Vintage Crown Detail Question

[JWR]

For our resident experts:

On vintage oyster models sans crown guards... when the crown is fully screwed in, should the tips of the coronet logo be facing towards the crystal (up if viewed from the side) or does it matter?

[ubiquitous]

Coronet orientation doesn't really matter- There's no control over it

[JWR]

thanks ubi! pictures forthcoming... i'm working on a 1016 as we speak... jay has a killer case with lugholes and a beautiful domed acrylic crystal and pretty good dial... i'm reworking the case as we speak...

unfortunately also i've scratched the damn crystal ALREADY. any recommendations? I'm going for the well-used but not abused look...

[Guest avitt]

Coronet orientation doesn't really matter- There's no control over it

LOL...But if you have OCD like me, you buy 15 crowns, and test fit each until you find one that lines up correctly

[ubiquitous]

Ahhhh... You can buff out the scratch with Brasso, car polish, or.... Toothpaste (yes, toothpaste). An acrylic crystal with the scratches buffed out will still leave a slight presence of it's scar if the scratch was deep enough, though I feel it adds a bit to the authentic look and character of a vintage piece.

[jackxv6]

Try cigare or sigarette ash mixed with sewing machine oil, that removes scratches.

[freddy333]

As Ubi said, technically speaking, it really doesn't matter which direction the crown faces relative to the crystal (the gen watches left the factory with no particular crown orientation).

The crown is similar to a screw that screws into a threaded hole (i.e., the crown tube [a "nut"]). Depending on a number of factors (e.g., the number and condition of the threads in both the crown and crown tube, the depth (into the case) of the crown tube, the crown tube's orientation as it was screwed into the case, the tightness of the crown, etc.), the coronet relief on the face of the crown can end up facing virtually any direction.

I suppose if you're really critical like avitt (and others), you could spend the time (and money) to locate the best crown/crown tube combo and then use epoxy or some other type of permanent cement to locate the crown tube into the case so that the crown, when screwed-down, points in a particular direction. Though, as the inner seals and crown/crown tube threads seat and wear, the orientation is likely to change over time. And this would necessitate that you begin the entire reorientation process all over again.

The problem I've found (when retrofitting a used gen crown to a new or used crown tube) is getting a crown that screws-down evenly. Not too long ago, I purchased a baker's dozen used (excellent-to-near-mint condition) gen triplock crowns and, of the lot, there were only three that appeared (by eye) to screw evenly down onto the stem. Most of the bunch appeared to "wobble" a bit as you spun the stem/crown combo and watched the assembly's orientation from the side. Having that kind of inaccuracy does bother me and was worth the extra time (and expense) to correct for.