February 18, 2026
It has been a couple months since I did a full on skeletonization, I believe Transitions #1 was the last, and I feel like starting another one… So while digging through my box of vintage watches, I ran across this 1960s Helbros with a AS1583N movement. Most of these time gages in my vintage box are in decent shape and just awaiting their turn to be serviced and passed on for the price of the service, but I have developed different plans for this one.
Having serviced a few calibers from the Adolf Schild factory, I do believe these movements to be robust enough to survive a skeletonization. The AS1583 is a perfect candidate. Since it is a time only caliber, the mainplate is not routed out to accommodate a calendar complication, and its flat surface should result in an attractive design.
The dial is stamped, and has a wonderful pattern of thin raised lines that come together from different angles and divide it into quarters forming a crosshair motif. Most of the stamped brass dials I have come across are made of soft brass that is easy to carve, but tricky to cut. I will give it my best shot, keeping in mind that a light touch with the saw shall be very important.
Since the dial itself acts as the hour wheel keeper, I have to save the metal around the center hole and connect it to the outer ring dial. Luckily, the crosshairs at 12, 3, 6 and 9 provide a straight forward solution…
Now that I have a rough idea of what the dial will look like, I can start planning the mainplate skeletonization pattern.
February 21, 2026
Commencing with the mainplate cutting and shaping today… It might not seem like a lot has happened today, but yeah, a lot has…
From solid plate…
… through the cutting and shaping…
… and a bit of rough surfacing.
February 23, 2026
A final surfacing and shaping of the mainplate with a superfine diamond stick is the first order of the day…
… and a remake of the rotor fills in the rest of the day. I’m not sure why, since this time gage will have a solid caseback? But there you have it…
A quick and superficial ‘dry-fit’ of the work done so far doesn’t hurt to inspire to keep me going forward with the project…
Pretty cool so far…
February 24, 2026
Starting the day off with a polishing of the mainplate and rotor, followed by a serious bath in the ultrasonic cleaner to get rid of the polish and start off with squeaky clean surfaces for the silvering…
The following couple photos are of the final silvered parts. To find out more about the silvering process, in which silver atoms from a solution get plated onto the surfaces of the brass parts, please click on the link below…
