Rolex Submariner 1680 Red - restoration, part II

Rolex 1680 The Red Sub

While we are still on the quest for the 'missing puzzle' - Which shop sold Rolex watches on Norfolk Island in 1970s? the owner of the Red Sub was anxious to get his baby back, so I got straight into Red restoration.

Before you see the photos, couple of points on what a true and faithful collectors of vintage Rolex watches regard as the 'honest way' to restore a watch:

- Mechanism: complete overhaul. Worn out or broken parts are to be replaced. For the same reason you would replace a brake pads on 1972 Porsche, you should replace movement components which are essential and responsible for time keeping. Remember: if it doesn't tell the time, it's not a watch!

- case parts: light polish only. This is done by hand, of course. Plexy glass: again, polish only. Original bezel insert should be retained for two reasons: originality and distinctive vintage look.

- bracelet: a worn out bracelet must be replaced! Again, you would not restore a vintage car and drive it around 'preserving' the 50 years old set of tires. Old bracelet should be preserved, but not attached to a newly restored watch.

- case seal: rubber seal should be replace. This is not optional! While vintage watches are no longer expected to be water resistant, seals are meant to be replaced regardless.

- dial and hands: this is actually the most important bit. The dial and hands should NEVER be replaced. Dial replacement is sacrilegious! Not only the new dial would spoil the look but it would significantly devalue the watch.

In other words, a proper restoration means bringing the watch in good working order wile preserving as much of it's character and originality, whenever that is possible. Like with any restoration, the end result should never become irreversible.

Once again, vintage watches should not be worn in water. When worn daily, extra care and attention should be taken. After all, we are just guardians- beautiful pieces will outlive it's custodians and will be passed on to the next generation of careful are respectful owners.

At least we hope so.

Case disassembly

the 'red' dial was manufactured by dial maker Beyeler, Geneve

the mainspring was dry, long overdue for cleaning, polishing and lubrication

movement disassembled, components ready for cleaning

main spring polished and lubricated

balance wheel

movement assembled

dial

hands assembly

checking for clearence

movement assembled !

Plexiglas polishing

by hand :-)

more plexi polishing

"brushing" the lugs - refinishing

case cleaning

not bad :-)

almost there

ready to go!

As you would imagine, this quick 'show and tell' blog entry covers only some of steps involved in restoration which took approximately 6 hours. Holding the camera with one hand and assembling the watch with other is challenge I am yet to master :-)

1972 Rolex 1680 Red Submariner: one original owner.

You love your red Submariners? Me too!

This lovely example of a 1680 red Sub manufactured in the last quarter of 1972 just arrived to our workshop for a complete overhaul. The bracelet had virtually disintegrated, but the good old Subbie suffered no other damage.

Naturally this was a great opportunity to chat with the original owner who got it in 1975. That's right - the watch sat in a dealer's shop unsold for over two years! The Red 1680 Submariner was hardly a hot selling item back then :-).

The owner has had it since then and except for a couple of services in the late 80s and one in 2007, the watch spent 38 years happily ticking on his wrist.

"Would you like to know what your watch is worth today" - I had to ask.

"Yes, I would - but It really does not matter to me. It is the sentimental value, not the monetary one that makes it special. But I do remember what my wife paid for it: exactly $250, from a dealer on Norfolk Island - where we went for our honeymoon!"

Getting this one back to good working order is now more a matter of pleasure and enjoyment and my top priority. I just LOVE red subs!

Now, you may say that finding a red sub is not a big deal, there are hundreds of them out there on eBay and from online sellers.

I respectfully disagree. Pieces which are put together, and contain both original and aftermarket Rolex parts are not what serious collectors are interested in.

Good stuff - watches bought and worn by one original owner - are extremely hard to find and almost impossible to buy. As our customer said: money cannot buy memories.

One thing you can help me with: who was the Rolex dealer and what was the name of the shop on Norfolk Island that operated there in the 1970s?

Stay tuned for post-service photos!

