12
votes
How easy is it to change out parts on a watch?
I see some nice watches that I like, but 80-90% of them are the silver/stainless steel color. I'm not sure why that color is so prevalent (probably the same reason 40% of new cars are white), maybe a lot of people love it but its not for me.
Let's say I found a watch I really liked, but wanted the case/bezel/lugs (and of course the strap) to be black stainless steel. Is this something a jeweler or watch repair shop would be able to do?
Strap: trivial.
Bezel: depends, but generally doable but tricky.
Case: (of which the lugs are part) - does it really make sense to switch this out? At that point it's like the watch of Theseus.
You're better off just continuing to look for something you like.
What's the watch you're seeing that you wish was black?
I don't really care about this, if it looks and functions the way I want.
I mean, there are so many because there are so many beautiful automatic watches with metal bands but the vast majority of them are the basic silver/stainless steel color. This is just one example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325568406978
There are others:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/404355224577
https://www.tissotwatches.com/en-us/t0064071104300.html
Trust me when I say I've basically looked at every men's automatic watch in the sub-$1k range including the custom ones. I'm not saying there aren't any that I like, but given that the vast majority are this silver stainless steel color it would open up a lot more options if swapping those parts out and just keeping the actual functional watch part the same were an option.
@zptc's suggestion of coating it all black would be a great option too if it were possible.
If you like the all-black look, you might be interested in sinn (from Germany in the $1k-5k range): https://www.sinn.de/en/Kollektion.htm
Don't let the web design turn you off--They are a highly respected watch brand and probably have the toughest and best black coating on the market today.
The first and third kind of remind me of a Hamilton Jazzmaster which is available in black, although the gold might not be what you’re looking for?
Well putting aside that the watch you linked is a ladies watch, the styling and details of the face are very different.
Sometimes I can say why I don’t like certain Watch aesthetics (too busy, too big, can’t see the hour markings, bad font on the writing, whatever) and sometimes I can’t. There’s nothing wrong with that particular watch but it isn’t for me.
Anyway the point wasn’t really to find other watch suggestions I’ve literally looked at thousands of them in a broad price range I was more curious on what’s possible in terms of modification.
All very fair - for what it’s worth the site I first saw it on has it marked as unisex, but I grabbed a link that I thought had better pictures and didn’t notice they’d decided to gender it!
Either way, I totally know what you mean about the aesthetic sometimes just being indefinably right or wrong, and I think the idea of modifying something perfectly to your taste is a great one.
As someone who's changed maybe 50-100 of straps I would rate straps between "trivial" and "impossible" depending on what the watch itself calls for. Some of them are forged as one piece, some have a weird
ear (what is the English word?)lugs, some require different thickness to fit nicely or heavy enough the watch won't just rip out of the springs bars and fall to the ground.Nice flat one that isn't super oversized and if you don't need extra long straps, ezpz done in 2 minutes. Some of the metal ones need adjustment for wrist size after wards and are a complete pain in the butt and easily permanently breakable.
It will depend on how popular the watch is. More popular watches, Seikos especially, might have aftermarket cases or parts that a jeweler or yourself could service. Generally, straps are easy to change, and shouldn't stop you from a watch you really like. For most watches, the case and bezel you take as given and changing them is not trivial or even possible.
At some point, you are essentially building a watch from scratch, and if that's what you want there are a lot of custom watchmakers on Instragram that build around popular seiko models. Honestly you can just search "custom seiko" on Instagram, and pick an example/watchmaker you like. /r/watchexchange also sees a lot of custom mods for sale. In either case, they'll probably run you 300-600 dollars.
If you have some serious coin to throw around, bespoke watchmakers like Laine will make you a fully custom watch to your specifications with precious materials. These are $10k+.
I think a custom seiko is probably the best option for someone who is dead-set on an auto movement.
Yeah right now I’m in the sub-$1k range, I agree if money were no option it would open more doors.
If I could get someone to build me an automatic version of this, I would explore it:
https://lilienthal-berlin.com/c01-112-b040f
Does it need to be a chronograph? You'll generally have many more custom options for standard 3-hand watches. Check out @cswatches_official on insta if you're interested in some good custom seiko options.
