Citizen NY0040: summer edition
In this article you will find out how to change the original black insert to a Citizen NY0040 rhinestone by Angelo de Trigalux. We will modify it by changing the black insert for a pepsi insert of a Citizen NY2300 and thus highlight even more its summery appearance.
Modifications made by Angelo de Trigalux
This Citizen NY0040, personalized by the famous Angelo from Trigalux relumer, was purchased long ago as a summer automatic watch. I saw it on the Hablemos de Relojes forum, and it caught my attention from the very first moment.
The Citizen NY0040 is a model that I like a lot, I think it is a little "hidden" under the shadow of one of its competitors, the famous Seiko SKX007, but it is a real gem: reliable, perfect size for small wrists, and as a curiosity, its crown located at 8, which makes it a very comfortable watch to wear by avoiding the crown to be stuck when bending the wrist.
If we look closely, Angelo's modifications from the original model are as follows:
- Internal bezel corresponding to the "radioactive" dial model (NY0040-09W)
- The blue dial belongs to the model NY0040-17L
- In addition, he has shined the indexes and needles with Superluminova C3. A work of exceptional quality like all those made by Angelo.
All these points make it a unique watch, at least I haven't seen any similar mod. For me, only one small detail was missing, the change of the bezel insert. That black color, gave it too much "seriousness" for the summer use I had planned to give it.
And so the story begins. First, I have to find a pepsi insert so I can make the switch.
The NY0040 pepsi insert is the NY2300
Since I could not locate a pepsi insert for the Citizen NY0040, I searched the forums to see if there was a compatible insert for this model.
It didn't take me long to find that another famous Citizen model insert, the NY2300, is compatible. Here's an observation. The insert of the Citizen NY0040 I calculate that it must be 1 millimeter wider than the NY2300. This implies that if we make the change, between the edge of the bezel and the insert there will be a small "gap" barely noticeable, but there it is.
I sincerely believe that it is a small detail, but I comment it for the very demanding ones. In my case it is not the most important thing and it is not something that obsesses me, really it is almost not noticed when I look at my watch.
And another aspect of the insert when changing it, is the height at which it remains on the glass. In this case, the height can increase by half a millimeter or even less, it is really imperceptible. Quite less than the difference with the diameter of the insert that I mentioned before. I show a picture to give an idea of the height over the glass once it is placed.
How to remove the bezel from Citizen NY0040
The first problem is being able to remove the bezel without destroying the case or the bezel itself. One of the details of the quality of this watch is that between the bezel and the case, there is hardly any space and no play at all.
At first I tried to get it out as I thought best, but there was no way to do it.
It was quite hard and the risk of ending up marking the box was very high.
Until a few days ago, looking for something else, I came across this post from the Watchuseek.com forums where a user explained the steps to follow to dismantle the bezel in a simple way:
- With the nail or a plastic piece, we insert it between the box and the bezel. It costs a bit, but in the end you manage to insert it between the two. If you use a metal tool such as a knife, protect the edge so that if it escapes, it does not scratch the surface of the case or the side of the bezel
- Carefully, and while continuing to press to keep the bezel separate from the case, we begin to rotate the bezel little by little. We will be able to observe how it separates from the case.
- We continue to turn the bezel and when we take 1/4 turn, the bezel will come loose from the watch case.
Now all that's left is to change the insert, which is the easiest thing to do.
Placing the NY2300 pepsi insert
Once the bezel is removed, we must change the insert. On the back of the bezel, we check how the edge of the insert protrudes. Carefully press the insert while turning it to remove it from the bezel. This is done slowly and carefully to avoid deforming the insert.
With the insert separated from the bezel, we will have to check how the bezel glue is located. In my case, it was still in good condition, so I simply proceeded to place the new NY2300 pepsi insert into the bezel.
Before placing it back in the watch, we can take advantage of the occasion and apply a little silicone grease on the "teeth" of the back of the bezel, so when it is mounted on the watch, it will turn more smoothly.
Besides, we'll have to look at one detail. The position of the insert on the bezel. The silver triangle with the lumen bead should be right in the middle of the smooth edge of the bezel.
After gluing the insert back on the bezel, we must reassemble the bezel on the watch. And there's no mystery, we just place the bezel on the watch and press it from above. We will hear a "click" and the bezel is already in place.
As a conclusion I think that this unique Citizen NY0040 doesn't look so sober anymore, it has won with the pepsi bezel and now it is a 100% summer model.
Picture gallery
[robo-gallery id="2602"]
Buy Citizen NY0040
If you liked this Citizen NY0040, you can purchase it at the following link.
- Diámetro del mango 41.5 mm
- Mecanismo automático
- Color correa: azul
- caja y 5 años de garantía no están incluidos
Leave a Reply