Reply With QuoteNicely done Martin, a touch of aged lume and you've cracked it, a tidy piece.
Some time back, I came across a picture of a rather lovely Omega dress watch on the Watchcat website. The watch in question was cited as a cautionary example of the importance of knowing your stuff when buying old watches. Regardless of the unlikely combination of a Seamaster 300 dial in an Omega dress watch case, I rather liked it and it has stuck in my mind since. Here it is:
Let's fast forward a year or so, and I snag for a pittance a Seiko 6119-8080 dress watch off Ebay. I bought it mainly for the dial which I thought might go well in some mod or other down the road. Here's the dodgy photo provided by the seller:
As it turned out, the dial was ruined and unusable so I set the watch aside but an inkling formed at that point that perhaps the case might form the basis of a little project to get some small way towards the imaginary Omega. About this time, Yobokies started selling his PO dials in 6309 fit and I pounced on one. A set of steel MOD hands from Motorcitywatchworks and we were potentially in business. I also bought a black day wheel from Pete Kuhn in Australia because I thought black on white would distract too much from the look I was after (you notice my obsession with having a date still over-rides aesthetics for the moment!). The vocano fiasco held things up by a week or two but eventually everything arrived and we were set.
The movement fitted to the 6119-8080 is the B variant of the 6119 which has a date quickset, achieved by pushing in the crown but no day quickset, nor the hacking facility that was to come on the later C variant. Also, as it turns out, it comes only with a single language day wheel which means that my black day wheel from Oz would be incompatible. By the time I discovered this, I was already well advanced into the servicing of the movement, which held some other, rather unpleasant surprises. I had heard from others that it is not uncommon for unscrupulous sellers/watchmakers, to 'service' a movement by dunking it in watch oil. When I stripped down mine, I discovered that it was swimming in oil. Unbelievable. Here is the back of the day wheel:
and the top of the movement with the autowinding mechanism removed:
I ended up cleaning, oliing and rebuilding this one, but the day wheel problem meant that I would not be using it for this project. Happily I had a 6119C from another watch knocking about. This one did not work but looked in decent nick and probably just needed a service. So a strip down, clean and oil followed, including both diashock jewels, and a refit with the date wheel from the 6119B and the 6309 black English/Roman day wheel. Here is a comparison of the centre wheel bridge on the 6119B
with that on the 6119C
Notice the presence of the hacking level on the latter. Nice!
Anyway, the rest all came together without the usual dramas. On with Harold's dial, and the super hands from Detroit, plus a new old stock, domed Seiko acrylic crystal and we have a rather loose approximation to that old fraudulant Omega:
Martin
Nicely done Martin, a touch of aged lume and you've cracked it, a tidy piece.
That looks great, well done :thumbright:
Indeed! It's a beauty!Originally Posted by Dapper
Wow! That's a neat job. It's a lovely combination of dial, hands, and case. That Seiko case really is a good choice. Well done!!
That's lovely - well done. IT's nice to see a mod that adds something to a watch, rather than detracting. Good work.
That works very well. Nice
Great project, the crystal looks fantastic.
Wow that IS nice, your best project so far imho!
Very well done :-)
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
What a lovely little watch, nice job 8)
"I looked with pity not untinged with scorn upon these trivial-minded passers-by"
Thats lovely - good job.
yes great that,i wish i had the skills to do something like that.
Thanks. Yes, aged lume would be the icing, but not so easy to achieve!
Martin
It is a lovely one, coming with a tension ring and easy to fit, with a satisfying snap, with a crystal press. Acrylic is an absolute bugger though with dust. I had the movement in and out at least three times to clear out every last little speck that managed to make its way in.
Martin
Thanks Mike. I had a feeling you might like this one :)
Martin
Exactly - the result is indeed more then the sum of the parts.
I really like that!
I remember seeing the same SM300 'hybrid' :? and thought it looked pretty cool too!
It looks great. I'm jealous of all you who can do stuff like that. But that it really smart.
Paul
GOT...TO...KILL...CAPTAIN STUPID!
I really like that, it looks good in its own right.
Now that does look good, really complete and coherent look :D the insides of the movement look lovely as well, certainly nicer than their modern workhorse movements. :D
Very nice sir. The domed crystal really sets it off.
How did you learn to do this sort of thing?
Practice & destruction or are they courses around?
That is very nice. Congratulations. It's nice to read about projects like that.
Nick
Very nice, reminds me very much of my old Ogival :)
Thanks for sharing, that is a great result 8)
Yes, I was looking today at the differences in the detailing on the centre wheel bridge of the 6119 compared to the later 6309. The two movements are quite similar in design, and share some components, yet there has clearly been greater attention paid to the finish, and arguably quality, of the earlier movement. But then again, the 6309 is an absolute masterpiece compared to the 7S26. Which I don't like at all.
Martin
Thank you. Practice, persistence and a spot of [s:11fpdo7q]stupidity[/s:11fpdo7q] bravery. The first watch I disembowelled was a 6105. Somehow, it survived and is probably still my favourite watch (although it no longer looks much like a 6105).
Martin
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