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Vintage Seamaster Professional Project
- Thread starter Five of Clubs
- Start date
Thanks for all the nice comments guys, I really appreciate them. The individual parts are pretty ugly but I think (more like hope) that they will work well together.
I test fit the dial to the movement last night to make sure I didn't bend the dial feet and I realized I had a problem. The date wheel had shiney snow white numbers on it that would look terrible when everything was done. I dug through my daughter's markers and luckily found a mustard-yellow one. I simply rubbed the marker on the date wheel and presto, it was vintagized.
Before:
After:
I test fit the dial to the movement last night to make sure I didn't bend the dial feet and I realized I had a problem. The date wheel had shiney snow white numbers on it that would look terrible when everything was done. I dug through my daughter's markers and luckily found a mustard-yellow one. I simply rubbed the marker on the date wheel and presto, it was vintagized.
Before:
After:
Another clever installment!
Looks like I'm going to be picking up Rolex or Seamaster to vintigize. Summer mod projects FTW.
Looks like I'm going to be picking up Rolex or Seamaster to vintigize. Summer mod projects FTW.
The hands got some lume tonight. I used equal parts Glow Inc. stuff and flat clear model paint, applied from the back side. The lume from Glow Inc. is inexpensive and works pretty well. I didn't want to use the higher priced stuff since whatever aging technique I use will probably end up killing most of lume. Still not sure how I want to age the lume...
EDIT: I ended up putting lume inside the whole length of the hour and minute hands just to see if I like the different look. The hands originally just hand lume on the tips and along the thin slots at the sides of the hands. I can always scrape it out if I don't like it!
EDIT: I ended up putting lume inside the whole length of the hour and minute hands just to see if I like the different look. The hands originally just hand lume on the tips and along the thin slots at the sides of the hands. I can always scrape it out if I don't like it!
You sir, are exactly right. I was/am bored since there isn't much out there I want to buy! This silly little project has given me something to look forward to. Isn't that really the key to happiness? On a side note, I was looking down at my PO the other day trying to resist the urge to do something dumb to it.
ThinkBachs - It's all in the editing. I'm just fumbling my way through most of this stuff! I'm keeping most of my concerns and mistakes to myself. For example, I cleaned up the other night and found this tiny little spring that I had no clue as to where it went. Some time later I realized it was the spring that pushed against the bezel pin so you getting that pleasant clicking sound and unidirectional movement.
In my mind, this is the way to go- good choice! You can never have enough lume, but you can always wish you had more.
ThinkBachs - I have actually read the DIY Vintage/Trailer Park thread. The first was was new and thanks! At the rate I'm going I might need to send these hands to Ska!
In the interest of "keeping it real" I will have to admit that I have had a couple minor setbacks. First off, the color of the datewheel after my attempt at vintagizing it didn't look right with the dial. On top of that, the ink from the marker I used wouldn't dry even after two days. Therefore, I ended up wiping off the datewheel and using a brown marker instead to "shade" the white numbers. I'll try to get a picture up later when I get the dial back on the movement.
The second setback was with the lume on the hands. As seen in the previous image, the hands were pretty white after I lumed them. I baked those damn hands in the oven for 2 hours at temperatures ranging from 350F to 425F and I never did get a color I liked. I finally ended up soaking the hands in thinner and scraped off the lume. Last night I reconstituted the mostly dry lume with some of honey-colored gun stock varnish that I used on the pearl and lumed the hands again. I was hoping that by adding some color to the mix it would be easier to age the hands. What I ended up with was an interesting translucent lume that has a obvious tint to it. The picture below is of the latest version of the lume, but I couldn't get the camera to auto-focus on the hands very well so the picture isn't great. The hands should be dry so I'm going to play around with it some now. Hopefully I can get something I like!
