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Modding my Speedy (and others)

  1. gaf1958 Nov 3, 2014

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    I have a long history of modifying my watches from standard in order to suit my tastes or needs. In the cases where the mods are done after I've bought the watch I always keep the original parts to allow me to return it to the same original condition in case I decide to sell it. Mostly this involves bezel (or insert) swaps, hands or sometimes dials or in some cases even a complete movement....

    I'll start with my Speedy, but will also introduce some of the others in my collection that have been modified from standard... Ok, here it is when I originally purchased it. Yes it's a Gemini IV LE so it's already quite different from most Speedys.
    [​IMG]

    A perfectly good Speedmaster already, yes? Well, when you have fading eyesight, reading those silver hands against the sunburst blue dial with those silver-white sub dials is often a case of catching the reflection on the hands just-so... and having a pair of reading glasses on at the time too... So rather than flip it, I modded it (well, my watchmaker did).
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The highly visible orange hands are genuine Omega items for the calibre 861 - but are from an early Speedmaster racing dial or a Flightmaster (may have been used for both). Even to my ageing eyes they are highly visible... and if you happen to like orange (as I do) they look pretty good with the blue. If you don't like orange (like my wife) then, hey, it's my watch and I'll mod it if I want to... ;)

    Theoretically, I prefer the original, as even in standard form the LE is very different from other Speedmasters and I like it just fine as is.

    Practicality though, plays a large part in this mod, and the low visibility of the standard hands (to my ageing eyes) would have meant I would either not wear it much or sell it - neither option appeals as I really, really like this watch! After searching through available hand sets I did a Photoshop mock-up of the two I liked and both looked good. I went with this as I liked the orange with the blue and the visibility factor was simply streets ahead. I could have gone with orange hands on the sub-dials too, which may have made it look more integrated, but in the end I decided on minimal changes.

    The other hand set (which I also bought just in case) are the silver broad arrow hands -they are nice, with a larger surface area, so better visibility than the standard ones. They would maintain the factory "feel" if not so much the look, but would still suffer from times of low contrast against the dial, which is why I ultimately went with the orange hand set.

    Ok, some others. Here is my electric blue SMP with blue bezel in place of the polished silver... Not an unusual mod, but one I think Omega should have produced as a standard model.
    [​IMG]

    White SMP with black bezel and sword hands... Not so happy with the hands on this one, but the bezel I really like!
    [​IMG]

    Here are some non-Omega modded watches. First off is this Seiko 7548-700C orange dial. The dial is not a mod, this was an original 80's orange diver, but Seiko insist on putting gold hands and gold bezel markings on their orange divers. This one has a change to black hands and silver bezel markings. Add a nice bracelet...
    [​IMG]

    Here is my Seiko 6309-7040 - a classic cushion case diver. So what's different about this you may ask (ok, apart from the tachymetre bezel insert)? It has a Seiko 7548 quartz movement inside, along with a sapphire crystal, which makes it my favourite grab and go beater. Fitted with a 6309 dial, this looks no different from a standard one until you see the "tick".

    [​IMG]
     
  2. alam Nov 3, 2014

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    You will not be welcome to the Purist Club! ;-). Nice watches! :)
     
  3. roach7 Nov 3, 2014

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    Those orange hands kinda match the red letters... I would never thought of that, but cool
     
    i20rider likes this.
  4. pascs Nov 3, 2014

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    I'm also very keen on modding my watches and have done a few Speedmasters.

    However I'm just not sure about the orange hands, they dont seem to integrate so well with the other hands. But as you've said it works for you so that is the most important thing and I understand where you are coming from with the silver hands.

    I have also done a Gemini IV dial....

    This is how it was last week

    [​IMG]

    And this is how it is this week

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. gaf1958 Nov 4, 2014

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    I like the hands, very nice. Only I'd still have the same visibility problems. As I said, my mod is not for everyone ;)
     
  6. bill5959 Nov 4, 2014

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    Love it. Keep em coming. Best, bill
     
  7. roach7 Nov 4, 2014

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    Interesting bezel and looks great on the vintage strap!
     
  8. Spacefruit Prolific Speedmaster Hoarder Nov 4, 2014

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    Love the Orange hands
     
  9. George.A Nov 5, 2014

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    Interesting mods! Even though some are not quite my first choices for those models, it's still intersting to see how they look.
    I was thinking at a more common mod for my 2254 and replace the seconds hand with the one from PO. I'm still not convinced to pull the trigger, but your ideas sure helped me in this direction :).