Hi there,

I am new to building watches, but I would love to make a custom watch for my fiancé. I would like it to be automatic, but has to be smaller than 32mm diameter. I found a 31mm case that has the internal diameter of 26.33mm. Will the Miyota 9039 movement fit? Do I need to add any spacers?

Thanks!

This is a test, this only a test. Had it been a genuine horological emergency you would have been directed to Moser.

Hey all, pretty new to the hobby, kinda been discouraged with my attempts though as I just cannot seem to get a good seal on my crystal. I know I need to keep at it and get better but in the mean time I'm curious what Ali brand watches you guys think would be worth purchasing as donors to maybe change up dials and hands, bezels, and bezel inserts etc to keep my motivation up while I get better. I recently bought a steeldive but Im fairly certain it has a wire retention bezel so I'm hoping someone can point me to models that are built more like a traditional Seiko that will be easier to accept Seiko mod parts if that makes sense. Thanks everyone

Does anyone have ideas on how or where to source the parts for a rock face alpinist dial? I’d like to build one in the namoki alpinist case

Hi guys!

Anyone know if I just open up the watch and put the pushers etc on the right side ?
Tks !

I got some Aliexpress cheapo and hate the crystal reflections. Before I spend more money, what case has a decent crystal with good AR and good proportions? The Namoki has the 38x31.5 bezel insert which I think it's too thick. I think the BB58 should have a thinner bezel. The Thorn case I see highly recommended and would get that one, but I want to use a GMT bezel with gold markers and the closest size seems to be 37.2mm, Thorn is 37mm so not sure it'll fit. Has anyone managed to put a GMT bezel on a Thorn case? If not what case would you recommend?

Hey guys, I would like to ask, does 0.25mm stem height differences will affect the watch? I'm thinking about swapping Sea-gull ST1612 with Sea-gull ST2146 (ETA2836 clones) give me your thoughts and opinions.. thank you guys.

These are the first 2 watches I’ve built. Had custom dials made. Swapped one dial to the yellow one because it said Seiko and it wasn’t real.

I really like em. Let me know what you all think!

Just built my first three watches using the ST36 movements. I bought one of the normal movements and 2 skeleton movements.

They had very good amplitude on my timegrapher (300s on the horizontal and 250s-270s on the vertical on a lift angle of 47) so I didn't really have to service them myself. I did service a practice movement before and I feel like my oiling technique needs work as I dropped down to 260-270s on the horizontal and 220-230s on the verticals.

I also bought the Bergeon Etachron adjuster tool and got pretty decent regulation. I find that the crown down position on this movement just has wildly different rates than all the other positions.

So I've not even received all the parts I need for my first couple builds yet. But I'm planning something very special for my third go round and I was hoping someone could help me source the parts. I'm going to make 2 or 3 pieces related to the industry I'm in and gift them to people who have helped me get where I am. I've got a source for custom hands, rotors and dials. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction for the movement, case and bracelet. I want these to be 42mm cases, similar to a yacht master. I want quality cases and oyster style bracelets. And a recommended movement for that case. I really don't care for the date window. I'm very unsure of my ability yet so something with the crystal already in it and maybe a crystal back included would be great. I'd appreciate any input at all here. Thank you!

I have a question about the NH35 movement. I built a few mods a couple of years ago (three, to be exact) and recently a friend asked me to build a watch for him. Back in my day, I only used the NH34, 35, and 36. I'm BLOWN AWAY! What happened to the prices? Are you guys still using these movements? Is there any non-quartz, more affordable alternative? Thanks, as always

Anyone tried using the moldable Sugru material to mod a movement holder in a case?

So I bought an Addiesdive Submariner clone. It has a very short(but very bright) set of mercedes handset on it, and I decided it might be fun to swap hands with some longer ones.

I purchased some sword hands from Esslinger for 5.95. I'm sure proper Swiss hands are more money, but I figured maybe 6 bux was the going rate for Chinesium hands. In the light the finishing looked excellent. But under the darklight, compare the performance of the Sword lume to the Mercedes hands of the Addiesdive, along with its indicies and bezel lume.

They were spotty as heck and the lume faded quickly.

The extra money for the shipping-sure, that was a given, but the absolute garbage quality of the lume compelled me to send it back. To which they said I needed to send the ones they sold me back, which I paid 8.60 to do.

The refund was the 5.95. I could see if I was trying to pull a fast one on them, but their hands were low quality.

So I'm out $15.33 in shipping and they are out NOTHING. I don't even have the crappy hands. I sent them back thinking they would refund me, or make me whole.

This was my first foray at watch modding, but Esslinger has turned me off watch modding.

This happened the first time I bought from them. So, a I feel no trust in their stock. What if they send some crap to me again and they dont back it up, and I'm out the shipping once again?

It's just not worth it. So I will tell you, do not order anything from Esslinger. They do not deserve my business.

The pic of the sword hands was taken under a blacklight. The Mercedes hands we not taken in any light at all(maybe some bathroom light). That is how bad the Esslinger hands are.

It took me 6 weeks from first order to finished prodct, but here it is. I'm 90% happy with it, but 100% committed to the hobby!
I discovered this was a doable hobby and went ham, I ordered and ordered and 2 weeks later I realized you gotta pay a lot of attention to compatibility, so I ordered some more. I have dials and hands out the ass!

Anyway, this is my first build.

My first move was to replace the white date ring with a black one on the NH35. The first screw I removed flew across the room, so suddenly I immediately went to another spare movement which is now for parts. I put the new date ring on and it wasn't turning right so I disassembled again and found a broken cog, which I replaced and got it all working.

Dial feet were removed, hands installed and everything was good, until I go to pop it into the case.. I installed everything for a 3oclock crown, but the case is a 3.8, so had to undo. I didn't have any dial dots (or even knew what they were) so I ordered a new dial. Occasionally I would pick up the dead watch in the case with no stem or crown and spin the rotor around just to see the seconds hand sweep (I've always had quartz watches).

Finally the new dial arrived so I was able to undo the last setup and install this dial, reinstall hands and seal it up. Finally able to wear it.

The H logo is my own, I ordered blue and black. 4mm, sort of with I did 3mm. It's a little big.

Overall I'm happy with it all, but if you've read this far you can listen to me pout a little too.
1. The lume on the dial sucks. Looks good under UV light, but doesn't work for shit in the dark
2. The hands aren't perfectly aligned to the hours, but it's not noticeable
3. The logo isn't perfectly aligned, but you gotta stare at it to see it, I think
4. I wish it had a crystal caseback, it's solid so I can't see the rotor spin
5. I put it on a tomegrapher and it's 8-9 spd fast, I'd like to regulate that but I'm not in a hurry. If I'm being honest, I probably won't.

Next watch is a field watch with a big 34mm face in a 40mm case. Of course my dial has a chapter ring built onto it and is too thick for the case, so need to order more again... BUT I LOVE IT!

I renovate houses for other people for a living, it's nice to do some difficult work on my own for myself. Great hobby!

Made this one for a friend and even laser engraved their name on the dial!

OK so I took a watch that was originally a quartz walking liberty half dollar movement and disassembled. It took off the face dial hands and then bought a new watchcase strap and NH 35 TMI movement and New watch hands and created my first mod. I’m mostly happy how it came out. I think I could’ve oriented the dial a little bit better. I can see a little bit of a tilt walking liberty toward the future, which I guess in some ways might be a good omen, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with how it came out and I like this more than the quartz watch I originally had with the walking liberty which was way cheaper and didn’t feel appropriate to the coin. It was a bit tricky because the coin is not a 28.5 mm dial so having to find a case on Ali X that worked was a little bit of a challenge.