What causes the crown alignment to change posisition?

[milwins]

When I wind the crown or change the date, the top of the coronet usually stops between 6 to 9 o'clock.

What causes the 90 degree variability?

If I'm spinning/stopping the crown in all positions, why does it never line up outside of the 90 degrees of placement?

Disclaimer: Not complaining about alignment- genuinely curious what the mechanic are behind this.

[Richard Carver]

If it actually lines up 'tis but a temporary bit of serendipity, because of the rubber seals it's a constantly moving target. As they age they begin to compress to achieve the same level of water tightness. You would think with even the slightest understanding of how these work people would not wonder why their crown doesn't 'line up' but you would be wrong.

[brandog]

Not sure what you mean. I've owned several rolex models and the crown never budged a bit from its factory position. One of them was perfectly straight up, like they depict in their ads, and never budged from 90 degrees so i would have noticed.

[123Blueface]

Applies to all my Rolex ever owned:
Never noticed if aligned or not.
Never noticed if changed during ownership.
I guess I am weird that way.

[Mystro]

All my crowns alignment has never changed except for one time when a idiot over tightening the crown tube and stretching the threads.

[Heff]

Originally Posted by Richard Carver

If it actually lines up 'tis but a temporary bit of serendipity, because of the rubber seals it's a constantly moving target. As they age they begin to compress to achieve the same level of water tightness. You would think with even the slightest understanding of how these work people would not wonder why their crown doesn't 'line up' but you would be wrong.

A bit condescending don’t you think? I don’t need to understand how it works to wear it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tools]

Originally Posted by milwins

When I wind the crown or change the date, the top of the coronet usually stops between 6 to 9 o'clock.

What causes the 90 degree variability?

If I'm spinning/stopping the crown in all positions, why does it never line up outside of the 90 degrees of placement?
. . .

The crown and the tube have threads cut into them, these threads are set in the metal itself and never change.

The tube threads are static, they do not move. These threads have an "entrance thread", which is the only place that the mating threads can engage. The crown also has an entrance thread, so there is only one place where it too will engage.

So, no matter how many times you spin the crown, it will still only engage the tube threads at one point. This means that a 1 1/2 turn on the threads and the crown will always end up at the exact same position. Any variation that you see can only be compression of the gasket, or how tight you turn it.

[Ssunnylee24]

No matter how many times I try, it always line up crown side down(towards 6oclock lugs).

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Ssunnylee24

No matter how many times I try, it always line up crown side down(towards 6oclock lugs).

Its a emblem on a winding crown and its not supposed to line up with anything.

[Sarosh]

Originally Posted by padi56

Its a emblem on a winding crown and its not supposed to line up with anything.

Bingo!

[R!$]

SkyDweller crown always lines up correctly

[SeaAndSky]

Originally Posted by padi56

Its a emblem on a winding crown and its not supposed to line up with anything.

I agree with Padi. Out of curiosity I just happened to look at my 116710LN, fresh back from a RSC service at the Pennsylvania facility, and wouldn't you know it, the crown is actually lined up like all the ocd crown types expect it to be. Which is wasted on me as I couldn't care less how it's aligned.

[superstarmar]

It just so happens that my sub blue sunburst crown perfectly
lines up at the 12 locked in... Lucky crown or lucky me...

[dmhines]

Originally Posted by milwins

When I wind the crown or change the date, the top of the coronet usually stops between 6 to 9 o'clock.

What causes the 90 degree variability?

If I'm spinning/stopping the crown in all positions, why does it never line up outside of the 90 degrees of placement?

Disclaimer: Not complaining about alignment- genuinely curious what the mechanic are behind this.

Make sure the crown tube is not loose or partially unscrewing.

[mmmmp]

I do not care if the Crown logo lines up - I only care that the Crown is secure without being over tight.

Very much like the date flipping over at precisely midnight. I doesn't matter *when* it changes - only that it does.

Then again, I'm very simple.
Mark

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by R!$

SkyDweller crown always lines up correctly

Only the PM SkyD. Not SS

[Steerpike999]

Originally Posted by Richard Carver

If it actually lines up 'tis but a temporary bit of serendipity, because of the rubber seals it's a constantly moving target. As they age they begin to compress to achieve the same level of water tightness. You would think with even the slightest understanding of how these work people would not wonder why their crown doesn't 'line up' but you would be wrong.

