Is anyone into "building" watches?

IIRC, the leather one on the R came via Etsy - not many off-the-shelf options for 19mm lug spacing! Managed to get one made an extra inch long, although it's stretched slightly now.
 
I've Googled watch strap for 6" wrists and waded through the avalanche without much success. I'll have a look in town next time I'm there but I'm not hopeful as finding a leather or fabric strap has always been a problem for me and punching more holes never looks good. Many metal straps don't have enough removeable links or enough micro adjustment and when they do the catch mechanism can leave the watch unbalanced on the wrist and lead to it moving to one side which is annoying. I've been through years of this and the two Swiss watches I have have exactly this issue with their metal straps.

These mesh ones are the best solution for me so far as they have just about infinite adjustment and they're very comfortable. Once I've set them I've never had to adjust them during the day. I have had a NATO strap with holes which fitted lovely but it left too much unused stap sticking out. I also have an orange silicone strap with the same issue, it has more than enough holes and it fits lovely but there's way too much strap sticking out and cutting wont produce a nice result.
 
Nod said:
IIRC, the leather one on the R came via Etsy - not many off-the-shelf options for 19mm lug spacing! Managed to get one made an extra inch long, although it's stretched slightly now.
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there should be a special circle in hell reserved for people who design watches with 19 or 21mm lug gaps.
 
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Speak to Rolex!!!
 
Another!


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I like this but I'm a little disappointed with the dial as it looked lovely in its case but there are bright spots on some of those waves where the coating isn't sufficient and also there are a couple of spots too but all this is really only visible under magnification so I'll try and get over it.

It's a Seiko NH38 movement in a 36mm case. I did have one problem as when I fitted the stem and pushed it into place the watch started fine but when pulling the crown out to set the time I could only move the hands clockwise and not anticlockwise. The stem with the plastic end which comes with the movement worked fine so I reasoned it was a stem issue rather than a movement issue. Looking at it everything seemed to be in the right place but there seemed to be very slight differences in the rate of curve of some of the sections. It hardly looked much but it must have been enough as when I tried a stem I had in stock everything was fine.

Chinese quality strikes again.

I happy though :D

Sorry about that strap Nod but It's all I had. I do fancy something different so I'll keep looking.

I have all the bits for another build but I'll save that for next week.
 
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Just a quick question for others who do this.

Do you notice imperfections in the dials and hands you buy? I don't know if I'm being too picky or if I should be paying more for dials and hands.
 
woof woof said:
Sorry about that strap Nod but It's all I had. I do fancy something different so I'll keep looking.
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No apology necessary, Alan. I notice that that strap has (like the Milanese strap on my Rotary) detents at about 10mm intervals. On the Rotary, the strap is only happy in those notches - is that one the same?

The mate who built my Steel Dive has had a few sets of hands with lume missing (dust floating in the baggies) but just relumes them. IIRC, the case, hands and movement cost £70 through Ali Express; not sure how that compares to your purchases.
 
They have notches but you can lock them in place between the notches so you have a lot of adjustment.
 
I decided I couldn't wait until next week so I set about my next build and it went so well and I was think I'd finish in record time but then I tried to screw the stem into the crown and it just spins. I tried a second stem and it was just the same so it looks like the thread in the crown is naff. Oh dear, that Chinese quality again.

I've messaged the seller and asked for a new crown and I so hope they don't want the whole case back. We'll see.
 
woof woof said:
Do you notice imperfections in the dials and hands you buy? I don't know if I'm being too picky or if I should be paying more for dials and hands.
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examine any dial/hands under high enough magnification and you'll find flaws... of course when they're on "original" dials, they become the markers of if somethings actually genuine or not.

