# Opinions about my hand-made watch?



## Davidcs

Hi everyone, my name is David and I would like to ask for your opinion about my hand-made watch. 
I designed and hand-made this watch for myself, in Manchester UK. The case is 44mm (excluding crown) in diameter and 11.6mm thick, 
while the Swiss ETA-6498 movement was mechanically and visually modified by me. 
There are 60 engraved lines on the three dimensional dial, each represents one minute. I also made the strap, stainless steel buckle and the wood presentation box on the picture.
I wear the watch on a daily basis, and a few people (family, friends) seemed to like it, but until now I didn't have the courage to show it to any real watch enthusiast.  
Please take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.









































Thanks,

David


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## fixer29

Looks different, but good. The movement is nice, love those blue screws you've used, well worth showing it off with the clear back.


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## BambiBoom

*Davidcs*,

_Brilliant!_ I like regulators very much and the evocation of post deco Bauhaus dial very much- it's both calm and dynamic simultaneously.

That is excellent craftsmanship as well with beautiful detailing on the movement. How did you make the case and dial, and in what materials?

I've long wanted to design and make a watch. So many designs are tantalizing- classically restrained, but have some detail or proportion that sort of jump out of the background. One company that falls in to that category so often is Christopher Ward: the catalog shows a consistent design approach with good proportions and layouts but is perhaps overly uniform-looking. There is an excellent basic architecture but they're a bit timid, and while in a similarly conservative vein, are a bit lacking in the simple but deep elegance of for example Lange & Söhne. The dials have very pleasant layouts, but a bit flat and 2D. To me the subdials and dates are too small and might be inset ever so slightly, and the logo is too large and draws too much attention.







> And my wobbly revision:








The outer diameter is reduced 2mm- I feel the trend towards very large watches should start back towards towards sensibility-but with the thinner rim the dial actually looks larger and to me more open. Perhaps the date bisected by the static second timer hand is a mistake and it's a bit too modern and IWC Portuguesiesque for Chr.Ward,..

Watch design is difficult and not a 15- minute job, but shows the way it's possible to want a certain combination of design features. I think If I could design and make watches, I'd only have two or three and not the twenty!

With your design, my tendency is to try out the subdials a bit larger, adjust the hands length and place them closer to the dial, relocate the name "Polaris" to balance "Made in England", and add 5-minute markers that extend the use of the hands' colour:







> and another quick adjustment- sorry:








In some ways after doing this I admire your cleaner design even more and in the end the only comment I have is to the length of the hands- the minute hand longer and the hour and second hands shorter. The 5-minute raised markers could make calculating the minute a bit faster, and liven up the dial a bit- engage the negative space, but those may distract from the clean design and distract from the center- a bit fussy.

_Excellent!_ On the weekend I spoke with a machinist friend who has made harpsichords, guitars and violins, his own planes and chisels, a small cannon, and a complete flintlock pistol, but was definitely not excited about making a watch case and dial. But seeing your results is encouraging and I'll keep at it.

Cheers,

*BambiBoom*


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## Somewhere else

Utterly elegant an beautiful. Whoever is telling you otherwise is a nitwit. I would find a different set of friends you appreciate you fine artistic ability as well as your obvious talent as a watch maker. How did you go about making the dial? It compliments your piece wonderfully.


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,

First of all thank you for you kind words, I'm really glad that you like the watch.

BambiBoom, thank you for you comment, I like you ideas especially the modified hands you mentioned. I also felt like the minute hand was a bit short so I'm already working on a longer version, and I think once I'm done with that I'll shorten the other two as well.  
You asked about the case, well... since the case I'm manufacturing is not yet completed (due to machinery problems) the one you see on the pictures is a case that I bought from a friend. It is made of 316L stainless steel, and originally it had mineral glass on both sides, but I replace them with Shappire. 
You and "Somewhere else" also asked about the dial.
The dial on the pictures is made from brass (CZ108), but in other version I used bronze (PB102) as well, both are pretty rigid yet easy to machine, so both are ideal material for a dial. 
I made it using a small mill machine with a rotary table. First the holes are drilled at the hour,minue and second positions. Then the 60 lines are engraved into the metal. Once the engraving is done the subdials are milled. Because I had to modify the movement, (in order to create the regulator system) this new movement is thicker than the factory version by roughly 0.2mm. This is why once the top of the dial is drilled, milled and engraved, it needs to be flipped to its other side and milled once again to create the necessary space for the extra wheels. When the machining is done, I drill two more holes to install the dial feet and that is all.  After all this, it only needs to be cleaned, painted, varnished and finally adding all the text. 

Engraving in process.









This is the brass version. This is how it looks when I took it out from the machine. It needs to be cleaned and everything of course.









Cheers,

David


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## Justaminute

Very impressive work and design.

Respect


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## BambiBoom

*David,*

Thank you again for posting the "Polaris"- really striking and impressive.

And , I appreciate your time in describing and illustrating the dial-making. That is really excellent work. Did you design the regulator complication and make the gears?

This past weekend, as I tried to conjole my instrument / tool maker / machinist friend into making a watch case and dial, he enumerated the difficulties. Although he has a specialist milling tool that follows a (brass) template / profile to allow side milling in complex 3D profiles and the angled drill that could make the lugs' interior holes to receive the band retaining pins, there are apparently intricate and numerous setups on a manual mill.

Years ago I visited a machine shop in Los Angeles that had made the chassis for the Mars Spirit and Opportunity rovers and for relaxation the owner was making a turbocharger impeller set for his BMW. More ordinary work for the firm was to make the film gates for Panavision cameras- accurate to .001" and these fairly small parts- perhaps 4" X 1.5" X 1.5" were in effect hollowed out in a very complex way from Stainless Steel billets in very intricate profiles using a multi-axial CAD /CAM milling machine- temperature controlled. Quite amazing stuff and the CAD/ CAM automation helps explain how it's possible for Parnis to sell machined watch cases for $40.

Again, it's encouraging to see this level of design and realization through craftsmanship.

Cheers,

*BambiBoom*


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## Davidcs

BambiBoom,


I agree with your machinist friend, it is difficult to manufacture a stainless steel or titanium watch case, especially without a proper (expensive) CNC machine, or a very good mill and lathe. 
The problem I had when I started to work on my watch case was that my machine simply wasn't rigid, powerful and most importantly accurate enough to handle a job that required such high precision. 

You asked about the ETA-6498 movement in the watch. Yes, I designed the complication and I made all the extra gears and
pins that were necessay to create the regulator system. It was pretty time consuming to get it right, but after a couple of tries and adjustments its working perfectly now. 
The bridges are also hand customized by me, because I wanted the movement to look different from the factory version. 


Cheers,


David


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## mkws

David,
I must say that the watch is impressive. It is sort of a devil may care bauhaus style, which although is minimalistic, at the same time shouts "LOOK AT ME!!" to everyone who sees it. One can love it or can hate it, but the latter might come from envy...
I would like to comment on the design a bit now. Since I am nowhere close to having any skills even in repairing a watch, and all I can do on my own is change the battery in a quartz, I cannot possibly imagine how much it takes to modify the movement- making your own "regulateur" is a different story, since I have no idea about doing that I cannot comment on it, but aesthetically the bridge modifications and the blued screws are absolutely fantastic.
Going to the dial: I am not particularly a fan of that design of hands, and I would have picked something more classic- like Breguet-style, but I guess the ones you've chosen are just a part of the charm of that design. The dial engraving catches the eye, and is really the key element here. 

One thing I do not like is the size, but that's up to whether one likes big watches or not. As a vintage watch aficionado, I usually wear 33 to 38mm sized watches, with an exception for my contemporary 43mm Edox- which does feel big and heavy, and I feel as if I would not be able to wear something even 1mm larger than that. 
Besides, the 6498 is a large movement, so it doesn't leave much options when it comes to designing the case...

Are you planning any other watch project? May I suggest an automatic, like a 2892, or perhaps a chronograph? These generally don't leave much room for custom modules, but definitely you would have plenty of room for designing the looks of such a piece. 
Once again, really impressive!
Cheers,
MK


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## dsmcastro

Beautiful work!


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## Davidcs

mkws,


Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I'm glad you like the watch. 
It is true that the 44mm case is larger than an average watch with lets say an automatic movement (2892), but it is purely because the ETA-6498 is huge  
so, it is pretty hard to find or make a case small than that. In the past I made a smaller case for the same movement, but the end product was still 43mm + crown  
You asked about other projects, well.. there is another almost completed version of this watch, it has a "semi skeleton" dial with the same design, except that it is not a regulator. 
It has the same ETA-6498 with the same custom bridges but the dial layout is traditional. I'm also working on a version with a power reserve indicator, as well as a jumping hour. 
In the future perhaps I'll try to use a different movement like you suggested maybe a 2892 or something similar but the problem with those as you mentioned, is because these movements 
are a lot smaller and more complex, they leave a lot less room for customized parts.


Cheers, 


David


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## Eleuthera

Hi David.

Truly stunning sir. Now bearing in mind I know little (see NOTHING) of how to make a watch that to me looks a labour of love, congratulations to you sir.

We all have 'Bucket' lists I guess, and you my friend can now I imagine cross one subject of that list.

Well done David, classy and stunning.


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## Magura

That is indeed very nice. Congratulations.
How did you apply the lettering?

Magura


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,


Thanks again for your kind comments.
Magura, I'm using a Chinese manual pad printer that I bought online (not a very good machine) to apply the lettering. 
I made the clichés plate myself,so the letters and numbers aren't 100% sharp and everything, but its good enough for now. 


Cheers,


David


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## Magura

Do you have a link to the pad printer you have?
For a prototype based on "kitchen table" technology, I'd say the lettering is rather fine.

Magura


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## Davidcs

Magura,

Here is the link: Hand Operated Watch Printing Machine Watch Printer Watch Tool 6321508 | eBay

Cheers,

David


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## Cobia

Very nice David, outstanding effort to build that yourself, looks stunning, cheers


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## Magura

Thanks.
Like that a milling machine could be used as well I guess, with a bit of tooling.

You said you made the clichés yourself as well? How did you go about that?
I usually have had them made, but it takes forever.

Magura


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## Davidcs

mkws,

In my previous post I mentioned that there is another version of my regulator watch, 
I wanted to add a pictures so you can take a look at it, and maybe comment on that as well, but I forgot. 
Here it is.

This watch has an ETA-6497 in it, I shortened the seconds pinion in order to get rid of the seconds hand, which was originally located at 9 o'clock position. 
Without the seconds hand the dial is a bit more unified I think.
The watch is not 100% complete, yet. 









Cheers,


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## arogle1stus

Davides:
I sure wouldn't kick it pillar to post.
Nice dial arrangement too. Congrats on yer efforts.
10 Attaboys.

X traindriver Art


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## ZahyMatar

This is awesome!

