A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (or maybe not)

[freddy333]

This is a follow-up to my previous He Valve tutorial & discussion (He men don't do subs).

I Was Wrong

As you may already know, Repaustria and I (and possibly others) have posted tutorials on how to add a functional Helium valve (Hev) to the DRSD and Comex 5514 Subs in place of the ridiculous, fake-looking engraving that MBW and many other reps come with. In my case, I used a 'working' valve that I removed from another (cheaper) rep, but I have always taken it for granted that the 'valve' in the rep was a fantasy design that bared no (internal) resemblance to the gen valve used in the 5514 Comex Subs & early DRSDs. I now believe that assumption was wrong.

A Simple Fix for a Complex Problem

My ongoing studies of the He valve used in gen 5514 Comex Sub and early DRSD watches led me to the following 2 illustrations. The 1st is a drawing Rolex submitted as part of their original patent application for the He valve

The valve consists of 2 parts -- a small metal pin with a wider head at one end (the plug) & a narrow shaft with a circular groove running around the circumference of the pin at the other end, and a spring clip with a slot through which the pin slides & is locked into place. As it turns out, although the component dimensions of the gen valve are slightly different, the basic parts, design construction & installation method are exactly the same as that used in my He valve mod (What's He Look Like & page 2 of DRSD Version 2.0).

The 2nd illustration shows a cross-section comparing the later (current) He valve to the early original design & shows how the valves function to release pressurized helium trapped within the case (for the watches under consideration, we are only interested in the pics on the right side - the left pics describe the function of the later/modern valve)

Got It Right

Not only does this valve mod look like the gen valve, but, for all intents & purposes, it is the gen valve. Just pay careful attention to the gasket (make sure it is in good condition & use silicone case seal on it) and be sure there is sufficient clearance between the inner end of the valve pin and your movement's spacer ring (if fitted) so the spring is able to hold the pin in the closed position. If not, you may need to grind the spacer down to provide sufficient clearance for the valve pin

And as long as you install it correctly, the valve should not be a cause for concern due to leaks. If it worked for Rolex & Comex, it should work for you.

[Pugwash]

Intriguing!

[deltatahoe]

umm i'm going to have to read this when i have time to actually pay attention. looks really interesting though.

deltatahoe

[takashi]

Thank you very much Freddy for posting an insight on how this should work! Infact in principle, it's similar to Omega's He Released valve (the gasket, etc) but I can see that this one looks more sophisticated, given the time it was invented.