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Blancpain

Crown of Bund Fifty Fathoms

 

Hi Guys,

Wet afternoon in south west france, so a good time to put together a post I've been wanting to do for a while now.

I bought this watch about a year ago, after studying Billy Schorr's artical on the Bund issued Fifty Fathoms, but the crown concerns me> What to do you guys think, do we have any experts on these models on the forum?

So here we go.....

Here's the front face, nicely aged, does still glow for a while after the lights are out (once its been held over the light bulb for a while) and I'm really happy that the 12 o'clock insert is intact.



Its currently gaining about a minute a day. Perhaps one day I'll get it serviced, but I'll need some advice on where to put it, i.e. a sympathetic watch maker who's happy to work on these old time pieces.

Here we have a view on the rear of the watch.

(yes, I was wearing a blue t-shirt the day I took the photo!! ;-)




A view from 1 o'clock




A view from 8 o'clock




A view from 7 o'clock, 4 digit serial number between the lugs at 6 o'clock



A view from 10 o'clock




Back off, and a look at the movement




Inside the back cover




And a shot of the movement itself




 




Close up of the movement number




Now we arrive at the area of concern - its a VON logo on the crown. Indented into the crown (unlike the Squale watch I have).

I seem to remember reading somewhere (possibly on another forum) about some sort of connection between the case maker for Squale and this particular model of fifty fathoms, so I really hope this has been a replacement item during a repair.




This shot shows a Squale 500atms on top of the Fifty Fathoms, the case size difference is amazing!!

The FF has a much more impressive presence on the wrist, and the drilled strap pin holes, with the pressed in place bars really give you a sense of the watches tough operating abilities!!

This photo isn't that great, but the inverted, or indented logo on my FF crown is the same shape as on the Squale, only on the squale it sticks out.



Does anyone know if I change this crown, for the normal plain one of the FF bund, and if I can, where can I get one from?
 
And whilst we speak of potential spare parts, the bezel.
 
The bezel rotates nice and firmly in both directions, no ratcheting, just smooth and firm.
Until that is, the spring catches on a rough edge inside.....When I first got the watch, the bezel would come off if you turned it too much, too quick (kind of go tight, and then the twist as part of the spring wire came from its groove. I didn't take any photos unfortunately, as I figured it would come of more, but sinse I set in place, and taking care when turning the bezel, it hasn't wanted to come off.
But basically there is a spring wire, as by the diagram i sketched below, with the flats going under the rig around the crystal, and the points going under the rim in the bezel. Anyone any idea if this type of spring wire is possible to buy from somewhere? I tried a google search but couldn't find anything.
I would like to give the underside surfaces of the bezel a good clean up (remove the rough edges which had caused the bezel to 'lock', but don't want to remove the bezel without having a new spring wire. 

 



So thats it, my Blancpain Bund Fifty Fathoms.

 

Anyone have any ideas regarding the crown?

 

Cheers Tony

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