Sent from my OnePlus One


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## mkws

Davidcs said:


> mkws,
> 
> In my previous post I mentioned that there is another version of my regulator watch,
> I wanted to add a pictures so you can take a look at it, and maybe comment on that as well, but I forgot.
> Here it is.
> 
> This watch has an ETA-6497 in it, I shortened the seconds pinion in order to get rid of the seconds hand, which was originally located at 9 o'clock position.
> Without the seconds hand the dial is a bit more unified I think.
> The watch is not 100% complete, yet.
> 
> View attachment 4579306
> 
> 
> Cheers,


Well, if you want me to comment on it, I sure will  
Good decision to get rid of the seconds hand. The locations of the print and the cutaway at 1 o'clock position from the visible gear give the watch a nice, asymmetric look, but the seconds hand would have caused total chaos.
The hands are slightly too short in my opinion, I think a set of them with the minute hand touching the engraved "ring" below the numerals would do better, but that is of course only my opinion on aesthetics- keep in mind, that my focus is vintage watches, so I might be slightly too conservative about modern designs. The gear and hands finished in "gun metal" way are a very sharp contrast to the dial- well, since you have said that the watch is not done just yet, I might have just compromised myself by not noticing the parts that this statement concerns...
Referring once again to what you have said- that the watch is not finished- what do you intend to add to it, or have changed?

And by the way, you also have said that automatics don't leave much room for custom movement modifications- definitely one thing can be done, and that would be customizing the rotor, but the module for a complication will be harder, no doubt. The Unitas- I know it's ETA now, but when the 6497 and 6498 were developed the company that designed them was not yet a part of ETA- with its size over 16 lignes does leave much space. But, when it comes to smaller manual wind movements, which do leave space for modifications (that would have to be a no-date calibre, right?) I think there is one hand-winding movement by Sellita which could be a nice base for a smaller "regulateur". Anyway, just some ideas which might help in future projects...

MK


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## Davidcs

mkws,

Thanks for you comment.  
Well.. what I'm planing to do is to make a new longer minute hand as you suggested perhaps for both watches, 
and also I'll mirror polish the hands and the hour wheel, to match them with the polished case. 
I'm also thinking of making a black dial version with white lettering and mirror polished hands. It could look pretty good I think. 
Do you know maybe the model number of the Sellita you mentioned, because I couldn't find a manual winding version.

Cheers,


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## Magura

The easy solution is to take a Miyota 9015 and ditch the automatic part.

Magura


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## mkws

Good idea with the mirror polish, and the black dial as well. The Sellita I had in mind is the SW 210-1
http://www.sellita.ch/images/stories/documents/SW210_1_14_20150126.pdf


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## Goldweathers

Hi David, first of all you did a good job! Steel or Titanium, Case adjustments are very hard without the proper machinery. A good alternative is to make a case in gold or silver (budget) these are much easier to adjust, remember the 'good old days'?!

May I ask you to post a picture from the side, so we can see the thickness, and also the shape to the wrist? Your dial design is definitely the most sexy thing about the watch. Keep the tips of Bambiboom in mind, a central hand "has" to be large on such a elegant, touch of design, especially, when considering the case diameter. And please, Keep us post it!


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## Davidcs

Hi goldweathers,

Thank you for your comment. I'll add a new picture of the watch, hopefully you'll be able to see its thickness a bit
better. As soon as I'm finished with the new longer minute hand I'll post it, and you can tell me what you think about it. 









Cheers,


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## Goldweathers

Thank you for sharing! The angle is perfect, good luck with the (longer) hand!


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

If you guys are interested, here are some pictures of the new minute hand's manufacturing process. 
I roughly cut out the shape of the hand from a stainless steel sheet.









After some filing, to get the desired shape and dimensions.









I drilled a hole and used a jewellers saw to cut out the inside.









I'll upload pictures of the watch once the new (longer) minute hand is installed. 

Cheers,

David


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## mreyman73

That is freaking awesome. Kudos to you good sir. My only question is why did you choose to use a brushed buckle whe the case is polished? Personal prefernce? Either way, gorgeous.


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## Davidcs

mreyman73,


Thank you for your comment, I'm really glad that you like the watch. 
That's a good question about the buckle!  
I would prefer it to be polished as well, and my plan is to mirror polish it as soon as I can, 
but so far I didn't have time to do it. 


Cheers,


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## Goldweathers

Hi Davidcs! Its very nice that you share the working progress with us! Honestly i'm excited to see the end result! Thumbs up!


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## Q Lai

Very impressive David, IMO you should be very proud of what you are wearing. i build custom watches all the time, but then with mass manufactured parts. I own tones of unique watches but i have to say I look at your photos quite enviously 

If there's anything I'd add, I think you can upgrade your balance to screw balance with a swan neck regulator. I've seen it around E-bay these days. Message me if you can't find it.

May I ask, how did you color your watch dial?


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## Davidcs

Q Lai,

Thank you for your comment,I'm glad you like it. I might try the balance you mentioned,
but I'm not sure if I could make the swan neck work with my customized balance bridge?!
You asked aboud the dial coloring, the way I made it is, basically once I
had the finished part ready, I used an industrial degreaser to clean the part as best I could.
Then, I used a thin layer of primer (self etching) white color, than a couple of layer of white color paint,
I applied it with an airbrush to get a nice even finish, and finally with the same airbrush I applied
a matte layer of varnish to protect the dial. Hope it helped! If you need anything just send me a message and I'll
try to help! 

Cheers,

David


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## Q Lai

Davidcs said:


> Q Lai,
> 
> Thank you for your comment,I'm glad you like it. I might try the balance you mentioned,
> but I'm not sure if I could make the swan neck work with my customized balance bridge?!
> You asked aboud the dial coloring, the way I made it is, basically once I
> had the finished part ready, I used an industrial degreaser to clean the part as best I could.
> Then, I used a thin layer of primer (self etching) white color, than a couple of layer of white color paint,
> I applied it with an airbrush to get a nice even finish, and finally with the same airbrush I applied
> a matte layer of varnish to protect the dial. Hope it helped! If you need anything just send me a message and I'll
> try to help!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David


Nice! That's the same way I'm finishing my dial but I'm having some challenges to get a good and smooth surface ;\ My watches look okay a few inches away but once a watch lover inspect it up close the quality falls short to impress :<


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## G. I.

Davidcs said:


> View attachment 4567778


I like the unpainted brass look.


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Here is a picture of the watch with the new minute and seconds hand. The minute hand is significantly larger than before, in fact I might of made it too large. 









Cheers,

David


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## Tighthands

Stunning piece. I love the simlpicity of the dial and the way you modded the movement. Great work!


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## G. I.

The minute hand is fine, the hour hand could be shorter.


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## Okapi001

Exactly. The minute hand is IMHO just right, the hour hand looks a little too long for the subdial.


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## jsj11

Thats is an awesome looking watch, if one of the big companies made it, and the fact it you made it yourself just elevates it even more. Well done, you must be really happy with it.


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you guys, I appreciate your comments. I'm already working on a shorter hour hand, hopefully I can get it done
sometime soon!  I'm also thinking of making a black dial version with white lettering and polished stainless steel hands, I'll upload some
pictures once I'm finished with it. 

Cheers,

David


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,

I managed to finish the shorter hour hand, it is not 100% but it looks okay IMO  I ran out of stainless steel, so I had no choice but make the hand from brass (never done it before). 
It turned out that brass is a fantastic material to fabricated the hand from.  It's just so much easier to shape than stainless.

Let me know what you guys think! 









David


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## Magura

Perfect!

Magura


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## mkws

Now it looks truly great!


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## jkpa

Amazing, really. If that was a tad smaller I'd love to own it. Beautiful!!


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## samckittrick

That is amazing!


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## sanik

Great job! Congratulations.


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## bentfish

Even better! Can't wait for more photos of this piece.


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## pronstar

Beautiful piece of real hand-craftsmanship. 

I would be proud to add that watch to my collection. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks again for your comments! 

Pronstar, it means a lot to me that you would add my watch to your collection. I'm honoured, Thank you.

I'll upload a couple of CAD pictures of the new case I designed for this watch, I would appreciate if you guys would
tell me what you think of it. It is something completely different in style from the current case I'm using, but I think it could look good.
It measures 42mm in diameter (excluding crown) and 8mm in height + the crystal. (I'm trying to make it as thin as possible) 
Material would be stainless steel with mirror polish finish.

Cheers,

David


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## Brauer

Sorry but i really dony like that type of strap mount  rest of the project is really amazing!


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## Parptarf

Hmm, not sure about the strap munt myself. But the rest is golden. Love the dial!


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## Jeff Scott

Interesting location of the crown in relation to the movement in that rendering of the back of the watch!


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## ejr

Beautiful watch. Very impressive from the design to the execution. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments.
The crown and movement does not align on the model, because before I started to design the watch, I needed an accurate CAD model of an ETA-6498, but after a long time of online search I could not find one. 
The only one I found that was accurate and complete enough was an ETA-6497 (which is perfect for the job) so I'm using that in the model. 

I'll put in the link if someone needs it: https://grabcad.com/library/eta-6497-1-complete-watch-movement (it's not 100% accurate, but Steen Winther did a great job, because it's pretty close to the real thing)

I'm also working on a few of other versions of the movement, based on this model. 
A version with identical design that I have on the regulator but with off centred hands, a skeleton regulator version and I'm trying to make one with a power reserve indicator.
I'll upload a couple of pictures once I'll start making them.

Cheers,


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## Ed.YANG

Wow!!!
Nice looking and designed piece that may last for years. Won't die along with evolving trends in later days.
However... the lug design. Don't seems to be strap changeable friendly.


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## Davidcs

Hi ed.YANG,

You got a good point about the strap changing issue, I haven’t thought about it before you mentioned it, but you are right about it.

I've decided to leave the case alone for now, guess I need to rethink the lug  + I'm modifying an ETA-6498 to make the minute and hour hands off centred
and I had to order a new case for this movement anyway. The new movement is going to be thicker by about 0.5mm than the original, so it does not fit into my current case. 
I’ll upload a couple of pictures of both watches as soon as I'm finished.

Cheers,


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## wild5ive

In my (2cent) opinion it is wonderful. There are always prototypes in the beginning that may start out looking good but the finished design is not what you planned. I'm not that deep into building units. But I think you have inspired me to give it a go. Love the watch not to much enthusiasm about the strap mount.


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## omeglycine

David- Like the others, I am very impressed with your work. I think you have a great design, and I'm sure you also have some members wondering how they might be able to get one of your watches on their wrist!


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## Tanguero

Lovely work. It looks much more balanced with the latests hands.

Do you have an pictures of the dial side complication for the sub hours hand? I would love to see how you implemented that having done something similar myself for a dual timezone watch I made a while back.


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## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for your support!

Tanguero - I forgot to take pictures of the dial side when I put the watch together, so I can't upload any picture of that at the moment, 
but I'll add a picture of the CAD model so you can see how it looks. I manufactured it based on the model, so it's almost identical. 
I'll upload some real life picture when I take the watch apart. BTW, the model is an ETA-6497 as I mentioned in previous posts so don't mind the rest of the movement,
just the complication. 
If you have some pictures of the dual time zone watch you made, send me a PM with some pictures, I'd love to see it.

Omeglycine - In the past couple of weeks I have been approached by several people who would be interested in purchasing a watch from me. 
Which is to be honest is absolutely unbelievable...
As a result of all the interest, I'm starting to think seriously about completing the watches + finishing the off centred version, and maybe trying to put them into production. 
I made some calculations though and because everything is hand made it turns out that I need to put in roughly 120-140 hours (about 2 weeks) (depending on the version) of work to complete one piece. 
This of course greatly affect the selling price and the production quantity.
For now I told everyone to give me some time until I can finish the watches, test them out properly, and figure out the million things that needs to be figured out before I can start thinking about actual production.

