February 13, 2026
Has anyone ever heard of the brand BCBGMAXAZRIA? I sure never have until I bought a skeleton watch on ebay with that name on the dial and looked it up on line… a ladies fashion brand, go figure… So in the spirit of ladies fashion, I am going to try and create something special out of this ‘not quite my style’ time gage.
Lets start with the dial! Why the original dial places emphasis on Swarovski crystals instead of the Miyota 8N24 automatic skeleton movement underneath is beyond me. Why the escape wheel, instead of the balance, is exposed in an open heart window is also beyond me… Lets fix that!
We’re going to expose the entire movement and end up with an odd-shaped, organic ring dial. The fake precious stones are going away as well… not sure if I’m going to replace them with something else, or just leave indentations in the brass… we’ll see! I’m going to keep the logo plate and engrave the 3 numeric markers as well.
After grinding the bumps of the ringdial, and engraving the numerals, the dial has received an 400 grit sandblasting (the rodico is protecting the logo plate which has been polished). Re-engraving the numerals and engraving the logo, and filling the engraving with calligraphy ink is next. Silvering the result brings me to a stopping point in the dial making process…
February 17, 2026
Lets be honest now,… the Miyota 8N24 movement is not the most attractive skeleton movement out there, to say the least. The angular nature and abrupt changes in the thickness of its mainplate gives it a very inorganic look. I’m going to try to change that by grinding off all those abrupt transitions…
A round, 1.5mm bur knocks down the industrial strength transitions on the mainplate to a more moderate level, and rough diamond stick smooths out the surface a bit more.
I like that a bit better, and will pause here for further considerations on the mainplate decoration, …and to start work on other parts…
… such as the 3/4 bridge that secures the winding and time trains of the movement.
Secured in a bed of thermoplasic, I practice with a 90 degree graver… some stars, some flames, some bezeling…
The exposed brass inside the engravings is next treated with Selenium Dioxide, oxidizing the surface to a mate black that stands out well against the original, polished nickel finish of the bridge.
Oh, but that main spring barrel… Why couldn’t Miyota expose the main spring and give an indication of the watch’s winding state? What is the purpose of a skeleton movement but to show the mechanical intricacies of how it measures time? I mean, really, how hard could it have been to punch some holes through the barrel at the factory? They just had to make my job more challenging … and I’m kind of glad they did…
Starting out by drilling and beveling some round holes… using a graver to practice some more engraving and oxidation… followed by some 2000 grit linear brushing…
February 19, 2026
Let us emblazon the rotor with some engraved decorations and the GPF logo today… put a bit of texture on it with some 2000 grit sandpaper… and VOILA! Something unique…
March 12, 2026
Continuing on with the movement modifications, today the raw brass was oxidized to a most unusual blue color using a very diluted solution of selenium dioxide…
Further progress on the dial… well, as you might have expected, I decided to add some stones to the dial… In order to do that, the original depressions for the stones had to be slightly enlarged to an even 1mm and drilled through with a smaller bit in order to accommodate the cone of the new stones… 57 of them… I added a layer of lacquer for some sparkle and epoxied 1mm lab grown, faceted rubies = dial fini !!!
March 19, 2026
It took some time for the sapphires to arrive in the mail, but they are here, and they look great! It was a pain in the behind to bust the glass beads out of the bezel and dig out the glue (I almost took a torch to the bezel to melt the glue and pull out the beads, but at the last moment – torch was on – I realized that there is more then likely a rubber O-ring in-between the bezel and case, and that it would also melt).
The next step was unplanned and added another complexity to this Queen Skeleton… I stumbled upon a video of an IWC watchmaker hand stippling a bridge for one of their watches, and I really liked the effect! I thought that the stippled look would emphasize the dial and bezel, and would be a great addition to the case of this time gage… so I sacrificed a point stake by ever so slightly rounding its tip, and did my best to tap minute dimples into the stainless steel…
Short video at https://www.instagram.com/p/DWCxowoiKhr/ !!!
… for ever later…
The sapphire stones were the perfect size, they went in their slots fairly easily, and the result, I think, is fantastic!
