My first build - black snowflake

[tanaris]

So I decided to take this hobby to the next step, and build myself a snowflake. This is my very first build, so please feel free to point out any major flaws in a nice way


Base watch is a cartel 1680 with A2836.
Dial and seconds hand is Yuki.
Hour and minute hands are from Ebay.
Plexi is from Sternkreutz.
Crown and tube are from Athaya.

I did the basic CG reshaping, drilled the lugholes and gave the bracelet a bike oil bath, so basically this involved three of my major hobbies: watches, photography and bikes

Oh and btw I wanted the service dial kind of look, so basically no artificial vintagizing except for some case smoothing. And a big big thanks to everyone who has posted the tutorials and information that made this possible!









(This is an unmodified cartel case for comparison. Pretty ugly.)

 

[Surfnc]

Nice build. I don't know enough about Snowflakes to critique it but it looks nice to my untrained eye. Great photos too!

 

[tanaris]

Thanks. The dash in "Oyster-Prince" is a pretty obvious flaw and I'm gonna replace the pearl. CG:s are still a bit fat, but overall I think it's a nice daily beater.

 

[DVNE]

Congrats! I have the exact same recipe and build coming along. My athaya crown and tube just arrived today. I'm too chicken to reshape the cgs. Did you do it by hand or dremel?

Congrats on the build. She is a beauty!

 

[tanaris]

I used a Dremel, first with the large sanding drum, then the smaller. Diamond files for the tube area. Was actually pretty easy, but I guess it's probably equally easy to screw things up badly.

(I used some cone-formed Dremel tool to countersink the crown tube, it worked but it was way to soft - went through three of them. Someone recommended a 5.8 mm drill bit.)

 

[phillycheez]

Why not 702 crown from Athaya?

If it is, it doesn't look right. Nice work by the way. Oh wait, first pic looks like it is second pic looks like a different crown. Must be the angle.

I love the Snowflake, got one incoming myself.

 

[monkeypunch]

Well done!

 

[SSTEEL]

Impressive build, and photos my friend, well done on popping your cherry.!

 

[txrob779]

Very well done. The case smoothing is killer...you did very well. IMO what you need now is a Tudor engraved caseback and you have a keeper. A keeper indeed.

 

[jmb]

+1 on Rob. Very nice looking crown. Makes the CGs look not quite so stubby - very important to get a "low-profile" crown with these Cartel cases...