DW 7032: Comparing Hands

[lhooq]

[spun off from my Work-in-Progress thread.]

I don't think there's any dispute that DW's 7032 has the most accurate Homeplate dial in the aftermarket. Unfortunately, it's let down by hands that are crude representations of the actual units. So what's a Monte Carlo owner to do?

To the best of my knowledge, there are five options other than DW's: Jewelry & Watch, NDTrading, Classic Watch Parts, Yuki, and... Tudor. (Good luck finding gens!) At the time I bought this 7032, I also ordered a CWP handset as it looked to be the best available. Yuki's 7032 handset was out of stock for a long time, but returned to shelves about two months ago. I never considered buying the expensive NDT or Phong sets for reasons cited below.

So let's compare three of those handsets with the real deal. The photo is obviously a composite, but I've taken care to resize all objects to scale:

HAND LENGTHS (in mm)

Genuine (est)	Center-Tip	Center-Tail	Overall

Sweep		14.6		4.0		18.6

Hour		9.1		2.1		11.2

Minute		13.2		2.1		15.3


DW		Center-Tip	Center-Tail	Overall	

Sweep		13.8		2.7		16.5

Hour		9.1		2.5		11.6

Minute		13.6		2.6		16.2


CWP		Center-Tip	Center-Tail	Overall	

Sweep		13.1		4.0		17.1

Hour		8.2		2.4		10.6

Minute		12.0		2.5		14.5


Yuki		Center-Tip	Center-Tail	Overall	

Sweep		14.3		3.0		17.3

Hour		9.2		1.9		11.1

Minute		13.6		1.9		15.5

None of the aftermarket hands is a perfect match, so what's to be done? Let's keep it simple:

1. Get the Yuki handset, but keep the DW subdial hands.

2. Shorten the tip of the Yuki minute hand until it falls within the white minute track.

3. Strip/repaint the DW subdial hands so that they are white, with unpainted centers.

In addition to being the closest to the gens in size and shape, Yuki's hands are the only ones that are faceted i.e. they're creased down the center. (This is more visible in the pictures at the bottom.) All other suppliers have minute and hour hands that are flat surfaces. For this reason alone, the Yuki handset is the only one worth considering. Unfortunately, Yuki's subdial hands are very different from the gen's. They're well-made and painted the right way, but they're also too thin to be credible.

Here's a better look at the DW and Yuki sweep hands, flipped over. DW's sweep has an unsightly bulge around the center, and Yuki's color better matches the orange on the 5-10 minute sector. Nevertheless, DW's shade of orange is still an improvement over the pinkish hands of Phong and NDT.

On my watch, I've kept the CWP sweep hand. It doesn't reach the minute numerals (as on the gen), but the tip is not as noticeable as the accurately long tail. Also, I'd like to get some return for sunk costs!

I hope this has been helpful to present and future Association members.

[rosnik]

Sorry Martin,

I'm not in accord about GEN measures and colour.

I sow some gen 7032s with short minute hands too.

And some Gen 7032s with darker colour lumen too.

Wile,

my thank you , for this nice and really interesting post!

[lhooq]

Nico:

I didn't make any statements about what color the lume should be, as I've seen dull yellow and dark brown, and everything in between. As for hand lengths on the gen, I have also seen variations in minute hand length, but I have never seen one extend past the white minute track. I suppose anything's possible with Rolex... and Tudor!

[rosnik]

Yes, my friend.

Sorry again .

I nether seen one minute hand, extend past the white minute track too,

but I seen some shorter than minute track .

[Jimster]

Here's the latest eBay offering:

7032

[vlydog]

This thread is not only very informative and useful but very generous and thoughtful too!

Thank you M.

[lhooq]

I just realized something about the DW hands, and why they look the way they do: Is it possible the hour and minute hands came from a 1019 Milgauss rep?

Jimster: Those are really terrible pictures of what seems to be a nice watch! "I SHOULD HAVE WIPED IT DOWN BEFORE MY PHOTOS, THIS WATCH IS SHINEY LIKE A NEW PENNY YOU JUST CAN'T TELL FROM MY PHOTOS."

B, planning to get one down the road?

[vlydog]

O.T.	actually thinking about the new Heritage Chronograph.

[chiman12]

Great info to have! Thanks M!

I think the DW hands are based on vintage 773x chronographs. I can't recall who it was on this forum, but he had used gen hands from a vintage chronograph of the same era as the 7032...

[lhooq]

Interesting, C... I'll have to take a closer look the next time I go searching through auctions of vintage chronographs.

vlydog: I tried sending you a PM, but got an error like so:

The following errors were found

The member vlydog cannot receive any new messages

This personal message has not been sent

[mrboombasteke]

None of the aftermarket hands is a perfect match, so what's to be done? Let's keep it simple:

1. Get the Yuki handset, but keep the DW subdial hands.

2. Shorten the tip of the Yuki minute hand until it falls within the white minute track.

3. Strip/repaint the DW subdial hands so that they are white, with unpainted centers.

Great info here. Thanks. How do you recommend one shortens the tip of a hand?

[gimme]

My watchsmith shortened the minute hand with a file.

That's me quoting LHOOQ.

[lhooq]

What Gimme said about what I said! A hone should work well, too.