Cheers,


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## Tanguero

The thread about my dual time zone effort is here https://www.watchuseek.com/f6/slightly-different-case-982061.html
Unfortunately I lost the pictures of making the dial side complication due to a memory card failure, so I can't show you that.  I will take some more when it needs servicing.


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## JohnnyBaldJunior

Wow!
I've only just come across this thread. The watch (with newly sized hand proportions) is truly beautiful. 
I just about have enough skill to build up watches with pre made parts and complete movements and can swap dials and hands etc....but to do what you do is a whole other level. 
I take my hat off to you mate, well done, you've got skills!
You're doing the things many of us guys dream of.
You can add me to the 'very interested' list should you start producing these for sale...though I realise such a unique, time consuming build could push it out of my budget.
I'd love a true 'made in England' watch....especially one that's only from down the road in Manchester.


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## JohnnyBaldJunior

And as for a black version...why not consider a more charcoal grey...the texture of the dial would be more visible than on a true black dial


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## omeglycine

JohnnyBaldJunior said:


> And as for a black version...why not consider a more charcoal grey...the texture of the dial would be more visible than on a true black dial


And more fitting to those Manchester skies!

I kid. I love my visits to Manchester.


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## charleswtch

Am impressed. Looks very nice.


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## rubbersoul

Very impressive. Definitely would wear.


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## Maria Williams

Very nice!


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## The Guvnah

Wonderful bit of work here David, pushing my aesthetic buttons anyway. |>



Magura said:


> Like that a milling machine could be used as well I guess, with a bit of tooling.
> 
> Magura


You read my mind M. and hi there btw b-) I've been toying with the idea of using my miller or even the drill press to experiment with a bit of ad hoc pad printing. Even an average import machine will have slideways and gibs that are 300% better than what seems to be on offer with that chinese machine. It'll have depth stops to regulate and optimise the application stroke. There'll be stops on the axes that will be properly hardened to ensure absolute repeatability of positioning. Seems like an easy adaption in theory because all the ingredients are there on a miller already.

All that's required is a good quality pair of slide rails and trucks mounted to a base plate made of something reasonably stable, Delrin perhaps, ally even MDF at a push. The whole is then fixed to the miller's XY table, trammed and trued. The mill slides allow the dial to be centred and the slideway carries the inked master. Procedure would be...

First up both the blank and master need to have a hole in the centre to allow them to be mutually aligned using a cone centre fitted in the miller's spindle. The holes need not necessarily be the same diameter of course as the cone will centre it regardless)

1) Slide jig is mounted on the table and trued.

2) Blank is mounted into the lower stage on its base plate and centred under the quill using the XY dials and a 60deg cone centre.

3) Both table axes are locked

4) Master is mounted into its position on its sliding carrier and slid under the centre.

5) The cone is lowered to hold it on centre and the slide's travel stops are adjusted so that it repeats back to centre every time the pad is slid back out of the way to be inked.

That's pretty much the extent of my thinking. Not bothered with automatic inking as I would be doing solely one offs so I'd just ink it manually. A few diffrently etched/machined masters and you'd be into two and three colour dial printing! :-! Bloody hell, now it's got me itching to fire up AutoCAD and sketch it out :think:


----------



## The Guvnah

View attachment 4579306


Hoh yuss! You're definitely onto something there D. Probably just me but my eye is craving a splash of the old blued steel. I'm trying to picture that cutout edge with it. There is a risk of salivation.
The stand out feature of that dial for me though is the word "ENGLAND" :-!


----------



## The Guvnah

Davidcs said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I managed to finish the shorter hour hand, it is not 100% but it looks okay IMO  I ran out of stainless steel, so I had no choice but make the hand from brass (never done it before).
> It turned out that brass is a fantastic material to fabricated the hand from.  It's just so much easier to shape than stainless.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!
> 
> View attachment 4816433
> 
> 
> David


A little more 'sculpture' in the crown do we think? Hate to roll out a bit of a cliche by mentioning an onion crown but something along those lines perhaps. See what you mean about the hands still not being 100% but my undisciplined eye can't see where that 1% dissatisfaction arises. Could it be the way the hands terminate at quite an obtuse angle? It always amazes me how just very slight and almost fractional changes in angles, widths of indices, hands, graphics placement and fonts etc can radically alter the whole composition of a dial... I dunno. :think: Ignore me Dave, just thinking out loud. |>


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks again for your kind comments!
I was away for a while, but from now on I'll try to post updates regularly. Since my last post I have been approached by several people who are 
interested in purchasing my regulator timepiece, so I was pretty busy trying to finish the watch. (Hopefully it will be ready in a few weeks.) 
I'll upload a couple of pictures as soon as I can.

For now I'll link in some pictures of the manufacturing of my latest piece. While I'm trying to finish the regulator I'm also working on this one at same time. 
(I always liked watches with off-centred hands, so I'm trying to make one for myself.)

As you can see on the model this watch has off-centred minute and hour hands. I'm using the same ETA-6498 as a base movement that I used previously. This build is more complex than my previous one,
so I had to manufacture a lot more parts to make it work, while I tried to create a similar overall "style" that I have on my regulator.
If everything goes well, I can probably have a completed version by next week.

If you guys have any thoughts on the design, please let me know! 
I also wanted to ask, what do you think about the open dial version? (last picture at the bottom)
Because at this stage I manufactured the dial based on my original plans, but I think the open dial version might look pretty good as well?! 
I could relative easily cut the movement, and since the dial is made of three individual parts (screwed together), it wouldn't be too hard to make a new see-though seconds sub dial. 
Let me know what you think!

This is the base model I'm using















Main part of the dial has been machined, and turned.









The two sub-dials are made from stainless steel.









This is the latest stainless steel sub-dial I made (still attached to the wax chuck), it turned out pretty good. IMO









The matte black painted brass dial, I'm also thinking of silvering the brass instead of painting it. (I'll see which looks better)









A small brass part for the movement I had to make. It is around 0.4mm in diameter.









I'm using a small piece of brass that I can heat up to blue the stainless hands.









After bluing, this is how the hour hand looks like. Colour is not 100% even but for now its okay.









This is the open dial version I mentioned before, let me know what you think of it.









Another thing I forgot to mention, the "brand name" is going to be my name instead of Polaris. 
Several people asked me why I picked that name, and they pointed out that they don't really like!
Most of them told me that I should use my own name, so I decided to go with that, it is going to be David C. Lowinger.

Cheers,

David


----------



## craig00

lovely design. Looks solid.....nice work.


----------



## Chascomm

I like what you've shown so far. 

Have you thought about making the seconds sub-dial even more prominent and numbered? The reason I ask is that this layout reminds me of the 'doctor's watch' style of the 1930s.

Good idea about using your own name. Polaris has been the brand of the Yantai Clock Factory for about a century now.


----------



## OrangeKx

Great design. I like how clean it looks. My only thing would be some marker lines (even though you have the numbers). It would perhaps clutter the design, but seems it would be easier to read at a glance. Great job, though.


----------



## mkws

A really good-looking design. As to using your full name on dial, this practice was quite common for British watchmakers & jewellers/watch retailers once- until the 1950s... all the way from the 17th century. There was also the name of the city on the dial. So a lot of English pocket watches would have the name of the watchmaker + city name under the watchmaker's. I wonder how would the watch look with Breguet-style hour and minute hands... But this design looks good. Frankly, damn good!


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

I mentioned in my previous post that I'll try to give you guy's updates regularly, so I thought I'll upload a couple of pictures of the new "Japanese style" crown I'm working on. 
It is made of Stainless Steel, it measures 6mm in diameter and about 3.5mm thick. I'm planning to use this crown on my off-centred watch (maybe the regulator too) I tried to take pictures 
of each stage of the manufacturing so you can see how I made it. (Sorry for the terrible picture quality, I'll try to take some new shots tomorrow).

I also linked in a picture of the (almost completed) dial. It needs to be painted (black - white) or silvered (not sure which would look better) but hopefully in a few day I'll be able to put everything together to see how it looks.

mkws: I checked out (at least in CAD software) how would the watch look with Breguet-style hands, I'll added some pictures so you can check it out as well. Let me know what you think! 

Manufacturing stages:

Facing the stock








Turning the stock to the desired diameter







Drilling the hole for the stem







Turning the stock down so it will slide in the pedant tube







Rotary table is used to hold the stock vertically + dividing head to make the cuts 







This is how it looks after the cuts have been made







The stem has been installed to see if it fits perfectly







On the next three pictures you can see how it looks after machining but before polishing.





















The dial is almost completed







mkws: here are the picture with the Breguet-style hands
















Cheers,

David


----------



## mkws

I just had a look at that, and I like what I have seen- the Breguet hands change the... shall we say, tone of the design, to a bit more dressy one. They're a bit more sleek than the original stick hands, and that's a good thing- a Unitas-based watch is by definition a big one, so thinner hands optically reduce the size of the piece, and make it look a bit... warmer. Well, that's the best word I could think of to describe the effect of this small change. The other term that fits is "nicely understated". The position of the circular cutaways in Breguet hands also get along well with the design of the watch- the Breguet hands are thin, which works well with the subtle pattern of the dial sunburst, and the fact that the cutaways are off-centre combines well with the off-centre "sunburst" pattern of the dial. All in all, now that I can see how it would look, I think that my idea with the Breguet hands was a good one -IMO at least, dunno what do you think about it, David.
As to the dial colour, I'd say that if the main part of the dial is to be painted black, I'd go with the silver sub-dials. That's because plain-white ones would create a bit too sharp "inverse panda" effect (that's how it's being referred to in chronographs like the vintage Breitling Top Time).


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

I just put the new watch together for the first time, I thought I'll upload a picture to show you how it looks. Obviously it's far from being completed, 
but at least it's together and working. I can start wearing it for a few days to see if there are any problems.

To be hones I'm wearing it for a few hours now and I can already see some issues with the hands and dial that needs to be fixed.

Anyway, I hope you can roughly see how the watch is going to look like, IMO it's going to look pretty good once I managed to make it "perfect". I'll try to take some more decent pictures tomorrow,
(under normal light conditions) but the Manchester weather isn't really helping me out!  
Let me know what you guys think of the watch!









mkws: Thanks for your feedback on the hands, I'll try to make the Breguet-style hands in the near future, and I think it would look nice on the watch too, but the problem with that style of hand 
is that it's probably the hardest one to make!  
Not only it's super complicated, but on this watch it would have to be pretty small too, which makes it even harder. The minute hand (the longest) is less than 8mm long, 
so it is going to be quite difficult to make Breguet-style hands that small. I'll give it a try anyway!

Cheers,

David


----------



## ssaga79

can't believe it's handmade! Awesome.


----------



## RocketHurricane

Davidcs said:


> Engraving in process.
> 
> View attachment 4567834


Great work on your dials. What kind of bit are you using to engrave the brass?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you guys for your kind comments. 

RocketHurricane: I'm using a simple 45 degree Carbide engraver with a 0.2mm cutting edge.

