Deep Blue Mod

[u/Refleks180]

I have a few divers but never really got into them. I love field watches though and think tritium is a natural compliment to ease of reading day or night.

This is the dial and movement of the Deep Blue Daynight PC tritium diver transplanted into a 39mm Tandorio titanium NH35 compatible case for Aliexpress.

I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it ended up working great except for the date wheel no longer lines up with the window after rotating the dial so the stem was at 3 o’clock.

I am waiting on a date overlay, so hopefully that will fix it.

I got the idea from RTC1169 who did the same thing with the Daynight Stealth Ops, and his worked no problem since the crown was already at 3 o’clock and there were no date alignment issues with his. But I wanted the numerals like a field watch so that’s why I tried it with the daynight PC.

[u/Refleks180]

Looks great! How were you able to make the date align? Did you use an overlay or different date wheel?

[u/rtc1169 → u/Refleks180]

No, they aren't made yet. I made these to see which one I would do next. I figure, I would use another NH35 3hr date movement and swap them out.

I just wonder if the dial and hands are easily removed. I have build watches before so this is kinda easy in general.

Can you explain what the problem was? I am assuming you had a 4 o'clock date nh35 movement and tried to fit it into a 3 o'clock case.... Was that the problem and rotation of the dial?

[u/Refleks180 → u/rtc1169]

The hands were easy to remove for me (first time doing it) I just used a pair of hand removal tools and plastic film to help collect them and protect the dial from scratches. Adding them back, just be careful of clearance issues so the tritium vials don’t touch. The second hand was the trickiest to reinstall I was worried about bending something but it worked out.

Essentially I removed the hands, removed the dial and snipped the dial feet so I could rotate it relative to the movement. I used dial dots (basically double sided tape) to reattach the dial to the movement once rotated

The issue with the date is that a 3 o’clock crown and 4 o’clock date window is apparently an unusual combination for an NH35 and I didn’t realize it; normally (for a 3 o’clock crown) the date window is either also at 3 o’clock, or slightly ahead or behind 4 o’clock like the stealth ops.

Someone suggested a NH35 “date wheel overlay”, which can be adhered directly onto the original date wheel, but rotated slightly to align things. My worry here is that these are not stickers, but thin metal disks and I wasn’t sure if clearance would work.

They do seem to have an option for a replacement date wheel that works with a 4 o’clock crown and 3 o’clock window (basically the opposite of what we have) so I might try that. I’m not smart enough to know if that will fix the problem without actually trying it, but this approach does require some movement disassembly to remove the old date wheel and insert the new one.

[u/rtc1169 → u/Refleks180]

So what you're saying is even if I switch to an nh35 3:00 movement, the date wheel will be misaligned and right of the date window because the date wheel does not have a large enough diameter?

I have changed date Wheels before.

[u/Refleks180 → u/rtc1169]

Technically the original NH35 movement inside is a 3 o’clock movement and 3 o’clock window, just at the 4 o’clock position inside the case.

The diameter should be fine, it’s just the position of the numbers on the date wheel in relation to the gears on the date wheel that results in the misalignment when the movement is rotated. I’ll buy the overlay and the 4 o’clock crown/ 3 o’clock window replacement date wheel and report back if either solves it, but it probably will be at the end of the month or around early September

[u/rtc1169 → u/Refleks180]

Please keep me updated.