Watch 2 — Spec (concept stage)

Status: future — open for refinement after Watch 1 ships Concept: The dress watch — thin, restrained, precise New skill this build introduces: Working with delicate components and high-polish surfaces. Tolerance for error is near zero.

Aesthetic

• Thin profile (~10mm or less if movement allows)
• 38–39mm case
• Sunburst dial with applied indices
• Slim, polished hands (could be Dauphine again or something more delicate — feuille, leaf, baton)
• Leather strap on a deployment buckle (more office-formal than tang)
• Color story: silvered or champagne dial; black or dark brown strap

Constraints — early thinking

• Movement upgrade: Miyota 9015 or 9039 (28,800 vph) over the NH series. Smoother sweep is appropriate for a dress watch. Note: Miyota 9015 was rejected for Watch 1 because all 4 dial feet need to be cut for some cases. By Watch 2 that's an acceptable bench operation.
• Case material: likely 316L; could explore titanium for weight reduction in a dress profile (but titanium polish is harder to maintain — fingerprints show, scratches buff out poorly).
• Crystal: flat or low-domed sapphire, AR-coated.
• Lume: minimal — dress watches typically have very small lume dots only on indices. Consider whether to lume the hands or leave them dry.

Skills to demonstrate (acceptance criteria for "Watch 2 done")

• Sunburst dial mounted with no fingerprints, no scratches, no foot misalignment
• Applied indices intact (none popped during dial-foot trim)
• Hands installed with no rub on the cleaner, more delicate dial face
• Crystal pressed without distorting the more refined case lip
• Movement regulated by Rob himself (timegrapher comes online before this build)

Sourcing strategy — early thinking

• Movement: Miyota 9015 from Esslinger (US) or Cousins UK (if UK account is open by then). Miyota 9015 is widely available; sourcing should be easier than NH38A was.
• Case: Tandorio remains the leading candidate for Miyota-compatible cases. Their Miyota Movement Watch Cases collection (https://tandoriowatch.com/collections/miyota-movement-watch-cases) is the starting point. Alternative: NamokiMODS sells Miyota cases.
• Dial: sunburst dials are widely available; both DSWatch and NamokiMODS carry them. DSWatch's "Natural dial" line (per their nav) is a sunburst section. Price: ~$25–40.
• Hands: dress hands (Dauphine, leaf, feuille, baton) are widely available. Lume choice should match dial finish — for a sunburst champagne dial, BGW9 (white-blue) often complements better than C1.
• Strap: Worn & Wound Model 1 High Craft (the $135 line) for dress aesthetic. Alternative: Cheapest Nat Strap, Hodinkee shop, various deployant-specific straps.
• Crystal: flat or low-domed sapphire, AR-coated. Cousins UK should be open by then — primary source.
• Deployment buckle: verify case lugs accept deployment hardware (some cases are tang-only).

Open questions

• Should the dial be vintage-cream or modern-silvered?
• Is BGW9 lume right, or should the dress watch have minimal lume dots only?
• Is a Dauphine repeat from Watch 1 the right move, or pick a different hand style for variety?

Risk register

• Sunburst fingerprint: dial work happens in finger cots, on a clean soft mat, with no skin contact. Index check under microscope before crystal press.
• Applied index pop: glued indices fail if the dial is dropped, twisted, or pried near them. Handle the dial only by the edge.
• Slim hands bend: dress hands are usually thinner than tool-watch hands. Press with even more care than Watch 1.

Open items

• Pick exact movement variant (Miyota 9015 vs 9039)
• Pick case finish (brushed-and-polished, fully polished, or fully brushed)
• Pick hand style (Dauphine repeat, leaf, baton, feuille)
• Decide on lume (BGW9 vs C1 vs none)
• Source comparison for dial (DSWatch vs NamokiMODS sunburst)

Watch 2 — Parts List

Source of truth for order status. Update rows in place — do not append duplicates.

Status values: proposed → ordered → shipped → received → installed

Spares / consumables

(empty until parts list firms up)

Watch 2 — Build Log

Append-only chronological journal. New entries go at the bottom under a dated header.

Format: ## YYYY-MM-DD — short title

(empty until Watch 1 ships and Watch 2 sourcing begins)

Watch 2 — Notes

Free-form observations, mistakes, things to remember for future builds. Items here that generalize beyond watch_002 should be promoted to sourcing/compatibility_notes.md or sourcing/parts_database.md.

Pre-build observations (2026-05-10)

• Sunburst dials are unforgiving. Watch 1 will teach the bench fundamentals; Watch 2 will teach handling-discipline. The two skills are different.
• The Miyota 9015 vs 9039 question is mostly about price and availability — both are 28,800 vph; the 9039 is the "no-date" variant of the 9015 (cleaner if no date complication is wanted on the dial). For a dress watch with a no-date dial, 9039 is the better default.
• Deployment buckles are more office-formal than tang buckles. Verify the chosen case will accept a deployment-style strap (some 39mm cases have tight curved-end strap geometry that fights deployments).
• Lume choice is a real design decision on a dress watch — not just "match the dial." A truly minimal dress watch has no lume at all and depends on indices and hand polish for legibility. A "dressy tool" watch (something between Watch 1 and Watch 2) has minimal C1 dots only at 12.