Homage build: Dirty dozen

[toptime810]

Just finished a vintage build with correct working seconds at the six position. Hard to find a good reissue so I made my own with a aftermarket case and a dial made by me from scratch. logo is also my logo. Looks very professional maybe I could get some opinions from you guys. I have 25 more dials with different designs from single sub seconds to 2 and 3 eye chronographs. Its hard to find the cases I want. I guess I will settle with aftermarket cases for now and modify them.

 

[toptime810]

These are 36mm timepieces with big crown and GS plastic crystals

[Rosco1]

Hi toptime810

I am very much a newbee and have a couple of question for you.

Where did you source an aftermarket case and what modifications did you have to make?

Cheers

Rosco1

[Tmuir]

I like that, I like the old military watches, but I'm yet to own one, although I do have a lot of military NOS parts for Elgin A11 wristwatches, so I hope to pick one up soon.

[yankeedog]

Nice work ! I have always loved the "dirty dozen" type watch , I have been considering doing such a thing .I  have several several elgin sportsmans which use the elgin 723 which I believe is a jeambrun ps32, a half way decent caliber. Kudos on your creation.

[AndyHull]

Printing white on black is a bit tricky, how did you manage that,  or is this actually black print on a white substrate?

I did find a source of white laser toner at one stage, but I haven't had a chance to experiment with it.

Another possibility would be screen printing, but the issue with that would be resolution. Screen printing is a bit limited in that regard.

I also looked at using a pen plotter with white ink, but also haven't had a chance to try that out.

Either way its a pretty slick build. The case is also impressive. I have a bunch of HMT steel cases in a similar style. The problem with them is that there is no consistent source, and they don't have a display back.

 

[Klassiker]

I agree, very professional-looking. Congratulations!

[yankeedog]

6 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Printing white on black is a bit tricky, how did you manage that,  or is this actually black print on a white substrate?

I did find a source of white laser toner at one stage, but I haven't had a chance to experiment with it.

Another possibility would be screen printing, but the issue with that would be resolution. Screen printing is a bit limited in that regard.

I also looked at using a pen plotter with white ink, but also haven't had a chance to try that out.

Either way its a pretty slick build. The case is also impressive. I have a bunch of HMT steel cases in a similar style. The problem with them is that there is no consistent source, and they don't have a display back.

 

 A true military  watch would  not have a display  back.

[AndyHull]

32 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

 A true military  watch would  not have a display  back.

A fair point, and it could also be argued that HMT did produce military watches, however anything I produce would be a homage, so I guess I can take a few liberties.

[yankeedog]

2 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

A fair point, and it could also be argued that HMT did produce military watches, however anything I produce would be a homage, so I guess I can take a few liberties.

Absolutely! You pay your money  you make your choices. 

[yankeedog]

Hmt cases are excellent..you could  build  yourself  something  nice. But a sub dial  watch might be pretty  tough with a standard hmt movement. You would  have to fit something  else 

 

[yankeedog]

An a11 dial wouldn't  be too tough  and would  probably  look right in an HMT case 

Edited October 28, 2019 by yankeedog
Override autocorrect!

[Redwood]

Nice job, I also have been looking to build one and have bought a hmt  36mm case and fits a Chinese sub dial movement. I have done some printing and found better results with a white background with black print for numbers and markings and when finished invert the colours so black becomes white and white becomes black, copy layers twice , flatten and sharpen to the max without going too far as to distort image, then print in black and white in high definition text.  It took a while to get the thickness of the rail tracks but it is achievable 

[toptime810]

My dials are not paper

[AndyHull]

11 hours ago, toptime810 said:

My dials are not paper

Generally dials are metal, with some form of printing or transfer on them. There are many different methods of producing dials, but I can't say I have ever seen a paper one, so I wouldn't have assumed they were.

How did you produce those results? Are you using laser toner transfer, water slide decals? Curious minds want to know.

Edited November 2, 2019 by AndyHull