5513 water test failed

[thenewguyguys]

Today I pressure tested my 5513 (~81) and it failed, the AD said that the leak was around the crown of the watch. He said that they would ship the watch to their service place and call me in 1-2weeks about the price and if its possible to fix the leak (It should be possible right?) he said that they might need to replace the crown.

The strange thing is that I pressure tested it in a non-AD(that have a good reputation) and they said it was tight up to 5 bars. Then I changed the plexi at another place and everything was fine I guess because they didn't say nothing was wrong(I assume they pressure test all the watches when they change the crystal/plexi?)

The owner of the watch said that he got it tested up to 200m without any problems.

Has anyone had similar problems?, any clue how much it costs to replace the crown on a 5513 roughly?

[Beaumont Miller II]

Nice mk4 maxi.
If the watchmaker was sure it was around the crown, it may just need a newer crown to properly seal the watch; the older gaskets possibly dried out. Likely nothing to worry about, few hundred dollars. Hopefully your watch will be on your wrist soon. I would not assume anyone pressure checks a vintage watch.

[springer]

There are four rubber o-rings to seal the crown/tube. One inside the winding crown, two inside the tube and one on the outside center of the tube. If they are doing a pressure test with the water tank, it will show bubbles coming off the watch until all the air trapped in the insert and elsewhere is gone. This is normally a small amount of bubbles that you will see coming off the watch - a couple seconds. If the bubbles persist, there is a leak in the area where the bubbles originate.

The possibility also exists that the tube is not sealing properly to the case and somewhere, at some point, the tube started leaking.

RWT, a forum member, is a watchmaker here in Texas, and maybe if he sees this thread he can provide more info for you.

[Perpetual74]

could be just the gasket to be replaced ... In any case, my advice is to see as few water as possible to vintage rolex...

[Andad]

I'm with J on this so I would take it back and ask them to check it again with this in mind.

[R.W.T.]

No real way to tell.

If it's leaking at the crown...as people have said, it could be tube at case, gaskets in crown, crown, or tube.

In a case like this I would drop the movement out and try and find the issue through trial and error.

If the crown is a twin lok, then there isn't a gasket on the outside of the tube. Generally, okay....we aren't going diving with this watch. Rolex would change the tube and crown at every service to insure water resistance to spec. Some people would prefer an original twin lok to a trip lok. Fine. Generally the crown will not be so bad that it won't work if you put a new fresh tube in. The 700 crown doesn't strip out the threads or wear them out very often. After all the watch is automatic and keeps good time. One hardly opens the crown compared to a hand wind watch. The clutch goes bad before that happens mostly. The threads on the tube if they are new will usually provide good enough seal provided the gaskets in the crown and the inner tube gaskets are fresh. Every situation is different when you are dealing with a vintage watch and trying to retain vintage parts. Once you have established that you can get a good seal empty then you can re case it and try it assembled. The new plexi may be leaking right by the crown and making it seem like the crown is leaking. This could be because the bezel retainer has stretched. This can be especially problematic if aftermarket crystals are used and then you go back to Rolex made. I was told by my watchmaking mentor. Like I said every situation is different. This is why Rolex stacks the deck in their favor. They replace it all. Then they don't have issues, and they use the newest and best parts per their research. We tend to like original style stuff. The water resistance and term of that resistance has definitely been improved upon since the watch was built. It's a choice and it takes some persistence and vigilance and willingness to be at a greater risk possibly.