Most number of seals you will ever see outside of your local zoo


Thanks for the exploded view, haven't seen that

[brandrea]

Over or under tightening is the cause

[Brenngun]

I can never understand this subject. Who says the emblem is supposed to line up with anything else? What's perfect? Completely nonsensical.

[yhzdude]

i finally got my perfectly align, i use a strong pair of pliers and some elbow grease...i hear a thump while i was forcing it, but now it s align perfect. thanks for the tips.

[Seibei]

Originally Posted by yhzdude

i finally got my perfectly align, i use a strong pair of pliers and some elbow grease...i hear a thump while i was forcing it, but now it s align perfect. thanks for the tips.

[brandog]

To be honest this is one of my biggest issues with Rolex. Its not an OCD thing, its an expectation for a elite brand. Imagine if Ferrari produced a car where their horse logo was crooked somewhere on the car? People would freak out. If you advertise your watches with your emblems perfectly straight up why not manufacture them that way too. Similar brands like Omega can do it, why cant Rolex? Hell even cheap $100 watch brands can do it.

[blackhawks-fan]

Originally Posted by Richard Carver

If it actually lines up 'tis but a temporary bit of serendipity, because of the rubber seals it's a constantly moving target. As they age they begin to compress to achieve the same level of water tightness. You would think with even the slightest understanding of how these work people would not wonder why their crown doesn't 'line up' but you would be wrong.

The pic you posted is a trip lock right? Mine is a twin lock (216570), does that mean without that pesky 3rd seal my signed crown will line up properly? It seems to me that it should. For $9,000 I would find "a temporary bit of serendipity" unacceptable.

[pickettt]

OCD or denial......choose your affliction.

[Filmprolv.com]

Lol I tried turning my crown in various ways to see if would line up hahaha. Damn thing is 1 and a half turns and ends up aligned with case so if looking at from the crown side points left. Least it is even though.

[pickettt]

Your thumb and forefinger?

[milwins]

DAMN. Anyone notice how many people in here have such a short attention span they can't even bother to read the question? They see the buzzword "alignment" and jump the gun to get up on their high horses, acting so smug and pompous, while only coming off looking dumb as a brick because they're not even on topic. But man they got that jab in there. bravo

NO WHERE in my question did I ask about it "lining up perfectly." I even had a disclaimer stating this is not the topic of my question.

So thank you @ Richard and @Tools for the actual response to my thread. Amazing this place even exists when you can't ask for information.

[AEC]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Over or under tightening is the cause

Originally Posted by dmhines

Make sure the crown tube is not loose or partially unscrewing.

These are the two possibilities I was thinking, also. If the watch is nearly new, and if it has a Trip-Lock sealing system, then sometimes it feels to the user as though the crown has been fully locked down when actually it still has a half-turn to go. dmhines' suggestion is a bit more difficult to test for yourself, but this is also a likely cause of what you observe.

Let us know what you find!

[Jim Smyth]

Originally Posted by milwins

DAMN. Anyone notice how many people in here have such a short attention span they can't even bother to read the question? They see the buzzword "alignment" and jump the gun to get up on their high horses, acting so smug and pompous, while only coming off looking dumb as a brick because they're not even on topic. But man they got that jab in there. bravo

NO WHERE in my question did I ask about it "lining up perfectly." I even had a disclaimer stating this is not the topic of my question.

So thank you @ Richard and @Tools for the actual response to my thread. Amazing this place even exists when you can't ask for information.

It drifted off target because new people ask these types of questions all the time without using the search feature to educate themselves. The tube and crown have a thread cut in them. They only go together one way. You will always have it line up the same way if you screw it down with the same pressure every time. O ring compression will not change it much at all. I would say if it ends up at 9 your firmly seating it. If it ends up at 6 your limp wristing it. Anything other than that you may have mechanical issues that need to be looked at (loose tube) before it gets damaged with water intrusion.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by blackhawks-fan

The pic you posted is a trip lock right? Mine is a twin lock (216570), does that mean without that pesky 3rd seal my signed crown will line up properly? It seems to me that it should. For $9,000 I would find "a temporary bit of serendipity" unacceptable.

I think you are destined to be disappointed if you expect all the crowns to line up perfectly. Rolex puts no effort into this on any watch not named Sky Dweller.

You aren't paying $9K for the crown to line up. You're paying $9K for the watch to have Rolex written all over it.