1665 He Valve Material

[ShawnBeever]

I am part way through a project to mod an MBW 1665 and have looked at a few gens on various sites. It looks to me that the gens have an HE valve made out of a different material to the case. Does any one no if this is titanium or something else?

See the example from 'classic watches'

Thanks

Edited January 17, 2007 by ShawnBeever

[alligoat]

I believe the original HE valve on the 1665 was stainless steel like the case. The modern SD's may have a titanium valve, but I don't know for sure. I've heard that the MBW valves are merely decorative- stamped or engraved onto the case. Surprisingly, Paul's DRSD and WSD (1665) have what appear to be functional HE valves, with o-rings and springs on the inside of the case to hold the booger in place. When I was modding my cg's on my DRSD from Paul, the spring kept coming off and then the valve would pop out onto the floor. It looks like the pic of an early HE valve in Skeet and Urul's book "Vintage Rolex Sport Models" When I was done, I siliconed the o-ring and put it back in there, but I was tempted to glue it back in there so it wouldn't leak. I have no plans in this lifetime to scuba dive any deeper than 150 ft.

[ShawnBeever]

The MBW valve is just embossed into the surface. I thought it would be simple to drill out the stamping and glue in a stainless steel plug to improve the look. When I started to look at gens to see exactly what shape the plug should be I noticed they generally looked as if they were made from titanium or a different grade of stainless that doesn’t match the case.

So should drill the case and plug it with titanium.