Solid end link, no pin holes, gold strip

We often receive emails about Rolex Submariner pin holes, gold strip and end links. In general those terms refer to bracelet and case properties. Photos below are self-explanatory. Important note: the purpose of this article is not to provide definite cut-off production dates, but rather to point out differences between similar models.

According to Rolex's practice, changes to case and bracelet were introduced gradually over the years. For example, the non-date Submariner 14060 was manufactured with pin-holes and an older style bracelet up until 2008. On the other hand, the Seadweller 16660 was fitted with a solid end link bracelet in the early 1980s! The 16613 gold and steel was the only clean-cut issue: the new bracelet was introduced in 2000 and the no pin holes case in late 2003/ early 2004.

Another filthy Rolex bracelet

One would think that a watch owner who just spent $6,000 on a Rolex Submariner would at least make a modest effort to keep his valuable and fine timepiece in decent condition. Unfortunately, some watch owners could not care less.

Here are a couple of photos of a Rolex Submariner that came in for overhaul.







The amount of dirt and filth built underneath the clasp is just unbelievable. Not only that sand and dust will eat away the metal links in no time, especially when the bracelet is worn loose (embedded particles of sand act like grinding paste), but such filth (and I really don't have a better word to describe it) can cause a serious health problem.

All this can be avoided with just a bit of common sense. A stainless steel bracelet of a waterproof watch should be cleaned regularly. A toothbrush and soapy water (e.g. dishwashing detergent) will do a marvelous job.

How To Kill a $11,000 Watch in Two Easy Steps

Step 1: wear it for 10 years without servicing
Step 2: unlock the winding crown and jump into the pool








The reason for the state of the Rolex Submariner, as depicted above, is simple.
The watch owner failed to overhaul his watch when the watch was due for service.

Consequently, the delicate rubber crown seal wore off and water got into the watch through the winding crown.

As a matter of fact, all of this trouble, including a $6,000 repair bill, could have been avoided by simply replacing the rubber seal, at the cost of $10.






To blame Rolex for those shocking pictures is ridiculous.
Owners should take their responsibilities and respect overhaul service when the watch is due.
However, I am afraid that we will see those same horrific pictures for the years to come, as there is no cure for stupidity.

Plexi vs. Crystal?

Here is a photo of Rolex Submariner 16610 that was dropped on a tiled floor. Due to the impact, the crystal glass cracked. Number of small glass particles went through date display window and found their way into the movement.

One not-so-small bit was lodged between sweep seconds wheel and centre wheel bridge which caused the watch to stop.

The owner was lucky that apart from a bent escape wheel pivot, no other damage was found. To my surprise, the balance wheel and escape wheel shock absorbers were not 'activated'.

Conclusion: If you crack the crystal, complete overhaul is MUST - even if you have a brand new watch or one that has been recently overhauled. For that reason watch fitted with plexyglass would be more useful under tough conditions (military or sport activity).

[Q]: Can I trouble you to explain or point me to some info on how the shock absorbers are supposed to activate?

In electrical circuit, the circuit breaker's job is to cut off the circuit whenever the current jumps above a safe level.
In mechanical watches, an equivalent of circuit breaker is shock protection system. The shock protection system is there to protect the critical alignment of components in the event of an unexpected physical shock, such as being dropped.
The pivots and jewels of the balance wheel are fragile in comparison to the mass they need to support, and without shock protection are the most likely part of the watch to be damaged under impact.

The Incabloc (or Kif in Rolex) system uses a specially shaped spring to allow the delicate jewels and pivots to shift in their settings under impact . When the impact is over, the springs guide the parts back to their original positions. If the impact is excessive, the shock protection system is activated and it needs to be reset by watch repairer.
Unfortunately shock protecting system is not perfect and it's efficiency and ability to protect vital parts is not always all that great. Angle of impact, G-force and surface play their role. In some cases, a relatively small drop could cause major damage and in other substantial drops cause very little or no visible damage.

[Q]: What is the difference between plexi glass, mineral glass and sapphire crystal?

