Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[SlimKlim]

I got all my parts in on Friday and assembled my first custom watch over the weekend. The nickname of the base watch is "Sea Urchin," I'm dubbing this the "Exploring Urchin" with the addition of the dual time bezel.

Full Parts/Spec List

-Seiko SNZF17
-Clockwork Synergy Brown Vintage strap
-Archer Watch brushed stainless 22m buckle
-DLW Ceramic 12-hr "Dual Time" bezel insert
-DLW Black Trek hour & minute hands
-DLW Rose Gold lightning second hand
-Custom painted lettering on the rotor
-Removed bezel "click" ring to allow it to turn both ways silently

The starting point: 



And the end result.












Some mistakes were made, but nothing major and all of them can be chocked up to lessons learned for next time. There is a special protective tape watchmakers use to prevent scratching cases that I'm going to buy before tackling the next project. I also used way, way too much rubber cement on the bezel insert, and I need to go back into this thing and do a better job getting the underside of the crystal perfectly clean and dust free, I'd also like to do another coat of color on the lettering so it has a more even finish.

All-in-all I'm pretty thrilled with the results. The aftermarket parts really dress it up and make it feel a hell of a lot more expensive than it is. Potential future plans are upgrading to the 4R36 movement which would allow me to use this 7s36 as a guinea pig to start learning how to service & repair movements, and I might replace the crown with something that has a more coin-edge finish.

I'm already planning to build another one next month for a coworker that is going to have an aftermarket dial and potentially a bead blasted finish. If anyone is interested in doing something like this, hit me up to chat about it. This particular example cost about $300 all-in, I'd say most of these customized Seikos range from $250-400 in parts, and I can guide you through finding & ordering parts and assemble it for you for you.