- 5/6/19
- 38
- 62
- 18
Long time listener, first time caller.
First off, I just want to say how thankful I am for all the incredible folk on this forum who have taken time to document their process over the years and help others learn. I’ve tinkered with a few watches in the past but the wealth of knowledge and support on here is amazing.
I bought a Raffles 5513 case a year ago with the intention of building something fun, learning some new skills and having a faux vintage beater watch at the end of it.
The “Seiko” build was fun but I’ve always had a soft spot for a vintage Tudor Submariner.
Stock Raffles case “Seiko Sea Dweller” NH35 build mashup with a CNS ribbed anthracite nato:
Our local library has a Maker’s Space with lots of cool kit like 3D printers, a laser cutter and a small CNC machine but they’ve also got an array of finishing tools including files and a dremel.
I finally decided to reshape the case, soften the edges and try my hand at opening up the crown guards.
Stock Raffles 5513 case with a blue bezel:
Here’s a trick getting a raffles bezel off without bending the bezel.
Carefully put an exacto blade between the crystal and the edge of the bezel insert and gently pry the insert up. Slide a credit card underneath and slowly go around the bezel until the insert comes off. Then use a fine needle to pull up the bezel wire - again gently so as not to bend it. You can then wiggle the wire out of the assembly and voila, the bezel pops off. Do the reverse to re-install it.
Crown guards opened up a bit, chamfers cut and now starting to sand the case:
Learning to polish with a dremel was fun. I used 2000 grit sand paper then green Dialux and then polinum as recommended in this fantastic guide on how to refinish a case and bracelet:
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/refinishing-a-rolex-case-and-bracelet.8455938/
I bought a Tudor 9401 dial from Raffles (the white lume one), snowflake hands and a new Rolex branded crown and tube as I stripped the tube threads opening up the crown guards, oops!
I swapped in an ETA 2824 clone from AliX. I’ve broken a VSF Sea Master 300’s keyless before and have heard the many horror stories with clones, so I tried being as careful as I could be. I think I got a little lucky this time
I’ve got some Polywatch in the post to fix the scratch in the crystal but I present to you my budget Tudor 9401 Snowflake:
I’m happy with how the build turned out. I had a lot fun experimenting, breaking things and learning some new skills in the process. Huge thanks to @Megahz1 and his amazing Building A 5513 - Tutorial - this was really helpful in opening up the crown guards and cutting chamfers in to the case. Shoutout also to @369mafia , @Singapore9 , @Karbon74 , @pompompurin and the countless others for the build inspiration and their many valuable insights.
I would love some feedback, especially on case shaping.
I’m having fun wearing the watch, it looks great on the wrist, but I do want to move on to practice more metal working and keep learning new skills so it’ll be sold on soon.
I might pull the dial and hands (the minute hand is slightly snagging the second hand) to weather them, along with bleaching the bezel. I’d like the lume to be almond like vs. the bright white it is currently. The dial looks good in darker lighting but appears more navy blue than royal blue in nice lighting - @369mafia do you recommend doing a dry brush like you’ve just done with your Tudor Sub build?
I’ve got an AliExpress 5-digit case that @Karbon74 recommended in a 14060 build thread for my next fun project (why not tackle one of the hardest builds?
haha!). Raffles 14060 dial, hands and an NH38 going in it this time so I don’t have to sweat the keyless again ha.
Hanging out with a couple of gen friends:
The leftover Seiko dial, hands and NH35 have found a new home in a cheap generic 6-digit Submariner case:
First off, I just want to say how thankful I am for all the incredible folk on this forum who have taken time to document their process over the years and help others learn. I’ve tinkered with a few watches in the past but the wealth of knowledge and support on here is amazing.
I bought a Raffles 5513 case a year ago with the intention of building something fun, learning some new skills and having a faux vintage beater watch at the end of it.
The “Seiko” build was fun but I’ve always had a soft spot for a vintage Tudor Submariner.
Stock Raffles case “Seiko Sea Dweller” NH35 build mashup with a CNS ribbed anthracite nato:
Our local library has a Maker’s Space with lots of cool kit like 3D printers, a laser cutter and a small CNC machine but they’ve also got an array of finishing tools including files and a dremel.
I finally decided to reshape the case, soften the edges and try my hand at opening up the crown guards.
Stock Raffles 5513 case with a blue bezel:
Here’s a trick getting a raffles bezel off without bending the bezel.
Carefully put an exacto blade between the crystal and the edge of the bezel insert and gently pry the insert up. Slide a credit card underneath and slowly go around the bezel until the insert comes off. Then use a fine needle to pull up the bezel wire - again gently so as not to bend it. You can then wiggle the wire out of the assembly and voila, the bezel pops off. Do the reverse to re-install it.
Crown guards opened up a bit, chamfers cut and now starting to sand the case:
Learning to polish with a dremel was fun. I used 2000 grit sand paper then green Dialux and then polinum as recommended in this fantastic guide on how to refinish a case and bracelet:
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/refinishing-a-rolex-case-and-bracelet.8455938/
I bought a Tudor 9401 dial from Raffles (the white lume one), snowflake hands and a new Rolex branded crown and tube as I stripped the tube threads opening up the crown guards, oops!
I swapped in an ETA 2824 clone from AliX. I’ve broken a VSF Sea Master 300’s keyless before and have heard the many horror stories with clones, so I tried being as careful as I could be. I think I got a little lucky this time
I’ve got some Polywatch in the post to fix the scratch in the crystal but I present to you my budget Tudor 9401 Snowflake:
I’m happy with how the build turned out. I had a lot fun experimenting, breaking things and learning some new skills in the process. Huge thanks to @Megahz1 and his amazing Building A 5513 - Tutorial - this was really helpful in opening up the crown guards and cutting chamfers in to the case. Shoutout also to @369mafia , @Singapore9 , @Karbon74 , @pompompurin and the countless others for the build inspiration and their many valuable insights.
I would love some feedback, especially on case shaping.
I’m having fun wearing the watch, it looks great on the wrist, but I do want to move on to practice more metal working and keep learning new skills so it’ll be sold on soon.
I might pull the dial and hands (the minute hand is slightly snagging the second hand) to weather them, along with bleaching the bezel. I’d like the lume to be almond like vs. the bright white it is currently. The dial looks good in darker lighting but appears more navy blue than royal blue in nice lighting - @369mafia do you recommend doing a dry brush like you’ve just done with your Tudor Sub build?
I’ve got an AliExpress 5-digit case that @Karbon74 recommended in a 14060 build thread for my next fun project (why not tackle one of the hardest builds?
haha!). Raffles 14060 dial, hands and an NH38 going in it this time so I don’t have to sweat the keyless again ha.Hanging out with a couple of gen friends:
The leftover Seiko dial, hands and NH35 have found a new home in a cheap generic 6-digit Submariner case:
