A sample of what is possible to do with a 108 US$ value watch from the cartel
Another 3 years old amateur kitchen table watch plumbing....
I start with photos taken yesterday, the watch has been cleaned,
also former photos are a little noisy due to a bad light and 800 iso settings and the lady came just back from Africa with daily diving sessions
At the end of the thread you will see the second case under construction, I have drilled the HEV hole... just for experiment, I will try to find a new idea
Theses watches comes from the cartel , this serie of Sub/SD with the vrong bezel assembly.
I decided to play arround and started to disassemble completly and use my tools...
Then I removed about 1mm from the top of the case + the same amount of material from the rehaut which was to high imho. Drilled lugholes of course,
the dial was relumed and slightly aged,
The target was to imitate the 5513 slim case with an HEV made for the Comex company and becoming the 5514.
As I have seen on a gen, I used a folded bracelet from the cartel 1655 and I changed the clasp for a Sub one with the diver extension.
I never finish with my watches. Often I have a "clic" in my mind, because I have seen a photo, or a watch in a collector shop window, so I immediatly return at home and disassemble... to tweak again and make some improvements, in fact, I am not a watchmish, but perhaps more a kind of permanently dissatisfied artist, lol. Classic watch repair is not funny, just annoying, imho.
So btw, later I have made some improvements. I re-cut more seriously the crownguards, removed material to made more rounded the top of lugs as the watch profile still loocked like thick SD, shortened the 7mm crown and glued a Yuki pearl on the insert.
The plexi is a 8.95 US$ Service cristal Rolex ref. PA 462-67 type, an aftermarket from Ofrei which was grinded, rounded and repolished to give the dome look, as a super dome will not work for tech. specs reasons and will not cosmetically match with the slim case.
The bezel ring also was to thick and made for a Sea Dweller, so I removed about 0.5mm from the bottom of this SD bezel. It looks quite good but still a little to thick than a regular sub bezel.
I could not remove more material without ruining the case/bezel ring assembly construction.
A complete sub bezel assembly from WSO will work, but it will cost more than the background investment...
I also put a coat of clear matt warnish on the dots lume, dots became a little shinny and the color changed slightly... also if you apply a matt coat on a matt surface it will become satin/brillant.
This watch was put together with a gen 5514, believe me or not, there is no difference.
Yes, some, like the rehaut which has not exactly the same inside angle, or the dial printed fonts, or the little bezel design difference. But a good knowledge or magnifying glass is necessary to detect these flaws.
For me, the only big difference is :
-The gen is sold 60.000 euros
-Mine cost me 108 usd + shipping + an 8.95 usd acrylic cristal + a Yuki 25.00usd pearl filled with phosphor, and, I must admit, a lot of elbow oil.
The cheap Asian movement was Rolexised... disassembled, all screw head repolished, red painted rotor transmission gear and Rolex rotor cut and fixation
Details of the Rolex tool #2100
The anchor is a collector, its the old style 660ft/200m, a goodie found in the Submariner watch boxes 40 years ago.
The wallet I used for pics is a gen from my goodies collection, it was given with the Comex watches and regular 1665 in the seventies. It contains the famous Rolex tool, the waranty book, a diving decompression table, a complete backup divers extention kit, pins and screws (stored inside the tool)
Now I have changed the insert and clean seriously the watch, this lady made 2 trips in Thailand and one trip in Africa and spent a lot of time in see water. The deapest was 40 meters in Cabo Verde/Africa and 70 meters in Koh Phi Phi/Thailand , without any problem,
Now, the second case, same origin, same punition. I decided to drill the HEV hole, at this moment I have no precise idea, but I will have the declic in my head, sure
of course I will change the insert, this one is not a good one
I have 4 casebacks, I like the old one with the sticker, I am not sure, but I think the first 5513 with a HEV didnt have the Comex numeroted caseback
Another 3 years old amateur kitchen table watch plumbing....
I start with photos taken yesterday, the watch has been cleaned,
also former photos are a little noisy due to a bad light and 800 iso settings and the lady came just back from Africa with daily diving sessions
At the end of the thread you will see the second case under construction, I have drilled the HEV hole... just for experiment, I will try to find a new idea
Theses watches comes from the cartel , this serie of Sub/SD with the vrong bezel assembly.
I decided to play arround and started to disassemble completly and use my tools...
Then I removed about 1mm from the top of the case + the same amount of material from the rehaut which was to high imho. Drilled lugholes of course,
the dial was relumed and slightly aged,
The target was to imitate the 5513 slim case with an HEV made for the Comex company and becoming the 5514.
As I have seen on a gen, I used a folded bracelet from the cartel 1655 and I changed the clasp for a Sub one with the diver extension.
I never finish with my watches. Often I have a "clic" in my mind, because I have seen a photo, or a watch in a collector shop window, so I immediatly return at home and disassemble... to tweak again and make some improvements, in fact, I am not a watchmish, but perhaps more a kind of permanently dissatisfied artist, lol. Classic watch repair is not funny, just annoying, imho.
So btw, later I have made some improvements. I re-cut more seriously the crownguards, removed material to made more rounded the top of lugs as the watch profile still loocked like thick SD, shortened the 7mm crown and glued a Yuki pearl on the insert.
The plexi is a 8.95 US$ Service cristal Rolex ref. PA 462-67 type, an aftermarket from Ofrei which was grinded, rounded and repolished to give the dome look, as a super dome will not work for tech. specs reasons and will not cosmetically match with the slim case.
The bezel ring also was to thick and made for a Sea Dweller, so I removed about 0.5mm from the bottom of this SD bezel. It looks quite good but still a little to thick than a regular sub bezel.
I could not remove more material without ruining the case/bezel ring assembly construction.
A complete sub bezel assembly from WSO will work, but it will cost more than the background investment...
I also put a coat of clear matt warnish on the dots lume, dots became a little shinny and the color changed slightly... also if you apply a matt coat on a matt surface it will become satin/brillant.
This watch was put together with a gen 5514, believe me or not, there is no difference.
Yes, some, like the rehaut which has not exactly the same inside angle, or the dial printed fonts, or the little bezel design difference. But a good knowledge or magnifying glass is necessary to detect these flaws.
For me, the only big difference is :
-The gen is sold 60.000 euros
-Mine cost me 108 usd + shipping + an 8.95 usd acrylic cristal + a Yuki 25.00usd pearl filled with phosphor, and, I must admit, a lot of elbow oil.
The cheap Asian movement was Rolexised... disassembled, all screw head repolished, red painted rotor transmission gear and Rolex rotor cut and fixation
Details of the Rolex tool #2100
The anchor is a collector, its the old style 660ft/200m, a goodie found in the Submariner watch boxes 40 years ago.
The wallet I used for pics is a gen from my goodies collection, it was given with the Comex watches and regular 1665 in the seventies. It contains the famous Rolex tool, the waranty book, a diving decompression table, a complete backup divers extention kit, pins and screws (stored inside the tool)
Now I have changed the insert and clean seriously the watch, this lady made 2 trips in Thailand and one trip in Africa and spent a lot of time in see water. The deapest was 40 meters in Cabo Verde/Africa and 70 meters in Koh Phi Phi/Thailand , without any problem,
Now, the second case, same origin, same punition. I decided to drill the HEV hole, at this moment I have no precise idea, but I will have the declic in my head, sure
of course I will change the insert, this one is not a good one
I have 4 casebacks, I like the old one with the sticker, I am not sure, but I think the first 5513 with a HEV didnt have the Comex numeroted caseback
