The Ladies' Rolex thread...a guide to assembling a nice Franken (thread will be updated periodically)

[dpd3672]

I meant that my previous 3d printed spacer did not attach to the dial at all. I had to use dial adhesive, which did not work well. Since the 2671 movement does not secure to the dial, the spacer is needed to secure to the dial in order for things ti be sturdy. My fear is that this new 3d printed design you made will also not secure the dial in place.


does your NH05 holder attach to the dial firmly?

Side note: Here is a link with pictures I found on a forum of a guy using the brass ring on the 2671 dial. Interesting to see how it's done.

Franken ladies DJ

Hi All, I would like to build a ladies DateJust for my fiancèe, and I'm wondering if anyone already did it.. if I rememer right Ubi was working on it.. In particular, would a ETA 2671-2 fit in a 69174 genuine case? I don't mind about the spacer, my concern is about the thickness.. Another option ...

rwg.cc

The 3D take on the Raffles movement holder does have recessed holes for the Rolex dial feet, although they may need to be moved, since different dials had feet in different locations, depending on if they were made for the 203X movement or the earlier one. The dial should attach to the movement holder, which should be secured to the movement with either dots, clamps and screws, or just friction, depending on how you configure it.

My movement holder for the NH05 has relief cuts to accommodate the dial feet, but I also use dial dots as extra security. I also designed it so the dial fits into the cutout in the rehaut, and the movement holder holds it down by the friction fit to the case. The height is such that when the case back is screwed down, it holds the movement holder against the dial, so everything is pretty solid.

It's hard to explain, but hopefully is more clear when I'm able to post the walkthrough.

 

[MS00012]

Oh ok. I was referring to the 69173 dial that has no feet. It is pressure mounted, snaps into the gen dial. It just has notches around the edge that help it keep in place along with the friction. See this eBay listing for a picture of the back. It is this dial that I could not connect to my previous spacer.

Rolex Ladies 26mm Datejust White Mother Of Pearl 2-Tone Diamond Original Dial | eBay

We are in no way affiliated with Rolex or Rolex USA. Case Size: 26mm. Dial: Original Ladies Mop White.

www.ebay.com

 

[MS00012]

*snaps into the gen movement.

 

[dpd3672]

Oh, now I understand.

Yes, the dial snaps on the movement holder.

 

[MS00012]

Oh, now I understand.

Yes, the dial snaps on the movement holder.

This is great! It looks like your outer diameter of the NH05 spacer fits snugly with the inner diameter of the dial. I am pretty sure the raffles spacer does not do this and has a larger diameter that is flush with the outer diameter of the dial. This makes it tricky to connect the dial to the spacer since the dial does not mount to the aftermarket movement.

Could you possibly design the 2617 spacer to have the a lip that allows the inner part of the dial to fit snugly against it?

For reference, here are some pictures of the head with the stock rolex 2135 movement as well as a picture of the 2135 with the circled tab that secures the dial.

 

[dpd3672]

This is great! It looks like your outer diameter of the NH05 spacer fits snugly with the inner diameter of the dial. I am pretty sure the raffles spacer does not do this and has a larger diameter that is flush with the outer diameter of the dial. This makes it tricky to connect the dial to the spacer since the dial does not mount to the aftermarket movement.

Could you possibly design the 2617 spacer to have the a lip that allows the inner part of the dial to fit snugly against it?

For reference, here are some pictures of the head with the stock rolex 2135 movement as well as a picture of the 2135 with the circled tab that secures the dial.

IT shouldn't be too difficult, although I'd need a 2671 in hand to test fit everything. If you've got a 3D printer, you could take the movement holder for the NH05 and adapt it to the 2671.

3D design 26mm DATE NH05 Movement Holder - Tinkercad

3D design 26mm DATE NH05 Movement Holder

www.tinkercad.com

The OD is already correct for the Rolex case, you'd just need to adjust the ID to be a snug fit to the 2671 movement, although the specs show they're the same ligne, so that should stay the same, give or take.

The height of the movement (and hand height) are different, however, so you would need to adjust the thickness of the lip that spaces the dial from the movement so that the stem hole lines up in the case (Black arrow in drawing below), and/or move the opening for the stem up or down:



For reference, the above drawing shows the movement spacer face down, so the dial would go underneath, facing down, and the movement would slide in, face down, with the stem out to the right. The lip would need to be adjusted to accommodate the outside diameter of the date wheel (and overlay) and to space the stem correctly so it's centered in the opening in the case. Depending on how the 2671 is set up, that might cause an unacceptable amount of space between the dial and movement, I'm not sure and can't find specs to show this measurement. Too big, and you'd need a spacer to move the DWO closer to the dial. It's also possible that if the rotor is bigger on the 2671 (it's quite compact on the NH05) the movement holder would need to be modified a bit to open up the inside diameter...these custom movement holders are a lot of trial and error before they fit exactly right.

