My First Mod is on the way!!
I bought these watch parts from aliexpress a week ago. I am eager to start building!
The dial has a nice texture. As it was a rock. I like it. But no lumen. Sometimes you get little surprises when buying from aliexpress. At least now I know. Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn.
The rotor was also a bad new. It is just a stiker 😞. Another lesson for the next mod.
The hands look quite good. Inspired by the Hamilton from Interstellar.
The case isn’t bad. A bit small. It’s 36 mm, which normally works fine in my wrist, but the broad “vessel” make the watch feel smaller.
NH35 seiko movement (or a Chinese copy of it). Still to test it’s accuracy.
No strap yet. I don’t trust Aliexpress straps. I haven’t found any good one yet. (Send me. A link if you know any). Not sure about the color. Suggestions?
What are your thoughts? Does it have potential?
Also. What do you think about MOD in general? I heard it’s a bit controversial. There are people making 60-100$ per watch with fake Seiko Dials, “homaging” famous watches and using NH35 movements
Maikes, Hemsut and Bisonstrap make decent full grain leather straps for 15€-25€ on AliExpress. Those would be my recommendations on the cheaper end. However, they are mostly "standard" sizes aka 190mm-200mm so likely a bit too long if you have a slender wrist (I assume you do if you like 36mm cases).
StrapsCo makes lower grade straps also sourced from China but available in short sizes, 160mm-170mm-180mm, better suited for small wrists. They are only 15€-17€ before shipping but the leather is your average genuine leather so not great, but better than having 4cm of overhang on your strap flopping around.
For premium handcrafted bespoke straps in top-grain leather sourced from renowned tanneries (Horween, Badalassi, Pueblo, Buttero, Epsom) in the 50€ range, I recommend TunsLeather on Etsy. The straps are sublime and luxury-grade, without the absurd markup of brands like Delugs selling similar straps made in Asia at 2-3 times the price of artisans because of greed and marketing to buy influencers. 🤑
Maikes, Hemsut and Bisonstrap make decent full grain leather straps for 15€-25€ on AliExpress. Those would be my recommendations on the cheaper end. However, they are mostly "standard" sizes aka 190mm-200mm so likely a bit too long if you have a slender wrist (I assume you do if you like 36mm cases).
StrapsCo makes lower grade straps also sourced from China but available in short sizes, 160mm-170mm-180mm, better suited for small wrists. They are only 15€-17€ before shipping but the leather is your average genuine leather so not great, but better than having 4cm of overhang on your strap flopping around.
For premium handcrafted bespoke straps in top-grain leather sourced from renowned tanneries (Horween, Badalassi, Pueblo, Buttero, Epsom) in the 50€ range, I recommend TunsLeather on Etsy. The straps are sublime and luxury-grade, without the absurd markup of brands like Delugs selling similar straps made in Asia at 2-3 times the price of artisans because of greed and marketing to buy influencers. 🤑
Thanks! I will take a look for sure!