My First Watch Build – Failure and Success

 

“You learn from your failures”, is a phrase I am sure has come out of the mouths of many famous people, and a first watch build has taught me much more than I expected.

Modding watches is a growing trend, and thanks to Youtube there are plenty of guides online that encourage the inexperienced to “have a go.”

Back in February I published an article My New Watch Project And I’m Excited. I wanted a summer watch in my collection – something with a white dial, yachtmaster looks, and an opportunity to add  bright colours. I had purchased a watch case with movement from Ali-express (see left) and planned on adding some colour with new hands and strap. “Yachtmaster looks” are at a premium in this example because, let’s face it, it is a direct Rolex Yachtmaster homage, and normally something I would steer away from. But this is an exercise in experimentation and yes, I wasn’t really confident about the outcome, and the price was right.

The watch had a Chinese mechanical movement that looked very similar to a Seiko NH35/36 and I took a punt that standard SKX hands would do the job and purchased a few colourful handsets.

LESSON ONE: Don’t take punts (see below).

The watch was quite easy to disassemble and I had the right tools to unscrew the back, remove the winding stem, take out the movement, and remove the hands.

Top - rubber ball and wrench for caseback removal and installation.
Bottom - plastic cover for removing hands, hand removal tool, spring bar tool, hand press.

LESSON TWO: Get the right tools. Fortunately I got a tick on this one.

The next thing I wanted to do was remove the Cyclops. I wasn’t a big fan of cyclops’ and I wanted a clean look. Youtube videos told me that a blow torch was all that was needed to melt the glue holding the Cyclops and it came off quite easily.  Actually, that turned out to be ill-advised because if you look at the finished product you will see that it has a very small date window. A Cyclops would have been handy. Sigh!

With the movement out the first step was to install some colourful new hands and here was my first really big mistake (see Lesson One). The hands were not quite the right size for this watch. I had mistakenly punted that standard SKX style hands would fit. They didn’t, and unfortunately I used a bit too much force trying to install them. Not only did I severely bend the hands but I damaged the centre wheel mechanism in the process and the watch stopped working.

LESSON THREE: Watch dimensions are a step finer than most of us are used to.

My day job was a woodware manufacturer, specialising in household accessories. I prided myself in mass producing wooden accessories with tolerances down to 1mm – pretty impressive in wood working terms. But watches are different. Take for example watch hands. The pivot hole can range from 0.2mm up to 2.0mm. There are lots of options and you need to get the size right for correct operation.

So, my first attempt at installing hands didn’t go well. Actually that is an understatement. The movement was ruined! Fortunately, I had a brand new genuine Seiko NH36 mechanical movement sitting in the draw, and here was the perfect opportunity to use it.

The first issue with the new Seiko movement was that the watch dial in the project watch had been designed for the original Chinese movement. The feet (the little locating pins in the underside of the dial) didn’t match the Seiko movement. A bit of judicious cutting and I was able to line up the dial correctly.

The hands could now be installed, and because I had a genuine Seiko movement, the hands went on comparatively easily. It is still a very fiddly process and I was grateful for plenty of tutorial videos online, and a dedicated hand press. I selected an orange hour hand and second hand combined with a grey minute hand to add a bit of contrast. The orange gave the pop of colour I was looking for.

Things were going well, but the next step was fraught with danger. I now had a Seiko NH36 movement installed in a non-Seiko case with a screw down crown and that meant the stem (used for winding and setting the watch) would need to be adjusted. The stem from the Chinese movement didn’t fit the NH36. The Seiko movement came with a standard stem that enabled testing and a spare stem that was extra long and could be cut to size. An excellent online video told me how to measure the length required and I proceeded to cut the spare stem.

LESSON FOUR: Watch dimensions are a step finer than most of us are used to. I know, the same point was made in Lesson Three, but I didn’t learn from that, and you may not as well.

There may be a tool that enables precise stem cutting, but this time wire cutters were used. When the watch was re-assembled it looked great, and the movement spun into action, but there was a problem. I hadn’t cut the stem to the right length. When you pulled out the crown, the first and second clicks worked fine, but would only operate the date and time correctly if you kept outward pressure on the Crown. It was hit and miss adjustment, and therefore unacceptable.

I was resigned to purchasing another stem until I remembered the standard stem that came with the Seiko movement and decided to give that a try. Miraculously it worked fine (even with a non-Seiko case and screw down crown) and my watch was fully operational with a quality hand wind and hacking movement. The trendy suede leather watch strap went on and I had my summer watch.

Despite making some silly mistakes, I felt a sense of achievement. Yes, I had failed the “this is a precision instrument, don’t fool around” test, and I had ruined a brand new watch movement (admittedly a cheap one) but the end result was pretty much what I had planned, and the better quality mechanism was actually a bonus. 

Would I go through this again? Yes, but with greater care. As stated in the opening paragraph, failures can teach valuable lessons, and better prepare us for future projects.

Tourbillon in a Seiko 5 anyone?

The Finished Watch: