Small But Important Tudor Chrono Upgrade

[jmb]

I have loved my "community" Prince Date Chrono since I got it put together and I've found myself wearing it more and more. Kurt went above and beyond the call and mailed me a gen Tudor Trip-Lock crown and tube set! After helping my youngest finish the 24k mile service on his BMW R1200ST this evening I wandered out to the shop and proceeded to tear apart my "pride and joy".

After I de-cased the movement and removed the old tube I tried the gen tube and it would not even start so I dug the proper tap out of the toolbox. The amount of chips produced by the tap indicated to me that the original hole had a completely different thread, smaller diameter, or both. After running the tap through a few times, and cleaning out the swarf, I trial fitted the tube and found it stood rather proud of the case. Looking at the tube under magnification revealed a tapered portion at the top of the threaded portion so I put a shallow countersink on the crown tube hole in the case. After doing this I could screw the tube all the way in so I then applied thread locker, screwed in the new tube, and then greased all of the O-rings and installed them into the tube.

The final thing was to install the new crown onto the stem after removing the old crown. I tried to unscrew it but it wouldn't budge and I didn't want to risk snapping the stem. I had originally installed the crown using blue Loc-Tite so I can verify it does it's job well! I had to heat the stem to break the thread-locker bond then I was able to unscrew the two pieces. I then screwed the gen crown onto the existing stem and, to my surprise, found the stem length did not have to be altered as it fit perfectly.

Below are a few pics of the finished product with a "before" pic for comparison.

Before, with rep Rolex crown:

After, with gen Tudor crown:

I didn't realize that such a small detail would be noticeable but I can now see why people always seem to want to change to a gen crown.

Thanks for looking and thanks go again to Kurt, Ubi, and Lani for making this project a reality.

[By-Tor]

That is exactly what you said: Small but very nice addition.

This kind of details are exactly what we watch enthusiasts love.

PS: That's a lovely Tudor chrono. Justasgood pm'd photos of his blue version. Great watches.

[jmb]

Thanks, BT. Yeah, I love his blue one. I saw a blue dial w/hands on flea-bay the other day and it didn't last very long - I was very tempted but it cost more than I have paid for any complete watch and while I waffled about it somebody snagged it...

[dluddy]

Icing on the Tudor cake right there

[shultz]

Very good addition. Now the lugs need to be drilled and your Franken will come very close to the real deal

[gplracer]

Very nice JMB I love reading these types of post where the process is stated.

[TeeJay]

Very nice

[Justasgood]

J,

Nice Work!

I love that dial combo. Your help with the compression rings was far more valuable to me.

Thanks for all you've done and enjoy that very nice watch,

Kurt.

[jmb]

shultz, yes, I do need to do that but I may wait until I can find a source for end-links that have a "tube" that will accommodate the larger spring bars. When I drill these out at least every other one will become unsoldered from the link.

gpl, no problem - I like reading what kind of things people run into as well.

[Justasgood]

shultz, yes, I do need to do that but I may wait until I can find a source for end-links that have a "tube" that will accommodate the larger spring bars. When I drill these out at least every other one will become unsoldered from the link.

gpl, no problem - I like reading what kind of things people run into as well.

Hey J,

the spring bars on this version of the Chrono aren't 2mm bars. It is a standard hole size so don't drill them like a sub.

I'll put the caliper to mine to see if I can determine the size.

[shultz]

Hey J,

the spring bars on this version of the Chrono aren't 2mm bars. It is a standard hole size so don't drill them like a sub.

I'll put the caliper to mine to see if I can determine the size.

Yes, you are right. The lug holes on the Tudor chronos are not as tight as on (early) subs. But I can imagine that will be a challenging job to drill the lugs Will cost a couple of drill bits....

[jmb]

As soon as "we" come up with a diameter I'll drill 'em. Are y'all saying that even though there are holes a "standard" spring bar is used? If that's the deal I can just poke some holes about half way through the lug since the ends of the spring bars won't be showing and that way I won't disturb the holes on the inside of the lug where the spring bars actually locates into.

This is sounding almost too easy...

[redwatch]

Looks awesome J! More upgrade parts are on their way to you (but for another project )

[jmb]

red, Cool!

I found a crystal in the junkbox that had the cyclops a lot closer to the edge and was going to put it on the Tudor until I was cleaning it and found a "coronet" etched on it! Does anybody know if these A7750 Daytona cases will take a gen (or aftermarket sapphire as gen replacement) crystal? I routinely see them on flea-bay for not a whole lot of money...

[ubiquitous]

Looking sharp, J!! It's the little details that really make for the greatest of differences!

Well done, and looking great!

[Tribal]

Great looking Tudor Chrono.

Love it

I can't believe the factorys didn't repped it, it's one of the nicest Chronos I think.

[jmb]

I agree that it should be repped, all the parts are "off-the-shelf" except for the dial and that should be rather easy...

[shultz]

Does anybody know if these A7750 Daytona cases will take a gen (or aftermarket sapphire as gen replacement) crystal?

J - would you do me a favour please and measure the diameter of that coronet crystal? I have flying some crystals around, perhaps one will fit the daytona case.

Cheers

F.

[ubiquitous]

A Clark's 295C should fit on there without hassle. Cyclops might not align correctly, but the physical fit using the rep gasket should be fine.