I'm really looking for personal opinions from the perspective of collectors, so all thoughts are sincerely appreciated.

I recently picked up a well-worn but original ref 5513 Rolex Submariner (ca 1977) and my watchmaker is going through it. Several of the beryllium-bronze bushings in the auto-winding mechanism are badly worn and need replacement; they are not available from Rolex, and neither he nor I have had any luck in finding NOS bushings. This reference has a "low quality" (17j) cal 1520 movement; later generations of the movement (e.g. cal 1560/1570, I believe) were upgraded to 26j, with jeweled autowind mechanisms.

My watchmaker, who is second generation Rolex-trained with 40-years experience and maintains a Rolex-approved independent shop with a parts account, says that he commonly replaces these bushings with the jewels that were used in the 26j movements that succeeded the 1520; the jewels are direct replacements for the bushings. In scouring the internet (e.g. threads on various forums with posts and responses by watchmakers), I found many indications that replacing these worn bushings with jewels is common practice, but I have no first-hand experience with it. My watchmaker also checked with some of his recent Rolex instructors, and fitting jewels was their recommendation. Knowing my "crazy collector" preference for maintaining originality, he also mentioned another option, which would be for him to fabricate some bronze bushings that would look similar to the originals.

I am leaning towards fitting jewels, but wanted to get some additional perspectives from collectors. How far does one take concerns about maintaining originality? The existing bushings are too worn to salvage, unless I want to convert the watch to a hand-winder. ;-)

 

I'll change the parts that needs to be changed with whatever/however original parts it can be; but I'll keep the original parts in a box. Just so that its all original in its state, and it doesn't matter if you are planning to keep it. Service it so its useable.

However if you do intend to sell it in the future for whatever reason; its always good to include the original parts and inform prospective buyers of the parts change; while it may not be THAT original; you still have the original parts that were swapped out.

As a buyer, I would appreciate that bit and still consider it as a genuine 5513 no matter what.

That's my 2 cents of course.

 

I agree with @sdre , as long as you keep good record as suggested above, you should be fine I think. We're not at the point of market where we see ads with "original bushings!! buy from me!!" yet.

 

I'd replace the bushings with the jewels and just keep your records of the service.

 

I had this exact issue with auto wind on a 1520 and had them jeweled which is the commonly available fix. The performance of the auto wind system was spectacular after the service.

 

Do you have the sizes of the required bushings? If so, post them here.

 

I can ask my watchmaker to measure them, the Rolex parts numbers of the replacement jewels (which are the same size) are:
#7913
#7918
#7919

 

@Archer

The sizes are:

50/120
50/110
30/110

My understanding is that these numbers represent ID/OD, i.e. 0.50mm ID/1.20mm OD.

 

Thickness?

 

0.36

Sorry to be so fragmented with the information. My watchmaker has a terse style in his emails.

 

Went through many pages of Omega bushings on the Extranet looking up dimensions, thinking we might get lucky...but no joy.

Having him make bushings should not be difficult, but jewels would be less difficult (less money).

The only other alternative is to find a donor auto mechanism and hope the bushings are good...

Cheers, Al

 

Many thanks Al, I appreciate your taking the time to look for those parts. He will be out bow-hunting for the next week, so I have time to make a decision. He ordered some bronze bushing wire, and he told me that it would be no problem to make the bushings, but that I would need to take out a second mortgage on my house. ;-)

As I continue to peruse the internet, I find more and more evidence that fitting jewels is a very standard practice for this problem in this particular movement. And it doesn't seem to bother most collectors that their watch now has 23j instead of 17j as it is marked.

 

Interesting dilemma.

I think I’d jewel it and keep the old parts. New bushings will wear out just like the original ones. Jewels will last much longer.

But, if I didn’t plan to wear it much and originality was important because the watch was rare and/or in mint condition, then I’d replace the bushings with new bushings.

Interesting dilemma.

 

Hopefully it's a small second mortgage!

While this is true, there's no free lunch here. You will still have two materials with different hardness, and where the bushings were the sacrificial element in the original design, it will now be the pivots on the reversing wheels that wear first. If the bushings were available, they would be much cheaper to replace than a set of reversing wheels would be...

Of course all wear can be mitigated with regular service, but the mythical longevity of Rolex typically prevails, so most people will not get them serviced regularly enough to prevent the wear.

Cheers, Al

 

Is there some sort of interesting, sparsely mentioned sub-culture of watchmakers who bows and arrows?

 

Like our very own @Archer ? Or not

 

Point taken, Al. Wear can be shifted and wear can be mitigated, but wear cannot be eliminated. I forget this simple rule.

 

Well, no offence to any bowhunters out there, but the archery skills needed to hunt with a bow are pretty minimal.

I was never a hunter, because sitting in a tree waiting for some animal to walk by (or to go to a bait station below the tree) so I could shoot it wasn't very appealing to me personally. Besides my wife would divorce me...

 

No offense taken Al, the prevailing method of hunting is to sit in a tree stand and wait for your prey to practically walk up to you. Some of us frown upon that but not that many people are interested in traditional hunting so much as they would like a trophy.

As a kid I once watched a friend of my dad take a buck with a bow from 80+ yards. He was using a 120# long bow and we had been stalking this deer for about an hour when we finally came upon it across a clearing.

 

That was definitely the case with the previous owner - it looks like a daily wear watch that may have gone decades without a service. The watch's life will be much gentler now, worn in rotation and serviced at regular intervals.