What's He Look Like?

[freddy333]

It is said that God is in the details. And nowhere is that truer than when comparing a rep watch to its genuine counterpart. A quick perusal of vintage gen Sea Dwellers and COMEXs and you will see that the early HE valves that were fitted into these rare watches differ in appearance from the round, shiny button things rep makers generally use to mimic them. Specifically, the face of the gen valve, where it sits adjacent to the highly polished casing material that surrounds it, is flat-faced (as opposed to slightly convex on reps), a bit darker and definitely not polished.

If, like me, your ultimate goal is to wind up with a watch whose appearance is a near-perfect analogue of the genuine article, then you will need to mod the HE valve to more accurately mirror the appearance of the original.

Fortunately, not only is this one of the simplest mods to execute (as long as you have mastered the art of movement extraction), but, amazingly (as I found out after completing the first one), it also results in a rep that is orders of magnitude closer to looking like 'the real thing'. Anyway, enough with the blabbering and on to the mod.

Here is the step-by-step procedure (note: it is alot easier to do than to write):

1. Open the case and remove the movement (as Ziggy and others have already penned wonderfully comprehensive tutorials on this process, I will take that as read).

2. Using a small flathead screwdriver, slide the backing plate over the 'valve' plug until the large circular cut-out in the plate is located directly over the head of the valve. The backing plate should then slide off (if it has not already fallen off by itself). The valve, which is just a small blocking pin with a 'T' head, can be removed with tweezers (it may just fall out, but in each of the two watches I have modded so far, the pins were held in (gently) by all the muck that had collected around the head on the outside of the case -- the pin required only gentle prodding with tweezers to remove).

3. Beginning with 100 grit sandpaper, hold the valve pin between thumb and forefinger, perpendicular to the surface, and grind the rounded head flat. Once flat, use 200 and then (only briefly) 400 grit to smooth out the surface to a roughly brushed appearance. I purposely left it a bit rougher than the other brushed surfaces on the case.

4. Clean the pin and hole thoroughly and slide the pin back into the hole in the case.

5. Reinstall the backing plate over the end of the pin, clean the case and reassemble.

Here are before and after shots (the valve looks a bit lighter in color here because the light source was directly on top of it; the valve appears slightly darker under normal room lighting):

When viewed on ones arm (unfortunately, my camera is on the fritz, so I do not have an arm shot), the entire watch just looks - well, more right. More authentic. More like a gen SD or COMEX, at least from that side. The 'valve' draws the eye directly to it and the eye does not leave disappointed. I am still not quite sure why this small part (and simple mod) produces such a dramatic change in the overall appearance of a watch thus modded, but it does. And for the better. Much better. Promise. So do it.

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Update 6/07 -- My camera was out of service when I originally posted this tutorial so I was unable to include a wrist shot. But here it is now

I have also since continued research into gen vintage Comex Subs and there appear to be both shiny, domed He valves and non-shiny, flat valves. So either one is correct. But I think the non-shiny, flat version makes a rep look more authentic because I have never seen this form on any other rep watches (only gens).

[azgjav]

awesome! will have to do that to the mbw drsd when it arrives!

[freddy333]

Thanks and the photos really don't do it justice. This really outta be done routinely whenever CGs and lugs are modded. Not sure why it hasn't been?

[Sherrington]

awesome! will have to do that to the mbw drsd when it arrives!

You can't do this to a MBW DRSD as the HE valve is part of the case and not a seperate component. Most of the Gen photos I have (200+) show the HE valve shiny as opposed to matt.

Edited November 19, 2006 by Sherrington

[freddy333]

You can't do this to a MBW DRSD as the HE valve is part of the case and not a seperate component. Most of the Gen photos I have (200+) show the HE valve shiny as opposed to matt.

There may be some models or model variations that have a different HE valve fitted (like your MBW DRSD). (I just received a WM DRSD, which I have not opened yet -- I will update if the HE in this one is not removable.) But I have so far completed this mod on two watches -- a Trusty DRSD and a 5512 COMEX Sub similar to the one that is currently offered by Trusty.

As for the gen HE -- As is typical for Rolex, there certainly may be variations in the construction of the valves they employed, especially in the early versions made specially for COMEX. I generally use Antiquorum as a guide since all of the watches are thoroughly authenticated prior to being listed for auction. When I checked Antiquorum to research this prior to beginning the first mod, both the COMEX Sub and DRSD listed displayed the dark, flat matte valve (which is what I used as a guide for the mod). Also, around that time, there was a thread on TZ discussing whether or not it is safe to have Rolex overhaul vintage watches and one of the more seasoned regulars warned that it was routine, at least in the case of the London RSC, for Rolex to polish parts that may have originally had a matte finish. He did not specifically cite the HE valve, but considering its location and the time and difficulty required to properly mask it off, it seemed to me that Rolex probably buffs these to a shine when a watch is overhauled. On the other hand, just now I found another COMEX 5513 that does appear to have a shiny valve (though it still looks flat as opposed to the convex shape on most rep valves). So there may very well be some variance in the valves (or this is proof that RSC polishes them!).