Immelmann Diver Mod Thread [UPDATED - APRIL 14, 2020]

blueradish

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@Tanukjaju; asked for some build threads and I couldn’t agree more. I always love watching people update a thread with builds in real time. Nice to see the watches take shape instead of someone just posting the finished product.

I have a few build threads I will be doing but for now I’ll throw out a Mod thread.

Picked up this Immelmann diver just before Xmas. It’s one of 9 prototypes, either made of Ti of aluminum (not sure). Either way it’s nice and light. It chimes in at a grossly oversized 58mm if you measure from the widest parts, but you’d never know you’re wearing such a beast.

I bought it and I love it, but I knew I was going to have to mod this bad boy.

For those that don't want to scroll thru the process pics, here is the before and after.

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As received when I bought it...

Take note of the cool stepped minute hand to get over the elevated indices. Bezel screws are faux.

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Caseback removal…

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No idea how to get this out, I suspected the large rubber gasket was holding everything in place as there were no screws and nothing would come out. As I didn’t want to ruin the gasket I got a tool that could get right under and I pried it off. After that everything just slide out nicely.

She's being powered by a Swiss 2824

Disassembled….

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Heat blued hands with horrible reddish/pink lume - WTF!

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Dial…

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PLANS - open to suggestions…

I really want to keep the subtle, modern industrial look of the watch, but I also want to add a tiny bit of pop.

Hands - paint stonewashed grey colour w/ grey lume
Dial - text fill with bright white w/ grey lume.




[UPDATED - MARCH 1, 2020]

Ok, so I've realized this is going to be a work in progress and a test of patience. I really wanted to keep this muted and stay grey, with a bit of 'pop' coming from the white in the text and second hand. Bottom line is there are too many shades of grey trying to work together here. Dial is aircraft grade aluminum, steel grey hands, mid grey lume. The three don't match. I think I may need to go something along the lines of one of my past builds. (pic below.)

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I knew filling the text with oil pastel may be an issue. On a painted dial it's fantastic, but as expected it is causing havoc on the aluminum. Note the shiny sections around the text. I can't get close enough to remove them without affecting the text. Ah well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Rubbed the whole dial with oil pastel to blend it in. That doesn't work either.

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I painted 3 blank dials to see what would look good with the case.


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I think that puttering will continue. Really think contrasting is the way to go. @daevildog; suggested a colourway that would lean to that direction. Maybe white lume on a grey dial?

[UPDATED - APRIL 9, 2020]

Ok, decided to go with a nice diver blue for the minute and seconds with white lume. Indices are going to be white lume as well. 3 coats of lume already, one possibly two more for a nice torch glow.

Sandblasted the dial for a nice clean look, scrapped the idea of painting it. Filling the text resulted in a nice vintage look as you can see above, but ultimately I wanted a uniform looking dial and focused on the lume and hands.

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[UPDATED - APRIL 14, 2020]

Six layers of Noctilume making this guy glow like a torch.

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[UPDATED - COMPLETE JUNE 2020]

So with the lume complete all that remained was the crown. Being that this is a aluminum case painting was going to be a problem as paint doesn't really adhere to alu that well. I looked into cerakote, anodizing and some other options but none gave me the ability to choose a very specific colour. After some research I realized painting could be achieved by blasting the crown and then using special primer. BOOM! All done and complete.

Enjoy....

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Will be waiting for the changes, tanks for sharing!
 
I don't know what to tell you J...keeping it basically all grey? I know whatever you do will be great as always...I know one other member here has an Immelmann... sota0003

Good to see you posting and looking forward to following this mod.

Whitey
 
Very interested. Looking forward to watching the transformation.
Great thread. Thanks for posting.
 
