Omega folks, I've read through the threads and I still haven't found anything on this; is anyone restoring vintage crowns yet? I'd like to use the original crowns on my '69 and '76 Speedies, but I also want them to have working gaskets. Is there an option to rebuild old crowns now, or is the best option still using a modern crown and holding onto the original? (Photos of the '76 for attention)
The '76 crown is identical to the modern replacement crown - there really is nothing to be gained by re-using the same one. It probably can be done, but will not be water resistant.
People do it for vintage Seiko diver crowns (6105s mostly), so I can't see why it can't be done for a Speedmaster crown. However, they do it because the Seiko crowns aren't available any more. With an equivalent crown available new from Omega, I don't know how much of a market there is for rebuilt Omega crowns.