Bargain thread trash to treasure report:
So about a year ago+ I bought a ratty looking Devil diver. I already has my minty one, but this ratty sucker popped up and I put in a low ball bid- and won. When I got it, it was rough, but running.
The bracelet was stretched out and bent up, the crystal was so crazed you could barely see through it. The crown had been replaced with an Accutron crown (most likely from the 702 Deep Sea), but the bezel was crack free, case had sharp lines and I luckily had hoarded parts for these, so knew going in I had what I needed provided the bones were solid.
I gave it to my watch handy friend Justin (not a watchmaker) and he finally got around to working on it over the last few days.
Of course the gasket had turned to goo, that is one part I didn’t hoard as 50 year old gaskets, I wouldn’t trust NOS or not (so that’s the only thing missing at this point). And it’s more of a thick-ass o-ring than an actual gasket, the hardware or auto parts store may actually be a good place to find one.
The lume had fallen out of the hands and was missing from about half of the filled “pots”. Rather than doing pips on the dial, Bulova chose to use applied acrylic “pots”, they are like little frosted blocks that illuminate with the lume below. I had no clue how these pots were filled, but in Bulova’s (Singer’s) infinite wisdom, they applied the pots to the dial, then filled the lume from underneath.
Unlike my other 666, the lume color on this was a very pale green and not pale yellow. Justin being a purist matched the green identically (he has a system for matching lume color which is truly an art form) with the original color and refilled the pots and hands.
Hands back on, time to work on the case
Having already taken it all apart, Justin went at lightly wet sanding the bezel.
The original case polishing was a little rough, he just gave it a quick hand polish to get it cleaned up.
Correct crown from my stash
The bracelet was a mess. If was almost falling apart as the folded center links were all pulled apart. But luckily these are pretty easy to tighten up with a delicate touch and two pairs of micro pliers (tape the ends to not leave tool marks). I’ve done it myself on other folded bracelets of the this period and you are not only refolding a crimp but also rolling the curve back up. It’s almost like a push and roll together to get the curve right, otherwise you will just crush the metal flat.
He asked me if the bracelet was brushed or polished. I know the cases were all polished, but having only seen 50 year bullet bracelets, I didn’t know if there were options. While working on the bracelet he realized that the underside showed brushing on the center links- it was totally worn down on top. So he reapplied the brushing to the center, being careful to not over polish the bracelet so the patina still matched the watch and matching the grain of the brushing.
the finished product-
Next to the modern reissue which was mine is is now his (I love that Bulova/citizen reissued this watch- a bold move)
And a lume shot with color matched luminova to look like the original Tritium.
I love hunting for diamonds in the rough, but without an artisan like Justin (who is completely self taught and this is his hobby), a watchmaker willing and capable of lume and case work, or having the skills yourself - it just wouldn’t be possible to do this kind of restoration.
