Spring wire..

That kind of bezel wire is common on old unidirectional dive watches. (Your diagram is pretty good, too)

FIrst off I'd try just tweaking the existing spring to help stop the ends catching. (Tweaking also allows you to increase/obtain more even friction)

Failing that, you can buy Stainless Steel wire to make one up. Problem will be getting the correct diameter and the second is the fact that you might have to buy metres of the stuff (unless you can find a kind soul to just snip some off for you).

Then all you need to do is lay the wire over the old one an use it as a bend template. The trick is to keep the wire flat, that is, on bending it will have a tendency to coil/spiral.

I have had some success with this using the thinnest lockwire I could find in the toolbox.

Crown of Bund Fifty Fathoms

By: DivingT : February 26th, 2011-06:22

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 concern...

No ideas, but it is a lovely watch

By: grigo : February 26th, 2011-06:30

I am sure that one our exprienced members will jump in and give some sound and useful advice. Nice post with very good explanations, wouldn't have minded seeing a picture of the dial on the squal. Best regards, George

The Squale dial.....

By: DivingT : February 26th, 2011-06:39

Here you go George cheers Tony...

Similar yet at the same time so very different.

By: grigo : February 26th, 2011-07:32

Thanks for the picture. Best regards,

squale/blancpain

By: Briandumais : February 26th, 2011-12:51

Tony It is my understanding that squale made the cases for Blancpain(please correct me if i'm wrong). I would assume the crown was replaced over the years but i would leave it alone. Keep you eye open for one and something might come up for sale! Cool wat...

Spring wire..

By: BDLJ : February 27th, 2011-15:55

That kind of bezel wire is common on old unidirectional dive watches. (Your diagram is pretty good, too) FIrst off I'd try just tweaking the existing spring to help stop the ends catching. (Tweaking also allows you to increase/obtain more even friction) F...

Thanks

By: DivingT : February 28th, 2011-04:29

Thanks BDLJ, I have access to some workshops who use pretty small INCONEL for wire locking hydraulic components. I'll give them my best smile see if I can come away with a few inches worth. Thanks for the tip.

Best of luck...

By: BDLJ : February 28th, 2011-14:16

....sweet talk them into as much as you can! That way you can make some mistakes....the wire work hardens so it's difficult to rework any bends. Looking forward to your results.