Looking forward to seeing more.:dance2:Thanks for posting this up.:hat:
 
I'd say find the color lume you like best and fill in the indicies like mine. They are deep enough that you can really pack the layers in for a great glow. Same for hands but I think you will have to take the lume that is on there off so you can get a better glow and more layers. As for the Immelmann signage that may be hard to pull off with a brush and even the most steady hand. I wish mine had the name in blue lume. The good news is the laser etching is deep enough on the dial that maybe with a super fine dollmakers brush you can put some lume in there. The scary part is if it looks bad the dial will have to be re-blasted. Maybe research if there is a company close that can anodize the dial or maybe only anodize the nomenclature. I would for sure anodize the crown!!!! Maybe even a full powdercoat of the dial with a fine grain metallic finish then lume the indicies. Beware if the powdercoat changes how the dial fits back into the case. Also maybe sand the hands down to bare metal and do a full lume paint of the entire hand. Slightly different shades of the same color a la Citizen. That's my 2 cents quick off the cuff.

The case is aircraft aluminum. Here's mine....

010AF1B6-268F-4D3D-827D-8355D4586974 by Brad Sotak, on Flickr
2C673266-A690-4C81-8C7F-7BD9676C3FDB by Brad Sotak, on Flickr
 
I don't know what to tell you J...keeping it basically all grey? I know whatever you do will be great as always...I know one other member here has an Immelmann... sota0003

Good to see you posting and looking forward to following this mod.

Whitey

There will be some an element of "pop", but I don't think it will be colour. I think white may be the way to go. Stay tuned...
 
I'd say find the color lume you like best and fill in the indicies like mine. They are deep enough that you can really pack the layers in for a great glow. Same for hands but I think you will have to take the lume that is on there off so you can get a better glow and more layers. As for the Immelmann signage that may be hard to pull off with a brush and even the most steady hand. I wish mine had the name in blue lume. The good news is the laser etching is deep enough on the dial that maybe with a super fine dollmakers brush you can put some lume in there. The scary part is if it looks bad the dial will have to be re-blasted. Maybe research if there is a company close that can anodize the dial or maybe only anodize the nomenclature. I would for sure anodize the crown!!!! Maybe even a full powdercoat of the dial with a fine grain metallic finish then lume the indicies. Beware if the powdercoat changes how the dial fits back into the case. Also maybe sand the hands down to bare metal and do a full lume paint of the entire hand. Slightly different shades of the same color a la Citizen. That's my 2 cents quick off the cuff.

Great thoughts, I really like the anodized crown on yours, looks great. I'm going to spare the headaches of trying to lume the text and go with a white oil pastel to fill it in. Failing that I'll look at other options.
 
One thing I learned doing very fine painting is instead of brushing on the paint you almost work in reverse and push the paint gently into the groove if that makes any sense
 
I really think some color in the words and matching color on the hands would really pop
 
I think you are for sure on the right track. Less is more yet there's a pop of color. I think you hit the nail on the head. Now about the strap.......... What are you thinking. I'm thinking a light grey distressed strap with contrast stitching to match the hands. I like my strap but wish it had blue stitching. Thoughts on your strap?? Oh, are you going to anodize the crown???? That would really put it over the top with that awesome shade of blue.

3590DD80-4C32-48BA-B830-6438749A84BF by Brad Sotak, on Flickr
 
I think you are for sure on the right track. Less is more yet there's a pop of color. I think you hit the nail on the head. Now about the strap.......... What are you thinking. I'm thinking a light grey distressed strap with contrast stitching to match the hands. I like my strap but wish it had blue stitching. Thoughts on your strap?? Oh, are you going to anodize the crown???? That would really put it over the top with that awesome shade of blue.

3590DD80-4C32-48BA-B830-6438749A84BF by Brad Sotak, on Flickr

Yes, will likely anodize, would actually like to match the hand colour. Need to find a place to get it done.

I think matching the colour of stitch on yours to your hands would be fantastic. Eventually both of us will get these perfect.

Agree canvas is way to go, light grey seems best, but I have this on the way, so I'll need to whip up a strap and see how this looks on it.

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Otherwise something like this maybe.

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Yea I almost bought that canvas from you. I think stay lighter in color if you go canvas jmho. A good powder coat could maybe work if you can’t find an anodize spot
 
Dang dude! Now that is expert craftsmanship right there. I think with the crown being set into the case you shouldn’t have a whole lot of problem with it getting dinged up. Great color choices and superb choice on the strap as well. Well done 360°
 
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