Nanuq

Here's our own LHOOQ in action... the bull is saying "Whoa check out the vintage Daytona!"

This is the dial for you, it's an Ingod tropical lovingly vintageized by yours truly. 200m? Pfffffft, let the whiners whine ... this is to please YOU not them. Although it IS a valid early 60s combination. http://www.vintagesubmariner.com/gallery.html

Differentials

Perfect description!

I figured I might as well wear the old beater another day.

Well said, Freddy. I was in my local A.D. chatting about vintages and the watchmaker told me about a 6538 in the back room. It was gnarly, but in the process of being restored. Some guy was fishing down on the Kenai river, walked across a small stream, and saw something flash among the rocks. He retrieved it, and saw it was an old beat up watch. It said Rolex on the dial so he brought it in to see if it was worth fixing. When the watchmaker gave him the estimate to get the watch restored to a serviceable condition (not as-new) the finder nearly died. His complaint? "It's only an old watch!"

Pffffffft, this is only scratching the surface. I'll see your complete movement and raise you a caseback ... for 1.5 times that amount. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OLD-STOCK-SUPER-RARE-Rolex-BIG-CROWN-Submariner-ref-5510-Caseback-/130986643519

Or you can throw caution to the wind and do it all in one mighty thwack. You just need better aim than I've got.

What a spectacular result! Nicely done. Remember in Spain, there is coral. And coral is a fantastic way to get some authentic aging on an "old" watch. But be careful, it cuts the hell out of your arms at the same time. Have a great trip!

Well okay, you got me. You don't really have to drive over it. But it's so much fun! If you have c-clamps for carpentry you can make two pieces of board, one with the hole for the crystal, and use the clamps to press the bezel on by squeezing the boards together. A word of warning: I have one of those cheap Chinese tools made to press on bezels and I made the mistake of using too small a "foot" on the backside when pressing a bezel ring onto my gen 1675. It actually dented in the caseback! Some of these backs are pretty thin. Think about that as you figure how you're going to apply the squish to get the bezel seated. If the lugs protrude lower than the caseback, then your boards will bear against the lug tips (don't bend them). Otherwise try cutting a 1/4" length of PVC pipe that's about the same diameter as the caseback threads and epoxy it to your board, then center your caseback over the PVC and your bezel inside the convenient hole in the other board, and squish 'em. You can't go wrong. Consider also that if it takes more than a "reasonable" amount of pressure to seat the bezel, chances are you need to sand it more. I can almost ... not quite ... seat them with my manly Alaskan thumbs.

That's great progress on the case! Remember thinner is better... these things are almost invisible from the side.

Aaaaaaaaaand with that, I'm locking it down.

I think this thread should be "To physicists..." and then it would get reaaaaaaaaaaallllly interesting!

Darn, I get an error when I try your link. I bet it sets some couch divers on their ear. Larry (that was my friend) told me about working under the polar ice cap at some ridiculous depths. I sure wish he was still alive, I'd love to ask him again. I was over on WUS talking about Doxas and a guy popped up asking about the early SUB300s. We went back and forth in PM for awhile and it turned out the guy's father, a something "Maughner" or so... had worked with Larry in SeaLab. Small world. Like you said, there is a very small fraternity worldwide of guys that do this work. CORRECTION: I was able to get onto that page via another route, here's what they have: "Study shows that relatively few deep sea dives have been undertaken in Norway compared with other countries such as the USA, France and Japan. The study shows that Norwegian deep sea diving occupies a relatively modest position in an international context in terms of scope and progression to greater depths. International deep sea diving to 300 metres of sea water (MSW) and deeper was quite widespread 10-15 years before the start of Norwegian deep sea diving. There have been many dives to 300-313 MSW, but relatively few down to 500 MSW or deeper. The ten deepest (from 600 MSW down) have taken place in the USA, Germany and the UK. The deepest hyperbaric chamber dive was performed in Marseille (701 MSW), and the deepest offshore dive was in the Mediterranean (534 MSW), both by the French company Comex. The deepest operational dives on the Norwegian Continental Shelf have been very restricted in scope, with a maximum depth of 248 MSW (in connection with the laying of the Statpipe pipeline). The report, which has been prepared by Norsk undervannsintervensjon AS (NUI) on behalf of the PSA, only covers trial, training, test and verification dives. Such compilations have been published in the past, but none have included as many deep sea dives as in this report. Source: Your Subsea News" Yeah so Larry used to say working the oil fields in the North Sea was "pretty deep". Ummmmm yeah, when it's rated at 248MSW yeah... that's pretty deep.

