Watch of Today

[digginstony]

Hi guys! It's been a long time since I've posted here.... I plan on checking in a little more often..
Here's my latest creation that I'm wearing today. I designed the dial after a current Hamilton Khaki model... I posted a picture of the printing plate too!

Beautiful job. Is that a modified eta 2824 in there ?

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[Geo]

Welcome back Don, and it's great to see that you've mastered the dial printing.

Another great result!

 

[DJW]

 

Beautiful job. Is that a modified eta 2824 in there ?

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Nope..it's a vintage Hamilton 917 pocket watch movement. ;-)

[digginstony]

Nope..it's a vintage Hamilton 917 pocket watch movement. ;-)

Fantastic watch !

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[DJW]

 

Welcome back Don, and it's great to see that you've mastered the dial printing.

Another great result!

 

Mastered? Gosh, I wish! It's the hardest thing I do when putting together watches...ugh!

[digginstony]

Nope..it's a vintage Hamilton 917 pocket watch movement. ;-)

Yep I've come off my phone and can see movement on my tablet now. Look forward to more posts from you.
Great to see these old movement's given a practical New lease of life [emoji4]

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[DJW]

Today, my 1937 Longines pocket watch conversion. 15 jewels in a 43mm case. Hand Silvered dial designed after a picture of a vintage Longines that I really like.

[digginstony]

Another superb conversion. And something that could see daily use rather than left in a display cabinet. I see the sub dial is in the 9 o'clock position again and am assuming that the movement is from an open face case. It looks really trendy by today's standard or fashion, not that I follow fashion. I wise old man once told me " Fashion is the preoccupation of the light minded"
A great conversion and a great watch that anyone should be proud to own

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[DJW]

 

Another superb conversion. And something that could see daily use rather than left in a display cabinet. I see the sub dial is in the 9 o'clock position again and am assuming that the movement is from an open face case. It looks really trendy by today's standard or fashion, not that I follow fashion. I wise old man once told me " Fashion is the preoccupation of the light minded"
A great conversion and a great watch that anyone should be proud to own

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

You are correct! Open face case, not Hunter. These types of conversion watches can be very divisive. Purist find them an abomination, citing that a collectible item has been destroyed to make some sort of " Frankinwatch". I understand their point. I use loose movements without cases. I try not to disassemble complete watches to rob them if their movements. I will, however, buy a complete watch if the price is such that there seems to be little interest in it as a complete watch. 

Having said that, probably 90% of the movements I use are orphan movements. I get most of them in trade from people I do cleaning and adjustments on pocket watches for payment...

[ricardopalamino]

 

You are correct! Open face case, not Hunter. These types of conversion watches can be very divisive. Purist find them an abomination, citing that a collectible item has been destroyed to make some sort of " Frankinwatch". I understand their point. I use loose movements without cases. I try not to disassemble complete watches to rob them if their movements. I will, however, buy a complete watch if the price is such that there seems to be little interest in it as a complete watch. 

Having said that, probably 90% of the movements I use are orphan movements. I get most of them in trade from people I do cleaning and adjustments on pocket watches for payment...

Purists are purists,...God Bless them . 

I think you have a talent and abilities that you are putting to good use . I know I would wear one of you mods and I know I would get many compliments on them . 

[DJW]

Today...my sporty Hamilton 917

This is my first attempt at a radiant dial (sunburst effect). I polished the brass to a fine mirror finish. I then mounted it on my lathe head stock. I then installed my Milling attachment to my cross slide and attached a custom-made 3 inch abrasive wheel.

I turned the lathe on and slowly adjusted the cross slide until the abrasive wheel made contact at the center of the dial out to the edge. With the dial still attached to the head stock, I then rotated the dial by hand slowly to complete the pattern all the way around the dial.

I airbrushed the dial with a red transparent lacquer, then pad printed the custom design..

It was a complete pain, but I like the result. Not sure if I will attempt this again with my current technique, though.

[digginstony]

Today...my sporty Hamilton 917
This is my first attempt at a radiant dial (sunburst effect). I polished the brass to a fine mirror finish. I then mounted it on my lathe head stock. I then installed my Milling attachment to my cross slide and attached a custom-made 3 inch abrasive wheel.
I turned the lathe on and slowly adjusted the cross slide until the abrasive wheel made contact at the center of the dial out to the edge. With the dial still attached to the head stock, I then rotated the dial by hand slowly to complete the pattern all the way around the dial.
I airbrushed the dial with a red transparent lacquer, then pad printed the custom design..
It was a complete pain, but I like the result. Not sure if I will attempt this again with my current technique, though.

Looks excellent to me !

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[dadistic]

 

Hi guys! It's been a long time since I've posted here.... I plan on checking in a little more often..

Here's my latest creation that I'm wearing today. I designed the dial after a current Hamilton Khaki model... I posted a picture of the printing plate too!