Cheers,


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

I took a couple of new pictures of the watch today, thought I'll upload them so you guys could let me know what you think of it! I made some upgrades since my last post, 
and most of the issues I discovered are now fixed.

The minute and seconds hands are brand new, I wasn't happy with them so I made new ones. (all 3 hands are re blued) Also managed to print the logo on to the sub-dial (looks great IMO) 
it could have been a bit sharper, but it's okay for now. 
Most importantly I managed to make the heightened cannon pinion perfect! The last one I made had some problems and the power transmission wasn't smooth enough, 
but this one seems to be perfect. I added a picture so you can see how the new one looks.

Some of you guys asked in private about production, price etc. I'm working hard on finishing my website, 
once I'll manage to complete it you'll be able to find all the informations about the watches there. 
Sorry for being slow with reposes and everything, but its just too much staff that I need to work on at the same time. 
I'll add a link to the website as soon as I can.

























Cutting the cannon pinion.








This is how the finished product looks like.







Cheers,

David


----------



## wg84

David, I’ve been watching your thread for a while now.. 
I have to say I’m very impressed by what you’ve done, I think your watches are looking fantastic. Especially the latest piece with the black dial, it looks truly amazing.


----------



## Speeds5

Can I suggest you only use your last name for the brand. Using your whole name seems long to my ear and probably detracts a bit from the dial. Not sure if you've given that any thought. In any event, very nice work and good luck with your venture.


----------



## markpara

Davidcs said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I managed to finish the shorter hour hand, it is not 100% but it looks okay IMO  I ran out of stainless steel, so I had no choice but make the hand from brass (never done it before).
> It turned out that brass is a fantastic material to fabricated the hand from.  It's just so much easier to shape than stainless.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!
> 
> View attachment 4816433
> 
> 
> David


I love your design and your passion for what you are doing. I love this design. The hour hand look much better now but still could be a tad bit shorter to fit inside the ring.


----------



## markpara

Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I took a couple of new pictures of the watch today, thought I'll upload them so you guys could let me know what you think of it! I made some upgrades since my last post,
> and most of the issues I discovered are now fixed.
> 
> The minute and seconds hands are brand new, I wasn't happy with them so I made new ones. (all 3 hands are re blued) Also managed to print the logo on to the sub-dial (looks great IMO)
> it could have been a bit sharper, but it's okay for now.
> Most importantly I managed to make the heightened cannon pinion perfect! The last one I made had some problems and the power transmission wasn't smooth enough,
> but this one seems to be perfect. I added a picture so you can see how the new one looks.
> 
> Some of you guys asked in private about production, price etc. I'm working hard on finishing my website,
> once I'll manage to complete it you'll be able to find all the informations about the watches there.
> Sorry for being slow with reposes and everything, but its just too much staff that I need to work on at the same time.
> I'll add a link to the website as soon as I can.
> 
> View attachment 6359417
> 
> 
> View attachment 6359401
> 
> 
> View attachment 6359409
> 
> 
> Cutting the cannon pinion.
> View attachment 6359393
> 
> 
> This is how the finished product looks like.
> View attachment 6359385
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David


I like the new design ! 
Taking a look at pictures 2 and three IMO i think if the hour and second hand area was a shade of grey so that there isnt that much contrast may look nicer. The second picture looks more of a gray color due to lighting but its a little bit darker. I think if those two dials were a bit darker it might give a nice subtle transition kind of like a grayscale. You can always just throw the pictures of your watch into photoshop and mess around with the colors to get a better idea.

Keep up the good work ! check out my beginning stages of my brand Carpathia.

Cheers.


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your comments, I really appreciate it.

Speeds5 - I guess you might be right about the brand name, it might be a bit too much. I haven't finalized it yet, I'll might use just my surname as you suggested, or maybe first name - surname&#8230; 
I'm not sure to be honest which would be the best, but thanks anyway for point that out, I appreciate it.

Markpara - I'm really glad that you like the watches. The new design has blued steel hands, which appears to change colour under different lighting conditions, 
so it's pretty hard to take a good picture of it (for me at least) but I understand what you mean. Maybe I'll try to make the sub dials from titanium instead of stainless because it has a darker colour. 
In real life though I think there's enough contrast between them. 
For the past couple of days I was trying to take some well lighted high quality photos for my website, but it turns out to be a pretty hard task.  
Hopefully from a decent picture you'll be able to see better how the watch looks in real life.

On the regulator watch the hands are shortened a bit more so both the hour and second hands are inside their rings.

By the way, I'll share a couple of pictures of the same watch with a different set of hands and text on the dial that I made for a friend of mine. He wants to buy a regulator piece from me but 
he wasn't happy with the style of the hands (he wanted something simpler and narrower) so I sat down with him and we made some changes. I also changed the fonts to the one he liked. 
To be honest I like these hands myself, and I think the overall design looks pretty good.
I would appreciate if you guys could let me know what you think of it.

















Cheers,

David


----------



## markpara

I like the new font, both are clean and simple. Also maybe I missed the post what is your website ?


----------



## Chascomm

The '5's really look like '6's to me.


----------



## wg84

David, I think the new regulateur design is great. I like the slimmer hands, and the new font as well. I agree with Chascomm though, the 5’s do look a little bit like a 6, but it’s not bothering me at all. 
Looks awesome!

How’s you website coming together?

I'm planning to buy a new watch in a few weeks, so I’d be interested to learn the retail price of your watches, especially the black dial model. I might buy one if the price is within my budget.


----------



## cultaddict

That is an enviable effort!!
I personally love the regulator movement and style - So simple and yet so unique. 
I love that your dial is very easy to read. Quite often that hour dial and markers are too ambiguous to decipher the time at a glance.
Nice work - Keep em coming


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thanks for you comments!

Sorry guys but I'm behind schedule again, a new project came about that I have to work on at the moment (for a paying customer  so the website is still not ready. I've sent an email 
to each person who asked about it and I also tried to answer all your other questions as well.

Wg84 - You asked about the production quantity. To be hones I haven't decided yet on how many I'll produce of each model, but I was thinking about a 25 or 50 piece limitation / model. 
This way I can make sure that the watches are "rare" which I think is important for a hand made piece. Plus, it will take me about one month to complete a piece, 
so even if I go with the 25 piece limitation (which is an extremely low quantity) it would still take me a very long time to manufacture all 75 pieces. (If there will be demand for them at all)

By the way, the picture you can see below is the project I'm working on at the moment. A customer is looking for a custom made watch with a spider "theme" He wanted me to design something, so this is what I came up with. 
(Stainless Steel case + Black PVD coated movement)
I think it looks pretty cool so far.









Cheers,

David


----------



## wg84

This spider web concept is quite unusual but very cool indeed, I never seen anything like it! The overall attention to detail is very impressive, 
how the spider crawls out from underneath the barrel is just awesome. It’s not a piece I would wear on a daily bases, but for special occasions it would be perfect. 
By the way, originally is that an ETA-6497?

Great concept, keep up the good work!


----------



## vuminhduc2002

Hi David,
Who help you to mark the dial?
Can you give me some suggestions?

Look forward hearing from you. 
Best regards, 



Kenny


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for your kind comments.

wg84 – Yes, it is based on an ETA-6497, but most parts are going to be custom made from scratch. (Bridges, main plate, setting lever jumper etc.) 
For this design it is not possible to “just” skeletonize an existing ETA-6497.

Kenny – I’m not sure what you mean by who help you to mark the dial? You mean who did the engraving on the dial, or the text printing? 
Either way I did both myself, so there is no outside company I can suggest. If you have a specific question about how to do it and what tools you'll need etc. just send me a PM and I’ll try to point you to the right direction.

Cheers,

David


----------



## wg84

Hi David,

Can you show some more renders of the spider watch, I'm curious how it looks from different angles. 
Also, will you make the case yourself? If so, what kind of machinery you use? 

By the way, if you got more interesting concept like the spider I would love to see them!


----------



## Davidcs

Hi wg84

I added a couple of renders of the spider watch so you can see it from different angles. About the case, yes, the plan is to make it myself. I have made a couple of cases in the past 
from stainless steel, so it shouldn't be too big of a problem.
The machines I’m using for making the case are a milling machine with rotary table + dividing head, lathe, bench grinder (for polishing) and a crystal fitting press. There are of course several other tools that are necessary like 
drills, fly cutter, end mills, edge finder etc. but these tools are used not only for case making but for general machining as well.

About concepts:
Well, I’ve got several „fully developed” concept with some interesting ideas, but at the moment I rather not share them. (Perhaps when I start making them) If you are interested I can show a bit of my latest project though. It’s a triple axis tourbillon that is going to be the main component of a completely in-house made movement. (Still needs a lot of work, but it’s coming together nicely)

Cheers,

David


----------



## timefan44

very nicely done! keep up the great work


----------



## Jeff Scott

David, the spider watch and the tourbillon look fantastic!


----------



## wg84

Hi David,

Thanks for the additional renders, the spider looks great from all angles! I think you have a great eye for details. 
Little things like the font style and that red spider makes the whole thing come together in my opinion. Very nice job! 
The Tourbillon looks stunning as well, I'm hoping to see the completed watch in the future!


----------



## timefan44

when will the Spider watch be done or when will have you some samples!? looks great


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments. 
I can't give you an exact time frame on the Spider but I'm guessing I'll need a couple of months at least before I can put together a prototype. I'm trying to work on it as much has I can 
but its going a lot slower than I expected. I'm constantly running into troubles with various components, like the new mainplate which I had to re-design a little bit so that I can machine each stage properly. 
Also, I'm using German silver to make most components which I have never used before, so I need to try different cutters, speeds etc. to find the best result. Overall, it's a more complex project than I originally thought! 

By the way, a couple of days ago I had an idea of a new watch case. It's just a concept and it might not match stylistically with the Spider watch, but I put it together anyway just to see how it would look, 
and overall it doesn't look too bad IMO. 
Let me know what you guys think of it. 
I'll post a couple of real life pictures of the making as soon as I made some decent progress.














Cheers,

David


----------



## wg84

Hi David,

Any updates?


----------



## Devin Kyle Williams

The lines on this are awesome. Well done.


----------



## Jeaquest

Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Here is a picture of the watch with the new minute and seconds hand. The minute hand is significantly larger than before, in fact I might of made it too large.
> 
> View attachment 4791058
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David


I really like  

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk


----------



## Dennisjaner

Very cool watch!!! some tips that could help.

1. maybe make the lines illuminate or give it a color
2. the two short hands shorter
3. the longer hand longer
4. a custom crown

Thanks again for sharing, it looks good!


----------



## Timepieces of Class

Absolutely beautiful, you should start your own custom brand where you make a limited edition of 10-12 pieces worldwide I am sure I am not the only one who would love to own one of these.


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments. I'm glad that you guys like the watches.

Sorry I haven't posted anything for so long, but I've been really busy, a lot has happened in the past couple of months. Due to some unforeseen events in my workplace, I've been offered a temporary position in one of our newly opened branch in Germany. So at the moment I'm living in Germany, which unfortunately means that I'm unable to work on my watches. 

So, sorry but I can't give you any updates because I haven't made any progress in the past month and probably I won't be able to in the next 2-3 months as well. I'll keep working in CAD on some of my ideas and I'll try to post some pictures regularly but I'm afraid that the completion of the spider and my other watches will be delayed.

