I found a gold filled 18s old style Dueber 3 hinge case today, complete with good crown, but a plastic crystal instead of glass.

Unfortunately it's missing the stem and sleeve. How difficult is it to find and fit these missing parts to the case so an orphan movement can be installed ?

Thank you!

Regards! Mark

Fitting a stem and sleeve are often very difficult. And.... you really ought to locate the movement and then fit a stem and sleeve so that they set and wind that particular movement.

Those old cases did not have anything near the uniformity that the later 16sz cases had.

You'll also need a stem-setting tool. Mine looks like a ring with different size plugs, all having 4 "points."

What you'll need to do is to find your movement and then find someone with a cigar box filled with old stems and sleeves. You'll need a sleeve that fits the diameter of your case AND a stem that is long enough to reach your movement. Some cases are very tall. If you find a stem that's a tad too long, it can be cut a little. To short.... too bad.

Then... to make matters worse, you will have to find one that fits the thread pattern of your crown. There are many, many thread patterns.

So... you'll be spending considerable time trying out this or that combination and then throwing them back.

When you are looking through that cigar-box of old stems and crowns, you'll probably find stems still attached to old crowns. That will be tempting because at least those have the same thread pattern. (Last week, I abandoned a brand new crown, in favor of a worn one because I could not find a stem for the NOS crown.)

All in all.... you will need considerable LUCK to find parts that fit your case, crown and movement. It's one of the most frustrating things that I have to do.

WELL, yuck, Peter. That's good information, but not what I wanted to hear.

Maybe YOU have access to someone with a cigar box full of parts, but I live in podunk South Central Tennessee next to nobody, so I'm essentially out of luck in that respect.

I find it interesting that a company the size and output of Dueber/Hampden did not standardize stem to crown threads.

Darn. It's decent case too.

Thanks anyway.

Regards! Mark

Maybe they DID standardize their stems to their crowns. But... that's not how you are going to find them.

In a perfect world, you'd find a worn-out Dueber case with a perfect crown. You'd then cannibalize the crown, stem and sleeve. But... crowns get a lot of wear. If you find a perfect crown on a Dueber case.... you are probably going to find a great case too. Too nice to cannibalize.

I don't know about Dueber but, even among cases by the same company... the pendants were different sizes. Well... the longer the pendant, the longer the stem has to be. The stems seem to also be of various thickness’. Look at the screw-holes of various crowns and you'll see this.

And... I didn't mention this.... but....

Look inside a crown. Some have the hole drilled right into the base and other crowns have a little platform for the screw-hole. That makes a difference on how deep the stem seats and how long it will be in the case. This is no small deal. I found an NOS crown for a case, without the platform. The stem was, therefore a tad short. All I needed was a stem a bit longer. Wrong! Not there. That case now has a worn-crown (with platform) while the NOS crown, sits (smiling) back in the cigar box!

Like I said, crowns, stems and sleeves are some of the most frustrating things! (But not the MOST frustrating!!! HANDS.... don't get me started!)

My bet is someone used your case to supply parts for another one.

Anyone with a sufficient stock of crowns and stems can do this repair for you. They'll need to have the case and I'd strongly recommend they also have the intended movement as well. I say this in full agreement with Peter's comments above because such parts as this must be carefully hand-selected and assembled so they will fit correctly and work properly when the work is completed.

I recommend you get in touch with our own Chapter 185 Member Leon Harris, who has been doing this kind of work since 1980 as fourth generation jeweler and watchmaker. Theirs is the oldest family run business, having been founded in 1914 in their area. Leon is assisted by his Grandfather who has worked on watches for over 65 years. They have a large collection of pocket watches and repair parts. Their Hi-Performance Laser welder and can rework worn out gold, gold filled, silver, base metal case hinges to look and perform like new. Leon reports the laser is great even when repairing stainless-steel parts.

You my contact him at HarrisLJ@msn.com or phone 931-261-0543 during business hours.

Leon comes highly recommended by several of our members.

Check out this recent topic for additional details...

"Grandpa's watch, a restoration project"

I hope this is helpful.

VERY much so! Thank you!!

HIGH regards! Mark