Any watches and those unfinished with Oyang case sets

[Emilio]

Agreed

[thelonedoc]

See those are some good answers and definitly help shed light on the story behind these cases.

Now I understand the appeal. They have nostalgic history within the HF community. They were made in extremely small batches at a very high quality. And finally they were hand made by one of the members of the community who put his heart and soul into each case before there were any readily available accurate cases.

These cases have that intangible x factor. They have soul.

When you only hear the hype about something thrown around without any context, it's impossible to appretiate it properly.

[earloflondon]

I was away just for a short while and amazed at how the discussion took shape. Anyway, I am learning now what the fusses and buzzes are about these particular case makes. And you're completely right in questioning the prices of them while now we have a couple of good suppliers. But as I said a while back, as the complete hype of homage Pams is losing the steam compared to what it was 10+ years ago, these suppliers started to cut down on production, and supply fewer and fewer case sets, and parts. I am trying to get as many parts and stuff as possible while I still can. Well a wise person wouldn't reveal it maybe, for those who don't know the scarcity results in higher prices but I feel like telling it as I feel so much concerned about the very presence of the homage community in the future.

Well yeah the discussion took a detour. Please let's come back to the original issue of showing off the Oyang stuff.

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[leeyewfei]

well i have to take pics of the 3646 case set when i get home (which is few thousand miles from where i am now).

the thing i remember with this case set is the rough case shape which require reshaping to be done, and it comes with a big block movement ring ready to be machined to whatever movement to be fitted. the wire lugs are welded to the case.

all these was done more than 10 years back, before hf days.

[Sevanata]

It is not expensive as imagined.
Esdee sold his Oyang reshaped last year complete for $1.5k advertised price and sold.

In terms of standard finishing i feel it is in par with the fit and finishing of Davdew 6152-1 case. Tremendous efforts based on the old days of HF.
Bigwave still have oyang awesome lingering case. And davdew also may still have it. Maybe they can share what their feel with respect to their design/producer experience.


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[big eebee]

I had a thread back on the old HF
With a 3646 oyang esdee and NW
Also a thread with the oyang build
Prehaps they could be moved over

[earloflondon]

I had a thread back on the old HF
With a 3646 oyang esdee and NW
Also a thread with the oyang build
Prehaps they could be moved over

Yes that'd be great

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[Sandwich]

Interesting thread! There certainly are a lot of case options out there now; there were many fewer when the oyang 3646 and 6154 cases were created (about 8-9 years ago now).

When the 3646 case was designed, there were no ready sources for gen construction style 3646 cases (bezel and back screwdown onto movement holder sandwiching the midcase). The most common case was the Silix, which was not gen design. Nightwatch was doing great custom jobs where he would core out a Silix midcase (I believe), and then add a custom movement holder, bezel, and caseback to achieve the gen construction. He would also redo the lugs as soldered lugs in thicker gen style than the Silix lugs. The oyang 3646 was an attempt to recreate gen construction. It was crude to start and required a lot of custom reshaping, as well as soldering or welding of lugs after bending them from straight wire.

A few years earlier, a guy had offered gen construction cases for about $5k each and sold a few. That ended in some controversy over cases never delivered and money never refunded, apparently; some of the mods might know that ancient history from about 15 years ago.

This case and the 6154 were both machined from 316L steel by a shop working off CAD files using a 5-axis mill.

The 6154 was a much more ambitious case. Again, at that time, there were no cases that were anywhere close in terms of gen construction. The main elements in the gen that needed to be replicated were the two-piece bezel, and the two-step dial projecting up inside the inner bezel. This latter feature was what allowed the midcase to have a very slim profile like the gen while holding the relatively thick 616/618 movement and a sandwich dial. The "References" book gave a measurement of the midcase height of 5.7mm, and available cases (Silix and Athaya) were 1-2mm thicker. The height of a 616/618 movement is about 4.7mm, so incorporating the movement and a 1.5-2mm sandwich dial required this design. I think the oyang 6154 case was the first to do this, perhaps the first to notice this feature from studying photos of the 6154 and incorporate it into a homage case. The other feature was a magnetic shield inside. So, much of the fun of the 6154 case is its innards and thin profile. Looks like other case designs may have caught up, but the oyang 6154 was probably the earliest gen design case available, and was literally built around the 616/618 movement like the original gen. If you look at the design, every fraction of a mm of thickness is used; there is no empty space in that case when the movement and dial are in place. Another feature it had was the thin domed caseback, while other cases at that time had thick casebacks like the 6152.

Here are some pictures of the oyang 6154 design...

CAD layout of all assembled parts in wireframe:



CAD display of all parts, from top-down the crystal, outer bezel, inner bezel, two step sandwich dial, movement holder, midcase and crown, magnetic shield, and caseback:



Comparison to the Silix 6154 case available at that time:



Comparison to the Athaya 6154 case available at that time:



Comparison to a picture of a gen 6154 profile:



"Legendary" is an overstatement, but these were labors of love from someone who really wanted 3646 and 6154 gen-like construction cases at a time when they weren't available.

[leeyewfei]

I am still having the original untouched OY 3646 case set, with unsoldered lugs. it's a case that require much reshaping to be done and best done by someone very skillful.

for the 6154 case set, i was offered a chance to buy but did not make the purchase. or maybe I have a 6154 build with OY 6154 case coz it came with an iron anti-magnetic shield for the movement. need to check.

[hako]

Wow, Sandwich.
This was very instructive.
For me coming much later to this place, this was almost interesting piece of homage history.
Thank you