Project, updating molested case of a Benrus Type II Class A

[civic4982]

Many moons ago, for our wedding, my wife gifted me a Benrus Type II Class A.

It had been pretty well used and the crystal was almost unusable. I cleaned it with hand polishing and took it to my watchmaker to have it serviced.

As a “bonus” surprise he went ahead and bead blasted the lovely parkerized finish right off of it .

I was incredibly sad as I loved the parkerized finish and the scars it had over the years from 1979 until it reached me.

Now, several years later, I Finally found an unmolested Type iI Class A vase with a lovely finish. It was a case alone and so last weekend I went to my watchmaker and borrowed some of his tools to disassemble and swap my other parts into the new case.

We had everything finally out and ready for transplant so I could take my current case and hopefully find a gunsmith or other finishing expert to help me eventually parkerized the original one and put it all back.

Sadly we stumbled upon a PROBLEM!

The two part stem and crown of mine did not appear to fit into the crowntube of my new replacement case.

It looks otherwise very legitimate and I’m really surprised that there could be possibly more than one crowntube for those arch over the decade+ it was made.

Have any of you run into crowntube issues with multiple types? The case is from 1973 and my other was from 1979. The crown on my other appear original with the correct hash Mark at center.

Photos to come.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tanukjaju]

First question... Parkerizing from research I have done in the past is done on ferrous metals. I assume yours isn’t.

I do have a watch that has the ‘gun blackened’ finish and have been trying to figure out how to do this for a project watch.

[civic4982]

Original case Type II Class A, let’s call it CASE1



Replacement case Type II Class A, let’s call it CASE2




Metal ring inside the replacement case visible inside crown tube, original crown won’t fit in and the tube appears to get smaller as it goes into the case.





CASE1 then CASE2 from the front






Original crown from CASE1 with very faint hash still visible.



Any with any experience here?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[civic4982]

Here’s a few photos of it being loved through the years along with some other era similar military watches:










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[civic4982]

First question... Parkerizing from research I have done in the past is done on ferrous metals. I assume yours isn’t.

I do have a watch that has the ‘gun blackened’ finish and have been trying to figure out how to do this for a project watch.

You’re right.
The correct term is passivate :
https://www.finishing.com/596/32.shtml



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[civic4982]

I realize I never shared images of the crown tube in CASE 1 where the stem fits great without issue and is my original case.





Now compare it to CASE 2 again where it appears likely more original and my stem stem is too wide to pass through :





I think my most logical solution is to replace the crown from CASE 2 to CASE 1 if possible but I’m worried they won’t engage correctly.

Alternatively I could drill he crowntube for CASE 2 to fit my stem.

FYI I suspect the inner area of CASE 1 is drilled to accommodate the female end of the stem:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tanukjaju]

What material is the watch you want to gun black? Bluing solution won't work on stainless but will work on steel.
There are really good products on the market for bluing firearms and they should work on watch cases based on what they are made of.

Birchwood Casey makes a great gun blue.

First question... Parkerizing from research I have done in the past is done on ferrous metals. I assume yours isn’t.

I do have a watch that has the ‘gun blackened’ finish and have been trying to figure out how to do this for a project watch.

stainless. I will look and test some of these chemicals soon . I didn’t know they had diy blackening
Kits for stainless steel.

[civic4982]

Brownell's Oxynate 84 should blacken stainless steel.

Hey Pete2582CA,

I think the cases are steel but not necessarily stainless.


Any good recommendations for other bluing materials for blackening firearms?


Edit:

Found a good cold blue video. Concerned it may be too dark compared to the original.



Otherwise also saw this write up for the Brownell:

https://www.shtfblog.com/diy-cold-bluing/

Finally a guy on MWR used a ferric chloride:
https://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthr ... sformation

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[civic4982]

Thanks for all the advice folks.

It is appreciated.

Been busy so haven’t tweakednwith either this original case or swapping things into the newer case.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Yoda]

Remove the smaller part inside the crown tube in the new case, check to see if the crown fits the new one as it fits the original case. The female/male stem will not be affected as long as it aligns well when the movement is secured in the case.