So I have a handwind speedy and when the opportunity arose to get a quartz one for $60 shipped I jumped on it so I could try my hand at making a vintage speedy. I promised @Thommo82 that I would document it. It really should not be that hard since really all I've got to do is take it apart, matte spray and lume the dial, lume the hands to match, fade the insert, and glue in a plexi. I'll be doing this in stages as I'm still waiting on the plexi from Cousins. So let's see where we want to go. Here is what I would like to get to:
And this is what I am starting with:
Upper right is the DhGate quartz. Subdials are better spaced than the handwind rep on the left. Quartz is 1mm bigger, and the crown is a bit larger. Otherwise its pretty much the same as the best rep moonwatch. Let's get started:
I had no idea how this was assembled so I took off the bezel first, in retrospect it would have been better to take the movement out first. So a straight razor blade and a case knife.
Slide the razor blade under the bezel and wedge it up gently.
Once you get the space you can use the case knife to finish removal.
Once I popped it off and saw the unprotected dial I said crap and put it back on. Let's do it the right way and remove the bracelet.
Unscrew the caseback with the tool.
We got a Miyota OS20. Not a bad movement at all.
You remove the stem in the running position and push the release button where it says push.
Spacer, stem, and battery removed.
Turn the movement assembly out onto something.
Note that I've removed the bezel assembly from the case. I popped the crystal out with my fingers (its coke bottle green glass), and reinserted the stem. Now I need to remove the hands. I've never removed all the hands on a chrono so I'm not sure the best way. I removed the central hands first with and dial protector and levers. The small hands don't have the clearance needed so I made a protector from some typing paper and carefully levered them off.
I can breathe again.
Dial is a friction fit with two feet. Just levered it off carefully with a screwdriver.
The dial is shiny plastic, I've got to tame that down before I relume.
Before (and it is really shinier than this looks)
Matte sprayed.
Much better in person and more appropriate. Now to the bezel. It has a rubber gasket to help with water resistance so I removed that.
I need to fade it using bleach. I heat up the bleach for 30 secs in the microwave and pop it in. Never, ever walk away when you do this. Almost immediately paint starts to float off. I just wanted to take the shine off. 2 minutes and I've removed the shine and more of the color than I had intended.
I will probably hit it with a scotch brite to get it exactly like I want it later.
That is all for now. Gonna strip the lume off the hands and I'll have to wait for the plexi. Wanted to do this whilst it was fresh in my mind.
Brief update: removed the lume, but the high quality paint on the hands was removed by the acetone. Had to respray the hands.
So after everything dried it was time to lume. I use a water based lume that allows me to color it with inexpensive watercolors. I'll be using some gold and brown to get the color of my model. Here is the setup.
I have my fancy lume mixer (spoon and toothpick). Oilers and toothpicks to apply the lume. I use oilers to do the hand lume and depending on the thickness of the area to be lumed I pick an oiler or toothpick.
The thickness of the lume is crucial. Its one of those things you have to figure out by practice. I'm using basically a white glue as binder. I have water and qtips to clean up my mistakes. The whole thing is over in a couple minutes.
Unlumed.
Couple minutes later, lumed.
And a better shot of the dial. I'll let it dry till tomorrow and assemble it.
So we need to set the hands. I removed the hands at midnight time. So I replace them at the same spot. Theoretically it should work
Now we wait for the plexi. The hard part should be done.
So I ordered a 33.6mm plexi. The actual opening is about 33.52 so you have to sand off the edge a bit to get it to fit. I carefully did it with 220 sandpaper. Really didn't take but a few minutes. I pressed the bezel back on with my crystal press. You might be able to do it by hand but a press is cheap and so much easier.
Polished the plexi with polywatch and glued it in with GS Hypo Cement. Lest you think I'm a tool hog you can see the fancy clamping mechanism.
After the plexi dried I cleaned it and dropped the movement and spacer in. Couple of quick snaps. Better pictures when the sun comes out.
And this is what I am starting with:
Upper right is the DhGate quartz. Subdials are better spaced than the handwind rep on the left. Quartz is 1mm bigger, and the crown is a bit larger. Otherwise its pretty much the same as the best rep moonwatch. Let's get started:
I had no idea how this was assembled so I took off the bezel first, in retrospect it would have been better to take the movement out first. So a straight razor blade and a case knife.
Slide the razor blade under the bezel and wedge it up gently.
Once you get the space you can use the case knife to finish removal.
Once I popped it off and saw the unprotected dial I said crap and put it back on. Let's do it the right way and remove the bracelet.
Unscrew the caseback with the tool.
We got a Miyota OS20. Not a bad movement at all.
You remove the stem in the running position and push the release button where it says push.
Spacer, stem, and battery removed.
Turn the movement assembly out onto something.
Note that I've removed the bezel assembly from the case. I popped the crystal out with my fingers (its coke bottle green glass), and reinserted the stem. Now I need to remove the hands. I've never removed all the hands on a chrono so I'm not sure the best way. I removed the central hands first with and dial protector and levers. The small hands don't have the clearance needed so I made a protector from some typing paper and carefully levered them off.
I can breathe again.
Dial is a friction fit with two feet. Just levered it off carefully with a screwdriver.
The dial is shiny plastic, I've got to tame that down before I relume.
Before (and it is really shinier than this looks)
Matte sprayed.
Much better in person and more appropriate. Now to the bezel. It has a rubber gasket to help with water resistance so I removed that.
I need to fade it using bleach. I heat up the bleach for 30 secs in the microwave and pop it in. Never, ever walk away when you do this. Almost immediately paint starts to float off. I just wanted to take the shine off. 2 minutes and I've removed the shine and more of the color than I had intended.
I will probably hit it with a scotch brite to get it exactly like I want it later.
That is all for now. Gonna strip the lume off the hands and I'll have to wait for the plexi. Wanted to do this whilst it was fresh in my mind.
Brief update: removed the lume, but the high quality paint on the hands was removed by the acetone. Had to respray the hands.
So after everything dried it was time to lume. I use a water based lume that allows me to color it with inexpensive watercolors. I'll be using some gold and brown to get the color of my model. Here is the setup.
I have my fancy lume mixer (spoon and toothpick). Oilers and toothpicks to apply the lume. I use oilers to do the hand lume and depending on the thickness of the area to be lumed I pick an oiler or toothpick.
The thickness of the lume is crucial. Its one of those things you have to figure out by practice. I'm using basically a white glue as binder. I have water and qtips to clean up my mistakes. The whole thing is over in a couple minutes.
Unlumed.
Couple minutes later, lumed.
And a better shot of the dial. I'll let it dry till tomorrow and assemble it.
So we need to set the hands. I removed the hands at midnight time. So I replace them at the same spot. Theoretically it should work
Now we wait for the plexi. The hard part should be done.
So I ordered a 33.6mm plexi. The actual opening is about 33.52 so you have to sand off the edge a bit to get it to fit. I carefully did it with 220 sandpaper. Really didn't take but a few minutes. I pressed the bezel back on with my crystal press. You might be able to do it by hand but a press is cheap and so much easier.
Polished the plexi with polywatch and glued it in with GS Hypo Cement. Lest you think I'm a tool hog you can see the fancy clamping mechanism.
After the plexi dried I cleaned it and dropped the movement and spacer in. Couple of quick snaps. Better pictures when the sun comes out.
Last edited:
