Vintage Dive Watch Homage Build - Part 1: The Idea

epochalanalogs

Happy Friday Crunchers! I previously posted about my idea to mod the hands on an ETA Tudor Black Bay to make an homage to my grail watches: the Rolex Submariner ref 6538 and the Tudor Black Bay One Only. Apparently, the idea wasn't so crazy with almost 65% of you voting do it! Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to buy an ETA BB, let alone mod it anytime soon. So how do I scratch this itch? By building my own homage of course!

I've really only just started my watch collection with the first official purchase also being the first foray into modding: an Orient Bambino gen2 ver2 swapped into a rose gold case. Am I ready to dive into designing, sourcing, and assembling a whole watch from scratch or will this all end in failure? We'll find out soon enough.

Step one, identifying the requirements for for an Epochal Analogs vintage diver homage:

Case

  • Submariner style, as thin as possible, no crown guards

  • ~38mm diameter, ≤48mm lug to lug, 20mm lug width

  • ~8mm crown with coin edge

  • SKX007 or SKX013 compatible (to make parts shopping easier)

Movement

  • NH35 if going with date window

  • NH38 if going without

Hands

  • Rose gold / gold

  • Pencil style hour and minute

  • Lollipop style second

Dial

  • Black Submariner style

  • Applied indices

  • Gilted minute track

  • Gilted Epochal Logo at 12 o'clock

  • Gilted / red information at 6 o'clock

  • Rose gold / gold coloring for indices and gilting

Bezel

  • Coin edge with black insert

  • Red triangle with applied lume pip

  • 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 minute numerals

  • 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 minute dividers

And then there's still some things to sort out. Namely:

  • White or rose/gold second hand?

  • White or vintage/cream colored lume?

  • What should be written at 6 o'clock on the dial?

  • ✔With or without a date window? Without (see Part 2)

  • Silver or rose/gold bezel markers?

  • With or without 15 minute markers on the bezel?

These specs will surely evolve as the design work starts and I begin searching for parts. If you've made it this far, what are your thoughts? Is there anything missing or do you have any tips as I start this journey?

UP NEXT: Part 2: The Dial

#homage #modding #grail #diver #epochalanalogs
Reply
McBeardy
·

Check out true_patina on Instagram he modded his BB54 to have Mercedes hands, big crown and drilled the lugs. It does look good. Think also a video on YouTube.

Confused as BB58 has the in-house Kenniss movement and not ETA.

I know there’s plenty of microbrands that do similar ad Seiko mods

epochalanalogs
·
McBeardy

Check out true_patina on Instagram he modded his BB54 to have Mercedes hands, big crown and drilled the lugs. It does look good. Think also a video on YouTube.

Confused as BB58 has the in-house Kenniss movement and not ETA.

I know there’s plenty of microbrands that do similar ad Seiko mods

Sorry for the confusion, it's been a long week. I'm just so used to writing 58 after Black Bay! I've updated the post.

From a Bulang & Sons listing for a ref 79220N:

The Black Bay is one of the most successful modern watch lines and has been something of a phenomenon with both new and vintage collectors. The Black Bay Black was introduced in late 2014 but was made with an ETA movement for only a few weeks before being replaced by the in-house movement version.

This makes it one of the rarest modern Tudors and a sure-fire future collectible !

angleechew
·

#vintage #divewatch love it so much. I have a Tudor dive collection also