Vintage Dive Watch Homage Build - Part 5: The Case

PREVIOUSLY - Part 1: The Idea, Part 2: The Dial, Part 3: The Bezel, Part 4: The Final Mockup

With the final mockup completed, I’ve been scouring the depths of AliExpress, Ebay, WUS forums, Reddit, and the mod sites to track down parts that will work for this build. Since the movement is already decided, a good place to start will be the case. As a refresher the target specs/design:

• ~38mm diameter

• ≤48mm lug to lug

• 20mm lug width

• As thin as possible

• ~8mm crown with coin edge

• SKX007 or SKX013 parts compatible

• NH70/71/72 movement compatible

In my search, the best compromise between my target build and available parts seems to be the Namoki NMK939 Fifty-Eight Watch Case Bundle. It fits just about every single specification along with the overall design goal, but it isn’t compatible with SKX007 crystals in general:

Even with the Namoki slim caseback, the final thickness is 13.5mm because of the special top hat crystal that it comes with. If Namoki’s slim crystals were compatible it would come down to 12.6mm, but their support (which is awesome and responsive by the way) confirmed only the top hat that comes with it will work.

To round out the case, I would be getting the already mentioned Namoki slim caseback:

And Crystal Times Big Crown:

I did find a few other potential cases that are slimmer, but they have other trade-offs that put them out for this build (too big, too small, or crown guards):

Mod Mode Watches Slim Sub Case is 0.5mm thinner and is compatible with all SKX007 parts (so I believe it could be used with the Namoki slim crystals and casebacks and get closer to that magical 12mm number). However, this one comes with crown guards that would need to be removed. That would mean buying more tools and/or paying someone to modify for me which might put this build over budget. But it's 40.5mm diameter and 22mm lug width.

Weezmods SKX007 Slim Sub is similar to the Mod Mode case, but a little thicker at 9.3mm.

Lucius Atelier has an SKX0013 Submariner Watch Case that is 9mm, but it’s a little too small in diameter at 36mm and still has the dreaded crown guards.

I’m still waiting to confirm the thickness of DLW Watches SKX007 Sub Slim NCG since it isn’t listed on their site. But it is bigger at 40mm with a thicker bracelet at 22mm. It has a shorter lug to lug though, so maybe if this one is thinner it would be back into consideration.

Some forum posts have mentioned looking at a San Martin or Tiger Concepts case, but I'm worried about part compatibility and water resistance.

Does anyone have experience with the NMK939 bundle? I like the idea of not needing to worry about installing the crystal or finding a matching bracelet, but am worried about what happens if I need to replace the crystal in the future.

Any other recommendations for slimmer submariner style cases with no crown guards and a wide compatibility for parts?

UP NEXT – Part 5: The Rest of the Parts