Seiko (SII) Caliber NH05A Watch Movement

Manufacturer Seiko Caliber Number NH05A (aka NH05) Movement Type Automatic, self-winding mechanical Lignes 7 3/4''' Diameter 17.5mm Height 5.92mm Jewels 21 Beat Rate 21,600 bph, 3Hz Lift Angle 52 degrees Ideal Amplitude Above 150 degrees Power Reserve ~50 hours Rotor Winding Direction...

calibercorner.com

ETA Caliber 2671 Watch Movement

Mannufacturer ETA Caliber Number 2671 Movement Type Automatic, self-winding mechanical Lignes 7 3/4''' Diameter 17.2mm Height 4.8mm Jewels 25 Power Reserve ~38 hours Vibrations Per Hour 28,800 vph, 4Hz Shock System Incabloc Regulator System Etachron with fine timing device Features Central...

calibercorner.com

 

[bertino2]

THE DIAL:

Ladies' Rolex dials are surprisingly affordable and ubiquitous, tons to choose from on Ebay, although some are well worn (not a bad thing, if you're going for a vintage look), and some are expensive. I've seen them as cheap as $20, and as expensive as $several hundred, but mostly you can find a good one for about $50, give or take. There are two sizes that I've worked with, for a 24mm (usually no date, but there are exceptions), and 26mm (usually with date, but with exceptions, and in either "Date" or "Datejust" models). They are not interchangeable, so make sure you get the right one for your case. They also sometimes have dial feet in different locations, depending on what movement they were intended for, so the 3d movement holders might need some modification (either in the CAD file or with a small hole drilled for the dial feet).

One notable exception I found is that SOME dials for the 24mm case have dial feet that are too long...I didn't remove them, but did file them down about half height, in order to let the dial sit flush with the movement holder. I wouldn't recommend this on a rare or expensive dial, but it's not too bad, and will still allow the dial to fit on a gen movement, should you decide on that path down the road.

26mm cases take a dial that's ~20mm in diameter, 24mm cases take a dial that's ~18mm in diameter.

THE BRACELET:

Lots of options here. Gen bracelets sell for ~$100-300 in stainless, quite a bit more in gold or two tone. With a gen bracelet, you're likely to get well worn ones on the low end of the price range, rather nice ones at the higher end. They'll also be older, riveted ones, which feel very cheap compared to modern ones. Jubilee and Oyster bracelets seem to sell for about the same price.

Raffles makes very nice bracelets for just under $40 to about $60 that are actually arguably higher quality than the vintage gens (flame away, it's true, lol), and I'm sure there are many others, Raffles is just where I'm used to shopping.

There are also very cheap (and in my opinion, very close to gen in feel and construction) jubilee and oyster options on AliExpress. I've purchased some of these in 19mm and 20mm and been very happy with the product, although full disclosure, I don't have any of the 13mm (some have been ordered), so not sure if they're the same.

A strap is also a nice option. Pair any nice 13mm leather strap with a rep Rolex buckle (usually under $5 on AliX), and it can really look nice.

Hi dpd3672

Thank you for this thread. Few people deal with women's Rolexes. Some time ago I bought a lady DJ 28mm in gold from a fraudulent seller and the strap immediately fell apart. Can you advise me where I could buy a strap in gold design? The width of the strap is 12mm.

well thank you

 

[dpd3672]

Hi dpd3672

Thank you for this thread. Few people deal with women's Rolexes. Some time ago I bought a lady DJ 28mm in gold from a fraudulent seller and the strap immediately fell apart. Can you advise me where I could buy a strap in gold design? The width of the strap is 12mm.

well thank you

I'm not aware of any made in 12mm, I think everything Rolex ever made was 13mm and larger, and while there's a few reps of these, nothing I've ever seen that's smaller.

Maybe a leather strap in 12/12 size with a rep 12mm Rolex buckle? The buckles are all over AliX and DHGate for $3-5 and not half bad. I can't find a link, but search for "Rolex Buckle" and find one in 12mm and you can add it to any leather strap that's 12mm on the buckle end.

 

[bertino2]

I'm not aware of any made in 12mm, I think everything Rolex ever made was 13mm and larger, and while there's a few reps of these, nothing I've ever seen that's smaller.

Maybe a leather strap in 12/12 size with a rep 12mm Rolex buckle? The buckles are all over AliX and DHGate for $3-5 and not half bad. I can't find a link, but search for "Rolex Buckle" and find one in 12mm and you can add it to any leather strap that's 12mm on the buckle end.

