Since I was writing about the modification that was done to my Marathon JSAR, I thought I post about the modification done to the SAR. The SAR is the original watch issued to the US and Canadian militaries as well as NASA divers at the National Buoyancy Lab, where astronauts train underwater for low-gravity environments.
Anyway the original SAR watch looks like this. Many were divided on the cyclops lens over the date window and also the black on white date wheel.
So, since I was ordering the new white on black date wheel for the JSAR conversion, I thought I might as well order one for the SAR in case I want to convert the watch as well. After getting the parts, and looking through the Internet, I decided that I will modify the SAR.
The modification to be carried out:
1. Remove the cyclops lens
2. Change the date wheel.
So off to my watch guy.
Within 5 minutes of me telling him what I want done, this was the state the watch was in. Talk about a fast worker. You can see the removed hands, the dial and the spacer under the dial and the new white on black date wheel already installed on the ETA 2824 movement. The old date wheel can be seen lying upside down.
The next thing he did was to remove the sapphire crystal. He did this as he did not want to damage the crystal gasket when he heats up the cyclops for removal. Here is a link (video) on how to remove a cyclops lens from a watch. Please make sure you know what you are doing before trying this out. My watch guy uses a soldering iron for a more focused heating. It took a total 2 seconds for the cyclops to pop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzhYmhawDCgThe removed cyclops.
He subsequently installed the crystal and did a water resistance check.
The watch, converted.
Have to admit that perhaps having the black on white date wheel (original) may have been a better choice as it does 'balance' out the dial with the marker at 9 o'clock. Well changing the date wheel is not a biggie. See how it goes over the next few days.
