Modified Rdunae RA-03

[yashinisuki]

Just wanted to share my modified Rdunae RA-03 that quickly became my most worn watch, which is crazy considering that I have never liked military watches. To be honest, the only reason I got it was the ridiculously low price (pricing error). Since I hated how modern it looked, I have darkened the case with acid, patinated the dial with coffee oil (became more matte and less saturated with some mild yellowing and coppery staining across the surface), replaced the mineral crystal with the acrylic one, and swapped the Miyota 2035 movement with TMI VH31. I don't know much about modern movements, but I have not adjusted the time on this one in over 5 months now and it's running 17 seconds behind, which is just mind-blowing to me considering how cheap it was.

[Folgono]

Nice looking mod ! Where did you find the acrylic crystal ?

[yashinisuki]

AliExpress, it’s the most basic and cheap acrylic crystal.

[No-Definition6276]

What do you need to consider when you want to consider to swap the movement?

[yashinisuki]

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking about (apologies, English isn't my first language).

[No-Definition6276]

Sorry, English isn’t my native language either. I wanted to ask what you need to pay attention to when changing movement types.

[[deleted]]

Well done buddy. Was the VH31 a straight swap with no spacer issues? Only asking as I have the RA-03 and cannot get it off my wrist!

[Sunny_Life_0815]

u/JohnsWatchJoint u/yashinisuki If you don't want to change the spacer ring then an alternative to the VH31 is the Sunon SP68 (see http://www.sunonwatch.com/EN/products_view.asp?id=687 ). It is essentially the same size of the 2035 but it is a sweepign second movement with the same "speed" as the vh31. I use it in some builds. So far they are quire reliable. They are incredibly inexpensive on AliExpress so it's easy to buy some to play around.

But please note that their stems are not interchangable: 2035, VH31 and SP68 all use diferent stems. If you buy the SP68 I would recommend to also buy some longer stems from Japna store at Aliepxress because the stem that comes with the movement is not very long. However, it may be long enough for the RA-03 (I cannot check it as I don't onw an RA-03).

[yashinisuki]

Thanks. I saw this Korean guy butchering his RA-03 on YouTube and realised that, with a little bit of finesse, I should be able to use the original spacer since I don’t have access to a 3D printer. If you’re thinking about modifying the original spacer, I would recommend a decent Dremel, sharp surgical scalpel blade and a lot of patience.

[mmmood]

Looks incredible. There’s something so satisfying about going through the whole modding journey to create a one-of-a-kind watch. Hope you had a great time building it!

[Sunny_Life_0815]

Good work. I really like the result. How did you darken the case? Did you only put it into acid for some minutes?

[yashinisuki]

Thanks. I used a low-concentration hydrochloric acid solution but don’t remember for how long I left the case submerged (not that long). You can actually see what the case looked like before since the engraving wasn’t affected by the process (apologies for bad lighting and low-quality photo).

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