My first crown restoration and o-ring insertion

It's almost impossible finding vintage 1966 style 168.017 crowns. I haven't seen a code for these, only modern 42054 ones are available. However these aren't very hard to find in loose form, they usually have a flat feet logo and they are 4.7-4.8mm wide, this matters as it's possible to find smaller ones more easily yet they don't look right

I bought this one for around $20 yet didn't pay much attention at the time of the missing inner parts, luckily it's cleaned and all the black gunk that's usually inside a crown is gone, so no need to go through stages of rigorous cleaning

For the missing metal spacer, I was thinking of fabricating a ring out of a flattened aluminum can, it's my go-to method for making functional simple parts, but luckily came up with a better approach, found a generic crown from another generic chinese crown pack that had the exact fitting size - as another idea, this donor crown also had a so-so fitting o-ring, so it alone could've solved the problem, but used 3.4 x 1.8 x 0.8 o-ring from the pack here a https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002059223869.html (The tube of the watches are 2mm, so 1.8 seemed ok to grab it, 1.7 was better when testing loose)

Finally used UV Resin to keep the metal in-place, applied it all the way around

The case I used for testing has a tube fitted for a 42054 crown though, which is a thicker crown, so the tube protrudes 0.1-0.2mm ish more than ideal, you might think 0.1mm 0.2mm is negligible, but these make really noticeable differences

I feel like there's a modest opportunity for someone to rebuild important crowns and pushers. It's not a huge market but some would pay to have someone perform this competently. I'm not looking to swim with my vintage watches but I would like to not have to take it off to wash my hands.

Very nice job.

Thank you, the last part is a bit icky, I wouldn't feel very good about removing the plate only to imperfectly attaching it back in place - it's surprisingly easy to remove, maybe more experienced members can pitch in but I'd theorize it's maybe originally press fit in place? Sometimes while cleaning it comes out and I can't think of a better way of re-attaching it other than the resin - I guess laser welding in 2-3 spots might feel better

It's a problem I think about too, and to be honest I just ignore potential water ingress and wash my hands with watches I wear.

This thread and Archer's input was my original inspiration: https://omegaforums.net/threads/spe...rown-is-pulled-out.155549/page-2#post-2124270

I guess as a community we can document crown specifications as much as we can so when the next enthusiast attempts the same thing, it could be a 100% sure thing before going in there to take measurements

For this vintage 168.017 crown measurements were:
Outside: 4.7mm
Inside: 3.2mm
Case Tube: 2mm
Satisfactory O-Ring: 3.4 x 1.8 x 0.8

I use my 166.003 daily, the crown is 3.75mm - I suspect the inner dimensions can't be that different though, so maybe the 3.2 x 1.8 x 0.7 or 3.25 x 1.75 x 0.75 could work

I wouldn't trust this approach until someone with a pressure tester tests a watch before/after modification though, so in this regard, I'm not sure whether I'm going to replace the o-ring on my 166.003 - similarly I use generic caseback o-rings as well, as close I can get to original sizes, but don't really trust them, mainly worry that even a slight overlap of the o-ring could create an easy way for the water to go in. Potentially the wrong o-ring could maybe do more damage? Only testing could tell. Would make an interesting Youtube video.

I probably just have trust issues though 😁

I looked at my 145.022 69 crown when I got it back from service. The gasket was all but gone, it looked like the crown had a nipple and after the o-ring was in place, the washer was installed and the nipple was burnished. I'm sure disassembly - once - is pretty straightforward but how many times can the nipple be manipulated before it's obliterated?

I agree that there is still some trial and error and the real proof is a passed water test. At the end of the day, the watches are more than crowns and pushers. Much rather have a sharp case, nice dial, and good hands.

This is becoming a known trick in the vintage Seiko world, where one uses a staking set to bend the flat 'washer' to remove it, get all the glutinous blank gunk out and clean it all, install new gaskets and then using a staking set set the washer back in and flatten it into place. I probably haven't explained it that well but if you follow the steps you'll get what I mean.