"IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

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artphotodude
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"IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by artphotodude »

So a year or so ago I saw what appeared to be a great deal on a Russian Raketa "Jeans" dress watch ($25) with blue-gradient Tombac fabric-patterned dial (Pic 1 - sorry image is so rough, is all I could pull from original Ebay auction since so long ago).
As a side-note, these are I.M.O. a superior alternative to the Poljot/Luch de luxe Ultraslims -> nearly the same size, but easy to wind, and powered by the trouble-free 2609.HA.

Jeans.jpg

Sadly, when the watch arrived, realized the dial was in ROUGH shape with a lot of moisture-damage, but on the bright-side, the case was pretty decent and movement in awesome shape. Decided to keep it in 'reserve' if I needed parts, or ran across what it needed. Well my sister had a Raketa Copernicus she was quite fond of, and we suspect my very young niece liked it too and presumably hid it somewhere. My sis has looked high and low, and it just never turned up.

With all the derisive talk about "Frankenwatches" coming out of the former Soviet block on the used market (which I'm not sure is always a bad thing when done well), thought this might be a great chance to make my own watch "that should have been" as a gift for my sister :D

So began contacting a few great people in Ukraine that have a lot of parts and ordered a set of Copernicus Sun/Moon hands, and one of the aftermarket "Solar System" dials (is actually a vinyl print that the seller glues to an old damaged dial).

Stars.png

It all went together great as the Copernicus uses the same movement and so the hands went right on. Wound up coating the dial with a matte-finish to reduce reflections / make it clearer to see, and also had to paint the hands as they were fairly worn on arrival (used gold-leaf on the Sun, and silver paint on the Moon-ring). Hoping when it comes back in a few months for a 'check-up' to have the time to actually hand-polish them both to bright metal shine, after I upgrade my polishing kit.

Had some green jeweler's rouge laying around and did a light hand-polish on the case and with the exception of just a few small areas, it shined-up nice, without taking too much of the remaining chrome off.

The CRYSTAL HOWEVER, was a NIGHTMAR!!! :shock:
Word to the wise, if you are going to use Polywatch, make sure to clean any dirt out of scratches before using it. Whoever had the watch before polywatched right over the top of a big dirty scratch - effectively encasing the dirt in the crystal. Had to carefully use Permaspin (for buffing CDs) with a Dremel for about 30 minutes to get the dial cleared-up.

Wasn't sure about the Nato strap my sis bought for the project at first, but on seeing it finished, think she nailed it!

Tiffy's Watch 1.jpg

Also, had some BGW9 SuperLume laying around and thought, Wouldn't a "Stary Night" dial look great some glowy-stuff? and am pleased to report it worked well - can clearly be seen for 4+ hours during the night. To get it to stick to smooth hands, had to mix the way I do for Bezel spots with slow-set epoxy.

Tiffy's Watch 3.jpg

Me and my sister both had an idea at the same time that it sure would be nice if we could get a 'Swatch Guard' for watches like this and it got me thinking I should actually measure the watch and what do you know - 'Gents' Swatch Guards fit this case perfectly (Just now seeing it is on upside down here in the picture - oh well, you get the idea ;0)

Tiffy's Watch 2.jpg

And the lume even shows through it too!

Tiffy's Watch 4.jpg

These all being Raketa parts (or compatible), made this easy, but will be doing more of these for sure. As little as this cost (under $60) and as cool as it came out, there are just too many possibilities - especially with Russian parts that are so functional and affordable.

This wasn't that hard - I totally recommend others who are interested give it a try! :D
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by gannet »

That's a great story and result. Well done.
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artphotodude
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by artphotodude »

gannet wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 12:33 pm That's a great story and result. Well done.
Thanks! I often wonder about mixing brands, but of course that's wear it gets tricky.
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by suicidal_orange »

Thought this was some kind of crazy hand mod but no - this is just like the missing Raketa, except better because it has lume.

Good work :thumbup:
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Really original! Great story. :thumbup:
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by magicman »

Very good story, looks great, I'm impressed that you had some lume laying around, I thought you need a Hazmat suit to handle that stuff.

Regards Steve
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by H0rati0 »

cool project, outstanding result!
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by artphotodude »

suicidal_orange wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:15 am Thought this was some kind of crazy hand mod but no - this is just like the missing Raketa, except better because it has lume.

Good work :thumbup:
- Thanks so much for all the kind comments! I seriously recommend giving this a try if you want a fun little side project. To avoid technical problems with movements, Sticking with late-model Raketas (2609.HA / 2623.H) or Vostok (2415 / 2416b) makes a lot of sense. These movements just don't have a lot of problems and often can go a decade without a service.

- A more AMBITIOUS conversion would be to base your Frankenwatch on a Poljot 2612.1 alarm movement. These are also very trouble-free (especially for Poljot), but do require setting up a second crown opening for the Alarm works.
magicman wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:34 pm Very good story, looks great, I'm impressed that you had some lume laying around, I thought you need a Hazmat suit to handle that stuff.

Regards Steve
Lumes haven't been dangerous in about 60yrs. I wouldn't want to eat it, but none other than Tritium-based ones are even radioactive at all, and even then are much less so than old Radium dials.

On another note about vintage items, a number of vintage Kodak cameras from the 1950s and early 60's with "Ektarnar" lenses have a bit of Thorium in the lenses - not something to be overly worried about but don't sleep with say a Kodak Automatic or Motormatic (even though they were SEXY BEASTS! ;0p
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Re: "IT'S ALIVE!" (my first Frankenwatch Project ;0)

Post by thomcat00 »

Cool project with a great result! Thanks for sharing.
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