Submariner Bezel Insert Compatibilty

[studioal]

Been trying to find a resource for determining which inserts work on which references and haven't come across anything definitive. Does anyone know of anything like this in existence? I've seen a couple random posts over the years, but it's generally specific (i.e. https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=259659)

I'd be happy to help create such a resource if anyone is interested.

[996marty]

Have you checked out the vintage Rolex forum?

[studioal]

Originally Posted by 996marty

Have you checked out the vintage Rolex forum?

I have and it's extremely valuable, however very dense. I was thinking a spreadsheet or something that one could easily reference or cross-check for compatibility and period correctness. It also appears that certain inserts don't fit as well as others...

7 DIMENSIONS

To comprehend the wide versions spreading described in the next paragraph, you should previously know that all inserts for acrylic Rolex/Tudor diving watches have the same inner and outer diameter specification, 30.30/36.55 mm, respectively; but the inserts as well as the bezels and crystal retaining rings show production tolerances – often, Rolex had to widen or squeeze (google for Rolex tool ref. 1006) the bezel and/or the ring to build well-fitting individual combos; so, you can have several untouched watches of the same reference but the bezel parts might not easily be swappable anyway.

People only offer inserts for particular models because they took them from particular ones, or because they mistakenly believe in a “size family”; and although original packages are labeled for a specific model, this is for supply and design (surface/colors) reasons only.

[Dan S]

What are you looking for exactly, part numbers or ID/OD? There are only a handful of dimensions.

You can find things like this:
http://www.watchgeek.com/bezels.htm

[Dom9]

Whilst perhaps not exactly what you're looking for:

https://www.watchgeek.com/bezels.htm

[studioal]

Thanks gents. What originally prompted this is a black Tudor 94010 that was offered to me with a generic insert. The watch is from 1979 and it had me thinking A) what would be the correct mark for this watch B) would a bezel from say a 1680 or 5513 of the same mark be appropriate/correct?

I just don't want to spend $1.5K on a bezel that is incorrect. I.e. putting a MKIV bezel on a watch that would have come with a Mark V.

[Dan S]

Originally Posted by studioal

Thanks gents. What originally prompted this is a black Tudor 94010 that was offered to me with a generic insert. The watch is from 1979 and it had me thinking A) what would be the correct mark for this watch B) would a bezel from say a 1680 or 5513 of the same mark be appropriate/correct?

I just don't want to spend $1.5K on a bezel that is incorrect. I.e. putting a MKIV bezel on a watch that would have come with a Mark V.

That is an entirely different issue than the "compatibility" question. I thought you were asking for general reference information about which inserts would physically fit in which bezel rings.

You might need to start a thread asking which inserts were original to a 1979 Tudor 94010. I believe that the inserts were shared between Rolex and Tudor Subs in that time-frame.

[studioal]

Part of my original pondering was compatibility from a ID/OD diameter standpoint, but the VRF article that was linked above covers that in depth.

You might need to start a thread asking which inserts were original to a 1979 Tudor 94010. I believe that the inserts were shared between Rolex and Tudor Subs in that time-frame.

It would be interesting to go through every reference of Submariner and do this.

[Dom9]

The VRF thread covers everything to work out the right type, including spreadsheet screen grabs with years. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/vint...0.html#p629137

Easy enough to get a thin font service insert cheaply and then wait for the right one to come along. Market seems soft at the moment. A lot of black inserts hanging about in the usual places (eg ebay),