I'll toss one small, very tiny twig on the fire... I wrote my state senator Mark Begich and asked him why he voted to exempt himself from Obamacare. If it's good enough for the great unwashed masses, then by God, it's good enough for him. No reply yet.

Boy this one could turn into a firestorm! I'll keep my eye on it. The Forum Rules say we're to shut political stuff down before it gets started, but we're all grown-ups here. So keep it civil, folks.

That's okay, I stare at my doctor's watch and think "holy cow, no wonder I'm paying so much!" One doctor friend of mine is involved with the FAA and does flight medicals. I went for a checkup and wore my AOPA Gigandet just to twist his tail a little. I kept noticing him eyeballing it but he never said a word. So, so cruel. Muwahahahahahahaaaaaa

Hey Doug, it's nice to have you aboard. And thanks for bringing this topic back to life! My buddy was one of those 70s divers that worked the North Sea. He told stories of the deepwater manifolds where the flow lines from the oil production facilities connected, and having to work down there. He was all over the world doing sat work, and was involved in getting Man in the Sea running. Unfortunately he tore his foot off and ended his diving career, then passed away two years later. At his funeral his widow gave me his dive watch, bearing the scars of many years hard work. He told me once that he'd had it to its rated depth in chambers, but who knows how much of that was arm-pulling? He also talked about coworkers laying around for days on end decompressing with him, then someone's crystal would blow off and they'd all jump out of their skin. This was back when I had no idea there was such a thing as a "Sea Dweller".

Amigo, you're making this a lot harder than it needs to be. That steel bezel is pressed on there, so you need to pull it off. Buy a package of single-edged razor blades. You know, with the folded over safety piece across the other side. Poke the sharp edge of the blade in between your bezel and your case. You can put the watch on its side on a padded surface or you can do it by hand. I do it by hand. I hold the case in my palm and I steady the razor blade with my fingers to hold it perpendicular to the case. It's easy. Don't cut your fingers off. Find a mallet. Even a kitchen knife with a heavy handle works. Tap the rounded-over edge of the razor blade, to force the sharpened edge slightly into the gap. Pull the razor blade out, and rotate the watch a little... 45 degrees is fine. Repeat the process. Tap that sucker in there. Pull it out. Rotate the watch. Do it again. By the time you've gone clear around it may be showing a nice little gap between the bezel and the case. If not, do this all again and use a little more force. The bezel *WILL* come off. Be persistent. Don't rush it. When you have a wider gap, use a thicker tool to continue the process and keep coaxing it off. Don't worry, it's not made of cut crystal and you're not going to destroy it. When it's off, try a press fit to see how tight the black bezel is. You may be surprised... my first two black DW bezels were fairly loose. You should be able to press it onto the case/crystal with your thumbs quite a ways before it stops. Halfway down seems about right. If you can't do that with your thumbs, get some sandpaper and sand the inside edge of the bezel. As you do this, keep doing the test fit until you find you've loosened it up. When you're ready, smear the base of the sides of the crystal (the walls) and the inside face of the bezel where you've been sanding with some silicon grease (I use plain old Vaseline). 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So I have this pain in my elbow, it hurts when I do this..... Anyone? Hello? (PeteM ... we already know what YOU are going to say! )

What he said ^^^^ let's compare a 55-year old gen vs a year-old rep. It can be done, but go slowly.

Old beater for today