Invicta Submariner (8926OB/C)

[MHT01 1]

If you want to take a stab at modding and getting something resembling a vintage Submariner (....or, well, any mod to the 8926), I made this in hopes that it would help someone out along the way. I am absolutely amazed at how this transformed, and absolutely love the end result.

 

Inspiration for this project were Rolex 6538, MKII Kingston, and Raven Vintage.

 

 

I’ll list the tools/parts that I used.

Invicta Sub 8926OB 

Dagaz BB Tribute Project Dial 3:00 

Yobokies rose gold Mercedes hands 

Tropic 19 crystal

Crystal glue 

Movement holder and case back remover 

Hands remover 

Bezel insert from Ebay – Search listings for “16610 bezel” 

Dremel with stone grinding bit

Leatherman Micro or small knife

Sewing needle or pin

Ink cartridge from a ball point pen

Hand installation

 

Total cost was about $212, but this is including tools that will be able to use again…

 

I started with the Invicta Sub  with a Seiko NH35A movement.

 

 

First note regarding removing the bezel….it’s cheap aluminum, so it will bend, ding, and get jacked up very easily.

I didn’t/don’t have an Xacto knife, so went and got my trusty Leatherman Micro and used the knife on it to remove the bezel insert. Very gently fit the tip of the knife in between the crystal and the bezel insert. If you are replacing the crystal to a Tropic 19 like me, I didn’t care about the stock crystal so I put a couple of nicks in it. Once you get some footing underneath the bezel insert, slowly pry up, move the knife a little around the crystal and lift…repeat until the bezel insert is out.

 

 

And it’s off!

 

 

Next up was getting the bezel itself off. I struggled with this a little. If you look REALLY closely, in between the crystal and the bezel you will see an octagonal wire. You need to find one end of it and start prying/pulling it up and out. Once you do, slowly work your way around the crystal/bezel until it’s fully out. I wouldn't use a pry tool to lift up on the bezel, as it's pretty cheap, and can easily bend, ultimately ruining it.

 

 

 

 

 

Once that wire is pulled out, you can slowly wiggle and pull up the bezel. When the bezel is off, you will see another wire. Take note of it for replacing, and remove it from the hole:

 

 

And here are both wires extracted:

 

 

Next up was to remove the movement. In order to do that, you need to remove the winding stem. Being that my eyesight sucks, this step took me a while to find out how/where to release the stem.

 

First off, the winding stem is in the wrong position in the pic below. The winding stem needs to be pulled out to the first (winding) position. If the winding stem is in any other position, the piece of metal that I’m pointing to below, will be covering the hole that you need to press a sewing pin into to remove the stem. Once it’s in the right position, push a sewing needle into the tiniest hole ever and pull the winding stem out. Now the movement can pop right out.

 

 

Now with the movement out of the case, the next step was to remove the stock crystal. I used the most technologically advanced method ever. I hit it a couple times with the butt end of a screwdriver and it popped right off. 

 

 

Next up was getting rid of the “Invicta” engraving on the case. Others have filed it off with a metal file. I don’t have one, so figured I would give the old Dremel a whirl using a stone bit. It zipped that sucker right off. I REALLY wanted to remove the crown guards, to make it look closer to the inspiration pieces, but I didn't have the guts to remove the crown tube, so the guards stayed.

 

 

Time to remove the old dial and hands. I used a cheap hand removal tool which took all of about 5 seconds to get them off. And that was only because I was making sure I wasn’t jacking things up.

 

 

Next up was to install the Dagaz dial (this dial is AMAZING. The quality is top notch), which popped right in. Here is where things got hairy for me, and mainly because I don’t have a loupe and for some reason, my hands shake like CRAZY. I started to install the hands. I got the hour hand on fine by using an ink cartridge from a ball point pen. That one was no problem. I struggled with the hours hand for about half an hour, and finally got it on. Then I attempted to the seconds hand on, which caused the minutes hand to come off again. I invested about an hour and 15 minutes trying to get the hours/seconds hands on with no luck.

 

 

Next up, I sanded the case where I had previously used the Dremel to remove the Invicta logo. I used a basic hand sanding block, 220 grit sandpaper first, then 400 grit sandpaper. 

 

 

Now the movement, etc!

 

 

As you can see, the pic above also has the bezel put on. I didn’t get any pics of this process, but it was a huge pain for me. I was so frustrated, that I forgot to take pics. 

 

The last step was putting the bezel insert in.

 

 

Hope this helps anyone out there looking to do this themselves! If I can do it, anyone can!!!!!!!

[Fenney 0]

thanks for the kind words, Great work!!

[Guest bradjack]

A lot of people use the Seiko SKX007, but I think the 8926 provides a look that's closer to the original

[gshock 1]

This thread is an incredible tutorial. Thanks for writing it out.

[cmmaster 2]

Very nice! makes me want to start my project 

[buffmen 4]

Great job! Maybe one of these days I'll get up the nerve to do this. Thanks!

[EskimoJoe 0]

All this information is greatly appreciated and extremely useful. My one question is if one were to shave the crown guards, how would they remove the tube to do so? Also, could you give a quick run down of how the bezel is re-installed? Thanks for the info.

[Fenney 0]

All this information is greatly appreciated and extremely useful. My one question is if one were to shave the crown guards, how would they remove the tube to do so? Also, could you give a quick run down of how the bezel is re-installed? Thanks for the info.

Here is a link http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=msg&goto=837204&rid=8523#msg_837204 can answer your second question.