1940s Longines with protruding crown?

My watchmaker is wrapping up service of the 12.68z in the below 35mm 5056 ref Longines. As you can see, the crown protrudes from the case more than I would expect, but he doesn’t see anything amiss - all looks original as far as he can tell.

Is it possible it came this way? If not, do you think it’s a problem with the tube or the crown?


For reference, I found this watch from Hodinkee that had a similar issue..

The auction houses often leave the crown in setting position
after they have set the watch to 10.10

Could the issue on your watch be a bit too long winding stem?

Here is my 5056 for comparison in setting position.



And winding position.

Thanks, both.

I had my watchmaker snap these photos. Basically, there’s a washer that was sitting down in the crown, and the washer prevented the crown from fully closing around the tube. Presumably the washer was there to help stabilize the crown, but now we’re wondering if it’s supposed to be there at all.. or if it was just a someone’s lazy attempt at stabilizing the crown with a stem that’s too long rather than trimming the stem down?

So, should it be there? If anyone has a photo of the backside of one of these crowns, that would be very helpful.



Without stem:

I pulled out my other 12.68z crown, and it has a similar washer (photo below), except the step on this one fits inside the tube in the case as it should.

So I guess the original was lost and someone tried to use an incorrect one, and since it wouldn’t fit in the tube, they had to use a stem that was longer than it should be. Very strange.

Until my watchmaker or I can source a correct crown or a more appropriate washer, the plan is to put a small rubber gasket in its place that will fit in the tube.