Well, this is my first build. It took two dials and replacing a cheap Chinese NH35 with a Japanese NH35 but I’m very happy with the finished product. I think I have the bug now.

In my ongoing quest to bring life back to parts bin gen dials, I dropped a vintage Seamaster crosshair gilt dial onto a NH35 with some dauphine hands. Put the whole works into a 36mm Explorer case. Behold, the “SeaSplorer” is born. Can’t quite decide on a strap / bracelet. Would love comments / suggestions on the build.

(Full disclosure: not a rep, not cloning an existing Omega model. It is fantasy, and entirely done to get a good looking vintage dial back into the world.)

Prototyping some versions. I like the sandy subtlety.

I built this two-tone black and red SKX a while ago, but was not very happy with its legibility. The original crystal had no AR coating, and combined with the black hands, it was pretty tough to read. I replaced the crystal with a flat sapphire with red AR, and switched the hands to a similar skeleton set with C3 lume. Much more usable now! The last picture in the set is the old setup.

What do you guys think about this ? Should have gone for the ridiculously more expensive titanium case or this looks as good ?
PS : SPB511J1 just chilling in the background!

May not be in the right Sub because there’s technically nothing Seiko about it. Namoki case, miyota 9039, Lucius atelier dial. Don’t love the strap but had it laying around.

Been wanting one of these forever. The SNKP27 is just such a good looking watch — that green dial with the gold markers, the gold day-date frame. But the original has a 7S26 in it, so no hacking and no hand winding, and the lume is basically just paint. Always felt like the watch deserved better than that.

So I built one the way I wanted it.

Kept the case shape and the dial look, but it has a proper NH36 inside now. Hacks, hand winds, full day-date quickset. But I have kept the original look/rotor design. And I put real lume on the markers and hands, which the original never had.

40mm steel case, hardlex crystal, brown leather strap, see-through caseback. To be clear: it's not made by Seiko, it's a custom build. The movement is a genuine Seiko NH36, the assembly is ours.

Happy to answer any questions.

Not made by me, commissioned it to a local watchmaker.

I have seen it mentioned that the cases used by AliX brands like San Martin are much better quality than the separate, unbranded cases you can buy on AliX. Does anyone have experience with both, are they really a different product? Shape and dimensions look identical to me, wondering if it’s not just the same sub case being used for the san martins. Right now, to get the San Martin it’s 220 euro and the unbranded case + bracelet is 40, is the San Martin worth the difference? Especially considering everything needs to be replaced (movement, dial, hands and probably bezel).

Orange sunburst SKX dial on this NH36 build, with tuna hands. The Marinemaster style case with brushed steel bezel is really nice quality, with sharp lines and nice action on the bezel. The bracelet is solid and comfortable, I particularly like the screw-style link pins. Think this will be my daily driver for a while.

I call this one the Chameleon. It looks deep blue in one light, then shifts towards purple as the viewing angle changes.

I made the pattern with a fiber laser, removing the surrounding metal and leaving the hour markers, minute track and little star raised. Those details are part of the dial itself.

For the colour, I applied a black base coat, then sprayed the chameleon paint over it. After painting, I gently sanded and polished the raised areas to expose the metal again.

What case and hands would you pair with this?

Short video showing the finish and colour shift:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bWEGiP6RlmI

3 hours of pain and suffering, 2 little scratches due to using a pizza cutter instead of bezel removal tool.

Mods:

- bezel, stainless steel

- bracelet

Ali Express, 80 EUR total.

Think it looks classy and clean, I would be much happier if it weren't for those unvisible scratches that only will know they exist 🥲

(bought it used 1 month ago, it was clean asf, like brand new for 300 EUR with blue NATO strap and unused bracelet)

Wdy think?

yobokies, DS watch, Ali, waiting for parts to arrive

TLDR: I hate crowns and prefer left handed watches, but those are few and far between. I have also always wanted a driver's style watch, but decided to combine a diver with it and a leather strap to make it fancy. Call it Diner, Driver and Dives :P

Anyway, started with an NH34a destro. Current format is normal because my 6 o'clock date window plan didn't pan out and this is the only configuration in which you can make out the date. Awaiting a glue on plate for the date wheel to center it on the window, and correctly sized chapter ring and bezel (ordered the wrong size of each). Will update as the build continues. Happy modding 🍻

Not bad. The only upsetting part is the month and GMT functions aren’t functional. ModsWatches.

The green isn't the same, but does it clash?

I made a "light" and "dark" version of this watch, each with 47 Phantoms that glow either green or blue. The lume shots were not taken in proper dark or after using black light; they glow more than that (showing ~1 minute of sun exposure in shadowed areas of a room with open curtains). I prefer the light version, but 4/5 people in my home prefer the dark - which works out, as now my wife and I will have "twin" watches for the Halloween season.

Even though I signed up for Spinnaker's newsletter a year ago just to get the drop that's opening tonight, I actually prefer my take. I'll be foregoing their offering and will reinvest the cost difference into more watch building tools.

For the curious, it's an NH35 movement and all parts are from AliX.

First time building an nh35 mod. All parts r from aliexpress.

In full transparency, I’m a Disney Adult… so I saw a Mickey seconds hand on ALIX and built around it.

I finally assembled this today after working on the idea for a while and wanting to move past the “traditional” mod builds.

It uses a Crazy Hours / jumping-hour movement, so the hour hand jumps to the next hour even though the numbers are intentionally scattered around the dial. The minute hand works normally.

I designed the dial myself with my own brand “logo” and added a little handwritten “crazy hours” detail using my own handwriting because why not lol.

The case is 40 mm polished steel, with a textured denim strap. My gf assembled it under my guidance as I fractured my hand and simply couldn’t wait until I get the cast off. Seeing the whole thing actually working after staring at digital mockups for so long was pretty damn satisfying ngl.

I know the dial is VERY busy and definitely won’t be everyone’s thing, but that was kind of the point.
Curious what you guys think, especially about the hands and strap. Would you keep them as they are, or go with something different?

Does this work? Brass case, red bezel and black strap with red stitch?

Tengo una pregunta sobre el movimiento NH35. Construí algunas modificaciones hace un par de años (tres, para ser exactos) y recientemente un amigo me pidió que le construyera un reloj. En mi época, solo usaba los movimientos NH34, 35 y 36. ¡Estoy asombrado! ¿Qué pasó con los precios? ¿Siguen usando estos movimientos? ¿Existe alguna alternativa más económica que no sea de cuarzo? Gracias, como siempre.