Name the ways you improve upon your vintage watches

[Eric88]

I've been officially bitten by the vintage bug this year and realized after owning several that one can invest a ton in improvements. I'm curious to get some conversation going on which improvements you like to do and which ones have cost you the most or the least?

Here are some that seem fairly common, listed roughly in order of cost, lowest to highest.

• NATO straps
• New bezel pearls
• Polishing
• New crystal e.g. superdome vs. top hat
• Servicing
• Bezel inserts e.g. faded fat font
• Updated bracelet
• Dial and hand replacement e.g. sourcing an authentic red Sub dial to replace a service dial

Did I miss anything? I've done all of these and the one that keeps grabbing me is the counter culture of faded fat font inserts. There are so many variations of grey vs. bluish and different degrees of font thickness. It's crazy, but fun!

[Michael M.]

Almost everything but new cases, dials, etc. I try to keep them as original as possible though

[matt4hand]

I've spent the most on a 9315 for a Submariner and inserts.
Original tritium pearl dots are not cheap either!

I love wearing my sub on a my Bund or Nato's.
These are all Shell Cordvan. Not cheap but sooo comfortable

[lhanddds]

Natos and Zulus are easy. Love my faded bezel on my 1675.

[harry in montreal]

2 new spring bars.

1 new tube

1 generous wipe of nose grease on the plastic crystal. it just brings it back to life and hides all the defects! especially after a nice long day at the office.

[Jagatai]

Send it in for movement only service.

[blassy]

ghost insert and nato for me!

[SubKing]

here are some before and after shots of my vintage 1955 sub 6536-1. I did all the work myself. fixed the timing, stripped the watch and refinished and polished everything. went through what needed to be replaced. heres the parts list
all original parts.
NOS crystal retaining ring (not cheap)
NOS Crystal
original matching trit pearl (was not cheap or easy to find!!!) here is a pic of the trit pearl from the seller and the one i chose to purchase is circled in red. It was a match for my dial and hands and in the best condition from the rest but also the most expensive... go figure

7206 bracelet with 80's ends dated 1964. I fixed what ever little stretch there was then gave it a very light refinish/polish.
here is the before shots,
notice how the bezel is sitting very high with a gap between the bezel and the case. thats not normal. the retianing ring was bad and not original.. heres a shot of the retaining ring that was bad


the bezel brass was showing and the plating gone. So I had it re plated.
the bezel was a pain in the butt because as with most vintage rolex of this age, it no longer held a pressure fit for the insert. when i got the watch, the insert was glued in. after stripping all the old glue and cleaning the bezel for 1 hour in the altra sonic, i then used my half round press and just kind of went around very easily and re bent the wall of the bezel back in. this took a long time and was not fun doing it on an almost 60 year old piece of brass..

some bezels don't have enough of a "Lip left on the edge, so theres nothing to hold the insert in at all.. thank god this one had a good strong lip left.
everything is pressure fit on this watch, there is not one drop of glue holding anything in and that makes me proud. even the trit pearl is pressure snap fit into the insert. glue free. its not going anywhere.



this gap is not good

here are the after shots. this repair was a working progress of several months till now of sourcing parts.
nato shot


bracelet shots





here is a picture of the lugs after I was done refinishing them. I try to get them as close to factory as possible. the chamfers came out really nice i think.


the movement is clean and keeps great time


I wasn't expecting this watch to have as many problems as it did when I got it. With vintage, sometimes you really don't know what you're getting no matter the seller, sometimes you have to see the problems for yourself..
I love this watch. its in great condition for being almost 60 years old. the faded fat font insert looks great. the rolex service dial has a wonderful yellow patina and it runs excellent. it was well worth the money in parts and the time it took to bring back its luster.

[matt4hand]

Originally Posted by SubKing

here are some before and after shots of my vintage 1955 sub 6536-1. I did all the work myself. fixed the timing, stripped the watch and refinished and polished everything. went through what needed to be replaced. heres the parts list
all original parts.
NOS crystal retaining ring (not cheap)
NOS Crystal
original matching trit pearl (was not cheap or easy to find!!!) here is a pic of the trit pearl from the seller and the one i chose to purchase is circled in red. It was a match for my dial and hands and in the best condition from the rest but also the most expensive... go figure

7206 bracelet with 80's ends dated 1964. I fixed what ever little stretch there was then gave it a very light refinish/polish.
here is the before shots,
notice how the bezel is sitting very high with a gap between the bezel and the case. thats not normal. the retianing ring was bad and not original.. heres a shot of the retaining ring that was bad


the bezel brass was showing and the plating gone. So I had it re plated.
the bezel was a pain in the butt because as with most vintage rolex of this age, it no longer held a pressure fit for the insert. when i got the watch, the insert was glued in. after stripping all the old glue and cleaning the bezel for 1 hour in the altra sonic, i then used my half round press and just kind of went around very easily and re bent the wall of the bezel back in. this took a long time and was not fun doing it on an almost 60 year old piece of brass..