For now I managed to rework in CAD some of the things I wasn't happy on the spider watch. The movement will stay the same (since I already started to work on it) but I felt like the case could be better, so I started to play with that concept case idea that I posted earlier.

I made some decent renders of the "finished" and final edition of the spider watch. Hope you guys like them!
Let me know what you think.

Cheers,


----------



## Kai Schraml

Impressive work. I am glad you decided to share them with others. A true talent you have. I hope you continue to use it and share the results with the world.


----------



## Davidcs

Hi Kai,

Thanks a lot for your comment. I’m definitely going to share my designs with you guys, I really appreciate all your feedbacks. 

Here is a picture of my latest completed concept! 

This piece has probably one of the most complicated movement that I have designed so far. I call it “The Dark Side of the Moon”  
The entire movement is custom made from scratch! The barrel, pallet fork and the balance assembly are the only components 
that are "sourced" from an ETA-6497, everything else is new. (74 components) I really liked the finished style of the movement, so 
I decided not to use a dial but instead to create a set of stainless steel sub-dials. I think this way the watch has a more mechanical look that I like. 

The movement has 23 jewels, a power reserve indicator, a seconds hand on the left side, 
a normal hour/minute on the right side + a very accurate rotating three dimensional moon phase display. 
I’m not sure if you can see it on the picture, but the moon is an actual sphere. (Similar to Christian van der Klaauw) 
I tried to come up with a very precise system, so I based my calculations on Ochs and Junior’s ultra-accurate moon phase system. 
My version is less accurate than theirs, still… it should be accurate for the next 1116 years. 
Obviously a moon phase indicator in a watch isn’t very useful and this kind of precision is unnecessary IMO, 
but I wanted to see if I could come up with such a system!

Let me know what you guys.

David


----------



## PeterK.

I like it a lot,clean design and showing the gears add extra touch to it.


----------



## oak1971

Very nice! A great achievement.


----------



## oak1971

I hope RWS is watching.


----------



## Captain_Canuck

This is amazing stuff! 

I may have missed it in an earlier comment, but did you attend a watchmaking school or are you self-taught? I've only just started designing my own watches and I'm not at the movement-designing phase yet, but your dials and movement modifications are really inspirational!


----------



## chomeo

really like this design it almost seems that the movement is 'floating' inside the casing. refreshing to see. can i place my order now please. ☺


----------



## carpeeyon

brass will look awesome with the blue hands. i would just choose more classy hands, thinner, pointy. 
sharp.
great work mate


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for your comments, I really appreciate them!

Captain_Canuck: I did not attend any watchmaking school, I'm self-taught. Wish I could attend though&#8230; 
but WOSTEP and other schools are just ridiculously expensive + very hard to get in! So, since I couldn't afford any of them, 
I had no choice but to learn everything by myself.  
Obviously I still have a lot more to learn, but I feel like I'm slowly getting there!

By the way, I made another render of the watch if you guys are interested. 
As you can see the moon is visible from the back side of the movement as well. This feature was my main idea when I started to work on this project.
I wanted to have a large enough sphere so that it's clearly visible from both sides. I think it turned out rather nicely.


----------



## arejay101

I would buy this in a heartbeat if you ever make or manufacture it:










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## wg84

Me too, it does look brilliant! 
Great job David!


----------



## lorsban

Excellent design and execution!

You'd make a killing selling your creations if ever you decide going that route. 



Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## arogle1stus

Davidcs:
To coin an expression I used to hear while posted at RAF Sta Brize Norton, U K.
" A bit of alright". Nay! Better than that. Simply awesome watch.

X Traindriver Art.

Used to ride the UK train, the "Bampton Bullet" nto London. Love the British Isles. 
People forget that there are other nations comprising the United Kingdom than G B.


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

I'm really glad that you guys like my work! Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it!
Here is my latest project. I call this piece "Dragon's Breath"

When I started to work on this concept my goal was to create a watch that displayed time in an unusual way. I wanted to get rid of ordinary hands and come up with something different, maybe a bit more exiting. In this case I use the two "fire" across the dial to display time. The top one shows the minutes (increments of five minutes), and the bottom one shows the hours (increments of one hour). The small "pit of fire" at 6 o'clock is the power reserve indicator.

The two slides ("fire") are basically the main components of a rather complex retrograde system. I designed the system from scratch so it took some serious effort to make it work. Especially since the two slides are differ in size and also their travelling distances are different. It was quite challenging to calculate the gear positions, tooth width, spring mechanism etc, but after a while I managed to figure everything out.  Because there are no hands obviously it is near impossible to read the exact time, but with the current layout I believe that an accurate reading of +-3 minute can be achieved. Which I think is not too bad considering the complexity of the overall design. On the bottom picture you can see it better that current time is 2:45 (if you look at the watch directly from above, you can get the most accurate reading)

At the moment the movement in this is my own heavily modified version of an ETA-6497 with an added power reserve indicator, a three quarter plate with gold chatons, a custom click, and the retrograde system. It has a similar specification like an original ETA-6497 has, except that the movement is thicker and also the running time is slightly less than the original version. (Because of the additional components)
I almost forgot to mention that the case is brand new as well, it measures 43mm in diameter and it is 10.30mm thick. I've never been a fan of gold cases, but for some reason I think it goes really well with the dragon. 

I'll post some renders of the movement side soon.
Please let me know what you think.


----------



## cooma

Wow, that is something different... I don't know if that is right choice for everyday use, but still interesting idea. The dragon looks quite impressive.


----------



## arejay101

Looks a little Romain Jerome-ish. Usually, not my cup of tea, but the attention to detail is nice.


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## mikeblythe

Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm really glad that you guys like my work! Thanks for your support, I really appreciate it!
> Here is my latest project. I call this piece "Dragon's Breath"
> 
> When I started to work on this concept my goal was to create a watch that displayed time in an unusual way. I wanted to get rid of ordinary hands and come up with something different, maybe a bit more exiting. In this case I use the two "fire" across the dial to display time. The top one shows the minutes (increments of five minutes), and the bottom one shows the hours (increments of one hour). The small "pit of fire" at 6 o'clock is the power reserve indicator.
> 
> The two slides ("fire") are basically the main components of a rather complex retrograde system. I designed the system from scratch so it took some serious effort to make it work. Especially since the two slides are differ in size and also their travelling distances are different. It was quite challenging to calculate the gear positions, tooth width, spring mechanism etc, but after a while I managed to figure everything out.  Because there are no hands obviously it is near impossible to read the exact time, but with the current layout I believe that an accurate reading of +-3 minute can be achieved. Which I think is not too bad considering the complexity of the overall design. On the bottom picture you can see it better that current time is 2:45 (if you look at the watch directly from above, you can get the most accurate reading)
> 
> At the moment the movement in this is my own heavily modified version of an ETA-6497 with an added power reserve indicator, a three quarter plate with gold chatons, a custom click, and the retrograde system. It has a similar specification like an original ETA-6497 has, except that the movement is thicker and also the running time is slightly less than the original version. (Because of the additional components)
> I almost forgot to mention that the case is brand new as well, it measures 43mm in diameter and it is 10.30mm thick. I've never been a fan of gold cases, but for some reason I think it goes really well with the dragon.
> 
> I'll post some renders of the movement side soon.
> Please let me know what you think.
> 
> View attachment 9547994
> 
> View attachment 9547978


This is an amazing idea! Well done. Really has a Hobbit /LOTR feel to it. If you gave it some elvish rune writing on the side of the case, you could pitch this idea to Peter Jackson. Just sayin

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## vese

Interesting. I think the case clashes with the dial though.


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## fastcasters

Just stumbled on this thread and..... WOW - you have a real talent, such a pleasure to see those designs. Keep up the brilliant work


----------



## jmas

Very unique, that is some crazy talent... love the texture on the dial and keep up the good work!


----------



## Gunnar_917

Davidcs said:


> View attachment 9547994
> 
> View attachment 9547978


i absolutely LOVE this!


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Here is a render of the movement side of the dragon watch. I'm really glad that you guys like this concept. 
I know that this watch is rather unusual, but that's exactly what I wanted to achieve. 
My plan was to come up with something different, something original and hopefully with this piece I managed to do that.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the movement is based on an ETA-6497. Difference is that my version has a three quarter plate with gold chatons, 
a custom click, power reserve indicator and the retrograde system underneath the dial. The colors aren't final, but the movement itself is more or less completed.
I've been running a couple of simulations and so far everything seems to be working fine. 

Please let me know what you think.


----------



## dtrain

Epic craftsmanship!!!


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## creativedoctor

Seriously well made. Gorgeous!!1


----------



## wg84

Wow… This is an exceptionally interesting design! I love it, it’s absolutely gorgeous!!! Congrats!


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it!

I'm glad to tell you that very soon I'll be able to share with you more than just concepts, because as of today I've got a new workshop here in Germany.  So, hopefully within 
a couple of weeks I can bring all my equipment from the UK and finally I can continue to work on my watches. 
In the meantime please let me know what you think of my latest concept&#8230;

For this project I designed a brand new dual balance movement that displays two completely independent time zones. The movement has 32 Jewels, 
beats at 21.600bph and has a power reserve (in theory) of around 32 hours.

On the second picture you can see how the balance wheels are located on the top of the movement. I wanted the dial side of the movement to be as three dimensional as possible, 
so I've tried to position different components at different heights to create more contrast and depth between them. 
I think it looks pretty cool that most of the moving parts are visible from the dial side.

Please let me know what you think.


----------



## mkws

I really like the looks of the new concept, but the 32h power reserve is - IMO - way too small. It's what a run-of-the-mill pocket watch movement was capable of back in the 1890s... There were some otherwise excellent movements with a fairly small power reserve, like the Pierce in-house chronograph movements with a vertical clutch of their own design, but that was 80 years ago.
If I understand correctly, the movement is essentially two balances and two gear trains, powering two separate time zone displays, feeding off of the same mainspring? I'm no watchmaker, but I think that a stronger mainspring, or at least a larger one, would help.
These days, 38 hours seems to be the absolute minimum. Guess you could also try reducing the frequency to 18 000 vph (a/h, bph, whatever one calls that unit), a frequency reduction extended the reserve of the ETA 2892, when Omega gave it the co-axial escapement, and the frequency went down from 28800 to 25200 (power reserve went up from 42 to 48h- although I don't know if they haven't modified the mainspring). Similar case with the 2824-based Powermatic 80 movements currently used by Tissot and Certina.


----------



## Cooney

Beautiful work!


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## Davidcs

Hi mkws,

Yes, it is actually two independent gear trains powered by one barrel. I know that the 32 power reserve isn’t a lot, and you are right 
as far as I’m aware by reducing the beat rate should produce a longer running time. This might be a good solution in this case, 
because don’t think I could make the mainspring stronger without making it larger, which due to lack of space is not really feasible. 
Anyway, thanks for pointing it out, I’ll try to recalculate everything to see if I could come up with a better result. Obviously everything about this project is just theoretical at this point, but still…

Thanks Cooney, I’m glad you like it.


