Dagaz Watch Ocean Silver Omega Planet Ocean Watch Hands
Guides

How To Change Seiko 7S26 Watch Hands The MacGyver Way

Now before going on I have to put a disclaimer here that I highly not recommend doing it this way but decided to tell what I did since I didn’t want to wait and order the proper tools. So since getting the Seiko SNK027K Seamaster, I wanted to try my first modding by buying a set of watch hands from Dagaz Watch which is a highly popular online store for selling watch parts for modding especially Seiko mechanical watches. Dagaz Watch is located in Hong Kong run by Jake Bourdeau who started the business with another partner who has since passed away from cancer.

Anyway so after browsing through the store, I decided to get the Ocean Silver Superluminova hands. According to the website this set is using Swiss SUPERLUMINOVA BLEND %95 C1 + %5 C3 for added brightness. The C1 and C3 are a kind of color code used by the SUPERLUMINOVA brand. I received the hands after a week or two and decided to start straightaway with the modding project since it looked easy from the video and online tutorials (that’s what I thought).

Dagaz Watch Ocean Silver Omega Planet Ocean Watch Hands

So these are the tools you are supposed to use:-

1) Watch hands remover tool
2) Caseback opener
3) Watch hand setting tool
4) Tweezers
5) Strap removal tool

So since I didn’t have any of those except the tweezers, here’s my own list of tools:-

1) Nail clipper
2) Paper
3) Rubber ball
4) Rubber mat
5) Ballpoint pen refill
6) Strap removal tool

Change Watch Hands Equipment Tools

How To Remove Watch Strap Drilled Lugs Seiko

Yes, sounds crazy hence the disclaimer at the beginning. So first step is to get the straps out of the way and luckily the SNK027K has drilled lugs for easy removal. Then we need to remove the caseback. So since I don’t have the tool, what I did was get a rubber ball and place a rubber mat at the back of the case, press and turn counter clockwise. Now this may not work for tightly screwed cases. In that case better to get the proper caseback remover tool. After that is out and using the strap removal tool press on the lever shown on the image to remove the crown.

How To Remove Crown From Seiko Movement

Lift Seiko Movement Out Of Case

Watch Dial Paper Protector

After removing crown, I have cut out a piece of paper as shown in the image to protect the watch face. This is not really needed though but just extra precaution. Now this is the crazy part. Using the nail clipper, put it right under the seconds hand press and pull it gently. Do the same for the minutes hand and then lastly the hour hands. The seconds hands was kind tight and I ended up bending it. Anyway I wasn’t intending to reuse these hands so that’s fine for me.

Removed All Seiko Watch Hands

Place Dagaz Watch Hands

Push Watch Hands With Ink Refill

After pulling all the hands out, you put the crown back and in time setting mode turn till you start to see the date start to switch then stop. That’s probably the point where you want to put the hour and minute hands lined up at exactly 12 o’clock. The tweezer is the tool you need to pick up the hands as you don’t want your fingers to smudge the shiny polished hands. First put the hour hand in position using an ink refill hollow end tip which seems to fit nicely and gently press the hand down till it’s in place. Do the same for the minutes hand. The seconds hand is probably the hardest and required damn a lot of tries to get it in position. It was successful in the end and with a gentle nudge down to put it in place.

Seiko SNK027K Seamaster With Dagaz Watch HandsSeiko Lumibrite SuperLuminova C1 Lume

There you have it, my first mod with the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean like hands. I was initially planning this hands for another mod with the Seiko SKX173 but then decided to do it with this watch instead. I’m quite pleased with it and the lume definitely glows brighter as compared with the original LumiBrite. A few negatives is that the hands lume color doesn’t match up exactly with the dial and the minutes hand is a bit too long. Still, I think i prefer the new hands better than the original. How do you like the look? Share it in the comments below.

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