In the interest of "keeping it real" I will have to admit that I have had a couple minor setbacks. First off, the color of the datewheel after my attempt at vintagizing it didn't look right with the dial. On top of that, the ink from the marker I used wouldn't dry even after two days. Therefore, I ended up wiping off the datewheel and using a brown marker instead to "shade" the white numbers. I'll try to get a picture up later when I get the dial back on the movement.
The second setback was with the lume on the hands. As seen in the previous image, the hands were pretty white after I lumed them. I baked those damn hands in the oven for 2 hours at temperatures ranging from 350F to 425F and I never did get a color I liked. I finally ended up soaking the hands in thinner and scraped off the lume. Last night I reconstituted the mostly dry lume with some of honey-colored gun stock varnish that I used on the pearl and lumed the hands again. I was hoping that by adding some color to the mix it would be easier to age the hands. What I ended up with was an interesting translucent lume that has a obvious tint to it. The picture below is of the latest version of the lume, but I couldn't get the camera to auto-focus on the hands very well so the picture isn't great. The hands should be dry so I'm going to play around with it some now. Hopefully I can get something I like!
First up, here is a picture of the datewheel. The new brown marker helped me match the text on the dial pretty well and I am happy with it.
Next is a mock-up of the hands. I'm not entirely thrilled with the color on them, but I finally relented to the fact that they need to be light enough to read. I'll go with this for now. I may ultimately decide to paint the backside of the hands brown (or some other color) to help darken the appearance of the lume from the front.
Here I have mounted the hands to the movement. I seriously considered leaving the second hand off because I saw a Rolex that RWI member Daevildog built that looked friggin awesome without one.
However, I ended up sticking the seconds hand on there!
How about a lume shot? Vintage watches probably shouldn't have much lume, but I like that it has a little.
And finally, I will put this thing on a Gunny Caitlin 4 strap that is beat up enough to go with the watch.
Next is a mock-up of the hands. I'm not entirely thrilled with the color on them, but I finally relented to the fact that they need to be light enough to read. I'll go with this for now. I may ultimately decide to paint the backside of the hands brown (or some other color) to help darken the appearance of the lume from the front.
Here I have mounted the hands to the movement. I seriously considered leaving the second hand off because I saw a Rolex that RWI member Daevildog built that looked friggin awesome without one.
However, I ended up sticking the seconds hand on there!
How about a lume shot? Vintage watches probably shouldn't have much lume, but I like that it has a little.
And finally, I will put this thing on a Gunny Caitlin 4 strap that is beat up enough to go with the watch.
If you are looking for a browner/yellower appearance on the hands, soaking the hands in coffee can give good results. Also, I have read/heard vinegar is useful at aging hands.
I have aged some PAM hands in coffee with good results. I left them sit overnight in the coffee. I have not tried the vinegar approach.
I have aged some PAM hands in coffee with good results. I left them sit overnight in the coffee. I have not tried the vinegar approach.
I have tried coffee in the past and couldn't get much of a darkening effect. I started with hot coffee and left the hands in overnight and they came out white as snow. It may just be the Glow Inc stuff that is resistant. I also read somewhere to take some tobacco (plentiful here in Kentucky) and add water to make a "juice". That didn't work either. I never tried tea. I ended up baking them in the past. It just didn't give me a color I liked this time. Thanks for the tip though! Hopefully others that read this will have better luck.
Thanks for the tip though! Hopefully others that read this will have better luck.Edit: As to vinegar, I have had the hands bleed green tarnish into the lume from the corrosion of the hands. It looks a little weird, even for my taste!
Tobacco smoke somewhat worked for me on a dial. Put the dial in a can.....blew smoke into can..covered can....let sit for a bit and repeat. I'm not a smoker. So, this was not a long term chocie for me. I tried it once.
Strong coffee can usually stain anything. I used some pretty "black" stuff. I mixed it to a consistency that was pretty thick....certainly not drinkable.
Your watch is looking good so far. I like it.
Strong coffee can usually stain anything. I used some pretty "black" stuff. I mixed it to a consistency that was pretty thick....certainly not drinkable.
Your watch is looking good so far. I like it.