 

I am so jealous of your pad printing capability! It's on my list of things to learn to do, but it's going to be quite a while before I can devote the necessary time and effort required to add pad printing to my repertoire.  I've mentioned before that I think printing is as much an art as it is a science, you must have invested some serious effort to get as far as you have with dial work.

It would be great to see more of your work.

Thanks!

[ricardopalamino]

Aloha DJW , 

I have a 2 part question that may have one answer .

1 ] Where do you get your printing plates ?

2] Where can others get printing plates ?

My questions are out of pure curiousity , but I an sure I am not the only one with these questions , ...and more .  It would be nice to see some how-to photos of your watch assembly and printing process . A lot to hope for I understand , but take it as a compliment .

Thanks  , Louis

[DJW]

 

I am so jealous of your pad printing capability! It's on my list of things to learn to do, but it's going to be quite a while before I can devote the necessary time and effort required to add pad printing to my repertoire.  I've mentioned before that I think printing is as much an art as it is a science, you must have invested some serious effort to get as far as you have with dial work.

It would be great to see more of your work.

Thanks!

It took quite a while to learn how to pad print. I was lucky enough to find my antique dial printing machine on eBay https://youtu.be/Lg5YTN_uB7Y  about two years ago. But that's all it was just the machine and a couple of rods so I had to fill in all the blanks myself. I contacted numerous pad printing supply companies and maybe one of the first five or six that I contacted replied but never followed up again. I tried repeatedly to contact them again with no results. I finally got ahold of a company out of Vermont and they've been very good to me. They allow me to send in some dials that they test printed to find the right ink to print with and based on mine design requirements they picked certain pads for me that they recommended for my situation.

But beyond that it was really up to me to figure out exactly how to use these products. It was a lot of trial and error and I am still learning and it still scares me to death to print a dial that I've spent such a long time on prepping and hoping that the print turns out the way that I want it to.

It's getting easier and less stressful and now it's quite enjoyable but I still get nervous every time I go to print the dial. The reason is that if the dial does not print the way that I want it to I have to go back strip the dial all the way down repaint the base and start all over again! I've spent a whole day one time trying to get the dial printed the way that I want it to. That doesn't happen much anymore because I've refined it but it is still nerve-racking!

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by DJW

[DJW]

 

 

1 ] Where do you get your printing plates ?

2] Where can others get printing plates ?

 

I get my supplies from Engineered Printing Solutions out of Vermont.

The plates are quite inexpensive but you also need software to design your dial, a high quality transparent film to print on, a UV exposure unit, a high resolution inkjet printer and plate developer. 

I'll try to do a video demo of the actual Printing of a dial here in the near future..

[ricardopalamino]

 

I get my supplies from Engineered Printing Solutions out of Vermont.

The plates are quite inexpensive but you also need software to design your dial, a high quality transparent film to print on, a UV exposure unit, a high resolution inkjet printer and plate developer. 

I'll try to do a video demo of the actual Printing of a dial here in the near future..

Thanks for the info and am looking forward to a video demo when you can get the time to do that . 

I read your reply to dadistic and I appreciate  your nerves of steel . Heck , I have to steady my nerves just to work on some watches .

[DJW]

Today's watch!

Not my creation but I've always wanted one..I just picked this one up off eBay for $80. Its from 1995 and its a Seiko Diver model 7002-700a. It has di directional automatic winding, but without manual wind  or hack. Popular with "modders" today, you can buy all different kinds of dials, hands and bezels to totally change the look of the watch. I think that's awesome! Whatever brings more people into watch collecting I'm pretty much for... speaking of which, though this looks pretty much stock, it has a new dial, chapter ring and bezels insert. It was "serviced" as well...so the listing said. But when I received it, it was running about 3 minutes fast a day.... Oh well, I regulated it and now it's running very accurate now...

This is kind of my "beater" watch. I'll wear this if I'm doing work and the house or in the car.

Great watch!

[DJW]

If you folks get tired of me posting my watches, just let me know! 

I wasn't sure how a white dial would look as a pilot style watch. I got really lucky with the Printing of this dial. It turned out very clean with nice, sharp edges.. 

BTW, I test all my watches with the same strap...no, I didn't buy hundreds of them!

[dadistic]

 

If you folks get tired of me posting my watches, just let me know! 

I don't think that will happen. Your watches are too cool!

Keep posting 

[DJW]

Thanks! I'm very passionate about watches, maybe a little obsessed some would say!

[digginstony]

All excellent watches and beautiful work

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[ricardopalamino]

 

Thanks! I'm very passionate about watches, maybe a little obsessed some would say!

Imagine that !!     I thought I was the only one .

I also don't get tired of seeing what you will post next .

[MilTimeCan]

 

If you folks get tired of me posting my watches, just let me know! 

I wasn't sure how a white dial would look as a pilot style watch. I got really lucky with the Printing of this dial. It turned out very clean with nice, sharp edges.. 

BTW, I test all my watches with the same strap...no, I didn't buy hundreds of them!

That is one wicked looking watch ! Bravo !

[ro63rto]

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