Dick Tracy Watch Build

I am really astonished at how well this came out. I have been going over the screen grabs and your watch an the differences are slim as this is a really well made replica. Where you planning on adding any bluetooth capability to it? That has always been something I wanted to add to one of these watches for sure.
 
DrMcoy said:
very cool project. i used to have one of the "officially licensed" watches but sold it off years ago. it was nice, but not nearly this accurate. will keep watching this thread with great interest. i would love to have one, bout happy if it simply had a working watch. the "sound bites from movie" idea is cool, though.
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that one went to me and I sold it off a few years ago. Wore it every day. Was a great watch but this is spectacular. would LOVE to get in on a run or a parts kit.
 
nickjm007 said:
Daniel, that's a great observation. It does look mother of pearl to me as well. I will look for specialty paper onto which I can print the numbers. I'm positive I can find it.

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Scotophor, that would be very helpful, thanks!
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Yeah many old watches used mother of pearl dials. I used to deal in scrap gold/silver and have had hundreds of watches pass thru my hands, that's the only reason I noticed it.

Thought: You might be able to get the look using some thin sheet of brushed aluminum. Then apply the numbers using heat transfer paper?

il_340x270.629540714_rrcq.jpg
 
Daniel Nelms said:
Thought: You might be able to get the look using some thin sheet of brushed aluminum. Then apply the numbers using heat transfer paper?
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Hmmm .... I like that suggestion. After some closer looking, I do actually believe a brushed steel might look the most accurate. I'll look into heat transferring.
 
Amazing job on the replication! Dick Tracy is one of my childhood favs, and I've been wanting a replica of the watch for ages. There was an older thread here that was making great progress/research, but your work is awesome! Add me to the list of people interested if you ever decide to do a run.

As for the watch face, I was thinking aluminum, as well. Maybe lighter than the watch body, with a vertical grain to the aluminum? It's hard to tell. I believe Dick Tracy is on Blu-ray now... are there any kind souls that could provide any decent screen caps?
 
sarni1000 said:
Should we be getting our hopes up for a run of these? :)
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Well, if the final iteration turns out well enough to make a run, I will certainly consider it. I expected at least a few people would be interested. The idea of others having my work displayed makes me extra obsessed with quality, though, so my main goal is to create an excellent reproduction first.

In fact, I should do a run because producing at least 50 would significantly cut down the cost per watch and would allow me to outsource G-S Supplies to custom manufacture a mineral glass crystal more cost effectively.

First, I'll just see how the final iteration turns out.
 
I love the brushed aluminum/steel idea. As long as there was a clear enough difference in tone from the steel of the body and the face. Good observation.

Also, omg look at this thing you guys.
 
agliarept said:
Where you planning on adding any bluetooth capability to it? That has always been something I wanted to add to one of these watches for sure.
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Mostly due to financial and time costs, I have no plans to add Bluetooth or any audio devices to this replica. I did look into adding Bluetooth tech, however, and decided to simply leave space inside into which the working chronograph pusher enters just in case I want to add a gizmo in the future. There is not, as you might imagine, a lot of space in there, though!
 
Here's my first go at distortion-correcting the promo photo. Having practically nothing else to go by other than the prop itself makes things interesting, and requires certain assumptions that may not be correct. For example, I had to assume that the case is of constant width and that the sides are parallel and corners are right angles, or very nearly so. If any of those assumptions turn out to be false, then my manipulations will have added some distortion rather than (or in addition to) removing some distortion. Effects I attempted to correct include lens pincushion, rotation, perspective due to tilt, and perspective due to the case itself being curved to fit the wrist.

Anyway, now it should be clear that the speaker/mic cutout really is asymmetrical with respect to top and bottom. However, it now appears that rather than being narrower at the bottom, actually: A) the top and bottom ends appear to be about the same width, B) the long sides are unevenly curved -- especially the right side -- so that the widest point is above the middle, and C) it's skewed a bit, such that the bottom end is slightly to the right, relative to the top. You might also notice that the pusher beside the speaker grille is a tad crooked. The cutout for the watch crystal is crooked too, being rotated slightly counter-clockwise (but the watch dial itself seems to be fairly straight, relative to the crown and the outside of the case.)

DickTracyWatch_distortion-corrected.png
 
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While I don't want to stop you from building your prop as you see fit, I also don't necessarily recommend that you or anyone try to exactly replicate all of these apparent anomalies of the original prop. Just because it was built in a seemingly slapdash fashion, doesn't mean that it was meant to appear so on screen.

On the other hand, since the film was based on what were originally hand-drawn newspaper comic strips, perhaps the makers did intend for the prop to have irregularities that would evoke the feeling of being hand-drawn (whatever that might mean, in regard to a live-action film!)

So it's up to you, whether you want to build an exact screen-accurate replica, or an "idealized" version representing what the production's prop makers would have made if they had unlimited time and budget resources and were striving for perfection, or something in-between.
 
One more thing, though it may be a moot point, but the edges in the still, particularly around the front seem worn or rounded off slightly. I can't tell from the photos of your prop if that's the same, but it feels like there's a more gentle taper than a harsh edge there.
 
spectre_general said:
One more thing, though it may be a moot point, but the edges in the still, particularly around the front seem worn or rounded off slightly. I can't tell from the photos of your prop if that's the same, but it feels like there's a more gentle taper than a harsh edge there.
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Agreed. Thanks for the input. The fillet on mine isn't as large as the original prop. I'll fix that.
 
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