But - yes, normally it is a bit of a "you get what you pay for" situation really - one of the reasons why I mostly moved over to building using Eta 2824 or clones, is that because of the higher prices of the movement compared to the Seiko's, there's a bit less of a "race to the bottom" quality wise, especially with hands... As always, Aliexpress is a bit of a crapshoot - but definitely stay away from the sub £5 hand sets and sub £10 feiko dials...

talking of issues on dials... my first gen snowflake (7016) has bits of the R in OYSTER and the R in SUBMARINER that have flaked off... and that's a Genuine Service Exchange Dial (albeit replaced in 1971 according to the service manifest from Tudor/Rolex Service in the USA. Hands are "interesting" as well, being the third set, but still with T-Lume - now, with Trit's half life being about 12.5 years, the hands and dial are pretty much inert 55 years on, basically they show bright green after you hit them with a UV torch, and it lasts for 10-15 seconds if you're lucky. All Day in the sun, and its already given up the ghost before the sun actually sets. But under a loupe, the lume is noticeably less physically "degraded" (it goes sort of "puffy" and slightly billowy) than the dial's lume plots. Again, honestly - it's only noticeable under a 5x or 10x loupe, or on full on Macro Photo's so frankly I just enjoy it for what it is, and check periodically that it's not fallen to bits necessitating a service to get the lume out of the movement.
 
its hard to reach a happy medium to be honest - because frankly if you're not detail focussed, you're probably in the wrong hobby - both in collecting watches or in building them yourselves - the joy IS in the details in my opinion - its just a matter of being able to finish the build, and, be aware of it's issues, while still enjoying it when on the wrist and at a conventional viewing distance.

Think of it as Pixel Peeping, as compared to printing for an exhibition at 4 feet across the frame for a photo. There's a strong parallel to photography in that aspect, for sure.
 
When buying cheap mechanical watches and when building them I'm not looking for ultimate quality, they just have to be good enough and mostly they are. When building these I'm using a jewellery eyeglass with x5 magnification at a distance of I guess less than 6 inches or I'm looking at a photo taken with a 33mp camera at 100%. I do know that's pushing things a bit as every minor variation in colour or texture on a dial and every slight imperfection in the coating on the hands is visible never mind a speck of dust or a hair.

I got into building because I fancied a 1950's Railmaster homage rather than buying an original as I just couldn't justify spending original prices on a watch. There didn't seem to be any on sale but the dials and hands were available so I decided to build it. Since building that first one a few other things appealed to me but I've now built four and I have one more build planned but I need a new crown or case before I can complete it. After this I might stop unless something else comes to mind.

I'm glad I've done this as I have enjoyed it but it is a bit annoying that I can buy a Seiko automatic movement based watch fully assembled for less than half the price the parts cost me but that's just the way it is and building your own does mean you can mix and match the parts.
 
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And another.

DSC03249.jpg

It's an old Explore homage in a 36mm case with a Seiko NH38 movement.

I build a similar one before with the same hands and dial but with a different case and a Miyota 8215 movement but it bothered me as the 8215 comes with a date and there was therefore a dead position on the stem plus the Miyota movement seems a bit clunky when compared to the NH38 and when adjusting the watch the hands do a little jump. So, I wanted to do a NH38 one. I'm not sorry I did the Miyota one though as it was by far the most faff on so it made me think.

Here's my little family.

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I think that might be enough for me as I think that brings my cheap watch total to 30 plus I have my Swiss watches and an automatic Sekonda I've had since I was a teenager. TBH I do fancy doing another but the dial I like isn't available without a date window. I real like all of them. I wasn't keen on the one second from the left because of the hands but after changing them I now really like it.
 
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having the "real" 1016 with the caliber 1570 movement in it, I'd actually like to build something similar, but I want to get something that matches the original Calibre 1560's relatively slow beat (18,000bph as compared with the seiko's 21,600 or the 28,800 of the eta's and clones) - i've seen one, and it really is quite noticeable how slow it seems to move - nearest i've come to it, honestly, is the V31 Mechaquartz movement at 14,400. Actually the more I think about it, the more a V31 powered 36mm "rolex akin field watch" as a "grab and go" watch appeals.

But my other variation on this theme is basically make a sterile "commando" - the 6429 - its basically a 1016's 3,6,9 dial, with "fat stick" full lumed hands, and originally had a manual wind Calibre 1225 21,600 bph movement in a 34mm case. I think it'd go well with my Tudor Oyster Prince from 1966 - for my sins, I actually bought it as a "donor watch" to get my Snowflake working properly - they share a fairly uncommon and impossible to get new parts for movement, and when the automatic winding mechanism failed on my snowflake, it was cheaper to get the Oyster Prince and take the parts from the auto winding mechanism that the snowflake needed, than trying to buy the bits from elsewhere. SO I ended up with a working snowflake, and a hand-winding Oyster Prince. Frankly, as the Oyster Prince is a 34mm watch that would have typically been a "office watch" in the 1960's when it was made, having it as a handwind is fine - as it gets worn maybe 3-4 times a year, when suited and booted - sad to say, its occasionally been referred to as my "funeral" watch...
 
