1665 bezel for MBW DRSD

[panerai153]

I built a nice MBW case based 1665 a couple of years ago (The Zigmeister built it, i just found stuff and wrote the checks!!). Well, I have been wearing the watch a little lately, and a couple of weeks back, i got it wwet, not submerged, but splashed water on it. Immediately got fog under the crystal. I sent it over to a fellow in Texas who has worked on a few reps but mostly gens for quite a few years. He discovered that the crystal was cracked. i'm sure I banged it on something, i 'm pretty hard on watches and that superdome is really tall. At any rate, he tried a couple of crystals I sent him, but they didn't work. He had a genuine Crystal and it works fine, but when he tried the bezel, it was snug going on, but when it finally seated it was loose. He took it off, and told me it looked like someone had shaved the inside of the bezel to make it fit over the superdome. I'm suspecting the fellow I got the watch from did it, because he was the one who installed the superdome originally. the watchmaker is suggesting that I try to find another bezel. i told him that finding an old MBW 1665 bezel might be difficult. His feeling is the bezel needs to be snugger to work properly.

Anyone have a MBW 1665 bezel around gathering dust in their toolbox? I don't want to spend a lot of money on this project, as I plan on putting everything in one of highoeyazmuhudee's new cases when they are available. this would just be a temporary fix for now. Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

[panerai153]

Any help advice?

[Nanuq]

...when he tried the bezel, it was snug going on, but when it finally seated it was loose. He took it off, and told me it looked like someone had shaved the inside of the bezel to make it fit over the superdome

Something doesn't add up here. If the bezel is snug going on, then loose, do you mean it's loose on its retaining ring?

Or is the retaining ring snug going on, then loose?

If the bezel is a loose fit on the ring, just add some bumps to your spring washer to eliminate the gap.

If the ring is loose over the crystal, see if the watchmaker can compress/size down the ring to a smaller inside diameter, then polish the sidewalls of the T39 crystal to square it up until the ring is a snug press fit all the way to seated.

[tmg]

Might try a Yuki 1665 assembly or ask Reg if he can get just the MBW parts.