Vintage Hand-Winders and the Crown Gap
I have a fairly limited exposure to vintage handwound wristwatches of the 20's thru the 50's but something I notice, especially with the earlier ones, is that the crown is not as flush to the case as we are used to in the modern day. At all. I haven't actually measured but I don't doubt that many of these have a good 1/16" (1.6mm if you must) of space between case and crown, which is way more than is necessary for a fingernail.
Am I right in this being a common thing of a certain period and if so why?
I want to steal the image of @Whitris that reminded me of this but for now I'll link to his post.
Started as a quartzbro goofing on the mechanical snobs, wrote for thetruthaboutwatches.com, and lately started finding forgotten familial vintage watches in need of love.
I do not know if this is related, but the crown in my timepiece was very worn out, so the watchmaker had to swap it with a Longines branded one. I think Longines did not brand their crowns in those years, so it might not be the original one. Not that I care so much - after all the crown was indeed in bad shape - but maybe the original one left less space
Here is a picture of the original crown ✌🏻
Oh, you mean like this:
The two most likely parts of a vintage watch that will require regular attention are the crystal and the crown. The crown takes all of the torque of winding. If the movement gets stiff and needs a service many owners will just wind harder, increasing the torque. In older watches it is also more exposed and can be caught on clothing:
Often what causes the problem with the crown is in fact the stem. I think that Benrus has the original crown. I suspect the stem was repaired decades ago and the watchmaker didn't think to trim the stem, or didn't have the expertise or tool.
Watch manufacturers began to hide the stem in the case to keep it from being caught:
It is tucked into this Taubert case. Another Taubert case:
The line of the outside of the case protects the crown. In the 1950's Eterna and Bulova completely hid the crown on some models. JLC famously moved it to the back.
This all lines up with what I've seen. So this is mostly from prior servicing? When time is money, futzing with cutting down a stem surely cuts into profits. And if one legitimately forgets, there's no going back unless you have and want to swallow the cost of both stem and crown.
I know that the first time I noticed this, I was ready to blame the current watchmaker, but luckily I had "as found" photos which proved that the crown gap was pre-existing. And it's almost certain nothing I have was previously serviced since the Moon landing, so it's from within the lifespan of the original owners.
I do not know if this is related, but the crown in my timepiece was very worn out, so the watchmaker had to swap it with a Longines branded one. I think Longines did not brand their crowns in those years, so it might not be the original one. Not that I care so much - after all the crown was indeed in bad shape - but maybe the original one left less space
Then your watchmaker did not do a good job with the new stem.