Daveyboyz

Many very stylish watches with poor value retention means there are secondhand bargains to be found, quality is to be found too. I look forwards to seeing what you get but I imagine is going to be dressy.

I did that purely on instinct :-) As to magnification. I have always had 20/20 vision, even despite squinting at hallmarks for many years though I do have a loop and I do need it occasionally these days. I am fast approaching the age where I might be purchasing one of those headbands that have a magnifier on a hinge.. for the time being I figure if its too small to see I don't want to see it!

Small steps forwards.

I did that at least half a dozen times.

I received my dentist drill today, the thing has no plug or foot control so its a bit useless but the head works so I can switch it with the broken head on my mates one. I have also been thinking about many aspects of this. I have written a long list of more stuff I will buy (tools and materials) I am going to get rid of the copper layer and switch for a silver ring that I am going to make in the same way as the bezel, I am then going to add claws which will hold the dial in a similar fashion to setting a stone. This means it can be disassembled and reassembled without solder (and thus the dial can be kept free of tarnish and accessible to polish.)

Cartier Tank because its class.

Its a bit more refined than mine... mine may look a bit more steampunk.

Aquanaut is silly money but looks good on rubber.

A small question regarding the holes for the spring bars. Firstly is the a default size for these holes? Secondly it would appear to me that since you are using curved bars and you have short lugs it would be possible to drill these outwards without breaking the surface of the lugs on the outside. There is convenience being able to remove spring bars with a pin through the holes but it looks cleaner without these holes and unless you are a serial strap swapper it might be considered an improvement.

The issue is how to attach the movement to the underside of the dial. Probably easier to make a video about the issue. I was however unaware of the system you posted. Interesting.

I fell out with my insurance due to the rising value of my Royal Oak. When it went above £15000 (last week this watch jumped from £25,000 to £35,000 according to chrono24) they refused to insure and so I shopped around. Having come to an agreement with another company I got insured and then read the smallprint which had all kinds of stipulations. One of them was that I needed to take my whole collection for appraisal. (I would be happier to remain uninsured than to walk the street with all my eggs in one basket. I used to do insurance valuations and probate etc. The valuation was always above retail because it represents what you would have to pay to replace the item. This is also beneficial to the person giving the valuation as it is often charged as a percentage (1.5%+VAT for example)

Given I was once a jeweller it simply seems the natural way to go about it, also given I haven't the machines to machine stuff I am just hand making. Early watches like my 1923 Rolex have a hinged case shaped in such a way the movement simply sits inside but when the case is opened it can come away attached to the backside of the dial. This is the sort of thing I am envisioning, I just haven't ironed out the wrinkles yet.

No risk of them getting knocked off. They will be soldered into the case and will be harder than the case themselves. 18ct white is similar hardness to steel so they will likely protect the soft yellow gold if anything. The hands should track around the dial will 1mm clearance between the end of the minute hand and the internal bezel (which I am going to have to align precisely with the window above) so batons or darts outside the bezel will make the case more decorative and give the eye some way of gauging the position of the hands. I think this watch will be 5.7mm or 6.2mm thick... I cannot decide at present. The next step is to but the smallest crown possible and will dictate my decision. I an not entirely sure about how to anchor the movement either. I will construct a cavity that matches it dimensions very closely, I saw it has two small holes which I thought the dial feet would go through but the appear even smaller than expected... I will have to give it some thought.