Plexiglass is a clear, lightweight type of plastic. Mineral glass is ordinarily glass hardened by a tempering process. Synthetic sapphire crystal is a very hard, transparent glass made of crystallizing aluminium oxide at very high temperatures. When it is heated, the synthetic sapphire forms round masses that are sliced into pieces with diamond-coated saws. These disks are then ground and polished into watch crystals.

Plexiglass, as one would expect, is the least expensive. It is also the least likely to shatter and the most likely to become scratched. Mineral glass, even though it has been hardened by a tempering process, is more likely to break than plexiglass. But it is also more scratch-resistant than plastic plexy. Synthetic sapphire is the most expensive glass crystal and the most scratch resistant. Watch crystals made of synthetic sapphire are often marketed as "scratch resistant", meaning they are very difficult - but not impossible - to scratch. Diamond can scratch them; so can man-made materials that incorporate silicon carbide. As pointed out by other forum members, due to the hardness of sapphire crystal, it is also brittle and shatters more easily than mineral glass or plexiglass.

Unlike plexy, mineral and sapphire crystals can not be re-polished.

Which crystal is fitted to your Rolex watch? An easy way to tell this is by model reference number: in general, watches with 4 code reference number (like 5513, 1680 etc) are fitted with plexy and 5 digits (16233, 16610 etc) are fitted with sapphire crystal.

Rolex clasp : gold plated or gold-fused?

Gold electroplating is the process of using electrical current to coat a base metal with a relatively thin layer of gold. The thickness of the layer is 5-20 microns.

A closer examination of the Rolex Submariner 16613 clasp will show that the actual clasp is not electroplated. The layer of gold is substantially thicker - my estimate is 0.5 - 0.8 mm (500-800 microns) In essence, what we have here is a thin sheet of solid 18K gold fused at high temperature to the steel clasp.

Under normal 'wear and tear' condition, a 16613 clasp would probably need some light to medium polishing once every 3-4 years. My guess is that the gold layer would be substantially worn or even completely worn out after 5 polishing cycles or approx. 20 years. I have personally polished a number of clasps already with no visible abrasion to gold layer.

On the contrary, electroplated surfaces should not be polished. Even a very light buffing will remove gold plated deposit and expose the base metal.

The Mysterious Rolex Submariner 5512

Here is the story of the "mysterious" Rolex 5512 from the 1960s that came in with the owner's note: "I had left my 5512 Submariner with a local watchmaker to service a few weeks ago. Anyway yesterday he tells me he cannot adjust the accuracy of the watch below 30 minutes a day. He doesn't know what is exactly wrong..."

That sounds like an interesting challenge and I really couldn't wait to get into it!





Bracelets were removed and serial numbers checked and recorded




This is the most exciting moment: what mystery is hidden inside?



Cal. 1570 movement is held with 2 clamps



Initial timing machine revealed that the 'hearth beat' reading was very erratic but somehow consistent. But the error was only 40 seconds per day, not 30 minutes as reported.



Further inspection of balance wheel revealed a poorly aligned hairspring



and loose weight screw (C). The hairspring was rubbing against the spoke of the balance wheel. This could be one possible reason for excessive gain.



hairspring was realigned to correct position (from A to B) which resulted in much better timekeeping.



The amplitude was much better, the bal. wheel was resonating at 19,800 bph which is correct for cal. 1570.



Yet the watch was still gaining like crazy!
Obviously there was another problem hidden deeper inside! Movement was disassembled once again.



This time I was looking for train wheel with incorrect tooth count. New set of original Rolex cal 1570 wheels was there as reference (green)



... and the culprit is 4th wheel ! Although of exactly same diameter as the correct wheel, this one has a different number of teeth!



the watch was reassembled again and voila - the excessive gain magically disappeared!
But could this well-beaten up 5512 keep even better time, perhaps within chronometer specification? Let's see...
Once again, the complete movement was disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and adjusted. Fast forward - 2 hours later, the result speaks for itself.



Final adjustment: +1 sec / day. Naturally, once worn on the wrist the actual error could be slightly higher, I would still expect this 5512 to perform within chronometer specification.



And finally, one mystery that will probably remain unsolved for ever: who fitted the wrong 4th wheel in the first place?