I've seen a few posts saying that they FOIS can't be fitted with a hesalite crystal. This watch has been fitted with a one so it can be done. Apparently it needs to be modified in some way to fit correctly, not sure how.

Add a 1035 bracelet and a relumed 2998 service dial and this is what the FOIS could have looked like.



No comparison really

 

As I've said plenty of times, I'm sure someone could cobble something up to make an acrylic crystal fit, but the crystals are not a straight swap.

 

There is a company in Australia called Lewis Watch Company that fit a hesalite crystal on a FOIS. I'm unable to find pictures of it now so you're going to have to pretend that I found one. It looks as good as you'd imagine it would.

Unfortunately, they don't offer it as a service and it appears to be a one off. I emailed them earlier this year to see if they'd mod mine.

 

Indeed. He goes far beyond a simple crystal replacement.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbgbC6vgQby/?taken-by=lewiswatchco
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQFSYpSAgod/?taken-by=lewiswatchco

 

A guy in the UK did this one. I tried the new ck2998, nice looking but would have been much better with a hesalite crystal too. I wonder if the crystal from the 60th anniversary would work?

 

As said above by someone else, I believe that it can be done, but it requires more work than a simple swap.
Just a comment on the new ck2998. Like the blue one or the sedna, the sapphire crystal is less bothering because of the colour contrast, the dial has more depth. So it looks less flattish / dull than on the FOIS.
There are 2 things I would like to change on the FOIS : the ugly greyish lume and the crystal.

 

Throw a reissue 1035 bracelet into the mix as above and you’re on to a winner

 

Does anyone know how the ck2998 service dial (321 movement) fit in the FOIS (1861)?

 

Dial feet would require modifications...

 

Does anyone know how he went about aging the dial? The service inserts are quite grey. I asked the owner of the watch personally but he wanted to keep it a secret!

 

Dial can be baked or relumed.

 

I think if you really want the vintage look to the lume it would be better to have the dial and hands relumed

Baking the dial is a scary prospect and going too far I'm sure will end in a damaged dial. I did think about swapping this dial and movement into my FOIS case but that seems a waste of the FOIS.

 

Yes at 500 dollars a pop it’s quite risky to bake it in the oven. @pascs what is the watch pictured?

 

The dial is from the 3594.50, FOIS hands, white leaf sub dial hands and the early style hesalite with the chrome ring. I think this combination really captures that something special which is the Speedmaster

 

If you really wanted a base watch with a hesalite crystal to mod, couldn’t you start with a 60th Anniversary Speedmaster? Would the 3594.50 dial and a black bezel fit? Or just use the original 60th dial and have the hands lume coloured to match.

 

Interesting idea, you could recreate a ck2915-3. Using the dial from the replica, alpha hands and a replacement hesalite crystal with the original rehaut. The base 1000 bezel isn't available as a service part but you would get close enough.

 

The misplaced SWISS MADE would annoy the hell out of me, personally....so modding 60th speedy is a no-go for me.

 

That's why I suggested the replica dial. Also the 60th dial is very grey, especially under the sun.

 

I have & had (I had 2) of these dials and believe me, I was really crazy into modding before stopping. For sure the replica dial is better but even that doesn't do it for me.

For example the applied logo on the replica dial is flat applied. In the real thing, the applied logo is a bit concave. I only learned this after staring at the real thing for a long while.

There are other very slight detail differences that you can use to prevent yourself from getting scammed by a relumed/baked replica dial.

Another example, there is no serif on the 3 subdials on the replica dial.

So, all of these super tiny details bother me to no end such that I decided in the end, can't beat the real thing. After spending time with the real thing, I couldn't unsee the imperfections in the replica...

 

Does anyone know if the ck2998 service dials (part number 064PP2001001AS) are greyer than the originals? Here is a ck2998-3 with a service dial:

It even looks lighter than the dial on a new modern speedy: