The 1016: The Under Appreciated Thread

[Erect]

Link to Ebay
Anyone looking for a project? Used but in good condition for its age

 

[trash3939]

 

[1016 lover]

VN Case Set with Yuki dial. Only the crown is gen.

Yuki hands too?
The case look thick, wath IS the viet supplier for this one? The caseback IS correct?

 

[RolETA2824]

Nice, could you make a picture of the side profile of the case?

Here are some profile pictures of the case.

 

[RolETA2824]

Yuki hands too?
The case look thick, wath IS the viet supplier for this one? The caseback IS correct?

You got good eyes, yes Yuki hands.
I don’t know who supplied the case.
I bought the 1016 in the M2M section a few years ago. The only thing I did to it was to install a gen crown and fix the ETA 2846.

 

[famtss]

Hello everyone! After lurking into this thread for a long time and admiring all of the builds you guys made I began to consider the idea of making one myself! As my student budget is not that great, I swiftly turned to rafflesdials since that would have allowed me to get a decent result for cheap. My idea was to build a 1016 with a NH38 to have a low beat caliber and not worry about the ghost date. After ordering all the parts needed for the job, what I received from raffles was a 6610 dial; after messaging with him he apologized and, on my request, he is now sending , instead of the right dial, a set of gold hands to pair with the dial that I ended up liking. It was really fun to get to assemble everything and see my new watch come to life but when I had finished it, I felt it missed something… it needed to be aged! I quickly disassembled the watch that I had just recently put together and, without really documenting myself on what were the best techniques to do it and just with a rough idea of how I wanted it to look like, I started applying coffee on the hands (i put the foam from an espresso and let it sit, did it a few times) and stained the dial with a wet q-tip (coffee and water) before putting it in the oven. I really wasn’t sure of what I was doing but this was my end result:


Now, considering that I basically had no idea of what I was doing, do you think I did an acceptable job? I’m not that happy with how the dial turned out but I really don’t know how to improve it and I came here to be put on the right track for a successful build. What are the best ways to achieve a good result with commonly available tools and products? Could I repeat the coffee/oven process (albeit in a different way I guess) to achieve a better result or is it not advisable to repeat such work on the same dial?

With the new set of gold hands coming (although I kinda like how these silver ones turned out), my idea is to follow a proper aging technique and my hope is that someone here can teach me a correct one or can link me to a good source for beginners
Lastly, how does a noob approach to things like lugs reshaping? do I really need to use power tools or it can be done in a more cost effective way?

I kindly thank you for any feedback, critiques, suggestions and tips I might receive

 

[Action_Jensen]

Hello everyone! After lurking into this thread for a long time and admiring all of the builds you guys made I began to consider the idea of making one myself! As my student budget is not that great, I swiftly turned to rafflesdials since that would have allowed me to get a decent result for cheap. My idea was to build a 1016 with a NH38 to have a low beat caliber and not worry about the ghost date. After ordering all the parts needed for the job, what I received from raffles was a 6610 dial; after messaging with him he apologized and, on my request, he is now sending , instead of the right dial, a set of gold hands to pair with the dial that I ended up liking. It was really fun to get to assemble everything and see my new watch come to life but when I had finished it, I felt it missed something… it needed to be aged! I quickly disassembled the watch that I had just recently put together and, without really documenting myself on what were the best techniques to do it and just with a rough idea of how I wanted it to look like, I started applying coffee on the hands (i put the foam from an espresso and let it sit, did it a few times) and stained the dial with a wet q-tip (coffee and water) before putting it in the oven. I really wasn’t sure of what I was doing but this was my end result:


Now, considering that I basically had no idea of what I was doing, do you think I did an acceptable job? I’m not that happy with how the dial turned out but I really don’t know how to improve it and I came here to be put on the right track for a successful build. What are the best ways to achieve a good result with commonly available tools and products? Could I repeat the coffee/oven process (albeit in a different way I guess) to achieve a better result or is it not advisable to repeat such work on the same dial?

With the new set of gold hands coming (although I kinda like how these silver ones turned out), my idea is to follow a proper aging technique and my hope is that someone here can teach me a correct one or can link me to a good source for beginners
Lastly, how does a noob approach to things like lugs reshaping? do I really need to use power tools or it can be done in a more cost effective way?

I kindly thank you for any feedback, critiques, suggestions and tips I might receive

Welcome to the cult
I think you have done a really nice job there! If you could specify what you do not like abot the dial, there is probably someone here that can give you a few tips. I personaly would wait till you have the gold hands to see if that makes a diference.

For the case i personally would not advice using powertools anyway. I would start with key files and high grit sanding paper.
Slimm the sides of the lugs down a little while keeping the top intact (remember you can always take off more material but to put it back on you need a laser welder), then work your way up from 400-600 to 1k grit to give the flanks a shine again. After that you can give the case a light polish with flitz-paste or something (for a repolished look).

If you have a raffles pelxi case keep in mind that the crystal is glued in. Maybe the bezzel too. If that is the case, best way is to seal up the plexy with tape while you work on the case to not scratch it up.

If it is a saphire case you could also get a new (very close to gen spec) bezzel and as far as i know a crystal from @1016 lover. He has the monopoly on the bezels right now ;-)

 

[famtss]

Welcome to the cult
I think you have done a really nice job there! If you could specify what you do not like abot the dial, there is probably someone here that can give you a few tips. I personaly would wait till you have the gold hands to see if that makes a diference.

