Post by Benchdweller on Mar 29, 2014 12:42:12 GMT -8
I've had this watch for a few months now and its still a bit of an ongoing project so I thought I'd post up the details so far...
So it all started a about six months back when I discovered Bry1975 on SCWF was DLC coating watches. I've always liked the look of a coated watch and I was in the process of putting a PMMM together so I sent that to Bry for the DLC treatment.
This was the first incarnation - A DLC coated SKX007 with a SKX171 dial, Murphy bezel, Yobokies double domed sapphire and black day and date wheels -
I was more than happy with how it turned out. Most of the watches that I've seen that have been DLC or PVD coated have been bead blasted first to give a matt finish similar to ceracoating and I wasn't too keen on that. The case I sent to Bry was in mint condition so I asked him not to touch it and coat it as it was and I'm glad I did. The brushed top and polished sides of the 007 case are still intact though its quite hard to capture in the pictures.
I then swapped out the insert for a Rolex style one -
That didn't really float my boat so I put the original style one back in and fitted a set of Ti Samurai hands and a GasGasBones strap -
I left it at that for a while barring the occasional strap change but I wasn't 100% happy with the double domed sapphire. It looked great from certain angles, especially when the light caught the blue a/r coating, but from other angles it distorted the dial making it look smaller than it was. So I then tried a single domed sapphire, again from Yobokies and I also purchased a DLC'd mesh from WJean -
I prefered the new sapphire which magnified the dial compared to the double domed one which made the dial appear smaller, but the gap between the bezel insert and crystal was a bit of a dust trap and slightly annoying, plus the tapered edge of the crystal had a habit of creating a halo ring effect around the dial which I wasn't keen on. Then I read a post on TZ-UK from Mrwozza70 where he had fitted one of the new super dome crystal kits from Dagaz. For those unfamiliar with these sapphires, they come as a kit including an insert and new crystal gasket. The reason they are sold as a kit is because the crystal is taller than standard and insert is matched to the crystal to give flush fit between the two. The new gasket is required as the crystal is slightly smaller than standard at 31.2mm vs 31.5mm.
Here you can see the difference in height between the sapphires -
And the inserts side by side -
This pic shows the sapphire pressed in place -
And the completed pictures -
As you can see from the pictures, I went for the stealth insert to go with the DLC case and I think it suits it perfectly. The gap between the crystal and insert is now non-existent and the crystal has just the right amount of dome to it so as not to distort the dial too much.
Now that it all looks good on the outside I'm now looking at fitting a hacking and hand winding 4R36 movement to the inside and possibly a clear case back to show it off. Once I've done that I'll then consider it finished...
TBC
So it all started a about six months back when I discovered Bry1975 on SCWF was DLC coating watches. I've always liked the look of a coated watch and I was in the process of putting a PMMM together so I sent that to Bry for the DLC treatment.
This was the first incarnation - A DLC coated SKX007 with a SKX171 dial, Murphy bezel, Yobokies double domed sapphire and black day and date wheels -
I was more than happy with how it turned out. Most of the watches that I've seen that have been DLC or PVD coated have been bead blasted first to give a matt finish similar to ceracoating and I wasn't too keen on that. The case I sent to Bry was in mint condition so I asked him not to touch it and coat it as it was and I'm glad I did. The brushed top and polished sides of the 007 case are still intact though its quite hard to capture in the pictures.
I then swapped out the insert for a Rolex style one -
That didn't really float my boat so I put the original style one back in and fitted a set of Ti Samurai hands and a GasGasBones strap -
I left it at that for a while barring the occasional strap change but I wasn't 100% happy with the double domed sapphire. It looked great from certain angles, especially when the light caught the blue a/r coating, but from other angles it distorted the dial making it look smaller than it was. So I then tried a single domed sapphire, again from Yobokies and I also purchased a DLC'd mesh from WJean -
I prefered the new sapphire which magnified the dial compared to the double domed one which made the dial appear smaller, but the gap between the bezel insert and crystal was a bit of a dust trap and slightly annoying, plus the tapered edge of the crystal had a habit of creating a halo ring effect around the dial which I wasn't keen on. Then I read a post on TZ-UK from Mrwozza70 where he had fitted one of the new super dome crystal kits from Dagaz. For those unfamiliar with these sapphires, they come as a kit including an insert and new crystal gasket. The reason they are sold as a kit is because the crystal is taller than standard and insert is matched to the crystal to give flush fit between the two. The new gasket is required as the crystal is slightly smaller than standard at 31.2mm vs 31.5mm.
Here you can see the difference in height between the sapphires -
And the inserts side by side -
This pic shows the sapphire pressed in place -
And the completed pictures -
As you can see from the pictures, I went for the stealth insert to go with the DLC case and I think it suits it perfectly. The gap between the crystal and insert is now non-existent and the crystal has just the right amount of dome to it so as not to distort the dial too much.
Now that it all looks good on the outside I'm now looking at fitting a hacking and hand winding 4R36 movement to the inside and possibly a clear case back to show it off. Once I've done that I'll then consider it finished...
TBC
Or try the hands from a SRP025K1 (Blue) SRP027K1 (red) SRP029K1 (yellow) or the SRP031K1 (orange).
