This is a video I did which was a hands on review for DIY Watch Club. This is a company that sell watches as a kit that you can build at home / or give as a gift. The product comes with all the tools and video tutorials provided. You can choose from a variety of styles of watches and customise with hands, dials etc to make your own unique product. I applaud this company as they are showing that watch making even at its basic level can be achieved by anyone with the determination to try.
DIY Watch club have not stood still and have developed a kit that you can use to blue your own watch hands and screws the traditional way by using a flame torch and some brass filings. You are oxidising the steel at high temperatures that at a certain point will turn blue.
This was my first time trying this and I had to film it too. I had allot of fun trying and successfully managed to blue the hands and then took my Ironwatch that was using a Miyota movement through a display caseback and was able to blue the screws to make it look allot more interesting.
I was really pleased with the outcome and this will be something I do more on future restoration builds on and off the channel when I see a movement that might suit this.
I was also sent a watch from DIY Watch Club Mosel range. These are a very nice dress watch that I could then use my newly blued hands on. Here is the result of that. Please bare in mind its not easy to capture the blue on camera all that well, especially in the shadows.
You can see here my second hand is a lighter blue than the hour and minute hands. There is an element of skill and practice to be acquired to get them all to match which can be only gained though experience. Each hand is a different proportion so the second hand would blue quicker than the hour for instance. This is why you blue each hand separately using this kit.
Here is my hands on review video:
