First mod build: kicking up the lume

My watch parts came in yesterday, and I was able to wrap up my second round of my bronze Van Gogh diver. My main tasks were

1. Replace the too-small lume-less hands

2. Change the date ring

3. Attach the final watch stem.

Replacing the hands: The first set of hands I ordered turned out to be aesthetically too small, and lume was nominal. My replacement hands turned out to be too big despite being for an NH35. The case I had chosen has a sort of built in chapter ring slope that shortens the diameter. I found this out when I assembled and the second and minute hand didn’t clear. It was easy to snip off a millimeter on the second hand. I ground off the extra pointy tip on the minute hand with a dremel. The surgery was a success and evidence can only be seen under strong magnification. Unfortunately, lume is still nominal. I’m going for a Seiko level of lume intensity that matches what the case and dial have. I’m not sure yet how to ensure that hands ordered have good lume or nominal lume.

Date Ring modification:

Initially I had ordered an NH35 with a black date since. I thought black would go better match with a Starry Night dial, though when I had put it together, white seemed to be a better choice. Rather than order a plane white ring, I ordered a lume white ring…. Not because I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what the date is, but rather because the date window would match the lumed pips and glowing star motif. Replacing the date ring requires removal of four screws and keeping track of a floating engagement gear. Learning this did require a quick trip to University of Youtube. Prying it out which was my first guess, was incorrect. Unfortunately, the lume ring turned out to be a nominal level of lume, i.e. shines fine for a few minutes after UV pen is on it, but good luck an hour later.

Watch stem:

I thought I forgot to order a watch stem in the first round. As it turns out, the movement shipment did come with an extra watch stem… it was just stuck to the bottom of the padded packing material. No problem cutting the watch stem. I used a dremel cut off wheel, and then the stem just screwed into the supplied crown. I decided to use thread lock to keep it attached. Will see if that is strong enough or whether I’ll have to switch to super glue.

Seasoned watch modders may already know this, but this was a eureka moment for me…. rodico putty isn’t just for cleaning a watch. It’s excellent for holding things, and in come cases preferred. It seemed perfect for holding the second hand in place while I pushed it on. It might be better sometimes for picking up tiny internal screws, since tweezer can send things flying if they slip. It can also be used to nudge stuff without fingerprints or putting on a circulation cutting finger cott.

Only timed it for a day, but seems like this NH35 comes regulated from factory. It’s seems to be tracking around 3 spd.

As soon as I can find a way to ensure good lume hands, I’lll replace the hands again. I did see I can buy a 3 gram bottle of SuperLuminova C3 (strontium aluminate) for a hundred bucks. I’m not sure I’ll go that route yet.