Watchlords

I am going to attempt to ruin lume my first watch. I have been looking at a lot of lume threads on the watch forums, but have some questions I am hoping you guys can answer.

1. I see people recommend mixing lume with epoxy for bezel work. Like, what kind of epoxy mix? Mix the lume in it? How much per parts mix is best?

2. Does the indices lume have to be removed then the new lume mix is put on or can you lume over it and it look good?

3. If painting the edges of indices or hands, can model paint be used and if so, what is the best and does it need a top coat?

I'm aware my stuff will suck at first, maybe always, but I want to practice on a few watches and see if I can't get o.k at it for some beater watches. I figure I can always strip them down and start over as much as I need.

Any info and tips would be appreciated. I'm just looking for something to do on my insomnia nights.

I bought a WatchLume kit off ebay, it has mixed reviews, but I got a small mortar grinder to make it finer before mixing it. While playing around, I will keep an eye out for something better.

I suggest just getting a small pocket flashlight.

foghorn wrote:I suggest just getting a small pocket flashlight.

I know I am in over my head, I just want to try. I have 3 watches that are not really worth anything, I just want to play around. If anything turns out decent, cool... if not then no harm done.

Looks like a fun project. Good luck!

I tried to lume a casio 3 hander and found that the clearance between the hands as they pass each other was so tight that any extra lume caused the hands to catch on each other. Just a thing to be aware of! I didn't try any epoxy mix and just painted over the existing.

Reach out to Kent Parks at Everest Watchworks, or maybe Jay at MCWW and call it a day...worth the wait.

I have been practicing lume. I got some jewelry metal bead stuff at hobby lobby because they could almost pass as round indices (they are high though). They are also smaller and I thought it would increase my target aim to practice on them. I am not bad at this point. The lume I have been practicing with is pretty bad for actual work, but great for practice. I have good lume coming in now.

I am also practicing painting the indices, I am pretty good at this.

Problem now; I have a cool dial, but want round indices. I can't find them. Alpha has round ones, but they are inserts with drilled pegs. I don't want to drill my cool dial. I have a friend who is a machinist, but his cost is more than I thought it would be. Anyone know where I could get round indices or a link to cheap watches I could canibalize off of? Anyone here with a box of broken with round indices I could lume. I'm not asking for free, I can pay.

svaglic wrote:I have been practicing lume. I got some jewelry metal bead stuff at hobby lobby because they could almost pass as round indices (they are high though). They are also smaller and I thought it would increase my target aim to practice on them. I am not bad at this point. The lume I have been practicing with is pretty bad for actual work, but great for practice. I have good lume coming in now.

I am also practicing painting the indices, I am pretty good at this.

Problem now; I have a cool dial, but want round indices. I can't find them. Alpha has round ones, but they are inserts with drilled pegs. I don't want to drill my cool dial. I have a friend who is a machinist, but his cost is more than I thought it would be. Anyone know where I could get round indices or a link to cheap watches I could canibalize off of? Anyone here with a box of broken with round indices I could lume. I'm not asking for free, I can pay.

I don't have any, but this is in response to your work:

Go for it. As someone who does his own battery changes and strap and bracelet adjustments and changes, I can only marvel at your bravery and acumen. Even now, after doing this stuff for about seven years, I creep along slowly. Invested in better tools from Esslinger recently and that helps. I've dabbled with the idea of building a watch from parts (or simply taking one apart and putting it back together), but am too much of a coward/cheapskate/Johnny Ten Thumbs. I did manage to fix a broken stem on an Omega once, but I'm telling you, it was dumb luck.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

I've been messing around lately with painting my own hands-- the clearance issue has proven to be a problem. I started with enamel paint but have found that the oil based paint pens work ok. With the naked eye they look fine, but under a loupe it looks like Helen Keller tried it. Like you said practice is the key good luck.