----------



## mkws

David, if you'll be able to get the power reserve up to 40 hours or more, I think it'd be really good. At least to my knowledge, people tend to enjoy "strength in numbers" in watches, and often a low power reserve can only be acceptably justified by a low price, an absolutely extraordinary complication, or a combination of a most peculiar design and brand reputation (ALS Zeitwerk, 36h power reserve). If I may offer my subjective opinion: since your design doesn't include a second hand, I don't think anyone would care about it operating on a fairly typical frequency. Besides, if that's uplifting anyhow, remember that Zenith 135- one of the most accurate hand-wound wristwatch movements ever made, also ran at 18000 vph.


----------



## Chascomm

Davidcs said:


> Yes, it is actually two independent gear trains powered by one barrel....


At the risk of seeming pedantic, I can't see how the two trains can be "independent" if they are powered by the same barrel. Certainly the time could be set independently just as with any other dual-time system, but powered by a common barrel means that they are locked together with both balances contributing to the timekeeping of the entire mechanism (i.e. the unwinding of the common mainspring). Or is there a crucial detail that I've overlooked?


----------



## Davidcs

Hi Chascomm,

No, you are right actually! It’s my mistake! 

They aren’t really independent in that sense, I meant it more like the two dials have their own gear train systems to display time,
and that you can set them independently. It works just like a common dual-time system.


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## James Haury

I really , really, like it.Unfortunately, I am poor.It is very nice, a bit different but classy .Good work!


----------



## Bill Adler

Refreshingly fun, quirky and eye-catching.


----------



## lorsban

Very nice!

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## wg84

Wow, yet another fantastic concept, I love it!!!


----------



## webicons

You sir, are a mad man. Awe. Inspired. 


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## Trayn

I just wanted to say your “The Dark Side of the Moon” is amazing! I really like your take on the typical moon phase complication.


----------



## Davidcs

Thanks guys, I appreciate your support.

Thanks Trayn, I’m glad you like that one. The main idea was to get rid of the traditional moon phase disk and replace it with a three dimensional sphere. I’m thinking of making a skeleton 
version of the same watch, the idea is to make the moon sphere more visible, because I think it could look awesome! 
Also because I haven’t seen a skeleton moon phase watch with a real three dimensional sphere, so I think there’s potential in the idea.  Anyway, I’ll post a couple of renders once I made some progress with it.

By the way, I’m planning on posting pictures more regularly, since my workshop is getting ready I want to finish my Regulator and my Off-centre watches as soon as possible. Also, I always wanted to
make a Tourbillon so… Finally, I believe that I've got the right design (which means that it's actually doable with my knowledge), most of the tools, so I feel ready to start to work on that project as well. 
I’ll keep you guys updated.


----------



## Chascomm

With so much exciting material to discuss, might I suggest separate threads for each project?


----------



## Davidcs

Hi Chascomm,

Yeah, I guess your right, this thread is getting a bit messy! Sorry about that!

I’ll definitely start a new one for my Tourbillon project, I guess another one just for the concepts and I'll continue this one with its original content.


----------



## wg84

I agree with Chascomm, your projects are simply awesome, but too much staff is going on in this thread!

By the way, do you plan to make a complete tourbillon movement from scratch? That’s quite a challenge!! Perhaps you should start a blog, or do a daily/weekly update here. 
I’m sure people would be interested to see the process. (at least I would)

Keep up the good work.


----------



## wg84

I agree with Chascomm, your projects are simply awesome, but too much staff is going on in this thread!

By the way, do you plan to make a complete tourbillon movement from scratch? That’s quite a challenge!! Perhaps you should start a blog, or do a daily/weekly update here. 
I’m sure people would be interested to see the process. (at least I would)

Keep up the good work.


----------



## freshprince357

Looks amazing mate! I like how the dial pattern radiates out and it looks so clean and professional! Well done


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## Vintage is Better

Love this watch, the dial, watch box and buckle are all incredible. Only thing I would change is the hands so they are thinner (but many people have commented on that).

Great work!


----------



## Questing

Awesome, really playing with what a watch means in your designs!


----------



## All in the timing.

Good ole British ingenuity and craftmanship at it's finest. Proceed Mr Lowinger. Top marks.


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## MarcWinNJ

I love it and would buy it. Well done!!



Davidcs said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> First of all thank you for you kind words, I'm really glad that you like the watch.
> 
> BambiBoom, thank you for you comment, I like you ideas especially the modified hands you mentioned. I also felt like the minute hand was a bit short so I'm already working on a longer version, and I think once I'm done with that I'll shorten the other two as well.
> You asked about the case, well... since the case I'm manufacturing is not yet completed (due to machinery problems) the one you see on the pictures is a case that I bought from a friend. It is made of 316L stainless steel, and originally it had mineral glass on both sides, but I replace them with Shappire.
> You and "Somewhere else" also asked about the dial.
> The dial on the pictures is made from brass (CZ108), but in other version I used bronze (PB102) as well, both are pretty rigid yet easy to machine, so both are ideal material for a dial.
> I made it using a small mill machine with a rotary table. First the holes are drilled at the hour,minue and second positions. Then the 60 lines are engraved into the metal. Once the engraving is done the subdials are milled. Because I had to modify the movement, (in order to create the regulator system) this new movement is thicker than the factory version by roughly 0.2mm. This is why once the top of the dial is drilled, milled and engraved, it needs to be flipped to its other side and milled once again to create the necessary space for the extra wheels. When the machining is done, I drill two more holes to install the dial feet and that is all.  After all this, it only needs to be cleaned, painted, varnished and finally adding all the text.
> 
> Engraving in process.
> 
> View attachment 4567834
> 
> 
> This is the brass version. This is how it looks when I took it out from the machine. It needs to be cleaned and everything of course.
> 
> View attachment 4567778
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David


----------



## Davidcs

Hi guys,

Thanks again, I appreciate your support! I’m happy to say that I moved into my new workshop, I’ve received most of my equipment, 
only thing I’m waiting for is my mill to arrive from the UK. Once I have that, I’ll be ready. 

MarcWiNJ: Thanks, I’m glad you like the watch! I’ll let you know once it becomes available for purchase! ;-)

wg84: no, I’m not going to make the entire movement from scratch. (It would be way too big of a challenge at the moment) 
My Tourbillon is based on an ETA-6497 which is an ideal movement because of its size and layout. Also because I can modify and re-use some of its original components, 
to make my life a bit easier. Still, I’ll have to make roughly 40 new components from scratch, so it is a pretty big task, but I think it’s doable!

About documenting the process, well….

Maybe I’ll start a blog about it, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll definitely start a new thread here.


----------



## semtex

It looks amazing!


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## way1

Fine work and a very easily read dial, wonder how you pulled this off. Congrats


----------



## Sevenmack

Davidcs said:


> View attachment 4558338
> 
> 
> View attachment 4558330
> 
> 
> View attachment 4558362
> 
> 
> View attachment 4578434
> 
> 
> View attachment 4560138


Absolutely beautiful, David! Love it.


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## zuesmajor

Awesome watch. Not a fan of the hands but quite impressive regardless


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## Professional

Really good watch, congratulation for the hard work ! Very good inspired from the regulator watches, maybe if you make the minute hand much larger to ocuppy 2/3 from the diamater of the dial will be better i think. I see it on the actual design too short.


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## BerutoSenpai

That's one beautiful watch produced out of hard work. keep it up! Your dial is a selling point for me.


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## andrea__81

Hi David,
Just discovered this thread today and I have read all of it. It was a hell of a ride reading your progresses, in so little time you seemed to move from a talented guy making his own watch straight to AL&S territory.
My suggestion to you would be to consider a watch based on the "dragon" mechanism but with a more minimal aesthetic, in the spirit of your earlier work. I think that something like two blue-on- white progress bars on a nicely engraved white dial (possibly with a power reserve and a date window) would look really cool. Keep up with the great work!


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## Drksaint

Beautiful watch and design. Thank you for sharing with us.


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## agrgt_Design21

very cool design. Unique, and appreciate the attention to detail.


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## Proteine

Seriously, man! Great craftmanship! Would love to be able to do something like that myself. I'm more pen & paper kind of guy. Let's say you would sell one of these, what would be the price you'd ask?


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your kind comments, I appreciate it! I'm glad to say that my mill have arrived from the UK, so finally I'm back in the workshop! 
I decided to start by making a watch case for my regulator piece. On the renders below you can see the revised version of the regulator with its new case! (I'm thinking of making a black version as well) 
The case measures 44mm in diameter and 10.5mm in height. I'm making it from 304 Stainless Steel (for now) and the plan is to fit an AR coated Sapphire crystal on the front, and an uncoated Sapphire on the back. 
Please let me know what you think of it.

Andrea__81: Thank you for your comment and suggestion, I really appreciate it. I like the idea you suggested, already started to brainstorm on a new concept based on what you mentioned.  
I have a rectangle shape case design, I think what you suggested might look nice in such case. I'll share renders once I come up with something good!

Proteine: Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you like the watch. If you are good with a pen & paper you should design watches, it's a lot of fun. (For me at least) 
By the way, I would love to be able to design on paper, but sadly I'm terrible at that.

You asked about the price of my regulator, well&#8230; I don't know the selling price yet. I need to take into account lots of things before I can figure it out, 
but I can tell you that it takes me roughly 120 hours (without the watch case) to make one from start to finish, so it is definitely not going to be pennies.


----------



## Chronocase

Quite an interesting design but the problem with designs that break away from the traditional may look good for a while but often something a bit too wacky will become tiresome. I think the real challenge is to design a watch that is strong enough to show distinctive character but be wearable for the long term and eventually become a classic. Look at classic designs and they are surprisingly simple but distinctive.
I believe the golden age of watch design was in the 20s and 30s then gradually went downhill until the 80s. Many exceptions of course within that time.
It amazes me to see some very way out designs that are very high end and expensive, but I'm sure they'll never turn into classics and I'm also sure owners will tire of them quicker than they imagined.Premier footballers know all about that.
As for this design, the dial lacks quality, detail and looks cheap. The hands are rather bland, the typography is unrefined. A bit too much space. At 44mm it's too large for me. The concept is a variation on the regulator design. I personally think the first Chronoswiss regulator from the 90s is a superb classic dateless design. Simple but beautifully proportioned and detailed.


----------



## wg84

Completely disagree with Chronocase, I think the new design looks great. The typography and the new case gives it a more modern look compare to your original watch. If you can successfully manufacture the case, you’ll have a truly one of a kind piece. I get what Chronocase means about an original and distinctive design but I think this is exactly that! The minimalist style with the engraved lines makes it unique and the fact that you actually made a working prototype makes it even more impressive. I’m experimenting with watch designs myself and I know how not easy that is, but to be able to make it yourself is really hard. 
How long do you think it will take you to make the case?

btw, I see tons of new designs online that to me look exactly the same. It seems like nowadays everybody wants to start a micro watch brand but most people don’t want to put much effort to it. 
People tend to design an average dial, a case maybe, find a cheap movement then a Chinese manufacturer puts it together and that’s it. I like your work because you don’t follow the herd. I appreciate hard work and hand crafting, not many people have the skills to make their own watches. Keep up the great work!


----------



## omeglycine

Hi David - any updates on these 2 concepts? Apologies if I missed any recent updates.



















