Modded 532 and 360 - easy as cake!

[kilowattore]

TUTORIAL FOR NOOBS LIKE ME:
HOW TO “MOD†YOUR DLC'ed CASE
EASY AS CAKE ​

I was not so satisfied with the color of my 360. I liked it, but it seemed to me it was too dark and matte. Same thing I thought when I had the new KW 532 in hands, really too dark.
To be honest I'm not the type of guy who goes insane if one of his watches is not perfectly like gen and feels the need to mod every detail of it in order to have a “perfect†rep. Quite the opposite

But the more I looked at gen pics of these two watches, the more I realized I would have liked them to be of a lighter color. Now, I have no manual skills at all, let alone watchsmithing and modding, so I thought “well, better live with it...†until l read on RG about using cape cod on the case to lighten its color.
In particular a nice guy on RG named Jibuti showed me his 026 on which he used this method and took the time to explain to me how it had to be done. The result of his advice is pretty satisfactory to me and I decided to share with the community the way it's done and some pics so you can get an idea of the results. All credit of course goes to Jibuti for his kind advice and to Grimlocktime for some warnings and technical explanations, thanks guys!



HOW IT'S DONE



The process itself is really easy as cake, all it's needed is a screwdriver, a cape cod cloth and a microfibre cloth.



First step is removing the strap, and masking the crystal with tape if you wish (I took the risk and didn't mask it, but I think cape cod may rub away the AR if you're not careful).
When the watch head is ready, just take your cape cod cloth and rub energically the case for 20 seconds per section, carefully applying about the same amount of pressure in order to get an even discoloring of the case.



On my watches I rubbed and buffed on the 360 with cape cod for a total of about 20 mins (total time of the whole process).
I took a more precise timing when I did it on the 532 and I carefully rubbed each part of the watch for 20 seconds (this makes it a couple of minutes for the whole watch), buffed the watch to check the result and repeated for a total of three passages (total time about 15-20minutes).
As Grimlocktime kindly explained to me, the cape cod cloth is taking away the DLC from the case while you rub , so the longer you rub the lighter the color will be, but as a side effect the more polished your watch will look.



As you probably know neither the 360 nor the 532 have a polished finish. From the pics I have seen though there seem to be a varying amount of “shine†or polished look in these models (this is due to the gen DLC picking up oils from your skin according to Grim).
To be perfectly honest, Jibuti advised me to finish the case with a very thin layer of vaseline, but he lives in a cold country thus the vaseline gets cold on the case, it is instead hot in my country now and it sorted no noticeable effect (apart from the velvet touch of the case of course ). You might want to try that too.


Anyway,the tutorial is ended already, there's nothing else to do, really!
Just go easy and careful with small steps until you get the desired result.

Here's how my watches came out, you can see clearly the color differences if you look at the lug screws on the 360 and the buckle of the 532 (these parts have not been touched). Sorry for the noise in the pics, I left them untouched.


360 before






360 after (change is subtle, check the lug screws to see how was the color before):






















532 before








532 after (again change is subtle, check the buckle to see how the color was before):























Hopefully this tuto can be of some use for someone like me, completely incapable of any serious modding/touching the watch. I purposedly tried to explain every single detail of this easy indeed process, there's no need to be afraid as I was

One final note: In no way I think or mean this process makes your watch closer to gen. Or better, it makes it closer to gen imho, but not perfect either, so you start with a not gen-like color/finish and end up with a not gen-like color/finish. Just choose whatever you like better.


As usual any question or addition is welcome indeed!



:rwi:

 

[rocketdogbert]

I like the new look, gen-like or not, I like it.

Reminds me of the look of a well maintained hand gun

John

 

[ALE7575]

Hi kilo

You were really a brave man to apply the Cape Cod to your loved watches.

The result... well... I have to admit that the final watch is closer to the gen and you are right, even I think the watches are now nicer

The cons... as said by Grim you have had to remove a little DLC layer to get the new colour. Better said: you have removed some DLC coating to get more "polished" surface, like gen is, and to see some SS colour of the case to make lighter the real Black of the DLC coating.
The worse thing is that you were not able to avoid reducing almost to zero the DLC coating at the edges and them they appear almost SS colour.

Anyway a nice job with nice results, but people should know above mentioned before take the Cape Cod and start this mod

Thanks for sharing and congrats

I don't know if I will be as brave as include this link in PAM GUIDE... How many claims will I get?? ... LOL...

ALE

 

[kilowattore]

Thanks rocket ALE LOL! No, this is not meant to be in PAM GUIDE!Purists should go the route of getting a different case or having the DLC redone, but those are complicated and expensive mods. This is just a DIY mod Regarding the edges, the light reflects on them and makes them appear lighter than they are, but yes, the coating comes off easier around those areas so it's better to be careful

 

[matthew90]

hi Kilo, i have been following the forum for a while and this is my first post since i just recently signed up. I myself had the kw 360 and after i bought the 532, i sold the 360. Seeing your post of the mod kind of makes me regret. Anyhow i had my fun with the 360 and i'm looking to get 026. I really want to do this mod to my 532 but i'm kind of scared i mean just like you state you are, i also don't have a clue about modding. How do you like the look of 532 after this mod? Does it look more gen like? Is it as shiny as ss or somewhat shiny like that pencil lead like on 026?

 

[kilowattore]

hi Kilo, i have been following the forum for a while and this is my first post since i just recently signed up. I myself had the kw 360 and after i bought the 532, i sold the 360. Seeing your post of the mod kind of makes me regret. Anyhow i had my fun with the 360 and i'm looking to get 026. I really want to do this mod to my 532 but i'm kind of scared ?? i mean just like you state you are, i also don't have a clue about modding. How do you like the look of 532 after this mod? Does it look more gen like? Is it as shiny as ss or somewhat shiny like that pencil lead like on 026? ??

Hi Matthew, welcome to the forum
The pics you see above give a good idea of the final result, especially if you look at the one where you can see the buckle of 532 you will clearly see the difference.
The result is shiny, obviously not as polished SS, but noticeable esp. under direct light.
I don't have a 026, but I think its finish is more matte.
As I said this is not a perfect fix, it's just another compromise
Personally I like them more now, but it's a matter of taste.