Case Pitting

[Richard Carver]

There can be corrosion under the bezel as well. Not so much in the case of body acid but more of a threat for those who spend a lot of time in the sea.

I bought this late 70s 1603 case for a project from a seller in Afghanistan. It's a fine, thick case and when I popped the bezel off this is what I found. What you see there isn't corrosion, it's dried blood.

I put it in a tin and haven't touched it since, that was 5 years ago.

[rmurphy]

Originally Posted by Richard Carver

There can be corrosion under the bezel as well. Not so much in the case of body acid but more of a threat for those who spend a lot of time in the sea.

I bought this late 70s 1603 case for a project from a seller in Afghanistan. It's a fine, thick case and when I popped the bezel off this is what I found. What you see there isn't corrosion, it's dried blood.

I put it in a tin and haven't touched it since, that was 5 years ago.

Thanks for commenting on my topic Mr. Carver. I have followed your posts on here and The Vintage Rolex Forum that you started for a long time now. I appreciate your love of the Datejust and agree that it’s an important part of vintage Rolex. I absolutely love mine and while it’s not particularly vintage yet it’s well on it’s way and my 5 year old daughter loves it because it’s beautiful and it’s “Daddy’s Watch”
I can’t wait to pass it on to her someday, she asked me today if she could keep it forever. I told her of course, it’s made to last forever.


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[Overwound]

Originally Posted by Richard Carver

There can be corrosion under the bezel as well. Not so much in the case of body acid but more of a threat for those who spend a lot of time in the sea.

I bought this late 70s 1603 case for a project from a seller in Afghanistan. It's a fine, thick case and when I popped the bezel off this is what I found. What you see there isn't corrosion, it's dried blood.

I put it in a tin and haven't touched it since, that was 5 years ago.

That's a fair amount of dried blood. The watch looks to be in good condition otherwise. Was it cut off of someone's body?

[Claven2]

FWIW, blood is acidic and can put 316L over time. If not done, you should at least clean that off.

Likely the PO just cut themselves at some point.

[csaltphoto]

Originally Posted by Claven2

FWIW, blood is acidic and can put 316L over time. If not done, you should at least clean that off.

Likely the PO just cut themselves at some point.

Actually blood is slightly alkaline. The salt in it attracts moisture after it dries and that is what causes the corrosion.

[Richard Carver]

I don't know the history of this 1603 and can only speculate. Based on it's age it's possible it was brought to Afghanistan by a Russian soldier, their misadventure ran from 1978-92. It was a nearly new watch then. Or perhaps more recently by a NATO troop or even a local Taliban potentate. Maybe it was stolen back and forth for 30 years.

The sure thing is it's violent end. It would have to lay in a puddle of blood for that much to have seeped all the way to the crystal, that took some time. We'll never know what happened to the previous owner but it wasn't good. I'll never use that case, it'll stay in it's darkness the rest of my life. Most soldiers mean well, none believe they are the bad guys. As Patton famously said; "don't die for your country, make that other poor son of a bitch die for his country".

Right or wrong he was doing the best he could, he probably loved his old Rolex. :)

[Richard Carver]

Originally Posted by rmurphy

Thank you for the kind words. :)

[padi56]

Originally Posted by rmurphy

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:




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Thats a quite old watch and most cases of case corrosion was back when many Rolex watches were used as tool watches.And many were not serviced in there life, thats when this case back corrosion happened hard use and lack of service.

[rmurphy]

Originally Posted by padi56

Thats a quite old watch and most cases of case corrosion was back when many Rolex watches were used as tool watches.And many were not serviced in there life, thats when this case back corrosion happened hard use and lack of service.

That was an extreme example for sure, what brought this up for me was a recent Datejust sale listing and it had a fair amount of pitting and the asking price was $3000 and I was shocked that someone might actually buy it and pay for a case that may or may not be able to be repaired. There’s too many nice examples for less than that or not much more. I also want to prevent anything like that from happening to mine. I’ve seen plenty of watches a lot older than mine with no damage so I’m not so concerned anymore. I appreciate everyone’s feedback tho, I think what concerns me the most is the corrosion that I see on the handsets. Some folks don’t seem to mind it but I would.


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[Chester01]

Originally Posted by seasubmariner

Because of acid inside the sweat coming from the skin.

Not washing the watch often.

Swimming with the watch inside pool or sea.

Sleeping with the watch.

Instead of washing the watch with filtered water, washing it with tap water which have sediment, stain and other particles.

Using soap instead of baby shampoo which ruins gaskets.

My Sub C has never been under any water. Only washed with filtered water and baby shampoo after every wear. I have worn the watch 2-3 days a month since 8 years and washed it after each time I wear it. Recently serviced and I saw that it was looking like a brand new watch. The watchmaker opened the case so easily and was shocked to see a 8 year old like brand new watch.

Hmm.
Mine is the opposite my 16610 went 17 years without service, wash when only visibly dirty, and wear doing anything and everything. No issues at all. It will outlive me by far.

[subtona]

Go with gold... no pitting?

[spoilsofwar01]

R Murphy's photo of corrosion had me concerned, I did inspect my 5513 prior to purchase but for the life of me I couldn't remember if I inspected the movement that would shown corrosion when the case back was off,

I've been frantically worrying about this all day

this evening after trawling through my photo archive of my 5513 I came across this...

panic over,

[rmurphy]

Originally Posted by spoilsofwar01

R Murphy's photo of corrosion had me concerned, I did inspect my 5513 prior to purchase but for the life of me I couldn't remember if I inspected the movement that would shown corrosion when the case back was off,



I've been frantically worrying about this all day



this evening after trawling through my photo archive of my 5513 I came across this...



panic over,

Let’s see the front of that beauty Spoilsofwar01. It’s crazy to think that could happen to a watch isn’t it. What’s even more mind boggling to me is the people selling watches like that and describing the cases to be in “great shape” “fat lugs” etc etc. They might have fat cases but they are rotting away.


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[spoilsofwar01]

Originally Posted by rmurphy

Let’s see the front of that beauty Spoilsofwar01. It’s crazy to think that could happen to a watch isn’t it. What’s even more mind boggling to me is the people selling watches like that and describing the cases to be in “great shape” “fat lugs” etc etc. They might have fat cases but they are rotting away.


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A view from the front, Its a 1968 5513. the dial and hands are early (matt) service replacements circa 1970, I will be adding a 93150 bracelet as the 7836 isn't quite right, many thanks for the interest,

[DateJust74]

Is this the start of pitting on those 904L lugs or are those just scratches?


https://imgur.com/a/rFoNyZQ