For the case i personally would not advice using powertools anyway. I would start with key files and high grit sanding paper.
Slimm the sides of the lugs down a little while keeping the top intact (remember you can always take off more material but to put it back on you need a laser welder), then work your way up from 400-600 to 1k grit to give the flanks a shine again. After that you can give the case a light polish with flitz-paste or something (for a repolished look).

If you have a raffles pelxi case keep in mind that the crystal is glued in. Maybe the bezzel too. If that is the case, best way is to seal up the plexy with tape while you work on the case to not scratch it up.

If it is a saphire case you could also get a new (very close to gen spec) bezzel and as far as i know a crystal from @1016 lover. He has the monopoly on the bezels right now ;-)

Thank you! I think the problem with the dial is that it has no texture and still looks too clean, heating it just made the lume change to this nicer beige instead of the white/yellowish standard color but I think my technique in achieving a "rough" look was incorrect, how can i make the lume look more crumbly/dirty and make the black background look less uniform?

Yes, the case is the one with the acrylic crystal, I discovered only after ordering it that the crystal was glued in place, I guess it's still ok for the price, no? What bothers me tho, more than the thickness/shape of the lug, is how "high" it is, compared to the bracelet end link you can see how much it protrudes upwards, is it supposed to be like this? Shouldn't the curvature of the lug be more gentle and follow the end link shape? I have never done such work, do you suggest ordering another case to practice on?

Again, thank you for your reply, honored to be part of this "little cult"

 

[1016 lover]

Here a pic of the bezel and a spécial crystal i Can supply that fit on acrylic case, it participate to thin the whole assembly

 

[369mafia]

Thank you! I think the problem with the dial is that it has no texture and still looks too clean, heating it just made the lume change to this nicer beige instead of the white/yellowish standard color but I think my technique in achieving a "rough" look was incorrect, how can i make the lume look more crumbly/dirty and make the black background look less uniform?

Yes, the case is the one with the acrylic crystal, I discovered only after ordering it that the crystal was glued in place, I guess it's still ok for the price, no? What bothers me tho, more than the thickness/shape of the lug, is how "high" it is, compared to the bracelet end link you can see how much it protrudes upwards, is it supposed to be like this? Shouldn't the curvature of the lug be more gentle and follow the end link shape? I have never done such work, do you suggest ordering another case to practice on?

Again, thank you for your reply, honored to be part of this "little cult"

Welcome, and Yes, we are a cult with secret handshakes and all lol However I like to think of it as more of a Mafia.

This website is a wealth of information on tools needed and techniques used to achieve the desired effects.

IF you have not done any metal work before then I suggest using hand tools and go slow. Use a picture of a gen watch case as reference and frequently check your progress . Its easy to remove more metal. difficult to put it back on.

In terms of dial texture. There are a number of techniques to achieve looks. again find an example of what you want your watch to look like and try and replicate that appearance on the dial


I wanted a dial with paint degradation , but not water damaged so I used a diluted water based black paint and a brush to create a texture to the dial of my 6610 Its often a lot of trial and error , and the raffles dials are very durable so you can clean off any paint and usually try again .



The lume is durable on the dials and in order for it too look chipped and flakey, you will need to chip the lume off the dial a bit or remove the lume from the dial and reapply lume to the dial with a more textured mixture.

watchmaking is a journey not a destination - good luck on your journey

 

[Ukrop]

Here a pic of the bezel and a spécial crystal i Can supply that fit on acrylic case, it participate to thin the whole assembly

The crystal and bezel look absolutely gorgeous!
Does it fit Raffles case without modification?

 

[Karbon74]

how can i make the lume look more crumbly/dirty

Personally I use several layers of watercolor, then i clean the dial and finally bake it.
The watercolor cakes up and flakes a bit

You can use the same watercolor tones on the hands lume, and clean up the hands skeleton afterwards

and make the black background look less uniform?

I use the matte varnish drop technique…this technique is buried somewhere in this thread…i won’t tell you so that you read all 250 pages to find it

 

[1016 lover]

The crystal and bezel look absolutely gorgeous!
Does it fit Raffles case without modification?

Yes, it fit the acrylic case without modifications, pm if you are interested

 

[steelman69]

Does anyone know where i can get a cheap crystal press?

 

[dpd3672]

Does anyone know where i can get a cheap crystal press?

AliX or Ebay probably, although you're generally ordering from China, so it'll take a week or two to arrive.

 

[steelman69]

AliX or Ebay probably, although you're generally ordering from China, so it'll take a week or two to arrive.

Anything?,do i need a special one?.
I have got the crystal on,cannot get bezel on.

 

[dpd3672]

Anything?,do i need a special one?.
I have got the crystal on,cannot get bezel on.

I think all of the cheap ones are pretty much the same. They're not great, but they work, as long as you're not too hard on them. Most of them are blue, and copies of the Bergeron press.

 

[steelman69]

ok ,thanks.

 

[Karbon74]

The blue ones can snap
The red ones screw down but are harder to use

Both have mediocre tolerances. Mine is already a bit loose and I will probably need to buy a new one

Given the number of watches I am starting to churn out, I will probably need to go german or swiss for my tools

 

[Karbon74]

Hey guys

A question.
Do you think it’s worth it to put a gen Selitta or even a gen ETA in a rep build?

I am starting to get fed up with those chinese eta clones