A little DIY on Easter Sunday...

[caeden]

Well, I just picked up a 1675 MK1 from overseas and it arrived on Good Friday evening...

The cyclops was a little deformed, probably due to polishing the plexi crystal. Seller was nice and quick to refund some money.





The date doesn't show very well...I thought "nevermind lah, wear first." But after being on my wrist for only the past 2 days....it was a real sight for sore eyes!




I decided that I would do something about it today...
"Plastic is cheap, if spoil...still can replace cheaply", and also easier to save...

So I grabbed a hammer and small screwdriver, and started to go to work on the cyclops...didn't work...and things started to look bad, with chips and scratches all over.

Next...I used fine grit sandpaper, and went all out for 5 minutes. I disintegrated the whole cyclops! But full of scratches...

Then went on to using a polishing compound....

Next...metal polish (on and off 3 times + final buffing by hand)

Lastly, finished it off with cape cod polishing cloth.

Sorry, no step by step pictures....as quite busy & kan cheong at the same time.

Here is the final result...I turned a tropic 116 into a tropic 38...hehehe




Total time taken, was less than 30 mins.

Just to share...all comments welcome....

Cheers!

[augpat]

Unique look n nice//thanks for sharing!

[louie]

Cyclops Removal

errrrr bud, there's afew ways...saw this article on the web some yrs ago. Here you go...

Cyclops Removal
By J. Peter

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who like a cyclops and those who don’t. I often see people on timezone wanting to know how to remove the cyclops from their watch. And then other people come into my shop and want me to put one on their watch. I have one customer who brings in every new watch he buys and has me install a cyclops.

So, can you do it and how? If your watch has an acrylic (plastic) crystal the answer is no, you are stuck with a cyclops. If it has a glass or sapphire crystal the cyclops is in fact glued on to the crystal after the fact. Usually this is done with a glue that cures under ultra-violet light which has optical properties similar to that of glass. These can come off, occasionally I see a watch where the cyclops came off accidently.

There are several methods for removal. These tend to work better on sapphire than mineral glass and I am not responsible for any scratched or broken crystals, there is risk involved.

The chisel method. — Place a sharp chisel right along the corner of the cyclops and give it a tap. Cyclops pops right off, clean up any glue with acetone.
Heat - Apply heat (like with a soldering iron) to the cyclops, this will soften the glue, slide it right off.
Remove the crystal and soak it in acetone until the cyclops comes off (1-2 days). Re-install crystal.
Install a new xtal without cyclops
Combination of all 3. Some cyclopses are stubborn, you can’t fool them all as easily as did Odysseus.

Original link below,

http://watchmakingblog.com/2008/04/23/cyclops-removal/

[Darkangel]

Looks way better now man! hehehehe

[caeden]

errrrr bud, there's afew ways...saw this article on the web some yrs ago. Here you go...

Cyclops Removal
By J. Peter

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who like a cyclops and those who don’t. I often see people on timezone wanting to know how to remove the cyclops from their watch. And then other people come into my shop and want me to put one on their watch. I have one customer who brings in every new watch he buys and has me install a cyclops.

So, can you do it and how? If your watch has an acrylic (plastic) crystal the answer is no, you are stuck with a cyclops. If it has a glass or sapphire crystal the cyclops is in fact glued on to the crystal after the fact. Usually this is done with a glue that cures under ultra-violet light which has optical properties similar to that of glass. These can come off, occasionally I see a watch where the cyclops came off accidently.

There are several methods for removal. These tend to work better on sapphire than mineral glass and I am not responsible for any scratched or broken crystals, there is risk involved.

The chisel method. — Place a sharp chisel right along the corner of the cyclops and give it a tap. Cyclops pops right off, clean up any glue with acetone.
Heat - Apply heat (like with a soldering iron) to the cyclops, this will soften the glue, slide it right off.
Remove the crystal and soak it in acetone until the cyclops comes off (1-2 days). Re-install crystal.
Install a new xtal without cyclops
Combination of all 3. Some cyclopses are stubborn, you can’t fool them all as easily as did Odysseus.

Original link below,

http://watchmakingblog.com/2008/04/23/cyclops-removal/

Hi Louie, I saw that article....but the part in RED says that it can't be done...

[louie]

Hi Louie, I saw that article....but the part in RED says that it can't be done...

oic...gees,missed that part that its not for acrylic crystal. Hopefully you didnt hurt yourself with the tools..

[zidaneong]

pro sia, bro.

[phantom628]

very nicely done!

[116520]

Amazing job! Did you cramp the watch or did with the plexi crystal removed?

[caeden]

Amazing job! Did you cramp the watch or did with the plexi crystal removed?

It was all free hand...only removed the bezel.

[Cessna]

Cool

Wow Cool Bro....That was awesome...something so simple that never came into my mind.... Thanks for sharing

[SamGMT]

Veri swee...thanks for sharing

[triton]

haha. i guess after friday's comment, u could not take it..

anyway, now if u go out with this watch, i wonder how many will say it is not original?

[newbie09]

Nice n special....

[caeden]

Just completed a 2 minute finishing job, with one of these...




I tried to catch the light, to show the even surface reflection...





After much scrutinising....it is scratchless & good as new. Not a trace of a cyclops, ever being present.



Cheers!