some bezels don't have enough of a "Lip left on the edge, so theres nothing to hold the insert in at all.. thank god this one had a good strong lip left.
everything is pressure fit on this watch, there is not one drop of glue holding anything in and that makes me proud. even the trit pearl is pressure snap fit into the insert. glue free. its not going anywhere.



this gap is not good

here are the after shots. this repair was a working progress of several months till now of sourcing parts.
nato shot


bracelet shots





here is a picture of the lugs after I was done refinishing them. I try to get them as close to factory as possible. the chamfers came out really nice i think.


the movement is clean and keeps great time


I wasn't expecting this watch to have as many problems as it did when I got it. With vintage, sometimes you really don't know what you're getting no matter the seller, sometimes you have to see the problems for yourself..
I love this watch. its in great condition for being almost 60 years old. the faded fat font insert looks great. the rolex service dial has a wonderful yellow patina and it runs excellent. it was well worth the money in parts and the time it took to bring back its luster.

AMAZING!! Bravo Bravo Bravo!

[JohnAndrew]

ABP straps

[Alcan]

My most significant vintage improvement was turning this rescue






into this 1908 Wilsdorf & Davis, from the same year that ol' Hans registered the Rolex trademark

[SubKing]

Originally Posted by Alcan

My most significant vintage improvement was turning this rescue






into this 1908 Wilsdorf & Davis, from the same year that ol' Hans registered the Rolex trademark

Looks great. Bob always does such nice work
With vintage.

[mrmckay]

Originally Posted by SubKing

here are some before and after shots of my vintage 1955 sub 6536-1. I did all the work myself. fixed the timing, stripped the watch and refinished and polished everything. went through what needed to be replaced. heres the parts list
all original parts.
NOS crystal retaining ring (not cheap)
NOS Crystal
original matching trit pearl (was not cheap or easy to find!!!) here is a pic of the trit pearl from the seller and the one i chose to purchase is circled in red. It was a match for my dial and hands and in the best condition from the rest but also the most expensive... go figure

7206 bracelet with 80's ends dated 1964. I fixed what ever little stretch there was then gave it a very light refinish/polish.
here is the before shots,
notice how the bezel is sitting very high with a gap between the bezel and the case. thats not normal. the retianing ring was bad and not original.. heres a shot of the retaining ring that was bad


the bezel brass was showing and the plating gone. So I had it re plated.
the bezel was a pain in the butt because as with most vintage rolex of this age, it no longer held a pressure fit for the insert. when i got the watch, the insert was glued in. after stripping all the old glue and cleaning the bezel for 1 hour in the altra sonic, i then used my half round press and just kind of went around very easily and re bent the wall of the bezel back in. this took a long time and was not fun doing it on an almost 60 year old piece of brass..

some bezels don't have enough of a "Lip left on the edge, so theres nothing to hold the insert in at all.. thank god this one had a good strong lip left.
everything is pressure fit on this watch, there is not one drop of glue holding anything in and that makes me proud. even the trit pearl is pressure snap fit into the insert. glue free. its not going anywhere.



this gap is not good

here are the after shots. this repair was a working progress of several months till now of sourcing parts.
nato shot


bracelet shots





here is a picture of the lugs after I was done refinishing them. I try to get them as close to factory as possible. the chamfers came out really nice i think.


the movement is clean and keeps great time


I wasn't expecting this watch to have as many problems as it did when I got it. With vintage, sometimes you really don't know what you're getting no matter the seller, sometimes you have to see the problems for yourself..
I love this watch. its in great condition for being almost 60 years old. the faded fat font insert looks great. the rolex service dial has a wonderful yellow patina and it runs excellent. it was well worth the money in parts and the time it took to bring back its luster.

Very nice work!

[jamesw]

Looks great Subking! A job well done.

[SubKing]

Originally Posted by jamesw

Looks great Subking! A job well done.

thank you

[SubKing]

didn't mean to take over this thread with my long post, i just really like the topic

[Freelance]

Originally Posted by Eric88

I've been officially bitten by the vintage bug this year and realized after owning several that one can invest a ton in improvements. I'm curious to get some conversation going on which improvements you like to do and which ones have cost you the most or the least?

Here are some that seem fairly common, listed roughly in order of cost, lowest to highest.

• NATO straps
• New bezel pearls
• Polishing
• New crystal e.g. superdome vs. top hat
• Servicing
• Bezel inserts e.g. faded fat font
• Updated bracelet
• Dial and hand replacement e.g. sourcing an authentic red Sub dial to replace a service dial

Did I miss anything? I've done all of these and the one that keeps grabbing me is the counter culture of faded fat font inserts. There are so many variations of grey vs. bluish and different degrees of font thickness. It's crazy, but fun!

Do what makes you happy. There are two camps here. The DON'T DO anything, let it age crowd, and the "I like a nice watch, (over)maintained, shiny and fresh" crowd.

Do you drive a rusty, dented, beat up car? If you owned something cool like a 1963 Porsche 356 -- would you leave it as is with ripped tattered seats, chipped windscreen, etc?

Personally, I like driving a well maintained/restored vintage car and as such, I like my vintage watches to look equally maintained/shiny.