It depends on the model but in almost every case you'd need a watchmaker who has the proper tools and competency to do it. The better craftsmanship required, the more you will have to pay and possibly do so disproportionately. I wouldn't trust a regular watch repair shop to handle this sort of thing.
If you can't find a watch that you like, I suggest you keep searching. I spent about three months until I found a watch that ticked all the boxes for me. If you end up not finding anything that works for you, you can always look into shops that specializes in making custom watches using spare parts. You can even order parts/kits yourself and make it on your own.
Any competent watch repair person will be able to take everything out of the case, and if a suitable case exists, put it all back into that case. There are lots of very cheap cases made in India and China and quality can vary. I think it's a shame to take such a nice watch and build a frankenwatch, but I can't explain why. It's your watch! You can do what you like with it! So I don't udnerstand my reaction but there you go.
It's possible to use chemicals to colour the case (once you've removed all the gubbins). https://bssa.org.uk/bssa_articles/specifying-coloured-stainless-steel-finishes-and-their-applications/
It all seems quite expensive.
Your self awareness at not being able to explain why you don’t like the idea is uncommon, most people just have the gut reaction and don’t concede that there’s no real reason for it haha.
There is also some kind of anti-custom-watch philosophy which doesn’t make any sense to me, as though watch designers are geniuses and shouldn’t be questioned.
The sheer dominance of plain stainless steel watches is all you need to recognize to see that this market lacks creativity even amongst all the options.
Lilienthal Berlin makes beautiful watches. If this watch design came in an automatic it would be my dream watch but they don’t offer any automatics for reasons passing understanding.
https://lilienthal-berlin.com/c01-112-b040f?c=40
Because quartz are much cheaper to make they can do a lot more smaller interest styles. Is my guess.
Yeah they're trying to get that clean branding at a lower price point I get it but still... would be nice to have the option to make it either way.
Do you mean coating the existing case with a black coating?
I hadn't thought about that, but is that an option (and the wristband / strap)?
There are chemicals you can dip metal in to turn them black. "Metal blackener" or "cold blue" is the search term you want. There are different ones for different metals.
The result looks like this.
I wasn't aware of this chemical and was thinking more of something like PVD or Cerakote.
In any case, for disassembly/reassembly a reputable watch repair shop should definitely be employed, but I seriously doubt they would have experience using any of these processes. The best bet would be to find a shop that specializes in doing that type of work.
Yeah I’m considering trying something like this:
https://www.servicejewelryandrepair.com/blog/index.php/2020/01/01/restore-your-watch-with-expert-powder-coating/
If you look through this search results I am sure you will find something in the 1000$ range.
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/?s=Pvd
Sub-1000 is a low limit for coated mechanical watches, maybe you will need to limit yourself to manual wound watches.
How about this pretty baby
What happens if you search specially for fully black or black gold or "black stainless steel" or "black titanium"?
Believe me when I say I’ve seen them all haha.
That model with the yellow is distinctive but not for me.
Dang dude :) be sure to come back and ping me when you've found the one and modded it to heck. would love to see your vision
I didn’t end up modding one but I did decide on these two models:
https://www.lilienthal.berlin/en/z01-103-b023e
https://www.bulova.com/us/en/product/98A291.html
The zeigeist is very handsome, I can see what you're going for :) glass back for sure! The photos look very very midnight blue almost black, maybe in person the metallic blue will pop better than my crappy phone screen
Did you also get the extra leather strap?
The Bulova link redirected to their Main, sadly, but enjoy your new pieces!
No I'm getting the metal strap and the mesh strap so I can have some variety.
The LB designs are very nice. I love their Chronograph styling/coloring too but they don't yet make an automatik version.
https://lilienthal-berlin.com/c01-112-b040f?c=40
This is an ebay listing for the Bulova model I bought, maybe that image will show up better:
https://www.ebay.com/p/25056065749?iid=266316138208
Very sharp :) different beast than the zeigeist for sure. Two different styles to switch between