Fitting gen spec bezel set to old 16610 rep case

[denimhead]

Hi guys

Any advise greatly appreciated. Currently having my puretime 16610 sa3135 serviced.  Amd when the bezel was removed I noticed that it wasn't gen construction. Standard wire spring.

My question is, have any of you guys fitted a gen spec bezel set to one of these cases? Is it possible 

Cheers DH

[hugop]

DH, I have milled the edge for the spring off on a cheap 1655 to use a gen plexi in a 1675 build. It is very difficult to get perfect! Do yourself a favor and grab up a TC case to move it into. $250 well spent. It will come with the extremely nice TC bezel assembly that will take the gen insert. You also get the benefit of very nice crown guards.

[denimhead]

Thanks Hugo

I did consider that route, will it take my sa3135??

Cheers DH

[hugop]

Should, I have put the SA3135 with a gen dial in one of mine before.

[automatico]

Most cases with spring wire bezels will not accept an oem spec crystal/bezel set and here's why:

In order to fit a genspec outer bezel to a case, the case neck will have to be oem spec or machined to oem spec (29.5mm), and a genspec crystal and gasket need to be fitted along with a complete oem spec bezel set...retainer bezel, rotating bezel, insert, click spring etc. Hard to do (if it needs to be machined) and expen$ive.

There is usually a groove in the case neck for the spring wire on cases with crystal gaskets mounted inside the case neck and if the groove is not machined away on the way to 29.5mm, it might cause trouble with leaks etc. On cases with an oem type crystal/gasket combo (oem spec or not), you will still need to end up with a 29.5mm case neck one way or another to use oem spec inner and outer bezels. If the case neck has to be machined quite a bit...it has to be thick enough to support the gasket/crystal/bezel assembly and not be too tall or short. Taking all this into consideration, there may be too many problems to solve.

Two good things about spring wire bezels are they do not get knocked off easily or develop tight spots from getting knocked around. The spring wire method is usually a more rugged method of securing a rotating bezel and since they have more space between the id of the rotating bezel and od of the retainer bezel,  knocks usually will not distort the bezel enough to cause tight spots when turning it.

[denimhead]

17 hours ago, automatico said:

Most cases with spring wire bezels will not accept an oem spec crystal/bezel set and here's why:

In order to fit a genspec outer bezel to a case, the case neck will have to be oem spec or machined to oem spec (29.5mm), and a genspec crystal and gasket need to be fitted along with a complete oem spec bezel set...retainer bezel, rotating bezel, insert, click spring etc. Hard to do (if it needs to be machined) and expen$ive.

There is usually a groove in the case neck for the spring wire on cases with crystal gaskets mounted inside the case neck and if the groove is not machined away on the way to 29.5mm, it might cause trouble with leaks etc. On cases with an oem type crystal/gasket combo (oem spec or not), you will still need to end up with a 29.5mm case neck one way or another to use oem spec inner and outer bezels. If the case neck has to be machined quite a bit...it has to be thick enough to support the gasket/crystal/bezel assembly and not be too tall or short. Taking all this into consideration, there may be too many problems to solve.

Two good things about spring wire bezels are they do not get knocked off easily or develop tight spots from getting knocked around. The spring wire method is usually a more rugged method of securing a rotating bezel and since they have more space between the id of the rotating bezel and od of the retainer bezel,  knocks usually will not distort the bezel enough to cause tight spots when turning it.

As always Mate, A wealth of experience. Greatly appreciated