in 2024 I hope we can finally work on that explorer project we discussed earlier in the year.
 
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369mafia

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Since I am satisfied with the overall appearance and proportions for the watch and am committed to this case and bezel combination I am going to further shape the case to get one step closer.

- flattening the flanks of the case ever so slightly more..
- remove some material from the under side edge of the case to reduce the curve of the lugs.
reduce point on the lug tips
chamfer the lugs and edges of the mid case. small and subtle detail

photos of gen for refence.


 

Globemaster_98

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Many moons ago , very early in my watch building journey I decided that I liked shiny things and realized that I had to own a 1019 and the only way to do that without selling the farm was to build it myself.

Before the great (forum ) reset I had started a thread on my first watch project. At the time it was a toss up between a 6542 and the 1019 at that time , pieces fell into place for the gmt build and the 1019 fell to the back burner for a bit.

a year after I decided to tackle the challenge with the help of Tripdog.

I originally started with a 1655 cartel base that I then polished the machined and polished the bezel smooth and was going to use .
This case set ended up being used on the GMT , which I am sure a number of you have seen by now.



Fast forward, I got distracted and instead of buying another 1655 case I picked up a modified 6538 case set that had been machined to accept a smooth bezel and , so I went that route.

It was close in size 38.6mm
however I was never a fan of how the crystal and bezel fit and the gap between the dial chapter ring and the ring of the bezel the proportions were off and I hated it.



@tripdog was kind enough to assist with this build at the time as the only hands available were from Yuki to fit the 1570 gen cal. so they had to be broached which made them very delicate and eventually came lose and the metal deformed and the hands were garbage after a few failed attempts to reinstall them. No shade to tripdog He did the best he could with what he had to work with, but the metal was just too thin.

Also finding a beveled crystal to fit the modified sub case was a challenge as well and after a few attempts I used a modified Tudor jumbo crystal but it wasn't ideal or fit well.

mind_the_gap.jpg.45c624820f08088217b2321def910fd3.jpg



Since there was no reasonable hand set for an ETA in the Milgauss style I abandoned the project. and it ended up in the parts bin.

Years later @1016 lover and I were discussing a milgauss build and I shared my experiences with him and passed on my second YUKI dial and hands that I had bought to him for his project.

The major roadblock for me on this build was the hands..... Yuki and others in the past just used a variation of dj hands. not correct.

(pick from Yuki site way back when showing their dial - note the hand set. .


Just when I thought I had gotten over my obsession....I stumble across a nice set of hands that would be suitable for a 1019 on ebay so I picked up a few sets. Rare as hens teeth.

Well they arrived yesterday.

s-l1600.jpg


This , and I have been noticing ppl; posting pics of their 1019s on instagram lately...its like it happens in cycles. - this was the universe telling me it was time.

So last night I did a thing.


When the hands arrived, I dug out my old Yuki dial and Ofrie seconds hand and decided to do a quick and dirty to see if the spark returns..

well it did rekindle my love for it. 🔺

Specs:
Raffles Explorer case set.
5,3mm crown
drilled lugs to 1.3
no case work at all
Yuki Silver chapter ring dial
T22 beveled service crystal
1016 L T 22 bezel
Asian 2824
Ebay Hands
Ofrie red arrow seconds hand 🔺
Folded oyster bracelet.

I am more pleased with the results that I expected. I have tried this build with an explorer case in the past but it just didnt scratch the itch. however with the new hand set and the flat bezel, it really hits those design cues for me .

The sharp stock lugs on the case give the case some size to it.
The smooth very flat and wide bezel from 1016L really sells me on this build its really quite similar to gen. the flatness of the bezel makes it look wider than it is which is a noticeable design feature of the 1019

The hands , aged to match the dial lume look great in my opinion. not perfect, as the lume plots are bigger than gen, but its an acceptable compromise for having the correct shape and perfect lengths for this project. to match with the 29mm yuki dial

Using a raffles 5.3 crown also gives the visual appearance that the case set is larger than it is.
Id say its a solid 7/10 . giving the few mentioned issues earlier and that the case is 2mm smaller in diameter.

I think I want to add it back into my personal collection so I have 2 options here.

Keep the explorer case bezel crown combo and add some bevels to the lugs and some minor lug and side shaping to the mid case.
The gen has flatter case flanks.

or

As a Christmas gift to myself, I am about to pull the trigger on 1655 case set from Tiger concepts and go that route.
shave crown guards.
drill lug holes.
machine and polish the bezel
shave the cyclops off the crystal

I was considering the new raffles gmt case but the way the crown guards are in relation with the crown, I dont think it will look right once I grind off those crown guards. where as I know the 1655 case will work for me as I had done it previously.

Stay tuned for when those parts arrive and I go in hot on that mid case to make some milgauss magic.
In the meantime, Here is some eye candy for ya . not bad, but that extra 2mm will make all the difference.

Size apparently does matter. :ROFLMAO:

As always, questions and comments welcome, Thanks for looking.








The flat bezel makes it look wider than it is , which is a design cue of the 1019 - this flatter bezel combined with the flat service crystal really nails the proportions for me and makes the watch look larger than it is.

a tell is the proportion of the width of the bracelet in relation to the case . If someone was to analyze this they would notice that the case appears smaller than the gen spec of 38mm but the smaller crown, flat bezel and T22 crystal fool the eye to make it larger than it is.
That is beautiful. Looks fantastic!!
 
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