First Watch (and Mod) - Orient Bambino Case Swap
I've recently gotten into watches because of my side hustle, making homage watch faces for Fitbit and Android devices (check me out on Facebook). After about a year of geeking out over all the different watches I was working on, I figured it was time to dip my feet into this hobby. We had a string of black tie and black tie optional weddings coming up and I needed a nice dress watch to wear with my tuxedo (gasp! I know you shouldn't wear a watch with a tux, but no one in my very very large extended family follows this rule). After going through the all the forums, reddit, blogs, and YT, I decided to purchase an Orient Bambino and set about looking for one that went with my tuxedo hardware. I narrowed it down to these three:
I knew I wanted rose gold to match my cufflinks, but the roman numerals, slim hands, and crown on the gen2 v2 just spoke to me. I found a good deal used on Amazon and a few days later I was ready to go. My wedding band is silver, so the silver case wasn't too out of place. But after wearing a few times, I kept wishing it was all rose.
Which lead to my next step down the rabbit hole into this hobby. I decided I would make an attempt to do my own modification. I reached out to Orient USA, and after some back and forth they found a spare rose case with the same style crown for $85. Sold! (I also swapped out the strap because the previous owner liked to abuse the cologne, and I wanted a more formal calfskin leather strap with rose gold buckle).
I found a cheapo pair of #3 tweezers, a caseback opening ball, and some silicon coasters that worked nicely as a case cushion, and I was off to the races:
It turns out I probably needed to get a wrench or a case holder because that caseback was screwed down tight! Luckily a quick stop by my local jeweler fixed that problem free of charge. With the back loosened I set about with the swap:
Even though this version of the Bambino doesn't have an open case back, the F9724 movement is quite lovely! On a side note, for those of you who are thinking of doing the same, but struggling to find information, to pull the stem out you need to set the crown to adjust the time. Then press the button located in this hole:
With the stem removed, I just flipped the case onto my coaster/cushion and I was ready to place the new case on top. My crappy photos just can't capture how nice that dial is:
Swapping the case took all of 5 minutes, and I think the final result is perfect!
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the stem removed from the crown (I think it has some loctite on it, and I did not want to risk breaking it). So it's back to my local jeweler to make the final swap. I'll update once I get it back, but in the meantime, what does everyone think?
UPDATED: It's back from the jeweler and I'm loving it. Check out the follow up post and first WRUW.
Making classic watch homage faces for Fitbit and Android, has inspired me to get into the actual watch hobby. Much to the chagrin of my lovely wife who does not share my enthusiasm. (it's a lot of ent...
If anyone is interested once I get my watch back I'll have the original stainless case and crown. The new case came with a crystal already installed, so the old case is fully ready for someone else as a replacement/swap. The caseback has a couple of minor scratches from my misguided attempt to unscrew it with some calipers. Shoot me a message if you're interested.
Congrats on your first try. It looks like your did well.
Congrats on your first try. It looks like your did well.
Thanks! It was a little nerve wrecking pressing the tweezers without really knowing which was the right hole for the button.
This is the best type of modification to me, just doing a parts bin special to make something that the manufacturer could/should have made themselves. Needless to say, it looks factory because it's all stock parts with no questionable decisions.
Sometimes stem releases are marked, which is nice, but they are always right in the same little area so it's hard to get too wrong. You didn't look for a Youtube video on the process?
That moment of inserting the stem and basically using it to self-align the movement to the case that final smidge is always a little nerve-wracking for me.
This is the best type of modification to me, just doing a parts bin special to make something that the manufacturer could/should have made themselves. Needless to say, it looks factory because it's all stock parts with no questionable decisions.
Sometimes stem releases are marked, which is nice, but they are always right in the same little area so it's hard to get too wrong. You didn't look for a Youtube video on the process?
That moment of inserting the stem and basically using it to self-align the movement to the case that final smidge is always a little nerve-wracking for me.
Thanks! I tried finding videos, diagrams, instructions but there is really nothing for the F9742 movement out there. It's surprising, because this seems like the perfect dress watch for modding.