They are replicas from the SHOPREPLICA company, but they no longer respond. It's probably one of the worst replicas.

well thank you

 

[dpd3672]

I think this is the best you're going to do, something along these lines:

 

[MS00012]

So what's the next move for the seiko movement project? Did you get the dwo in and try to raise it up?

 

[dpd3672]

Still waiting for raffles order, should be any day now. Had some issues around the house, but hope to build a couple this week.

 

[MS00012]

Still waiting for raffles order, should be any day now. Had some issues around the house, but hope to build a couple this week.

Did you get those longer hands in? I was about to buy the ones you posted, but noticed they were "rose gold" and not "gold" how do they look on the black dial?

 

[xray7]

Still waiting for raffles order, should be any day now. Had some issues around the house, but hope to build a couple this week.

Itching to see how you go with the Raffles order, because I too am waiting on an order from Ken (as well as orders from Athaya and WSO among others) so I can build a 16030 for me first (despite offering to build my wife’s new watch first!), then build my wife one of these tinier ones.

 

[xray7]

I had a thought overnight while hunting parts for frankening a ladies size DJ.

Considering they’re not enormously expensive, might it make sense to pick up old Tudor Princess pieces from the old days when Tudor and Rolex were close to interchangeable in spec but for the movement, and replace the dial, DW, and the clasp?

Also got my Raffles order in!

 

[MS00012]

I had a thought overnight while hunting parts for frankening a ladies size DJ.

Considering they’re not enormously expensive, might it make sense to pick up old Tudor Princess pieces from the old days when Tudor and Rolex were close to interchangeable in spec but for the movement, and replace the dial, DW, and the clasp?

Also got my Raffles order in!

If I can remember, the Tudor is slightly smaller than the 6917/69173 26mm case. I could be wrong though. But I remember reading that many modders took those tudor princess pieces and refinished the dials to make them "rolex" watches.

 

[MS00012]

Still waiting for raffles order, should be any day now. Had some issues around the house, but hope to build a couple this week.

Any updates on this build? I got my dial, hands and demo in the mail. Just waiting for the seiko movement to be delivered.

 

[Watchenthusiast2]

Akh this thread made me lol at myself thinking I could casually build myself a small diameter watch.

 

[dpd3672]

Sorry for the long break, had some family and work emergencies pop up, but things are sorting out now and I'm trying to get back into building...the queue is getting overwhelming and I need to finish some projects before I start anymore, lol.

I think the process is mostly sorted out now, the Raffles DWO works with the Seiko movement, and while the Seiko plastic movement ring doesn't center the stem in a gen case, the 3D printed one I came up with works perfectly.

For these watches, it works better for me to build them in a slightly non-traditional way. Instead of the normal steps, I do them a little out of order, but the end result is the same. So here's the latest build with a working date wheel that's properly centered in the date window.

The build list is:
Gen case
Gen bezel
Gen crystal
Gen crown
Gen dial
Seiko NH05 movement
Raffles DWO
AliX hands...from what I can find, there are only 2 options for NH05 hands. Explorer and Datejust/OP style, in silver, gold, or rose gold. One version is slightly longer than the others, although I haven't received those yet, so these are with the "short" hands (.5mm shorter).

First, Set the date wheel overlay on the movement, after removing the plastic Seiko stock dial spacer:


Snap the dial onto the 3D printed spacer, and then insert the movement from the back into the assembly. I do use dial adhesive dots to hold the dial/spacer to the movement, just for extra security, but it's a friction fit, so everything does stay on its own. Most Seiko movements don't use case clamps, they're just friction fit, so it's a fairly established way to use their movments.


Then insert the movment assembly with dial into the case. Now is when you can tweak everything by rotating it to make it all line up.


NOW is when I add the hands. It just works better for me this way:


Then the crystal:


Then the bezel:


Finally, fit the crown to the stem, and add a bracelet. I'm still looking for a two tone gen bracelet, but will probably settle for Raffles or Alix for now. I had a nice black ladies crocodile strap, but it's 12mm instead of 13mm, so it looked awful on this build. This is an old, well worn gen stainless jubilee, which actually looks ok, even though the watch is 2 tone.

 

[dpd3672]

And as an update, after lots of minor tweaks, this is the movement holder that I'm using for the NH05 in a gen case with date:

3D design 26mm NH05 date 0716 - Tinkercad

3D design 26mm NH05 date 0716

www.tinkercad.com

Mostly the changes were to make the opening for the date wheel a bit more precise, so it's free to turn and has enough space to not interfere with the back of the dial.