Homage Forum

Hi,
this is the first build I’m posting here.
It’s been a while since I had this project in mind, but I was willing to make it totally coherent.


I couldn’t find a dial to perfectly match the brass patina, so I decided to do it myself.
It turned out to be a long chemistry experience, but I learned a lot.

CASE (Aliexpress ) came with a shiny golden look, not my cup of tea…
First I’ve slightly repolished/brushed, then I went into a forced patina process (ammonia fumes)
Result was … a deep green pebble! With a gentle sanding, I just kept the green color/patina in recesses.



DIAL is home made from a brass plate, acid etched (PCB process).

First finishing step: forced brown patina with ammonia fumes, then polished the turtle.
I didn’t want to use paint, all colors are natural verdigris patina. (salt+ammonia fumes)

Some areas were still to dark brown, so I’ve scratched verdigris from another dial and applied with a mat acrylic varnish.

I’ve applied the varnish stamping with a brush to create a water texture.


HANDS (Aliexpress): removed lume, sanded and relumed.
I’m not totally satisfied with these hands: hour and minute hands are not made from the same metal, so once sanded, color is slightly different ☹
Awaiting to receive a new set of hands to swap these...

Awesome build!

Great build, thebdial is awesome!
Maybe you could try to get them to the same patina you have on the case?

kilowattore wrote: ↑September 25th, 2021, 6:06 am Great build, thebdial is awesome!
Maybe you could try to get them to the same patina you have on the case?

Thank you.
Do you mean get the same patina for the turtle pattern?
My goal was to reproduce water look with verdigris, and the turtle is polished so as it is more visible. With these Seiko cases, the dial is deep inside...

That patina on the dial is fantastic. I can almost picture the turtle in the water.

wow what a nice build, the dial is amazing

Fizzzz wrote: ↑September 25th, 2021, 6:13 am

kilowattore wrote: ↑September 25th, 2021, 6:06 am Great build, thebdial is awesome!
Maybe you could try to get them to the same patina you have on the case?

Thank you.
Do you mean get the same patina for the turtle pattern?
My goal was to reproduce water look with verdigris, and the turtle is polished so as it is more visible. With these Seiko cases, the dial is deep inside...

No I meant darker patina, like the case. I think it would make a nice contrast with the polished turtle on the dial

Ok, I understand,
actually I've already tried this.
For this turtle build, I really had the sea color in mind,
but I'm still experimenting, I can get a nice matt brown patina on brass:

Case is bronze but dial is brass, so we can't achieve the same patina color.

Dials are amazing- finish on case looks perfect

Very well done. Love what you did with the case.