Hi OF, all too often I see cases, especially from Speedmasters, with extensive endlink rub damage. It's normal, two metal surfaces rubbing against each other for 30-50 years, and the endlinks eating into the case. It wouldn't stop me from buying an in other aspects nice Speedmaster. But what if you find a nice Speedy without endlink rub marks and want to prevent it from happening? A tight and correct fit of the endlinks is a good start. But will it ultimately prevent it from happening? I'm not sure. When I bought my -69 SW three years ago it was bearing no endlink rub marks. Today, after I wore it for an extended amount of time over the last years off and on my 1171 with 633's, I noticed some (slight) endlink rub marks on the case. The endlinks were tightly fitted, with little to no play. So now I'm trying to solve this problem. First idea was to just wrap the, for the lack of a better term, "ears" of the endlinks (the part where the number is stamped and it's counterpart obviously) with some clear scotch tape. Just to get some thin material as a buffer between the metal endlink and the case. And maybe by doing so, adding a quarter of a mm of thickness for an even tighter fit. This amateurish attempt resulted in a fail, the scotch tape just wouldn't stick to the metal and cutting out tiny pieces of of it with a scalpel and trying to apply it with a pair of tweezers was a huge PITA. I've ordered some polyolefin shrinking tube on ebay. With a thickness of only 0.33 mm after heat shrinking it should be functionally adequate for what I'm trying to achieve. The shrinking tube should be delivered next week. I'll keep you posted and update this thread with my results. Cheers, Max PS: If you have found an alternative solution for this problem, I'd be interested to hear from you! I also thought about dipping the endlink "ears" in some sort of adhesive solution, but I'm unsure if this wouldn't just rub off in a couple of weeks. And I'm also not sure about the meterial I should or could use. No thread with out pictures, right .
I've seen a teflon tape product used in my wokplace that is very durable and tough. 3m it's very dark brown on rolls like mask tape 1/2 inch wide about 025 thick. A google search should find that product or an equivalent. I can't give you the part number due to proprietary BS they take that seriously. I spoke with one of the mechanics she said it adheres very well to clean surfaces if cleaned with solvent.
Interesting, because of all the vintage Speedmasters I've seen, I would rate the abraded area in general as "minimal." But I like your idea in theory to afford some sort of inconspicuous protection to the area.
I take a similar approach, and line the lower, inner surface of bracelet end links with a PTFE, fiberglass-backed tape. It's tough, and low friction, and helps eliminate rattle. I leave it overhang by a tiny bit. https://www.amazon.com/3M-5451-Brow...&qid=1534513821&sr=8-19&keywords=3m+ptfe+tape