What are the basic tools, fixtures, and fittings which you need to hand in order to whip up your first vintage Datejust? Any specific advice for a Raffles case, for instance, versus a gen case?
I throw myself on the mercy of the masterful here. Questions perhaps best answered by our master vintage DJ builders - I’m looking in the general direction of the renowned @pompompurin, @BabaNJ and @Stone P - and any others vying for that title.
I’m not speaking to or of any artistic case reworking magic which anyone may do - rather, just the brutal mechanical elements of not more than watch assembly.
Things and tasks for which I’ve already bought tools include a tap and appropriate modular handle for installing an Athaya crown and tube… but I’ve not got the faintest idea how I’m going to hold the stripped bare case in place while I’m working on the actual retapping.
I’ve got a lovely vintage, gen engine turned bezel, which will hold a Sternkruez pressed acrylic crystal, which will also be put in over a gen dial, itself going in over a VS3135 courtesy of AliExpress - but I’m not sure how I’m going to get that acrylic crystal smushed into the mid case. I don’t mind buying the right tool for the job, but how much tool is enough?
Finally, I knew I didn’t want to try my hand with a DWO on this first outing, glue and so don’t get along at the best of times in gross motor skill situations, let alone near a watch dial - so I’m slotting in an open 6/9 from the artists previously known as WSO…. but I don’t know which screwdriver I’ll need to get the old date wheel out.
Perhaps I can build up a tutorial AND a list of the basic tools needed for these key operations for the casual DIY watch builder?
I throw myself on the mercy of the masterful here. Questions perhaps best answered by our master vintage DJ builders - I’m looking in the general direction of the renowned @pompompurin, @BabaNJ and @Stone P - and any others vying for that title.
I’m not speaking to or of any artistic case reworking magic which anyone may do - rather, just the brutal mechanical elements of not more than watch assembly.
Things and tasks for which I’ve already bought tools include a tap and appropriate modular handle for installing an Athaya crown and tube… but I’ve not got the faintest idea how I’m going to hold the stripped bare case in place while I’m working on the actual retapping.
I’ve got a lovely vintage, gen engine turned bezel, which will hold a Sternkruez pressed acrylic crystal, which will also be put in over a gen dial, itself going in over a VS3135 courtesy of AliExpress - but I’m not sure how I’m going to get that acrylic crystal smushed into the mid case. I don’t mind buying the right tool for the job, but how much tool is enough?
Finally, I knew I didn’t want to try my hand with a DWO on this first outing, glue and so don’t get along at the best of times in gross motor skill situations, let alone near a watch dial - so I’m slotting in an open 6/9 from the artists previously known as WSO…. but I don’t know which screwdriver I’ll need to get the old date wheel out.
Perhaps I can build up a tutorial AND a list of the basic tools needed for these key operations for the casual DIY watch builder?
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