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Making replacement bezels/inserts, "bakelite"/acrylic & aluminium- Tissot PR516

mcgyver
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New version of the bezel

Milling the teeth manually was I real pain, so I had an idea to try and make these using my CO2-laser.
Getting hold of the POM/Acetal sheet material has been......hard. Do not know if it's the pandemic causing material shortage or the companys have to much to do and focus on the bigger fish - I have ordered two sheets and no feedback 6 months later!?
Anyway - went to my "go to guy" for scrap pieces of plastics and got two bits of black POM.
They where 8mm thick, so I milled them down to 3.5mm before moving them to the CO2-laser to cut out blanks.

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Here is a blank after making a cut using my lathe for the insert.

The back was then milled.


Then flipped and milled the front.

Here are the different stages shown.

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And the end result!!

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[EDIT] On it fixing picture links! - FIXED!
Edited:
 
PaulC77
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Just seems like amazing quality and craftsmanship here. The attention to detail is stunning. I just need to get a watch for one of these bezels now.
 
G
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I could not agree more with PaulC77's comment about craftsmanship. Mcgyver - please keep me in the loop when you are ready to offload one of these bezels.

-Gabe
 
G
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Just following up as I haven't heard anything for a while.... any updates on availability of materials/bezels? Still hoping to pick one up.
Thank you,
Gabe
 
R
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Great work! Is there a chance to buy such a bezel for Tissot Pr516 from you?
 
mcgyver
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Made a new batch! 😀
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Glue needs to cure and then a quick clean up and they are ready for service!
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Syrte
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This is amazing, and may I suggest you might render a few people a service they would appreciate greatly if you could use your craft to replace bakelite inserts for Blancpain Fifty Fathoms watches, Longines « Nautilus» skin divers from the 1960s, or even some of the earlier SM300.

Right now AFAIK there’s only about two places who make such replacements, one in the US and one in Italy.
 
mcgyver
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I’m trying different methods to make replacements for old lost acrylic inserts!
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Fonts needs tweaking and indexes to - but method works.
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JwRosenthal
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Syrte Syrte
This is amazing, and may I suggest you might render a few people a service they would appreciate greatly if you could use your craft to replace bakelite inserts for Blancpain Fifty Fathoms watches, Longines « Nautilus» skin divers from the 1960s, or even some of the earlier SM300.

Right now AFAIK there’s only about two places who make such replacements, one in the US and one in Italy.
Don’t forget Bulova and Accutron 666’s and Zodiac Seawolf’s 😉
 
mcgyver
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I got this watch a while ago

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Initial plan was to use as is, but after a few days on the wrist I taught it lookeed a bit dull with the worn bezel.

What to do?

I made some tooling so I could mill the rounded "teeth" on the bezel edge.

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After much boring work on the mill, the teeth were finaly in place.

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Some more turning and after a nice anodizing acid bath followed by a dip in colour I had a almost finished new bezel.

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A simple centering jig was cut in my fiber laser and the bezel was then ready to be engraved.

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A new spring was made from a piece of stainless wire and all fitted on the watch - the result.

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morethan1
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You will be in business for long time to come with a lot of vintage pieces have these inserts falling apart. Great work!
 
R
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mcgyver mcgyver
-Yes, I hope so! 😀
Waiting for more sheet material as my small order seems to have been "lost" - to many orders from the industry !

Do you still produce this bezel ?
 
watchyouwant
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Macgyver, what you achieve is a complete new level of craftsmanship. I'm quite speechless. Kind regards. Achim
 
R
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mcgyver mcgyver
-Yes, I still make them! 😀
Hi mcgyver, sorry for the delay, my watch is finally here but i noted that the original bezel is in steel, do you think it's possible to remplace it by one of your creation in bakelite ? I give you a pics so you can see. Thanks
 
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