Did they make swing out cases for 18s watches that did not have the lockdown ring at the base of the crown? Regards. Mark Cross

IHC Member 163

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by... "the lockdown ring at the base of the crown" ...but it is likely you refer to the knurled area below the crown on a swing-out or "tip-out" case. They were a way of trying to make the cases as dust-proof as possible. There is even a packing under the crown to seal it as best they could.

Below, a fairly typical swing-out case...

Here the crown snapped upward, the bezel is removed, and you insert your thumb-nail to "pop" the movement upward. Notice the hinges at the top of the ring which holds the movement..

Actually, your picture answered my question. I have a friend who picked up an Elgin that is a swing out movement, but he tells me that the movement automatically swings out from the case when the bezel is unscrewed without the crown being pulled. I have an old swing out with a screw down lock under the crown that also works as a dust seal. I had never seen or owned one one that didn't have that screw down dust ring, but apparently that was not unusual. Thank you. Regards. Mark Cross

By the way, that is a gorgous Elgin you're using for the demo. Thanks for using it, as you well know my weakness for big old Elgins! Regards. Mark Cross

Oh, excuse me, I was just sitting here staring at that movement...

You friend's swing-out ring should seat into the case tightly enough that it is necessary to essentially "pry" it loose but if it is somewhat worn the movement may seem like it comes out automatically. I do have a couple that can be rotated upward without the crown being pulled. However I strongly recommend always pulling the crown to it's stop in order to avoid potential damage to the stem which must properly engage and disengage the movement.

Usually you'll need to rotate the crown slightly from side-to-side to release or re-engage the stem. Maximum care and caution should always be exercised with a swing-out case.

Your assessment of the dust-proof crown is correct. Yours sounds unusual, and interesting. Swing-out cases will nearly always have some sort of dust-proof crown. The whole point of this type of case was to keep the movement clean.

Hope this helps you and others Mark.

Lindell

It sure did, and thank you. I definitely learned something here today. I've only owned screw back/front cased watches my entire life, and have only the one swingout that my old Hampden resides in. It was explained to me that it was a dust seal/lock for the movement, and me also owning a oyster type wrist watch, made sense to me at the time. I can see it was partially correct. As to the problem my friend told me about, I think he got a buggered up watch, but that's just based on how he described how the movement just automatically swung out of the watch with no effort. That just didn't make any sense. Thank you, that's even MORE good basic info I did not know! High regards. Mark Cross