A small signature

Being a fan of vintage digital watches, I've made a little animated logo to go with my mail signature. The design is based on the classic G-shock DW-5600C  by Casio, but instead of time, it shows my name.

This is the DW5600 legendary G-shock, which was also used in the movie "Speed"
(Keanu Reeves wore it)

This is the sinature

And here it is inside my 5600 ("Photo-chopped")

When I'll find some more time, I'll post some of my vintage (and new) digital watch collection.

Seiko 6105-8000 restoration pictorial

My last flea market find, a 1970 Seiko classic diver, reminded me how much I learned about watches , and it's an opportunity to give a little back. I don't pretend to be a pro on this so all my actions are based on my limited knowledge and common sense. In other words - try this at home at your own risk
Another remark - English is not my language, so please excuse my mistakes. 

This 6105 proof/proof was found in a bad shape, but all original
(as far as I can tell)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
I knew I'm keeping it as original as I can, but it has to be wearable,
which means cleaning, reluming and a pressure test.
   
First, case parts cleaning, a lot of gunk accumulated over the years.
Down-left corner, you can see the case back gasket. gone.
   
   
   
  A great tool my wife bought me for my little hobby - a brass pencil brush
   
   
   
Then, reluming. C3
   
This is the "patient", dial is in good shape, besides the lume. The hands are baaaad.
   
   
   
   
   
Middle of the process, some of the lume has been removed.  
I've used a screwdriver and toothpicks, plus some ear buds with
medical alcohol.
   
   
   
Dial with old lume removed
   
   
   
Cleaning the hands. The trick is not to harm the chrome plating, so this must be done  slowly and carefully.
   
   
   

Now, for the fun part - the reluming. I use a C3 material, a kit I bought in a
watchmaker's supply store. The 6105 dial is easy compared to other dials I did,
thanks to the raised little frames.
   
   
   
Here it is, drying
   
   
   
The hands are done facing down, so the upper side of them stays clean.
   
   
   

 

I remembered to relume the insert's pip, which still has (!) the lens on the front.
   
   
   
  The relumed parts are resting in the sun
   
   
   
  While I assemble the beautiful case together (only cleaned, I don't want to refinish it.
  All gasket are lubricated, the case back's gasket and crown will be replaced.
   
   
   
   
   
The crown's gasket is now out, and it's dead. Feels like hard plastic.
I hope that the gaskets I have will do, and it will pass the pressure test.
I'll order a new crown just in case. The reassembly of the crown's washer is hard to do.
   
   
   
Here is the finished dial after installing the hands, using a hand setting tool
   
   
   
And... Taddam!
   
   
   
   
   
 A few wrist shots
   
   
   
   
   
And a lume shot
   
   
   

 

I've decided to keep the original bezel insert on, it's nice.
   
  I hope you enjoyed this "little" story.
  Have a great day,
  Galpo. 

Speedmaster relume and alignment

This is a little photographed log I've made for a restoration of my 1983 Omega Speedmaster.
Besides the non-original crystal that I've replaced immediately,
two things bothered me when I got it: the non-existing time reading in the dark (lume is dead)
and the seconds hand that wasn't lined up perfectly to 12:00.

Why not solve both problems together?

this is "before". the lume is dead, you can see it on the seconds hand.
Sorry, didn't take a shot of the misaligned hand, it was half a second to the right.




Out with the movement, off with the hands






The hands have to be stripped and cleaned from the old lume, then placed face down
and relumed. I've decided against repainting with white, it doesn't realy bother me.
I'm aging too, that's life.




Here is the movement, hands with new lume in place
(it shows 01:00 but I did it at 12:00 for perfect alignment)



Movement goes inside the case




and of course - wrist and lume shots can't say it's a torch like on my relumed divers,
but now I hope to look at the speedy in the dark and actually see something...







Side note: I did practice reluming for years on my garbage watches, then my good watches.
I'd never start this on my grail speedy, but after about 10 other relume project,
I felt I can do it. Glad I did.

Thanks for looking,
Galpo