automatico Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Go to VRF and look at the post titled: Bronze dial and some lost gold... It looks like RWC has figured out how to remove every 'spare' nanogram of gold from inside their modern gold cases. They even remove metal from behind the case clamp stands and hollow out the lugs. All you get for your $$ is a thin gold shell for a case. They have been doing this for a long time as my early 1970's 14k OPD is machined inside the case...but nothing like this. To add insult to injury, if a DD has a 5 digit reference number, the Prez bracelet has cheapo hollow links. Later 6 digit models have solid links. Current list price for a new DD is around $30k. In my experience with vintage watches...1960's/1970's Bulovas seem to have the most gold in their solid gold cases. Rule of thumb: The higher the grade of the watch...the lower the amount of gold in the case. Exception: Some of the newer solid gold front loader 'oinion skin no name' quartz watches are made out of what is basically gold foil with lugs stuck on them. Wear one too tight on your wrist and the case or lugs will bend when you pick up something heavy or flex your wrist. No kidding. When you remove a springbar, you have to support the lug on the opposite side to keep it from bending or breaking off (a good idea anyway). I changed out a battery in an 'onion skin' a while back and here are the steps: 1...remove the acrylic crystal with a crystal lift 2...remove the hands 3...drop the dial out of the case (had dial feet but no screws or clamps) 4...shove the movement to the 9 o'clock side, hold the stem with very thin needle nose pliers, and unscrew the crown (no two piece stem) 5...drop the movement out and change the battery If it has a two piece stem...to avoid marking the crystal you can uncouple the stem and blow the crystal out with a Bergeon 5011 crystal pump on the case tube. Replace the crystal with a crystal lift being careful not to let it slip on the crystal. Some acrylic crystals are hard to remove with a crystal lift but easy to replace with a lift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 It looks like RWC has figured out how to remove every 'spare' nanogram of gold from inside their modern gold cases. They even remove metal from behind the case clamp stands and hollow out the lugs. All you get for your $$ is a thin gold shell for a case. They have been doing this for a long time as my early 1970's 14k OPD is machined inside the case...but nothing like this. They do that to keep the overall weight down. Especially, when playing golf, customers would complain that their watch was too heavy & it affected their swing (or flew off their wrist). I overheard a relative (who used to work for Rolex) explaining this to a customer many years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nix Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 Wow... that is shocking! It must take a lot of effort to scavenge all that precious metal out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeKa Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 If you buy a golden Rolex, you don't pay for the gold, you pay for the fame! I had a 1967 YG DD which I had restored through my watchmaker and took a day off to look over his shoulder during work. It was a great day and a stunning result. Well, the "good old times"... Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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