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Davidcs

Hi omeglycien,

Sorry, but I’m afraid there are no updates for these two... Sadly both are just concept designs at the moment. I’m trying to finish my other almost completed watches before I can start to work on these ones. 
Problem is that both of these pieces require brand new "in-house" movements, which are quite difficult to produce, especially alone, by hand. 
I’m hoping though that once my current projects are completed I can start to work on at least one new watch.


----------



## ddkhalaji

David, 

Nice work on this great feat. Really well done hand made components. The movement in the first pictures look like Seagull 6498 clone though?


----------



## Calasan

Any updates over the last 6 months? Hopefully your designs are moving forward nicely.


----------



## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your kind words and support. Sorry for being away for so long&#8230;

I'm happy to say that while I was away I managed to develop my first in-house made timepiece that will be available for purchase!
I call this piece Starlight, and what you see on the pictures is the first working prototype! 
This watch incorporates my in-house made movement, case, crown, dial, hands, buckle and soon to be completed leather strap!  
I'd like to point out that the watch is currently at its testing phase, so none of the components received their final decorations yet!

About the watch:

The movement is completely hand-made and it is based on an ETA 6498-2. The mainplate, all of the bridges, click and click spring, cannon pinion, 
hour wheel and a number of other components are all hand-made. The mainplate, three quarter and balance bridges are made of German silver, while the pallet bridge is Stainless steel. 
The three quarter plate you can see on the picture isn't the final version. I'm planing on cutting it, because the finished product will have a separate bridge for the barrel and the gear train. 
(That's why there are three screws at the bottom part of the bridge. Two of the three will hold the gear train bridge) 
Due to the thickness of the dial, I had to make a new cannon pinion and hour wheel as well both from Stainless steel. 
The hands are also my design, I manufacture them using 0.40mm thick stainless steel.

The case, crown, buckle are all hand-made using (V2A) Stainless steel. (The commercial version will be made of 316 Stainless steel) 
The case measures 43mm in diameter and 9.50mm in height, and it takes a 20mm wide strap. The crystal on both front and back are Sapphire. 
(Currently no AR coating on either of them, but the finished product will have on the front crystal) The case is made of three parts, the top one is friction fitted to the center part, 
while the case back is held in position by six stainless steel screws. Both the top and case back are a bit oversized on purpose to give the case more depth. 
(This is not final, I might change that)

The dial is hand-made of stress release brass, while the name plate and chapter ring are stainless steel. For this prototype piece I painted the dial black, 
but the finished product will have a decorative black DLC coating. The design of the dial is similar to the one I used in my very first watch, except that this one has an added chapter ring. 
The dial has sixty engraved lines to represent one minute on the dial, while the chapter ring has sixty drilled holes (0.30mm and 0.50mm) to give the dial more of a three dimensional appearance 
and make time reading easier. The letters on the name plate are 0.90mm!! in height and are engraved using a manual mill and a diamond tool bit. (As I noticed yesterday the depth of the engraving is not equal for each letter so I'll need to re do the whole thing, but at least you can still see how it's going to look)

By the way, sorry for the bad quality pictures but I took them in a hurry with my phone. I'll try to take better ones in the near future, 
especially after I decorated the movement. In the meantime please let me know what you think of this piece.

Cheers,

David


----------



## dustpilot

Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thank you all for your kind words and support. Sorry for being away for so long&#8230;
> 
> I'm happy to say that while I was away I managed to develop my first in-house made timepiece that will be available for purchase!
> I call this piece Starlight, and what you see on the pictures is the first working prototype!
> This watch incorporates my in-house made movement, case, crown, dial, hands, buckle and soon to be completed leather strap!
> I'd like to point out that the watch is currently at its testing phase, so none of the components received their final decorations yet!
> 
> About the watch:
> 
> The movement is completely hand-made and it is based on an ETA 6498-2. The mainplate, all of the bridges, click and click spring, cannon pinion,
> hour wheel and a number of other components are all hand-made. The mainplate, three quarter and balance bridges are made of German silver, while the pallet bridge is Stainless steel.
> The three quarter plate you can see on the picture isn't the final version. I'm planing on cutting it, because the finished product will have a separate bridge for the barrel and the gear train.
> (That's why there are three screws at the bottom part of the bridge. Two of the three will hold the gear train bridge)
> Due to the thickness of the dial, I had to make a new cannon pinion and hour wheel as well both from Stainless steel.
> The hands are also my design, I manufacture them using 0.40mm thick stainless steel.
> 
> The case, crown, buckle are all hand-made using (V2A) Stainless steel. (The commercial version will be made of 316 Stainless steel)
> The case measures 43mm in diameter and 9.50mm in height, and it takes a 20mm wide strap. The crystal on both front and back are Sapphire.
> (Currently no AR coating on either of them, but the finished product will have on the front crystal) The case is made of three parts, the top one is friction fitted to the center part,
> while the case back is held in position by six stainless steel screws. Both the top and case back are a bit oversized on purpose to give the case more depth.
> (This is not final, I might change that)
> 
> The dial is hand-made of stress release brass, while the name plate and chapter ring are stainless steel. For this prototype piece I painted the dial black,
> but the finished product will have a decorative black DLC coating. The design of the dial is similar to the one I used in my very first watch, except that this one has an added chapter ring.
> The dial has sixty engraved lines to represent one minute on the dial, while the chapter ring has sixty drilled holes (0.30mm and 0.50mm) to give the dial more of a three dimensional appearance
> and make time reading easier. The letters on the name plate are 0.90mm!! in height and are engraved using a manual mill and a diamond tool bit. (As I noticed yesterday the depth of the engraving is not equal for each letter so I'll need to re do the whole thing, but at least you can still see how it's going to look)
> 
> By the way, sorry for the bad quality pictures but I took them in a hurry with my phone. I'll try to take better ones in the near future,
> especially after I decorated the movement. In the meantime please let me know what you think of this piece.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David
> 
> View attachment 12673365
> 
> View attachment 12673361
> 
> View attachment 12673359
> 
> View attachment 12675091


I am very impressed. You have done a lot of excellent work there, and the watch is awesome!


----------



## andrea__81

It has a charm of its own, half elegant, half "industrial". I wish you the best for your watch business.


----------



## Jeff Scott

That looks superb, David! The dial details are quite something. The only thing I would change is to make the logo plate much smaller, or tone it down some, as it detracts from the rest of that awesome concept and design.


----------



## Leopal

Seems a bit too much for your wrist, but I like to work. :-!



Davidcs said:


> View attachment 8833586


Impressive, you can go into business.


----------



## Hammer99

First, This is my first post in the forum and I'm really impressed by the knowledge share within the forum, very informative and lots of people kind enough to teach what they do. 

Reading this post I found an skilled engenieer, and inventor, and artist and really a true genious. 

Wow, some people are great designers, some are great metal transformers, some are great watch movement mechanics, but you are all of them together. 

Wish you the best future with your creations!!!


----------



## RichardVal

Huge fan of the dial and of your craftmanship in general! The case seems a bit bulky to me though. Do you have a website for your brand as well? Couldn't find it while googling, but curious to have a look!



Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thank you all for your kind words and support. Sorry for being away for so long&#8230;
> 
> I'm happy to say that while I was away I managed to develop my first in-house made timepiece that will be available for purchase!
> I call this piece Starlight, and what you see on the pictures is the first working prototype!
> This watch incorporates my in-house made movement, case, crown, dial, hands, buckle and soon to be completed leather strap!
> I'd like to point out that the watch is currently at its testing phase, so none of the components received their final decorations yet!
> 
> About the watch:
> 
> The movement is completely hand-made and it is based on an ETA 6498-2. The mainplate, all of the bridges, click and click spring, cannon pinion,
> hour wheel and a number of other components are all hand-made. The mainplate, three quarter and balance bridges are made of German silver, while the pallet bridge is Stainless steel.
> The three quarter plate you can see on the picture isn't the final version. I'm planing on cutting it, because the finished product will have a separate bridge for the barrel and the gear train.
> (That's why there are three screws at the bottom part of the bridge. Two of the three will hold the gear train bridge)
> Due to the thickness of the dial, I had to make a new cannon pinion and hour wheel as well both from Stainless steel.
> The hands are also my design, I manufacture them using 0.40mm thick stainless steel.
> 
> The case, crown, buckle are all hand-made using (V2A) Stainless steel. (The commercial version will be made of 316 Stainless steel)
> The case measures 43mm in diameter and 9.50mm in height, and it takes a 20mm wide strap. The crystal on both front and back are Sapphire.
> (Currently no AR coating on either of them, but the finished product will have on the front crystal) The case is made of three parts, the top one is friction fitted to the center part,
> while the case back is held in position by six stainless steel screws. Both the top and case back are a bit oversized on purpose to give the case more depth.
> (This is not final, I might change that)
> 
> The dial is hand-made of stress release brass, while the name plate and chapter ring are stainless steel. For this prototype piece I painted the dial black,
> but the finished product will have a decorative black DLC coating. The design of the dial is similar to the one I used in my very first watch, except that this one has an added chapter ring.
> The dial has sixty engraved lines to represent one minute on the dial, while the chapter ring has sixty drilled holes (0.30mm and 0.50mm) to give the dial more of a three dimensional appearance
> and make time reading easier. The letters on the name plate are 0.90mm!! in height and are engraved using a manual mill and a diamond tool bit. (As I noticed yesterday the depth of the engraving is not equal for each letter so I'll need to re do the whole thing, but at least you can still see how it's going to look)
> 
> By the way, sorry for the bad quality pictures but I took them in a hurry with my phone. I'll try to take better ones in the near future,
> especially after I decorated the movement. In the meantime please let me know what you think of this piece.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David
> 
> View attachment 12673365
> 
> View attachment 12673361
> 
> View attachment 12673359
> 
> View attachment 12675091


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Thank you all very much for your support and kind words, I really appreciate them. 
Sorry for not being very active…. 
The watch is coming together nicely, hopefully I’ll have some decent pictures of the finished product by next week. I will post them as soon as I can.

RichardVal: Sorry but my website isn't online yet, if you are interested in my work though you can check out my Instagram page. You can find me under david_lowinger.


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## 24h

What is your bluing process? I'd love to see some pictures or a video.
I find it fascinating!


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## RichardVal

Cool, I am following! Loving the tourbillion as well, absolutely stunning render! What software did you use for that? Did you make that as a standalone one or have you incorporated it into a watch model as well?



Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thank you all very much for your support and kind words, I really appreciate them.
> Sorry for not being very active&#8230;.
> The watch is coming together nicely, hopefully I'll have some decent pictures of the finished product by next week. I will post them as soon as I can.
> 
> RichardVal: Sorry but my website isn't online yet, if you are interested in my work though you can check out my Instagram page. You can find me under david_lowinger.


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## Davidcs

Hi Richard,

That 3 axis tourbillon is a redesigned version of the one I posted here last year. It's based on the tourbillon developed by Bexei for his Primus watch. 
First it was a standalone project just to understand the mechanics behind it, and also to be able to calculate dimensions, gear rations and such. The current version is accurate and seems to be functioning (at least in CAD)
so I've incorporated it into a watch design as well. (Actually two watches) I like designing a lot, so I'm constantly learning new things and working on new ideas.
By the way, the render is made using Keyshot.


