St. Valentine's Day Watch Massacre. 
Ricky Lee
February 15, 2009 02:58PM
Posts: 1,766 (2009-02)
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St. Valentine's Day Watch Massacre. Ricky Lee February 15, 2009 02:58PM |
Registered: April 2005 Posts: 1,766 (2009-02) |
Sub, another that I recieved from Wen.
This one came sans dial and crystal, but did have hands installed (and
installing hands on a movement without a dial has me more than a little
. Wen? ).
I kept this one running on my bench for a couple of weeks after I
recieved it, so I knew the movement was sound & keeping good time.
The only thing holding me back was that I had no bezel for the case.
Well, I recently made a parts trade with greg honeycutt, and the stars
aligned in such a way that I got what I needed to lash up yet another
Caveman Alpha. Or so I thought.. 
However, greg also sent a couple of spare bezels and, while they did
not fit the Alpha case depth-wise, they were the correct diameter.
Hmmmmmm... 
, you can't hadly count it. That was not the case here, though, and the pesky
seconds hand was definitely the biggest frustration in the job, and
the job's biggest disappointment. In my defense, the seconds hand was
bent rawther badly when I recieved it, requiring some serious caveman
straightening before the test run in December. But it did run. However, on my first attempt yesterday the seconds hand fouled the minute hand big-time.
I figured it must still be bent, and I simply didn't notice. So I took
it all back apart and, lo and behold it was parallel to the adjacent
hand, and did have sufficient clearance. WTH? 
Altogether I R&R'ed the *#%@ed thing something like 6 times, and
never could solve the problem, so I declared the seconds hand a 'bush
part' and gave up. 
See, I used the same tool to set all the hands, a pin vise adjusted for
a slip fit over the shafts. Worked like a treat on the hour and minute
hands, but it "dished" the flange of the seconds hand. A forensic
examination with the 10x loupe this morning confirms this. Arrrrrgh! Ah
well, live and learn. I (briefly!) considered pulling it all back apart
again, straightening the flange, and having another go. But at
this point, I'm callin' the lack of a seconds hand A Feature Not A
Bug.. aka Submariner Simplified. 
The lume on the indices was so raggedy and uneven (remember, this dial
was kicking around unprotected in a box of spare parts for God Nose how
long) that I produced me X-acto and scraped the remainder off.
Submariner Simplified, right? How'd I attach 'it? Easy! The Caveman's Friend, 5-minute epoxy. I had my choice of silver or black, and chose the latter so as to not be too close to the original Caveman Alpha Sub." You're absolutely right! This side view should make things clear, even for riders of The Short Bus.
But I do have A Plan. Which is, I'll simply get me a nice black rubber
O-ring, 35mm inside diameter, stretch 'er into the gap & call it
good! 
An.. ahh, unique solution I know. But also one I'm thinkin' will look quite pleasing. The unique part can't be denied... Once again, it could be viewed as A Feature Not A Bug, for it will mean
that the crystal is triple-sealed; the OEM cystal gasket, the bead of
5-minute epoxy,
and the external O-ring. Should be good for 4 ATM wi' all that! . 
...
St. Valentine's Day Watch Massacre. (views: 99) Sound like fun, at least in the long run. I dig the hour markers and how they get along with the bezel numbers! (n/t)(views: 1) (views: 8) 
bracelet.
(views: 7)
as my avatar. 
(views: 10)
I have it on good authority that he's been known to rip the lugs right off a watch case. 
i'm ALMOST inspired enough to tackle one of these 1/2 finished projects... maybe tomorrow (n/t) (views: 3) You know, I must be part Neanderthal>> (views: 17) (views: 3)
Just so!