The point of all this for me was to assemble something that looked like a Railmaster for the price of an old mass market film era prime as a ready assembled one wasn't available and it just rolled on a bit from there and of course even a lowly entry level NH38 is very probably going to be more accurate than a 1950's Railmaster or Explorer. I'm not interested in anything that isn't a true mechanical movement and luckily the beat rate doesn't matter to me but if spending a bit more than entry level prices I'd still go for a modern mass market movement. I did think about using a manual wind movement just for the purity and I do sort of regret not doing that.

I can obsess over things and I know using a doner watch would bother me which sort of limits the options even further if you're looking to use original parts or find a movement with what is today an unusual beat rate. Despite my worries about using doner watches and ending up with at least some scrap my next little job is going to be removing a NH35, dial and hands from a divers case and fitting it into a 36mm non diver case as I like simplicity and clarity and having what is to me a useless divers bezel always bothers me. So after deciding I'm done I'm going to do this last mod :D As it's a NH35 but with no date window on the dial I'll have a dead position on the stem but I'll still be more likely to wear the watch if it doesn't have that divers bezel. I have another divers watch I may recase and it does have a date window and a magnifier so I'll have to decide if I want to bother as I do much prefer the clean and simple look of a watch without a bezel or date.
 
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Something from me.

The movement (Seiko NH35), dial, hands and strap are from a divers watch I had. I always liked the dial and hands but I didn't like the case so I thought I'd recase it. It didn't really go smoothly as like with the Miyota movement I did the movement spun in the case unless the crown was screwed down. I made a ring from a piece of copper wire and that stopped the spinning so I tried doing the same thing again but the wire was too thick so I had to make a ring from a piece of thin braided wire. I gave it a good twist to make sure it was tight with no raggy bits and it's done the job and stopped the spinning.

DSC03319-c.jpg

I think I'll stop for a bit now and maybe for good as I have far too many. If I didn't have as many prebuilt I might build some more but for now I've built the ones I wanted and this recasing is a bonus and I'll definitely wear it more now..
 
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There's SOMETHING about a Orange Face watch that just screams SUMMER...

which reminds me, my Seastern "Dox-ish" definitely needs more wrist time. Though if I like it, its highly likely to be another "i liked the Homage so much, I bought the real thing...
 
As well as the more common black and white dials I wanted blue, red, green and yellow ones and got all but the red one, I got orange instead.
 
yeah - i love the Orange dial - If i get a Doxa, that's got to be the one - the "professional" - choice of Jaques Cousteau - and being of a age group that kind of spent every summer "big holiday" watching Jaques and the crew of the Calypso, then you can keep the others as far as I'm concerned...

Would love to pick up a pre-owned one with the US Divers "Aqualung" black roundel on the dial ideally, but that's silly money...
 
TheBigYin said:
yeah - i love the Orange dial - If i get a Doxa, that's got to be the one - the "professional" - choice of Jaques Cousteau - and being of a age group that kind of spent every summer "big holiday" watching Jaques and the crew of the Calypso, then you can keep the others as far as I'm concerned...

Would love to pick up a pre-owned one with the US Divers "Aqualung" black roundel on the dial ideally, but that's silly money...
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I loved Jaques Cousteau's TV shows as a kid but I only found out recently through Youtube about his love of watches. TBH I do prefer the more classic older look but although this orange one isn't like that I do like it.

I think my next watch related project will be finding some shorter affordable watch straps. I mostly have metal mesh ones and they are very comfortable for me and they don't need adjusting during the day but a little verity would be nice. I have a couple of metal link straps but often there just isn't enough adjustment and I have a couple of leather straps but they usually need more holes and then never look the same and I'm left with too much stap beyond the clasp. So, I'll be looking for some nice affordable short straps.
 
A mate of mine buys blank straps - no holes. He orders them cut to length then punches the hole to suit. IIRC, they come through Etsy.
 
Nod said:
A mate of mine buys blank straps - no holes. He orders them cut to length then punches the hole to suit. IIRC, they come through Etsy.
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I don't think I fancy that. The main issue is that my left wrist is something like 6 or 6.5" and most straps need an extra hole and are much too long. Extra holes are never the same shape which triggers my ocd and I'm still left with the overhang.

I did a bit of Googling the other day but it's difficult to Google anything without getting an avalanche of mostly irrelevant unsuitable results. I'm sure there will be actual watch straps which are actually short, available from UK suppliers at reasonable prices but I didn't see any amongst the avalanche. I did see some high priced ones in the USA and Europe and priced in their money but nothing reasonably priced and available in the UK. Searching on Amazon was worse. After a couple of hours and with a screaming brain I gave up. I might try again but I just get sick of all the crap that comes up when searching no matter how precise and exact the thing I type in and the amount of time wasted. I'll be going into town at some point so I might ask in some physical shops but I'm not hopeful as I remember what a frustrating waste of time it was when I was looking in local shops for metal straps which would fit me and be comfortable.
 
Have a search on ETSY - search for "watchbands custom for a 6" mens wrists"

I found a couple that would actually allow you to specify the length of the buckle side and the tail side of the strap - won't bother linking because straps are really something that's very much driven by your own taste.

As a suggestion though, I think most of the cases you've shown are 20mm spacing. What I'd suggest is to try and get a strap that tapers down to say a 16mm Buckle - it'll visually "lighten" the whole look of the strap, and obviously decrease the bulk of the strap.

When I had a couple of custom straps, I emailed the guy on ETSY and said that what I actually wanted was a strap that fit my 8 1.4" wrist, but had 2-3 holes after the location I was using - so that it "looked" like it was a typical watchstrap and not something that I'd had made up as a special.

to be honest, with something like those Explorer type cases, they're only about 40mm lug-lug, so on a 155mm wrist, you're looking at needing 115mm of strap - so a strap that's marked up as 100/60 would likely be fine - that's 100mm for the "tail end" and 60mm for the buckle side. Just remember, that the "tail" end actually includes the bit at the end where there's no holes - so - depending on the style, that could be 30mm or more of "dead leather".

As I say - I've gone through same kind of hassle - only from the other side of the scale. Especially when I'm trying to get something that'll work on a 40mm length watch case and still wrap around 210mm+
 
Thanks. Strap bulk or weight isn't really a problem. The only problems are not enough holes or not enough adjustability in the case of metal straps and length and lopsidedness/balance. I think all the watches I've posted pictures of are 20mm strap and that seems to be the most common size but I have watches from 19 to 22mm. I might give ETSY a deeper look. Plenty did crop up when I Googled but none of them suited for one reason or another, usually length or cost. I'll keep looking as I want some variety but I don't want to spend more than a watch cost on a strap or end up with more unbalanced metal straps.

Today I'm rearing a rather large divers and the metal strap did have enough removeable links but even though it has the same number of links on each end it has ended up slightly unbalanced due to the clasp mechanism and I do notice this. It's worse if I add a link to what ends up being the slightly shorter side. This is all why I've ended up mostly having metal mesh straps as they allow just about infinite adjustment with the only downside being too much material past the fastening. Of the 33 watches I have (Oops) only one has a leather strap, one has silicone, 6 have linked metal straps but all have a problem to some degree with two (my more expensive Swiss watches) being seriously unbalanced on my wrist due to the size and shape of their clasp mechanism. All the rest are mesh and these so far are by far the best fit and by far the most comfortable.
 
one thing I've noticed, is that Seiko Divers seem to have a shorter watch body length for their size - so they may be fairly wide, but they "wear shorter/smaller" - I know that say a "willard" wears about the same as a "4-5 digit sub" even though it's 44mm wide and the sub's are 39-40 (ish) - it is however noticeably heavier so can be a bit top-heavy and needs either a grippy rubber strap or the stainless bracelet. With Leather, I find I need to have the strap too tight for comfort to keep the watch on the top of my wrist.
 
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