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## RichardVal

Thanks! Are those two watches still something you are working on right now or do you have images of those as well?

I like watch designing as well, but am nowhere near your level. Using Fusion360 myself, but apart from the designs being basic, the renderings are also not that great, hence my question.



Davidcs said:


> Hi Richard,
> 
> That 3 axis tourbillon is a redesigned version of the one I posted here last year. It's based on the tourbillon developed by Bexei for his Primus watch.
> First it was a standalone project just to understand the mechanics behind it, and also to be able to calculate dimensions, gear rations and such. The current version is accurate and seems to be functioning (at least in CAD)
> so I've incorporated it into a watch design as well. (Actually two watches) I like designing a lot, so I'm constantly learning new things and working on new ideas.
> By the way, the render is made using Keyshot.


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

Really sorry for not being more active but I've been working hard on finishing my prototype hand-made watch. Here is a quick update on the progress I made.

It is still not 100%, but it's far more refined than it was before.









The 3/4 plate was hand cut, in order to have a separate barrel and train bridge. The bridges received a circular finish and a very slight anglage,while all the stainless steel parts were mirror polished. Each screw was also refinished and mirror polished.
It's hard to see on the picture because of the lighting but the ratchet wheel has been snailed while the main plate received it's perlage. In the next couple of day I'll start making a proper hand-made leather strap for this watch, once that is completed I'll try to take a couple of decent pictures so that I can show you how the finished product will look like. 

Cheers, David


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## Jeff Scott

What is the small screwed on plate with the two rectangles on it.


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## Davidcs

Hi Jeff,

That is just a small stainless steel plate with two engraved numbers, since this is my prototype movement those numbers are intended to be two zeros. 
It's a bit hard to see on the picture, and they also are rectangular because I don't have a CNC or pantograph so I engraved them on my manual milling machine on which it isn't really possible to do proper zeros.


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## faizan1990

Looks great! Can’t believe it’s hand made.


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## Davidcs

Hi faizan1990,

Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. Yes, it is fully handmade. 
If you are interested to see other pictures of the watch and of the manufacturing process you can find them on my website at lowingerwatches dot com.



faizan1990 said:


> Looks great! Can't believe it's hand made.


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## nello

Beautiful work. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ewtobi

Dear David,

Love your style. Both modern and nostalgic at the same time. Reading this tread I frequently read that you would need a cnc machine. Perhaps a kickstarter is in order to launch you as an independent watch maker?

Best

Verstuurd vanaf mijn LG-D855 met Tapatalk


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## ewtobi

And damn...I like your buckle design. A lot!
Seriously, you should start selling them. Lots of strap maniacs at WUS...

Verstuurd vanaf mijn LG-D855 met Tapatalk


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## guspech750

Davidcs said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thank you all for your kind words and support. Sorry for being away for so long&#8230;
> 
> I'm happy to say that while I was away I managed to develop my first in-house made timepiece that will be available for purchase!
> I call this piece Starlight, and what you see on the pictures is the first working prototype!
> This watch incorporates my in-house made movement, case, crown, dial, hands, buckle and soon to be completed leather strap!
> I'd like to point out that the watch is currently at its testing phase, so none of the components received their final decorations yet!
> 
> About the watch:
> 
> The movement is completely hand-made and it is based on an ETA 6498-2. The mainplate, all of the bridges, click and click spring, cannon pinion,
> hour wheel and a number of other components are all hand-made. The mainplate, three quarter and balance bridges are made of German silver, while the pallet bridge is Stainless steel.
> The three quarter plate you can see on the picture isn't the final version. I'm planing on cutting it, because the finished product will have a separate bridge for the barrel and the gear train.
> (That's why there are three screws at the bottom part of the bridge. Two of the three will hold the gear train bridge)
> Due to the thickness of the dial, I had to make a new cannon pinion and hour wheel as well both from Stainless steel.
> The hands are also my design, I manufacture them using 0.40mm thick stainless steel.
> 
> The case, crown, buckle are all hand-made using (V2A) Stainless steel. (The commercial version will be made of 316 Stainless steel)
> The case measures 43mm in diameter and 9.50mm in height, and it takes a 20mm wide strap. The crystal on both front and back are Sapphire.
> (Currently no AR coating on either of them, but the finished product will have on the front crystal) The case is made of three parts, the top one is friction fitted to the center part,
> while the case back is held in position by six stainless steel screws. Both the top and case back are a bit oversized on purpose to give the case more depth.
> (This is not final, I might change that)
> 
> The dial is hand-made of stress release brass, while the name plate and chapter ring are stainless steel. For this prototype piece I painted the dial black,
> but the finished product will have a decorative black DLC coating. The design of the dial is similar to the one I used in my very first watch, except that this one has an added chapter ring.
> The dial has sixty engraved lines to represent one minute on the dial, while the chapter ring has sixty drilled holes (0.30mm and 0.50mm) to give the dial more of a three dimensional appearance
> and make time reading easier. The letters on the name plate are 0.90mm!! in height and are engraved using a manual mill and a diamond tool bit. (As I noticed yesterday the depth of the engraving is not equal for each letter so I'll need to re do the whole thing, but at least you can still see how it's going to look)
> 
> By the way, sorry for the bad quality pictures but I took them in a hurry with my phone. I'll try to take better ones in the near future,
> especially after I decorated the movement. In the meantime please let me know what you think of this piece.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> David
> 
> View attachment 12673365
> 
> View attachment 12673361
> 
> View attachment 12673359
> 
> View attachment 12675091


Absolutely stunning! What else can I say!!

Sent from the White House on the tax payers dime.


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## pascal_cl

Looks good,maybe some other hands ?


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## Davidcs

guspech750 said:


> Absolutely stunning! What else can I say!!
> 
> Sent from the White House on the tax payers dime.


Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it.
Here is a quick wristshot if you are interested!


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## guspech750

Davidcs said:


> Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it.
> Here is a quick wristshot if you are interested!
> 
> View attachment 12937809


That is F**king AWESOME!!

To me it has an Art Deco and slight industrial look. Love it!!

Sent from the White House on the tax payers dime.


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## De Wolfe

Ver impressive, its different than what you would see manufacturers offer.

Not sure why you went with 44mm case, maybe restrictions or preference, but would look even better in a 39-41mm case.

I like it over all. keep up the great work


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## Davidcs

De Wolfe said:


> Ver impressive, its different than what you would see manufacturers offer.
> 
> Not sure why you went with 44mm case, maybe restrictions or preference, but would look even better in a 39-41mm case.
> 
> I like it over all. keep up the great work


Thank you very much, really glad you like it. Yes, that was the idea, I wanted to be able to offer something different.

Regarding the case size, if you're talking about the watch on the picture below it's actually 43mm in diameter. I'm thinking about making a version that is a bit smaller in diameter, 
42mm or maybe 41mm but my in-house movement is rather large so I can't go too small because the case must have a healthy wall thickness.


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## Tonystix

Your watch is pretty cool.


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## Davidcs

Tonystix said:


> Your watch is pretty cool.


Thank you, I appreciate it.
Here a two more shots of the watch if your are interested.


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## Davidcs

Hi everyone,

If you are interested here is a short video of my handmade movement. It's still under development, I'm still trying to improve the quality of the finishing, but you can see how it looks at the moment. 
Sorry for the bad pictures quality and for the yellowish colors but I didn't notice it when I took the video. (Guess the lighting condition was quite bad)


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## WatchEnthusiast

Absolutely beautiful!


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## Davidcs

WatchEnthusiast said:


> Absolutely beautiful!


Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it.


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## golfboy

Lovely design. But I can't help but notice the hands on the subdials are longer than the chapter rings, and vice-versa for the main hand. I can only assume this was intentional, but to me the design looks awkward and would benefit from the hands fitting each dial diameter better.


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## LabiVila

I always wanted to do something like that, it looks awesome! I am looking forward to your future watches


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## Davidcs

LabiVila said:


> I always wanted to do something like that, it looks awesome! I am looking forward to your future watches


Thank you very much, glad you like my work. If you are interested I made a new dial version. 
It's very simple design, but I think it turned out rather nicely. Plain black base with a stainless steel chapter ring. The recesses on the chapter ring are filled with black paint to add a bit more contrast.


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## faizan1990

Very simple. Nice


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## Jeff Scott

That looks really nice, David. I still like to see the gear in the middle, that added a nice mechanical touch to the dial.


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## dustpilot

Davidcs said:


> Thank you very much, glad you like my work. If you are interested I made a new dial version.
> It's very simple design, but I think it turned out rather nicely. Plain black base with a stainless steel chapter ring. The recesses on the chapter ring are filled with black paint to add a bit more contrast.


This looks very nice. Very nice. 
My only suggestion would be to paint the tip of the minute hand black, or add something that contrasts with the silver of the minute index, for better legibility. 
The dial is lovely. 
Both hands are a good length and shape, and the hour hand is beautifully legible against the black circle in the center of the dial. It is only tip of the minute hand gets washed out with the silver on silver color scheme.
That's my only critique on an otherwise awesome design. 
Great work!
Please keep at it.


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## Davidcs

dustpilot said:


> This looks very nice. Very nice.
> My only suggestion would be to paint the tip of the minute hand black, or add something that contrasts with the silver of the minute index, for better legibility.
> The dial is lovely.
> Both hands are a good length and shape, and the hour hand is beautifully legible against the black circle in the center of the dial. It is only tip of the minute hand gets washed out with the silver on silver color scheme.
> That's my only critique on an otherwise awesome design.
> Great work!
> Please keep at it.


Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. The dial is still a work in progress so maybe I'll change a couple of things here and there.
By the way, if you are interested here is a new pictures of how the watch looks like at the moment with the new dial.


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## Brey17

Davidcs said:


> Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. The dial is still a work in progress so maybe I'll change a couple of things here and there.
> By the way, if you are interested here is a new pictures of how the watch looks like at the moment with the new dial.


This reminds me of an Omega Dynamic. I thinks it's attractive.


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## Davidcs

Brey17 said:


> This reminds me of an Omega Dynamic. I thinks it's attractive.


Thank you. I'm glad you like it.
If you are interested here is a new picture of the watch.


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## kennkez

Looks simple, but yet so refined.


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## wingwoman

Wow! First time to stumble upon this thread, great work and really love the first watch you came out with.


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## GMT_Bezel

really cool, David. a really unique design IMO


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## alex79

Fabulous work David!
Suscribed now and really looking forward to the build up of your work =) 

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk


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## 0seeker0

Things crafted by hand always catch my attention, I have to say you have a talent. I’m impressed!


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## Tifoso

The artistry and workmanship are absolutely amazing. I wish I had the means to purchase one!


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## danielmewes

I'm not sure how I feel about the short minute hand, and the fact that the hour and second hands do not (as far as I can tell from your pictures) align with any of the circles on the dial length-wise, but that minor nit pick aside: This is a stunning watch, absolutely beautiful! Fantastic job David!


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## jcc5024

Great job

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


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## amg786

Absolutely stunning from the watch to the packaging.
Some regulators are hard to decipher with a lot of clutter in the form of stylised numerals/Arabic's etc. But yours works.
Hard to believe this came out of Manchester

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## dron_jones

keep up the good work!


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