Lug extender for Bulova Corrigan ?

Submitted by airborne on September 19, 2013 - 4:26pm

Anybody that have the lug extender for the Bulova Corrigan ?

Daca102090
Posted September 20, 2013 - 11:37am

Only two or three members have the Corrigan with the original lug extenders.

These seem to be  one of the first things that got lost or removed on this model.

I have yet to see or find any of these lying around loose.

Sometime in the last 6 months or so another member was going to see about getting some of these made up, but I don't recall seeing any follow up posts. 

plainsmen
Posted September 20, 2013 - 6:50pm

Yeah... I loaned one of mine to another member.  He was getting them cast.  I heard from him a couple weeks ago.  Still in the works... as soon as mine comes back I'll retake some pics.

I know that timemachines (my watchmaker) stated he believed he could cast some for the masses if the desire was there.  I think they're a must and it took me 2+ years to find a set.

airborne
Posted September 21, 2013 - 4:30am

I do know they are very hard to find.

Plainsmen iam very intrested if timemachines could fix this.

plainsmen
Posted September 28, 2013 - 1:17pm

Yeah... I'll email him.  He'd probably have to use one of mine for a template.  

The guy one of our other posters had casting it is having some trouble getting the holes correct I believe.

Other members.... do we have an interest in seeing if Mike would be willing to cast us some of the Corrigan lug extenders?

 

 

airborne
Posted September 28, 2013 - 1:38pm

plainsmen i really want one.

Do we know anything about the price ?

plainsmen
Posted September 28, 2013 - 3:10pm

In reply to by airborne

I dunno... alot of it will depend on what Mike uses to cast it with and also the price of gold.  We'll see what he says.  I think we'd have to have more than one or two of us show interest to make it worth his while or otherwise it will cost you and I a pretty penny if he's just going to be doing 1 off's.

airborne
Posted October 16, 2013 - 11:05am

In reply to by plainsmen

Plains its more and more people adding there interest for making the extenders. Now the problem is to find some one that can make them.

 

Reverend Rob
Posted September 28, 2013 - 3:42pm

Do we have a good picture of these things? I'm not seeing one.....

If we have a photo of the extenders by themselves it would be extremely useful. I'd be more inclined to roll a gold ingot to a band and cut the extenders out rather than cast them. If the part that fits into the notched leather band is fiddly, it could be gold soldered on as a separate operation. 

You could also cut some from brass and have them plated, just throwing out ideas, here.....

plainsmen
Posted September 28, 2013 - 4:14pm

In reply to by Reverend Rob

Yes... I'm a goofball but as you can see from the second picture... the right lug shows what the extender looks like on the top.... when I bought it, the left lug was installed upside down... so... you can actually see both the top and bottom sides of the extenders in that second pic.

Daca102090
Posted September 28, 2013 - 5:35pm

It might also be possible to use silicone to make a mould and then cast this with brass or even sterling silver.  I will have to look through some old boxes and see if I have any literature for the mould making silicone. 

 

I have seen it in the past for casting pewter figures and chess pieces.

plainsmen
Posted September 28, 2013 - 7:35pm

In reply to by Daca102090

Yeah I seem to recall that Mike said he could cast it in brass then gold plate it...  uhrmmm uh yeah I think I remember that anyways.

Reverend Rob
Posted September 29, 2013 - 10:32am

Thanks for the pics, Plains. Anyone with any jewellery making experience should be able to cut these from stock brass or gold. We did this in school, and also some lost wax casting, but I was never impressed with the casting, wasted a lot of metal, that in the case of gold, needed to be recovered, and took about the same amount of time.

Now, I'm not saying you could bang out extenders on a weekend, but if- I mean, WHEN I get my Corrigan, I will definitely use the case as a guide and attempt a couple. I don't really have time to do this, but as I say, it's not a complicated piece, and could be made from brass stock. You could then send them out for electroplating or do it yourself, if you have the equipment. 

Reverend Rob
Posted October 10, 2013 - 7:07pm

I haven't, no. I'd need time to do it, which I don't have at present, and also the watch would have to be in front of me as would the extenders, or a good drawing with dimensions. 

Plains, could you do a caliper measurement of the extenders? All the dimensions, etc., for future reference, I know at some point I'll get a Corrigan or be faced with making these for a customer. Length, width, angles and the hole sizes. 

plainsmen
Posted October 10, 2013 - 8:07pm

OOOOrrrrr..... I just send you one of the lug extenders so you can make sure everything is measured properly... and then maybe make me a set as well.... hah.

Reverend Rob
Posted October 10, 2013 - 10:03pm

I'm not promising that I'll be able to attempt this anytime soon, I just want to have the schematic ready. If you want to send one up here to the Great White North, I'll send you my addy in a pm....

bourg01
Posted October 14, 2013 - 1:20pm

Well Gents, If someone does get this ball rolling, I need a set for my watch as well.

dhhirsch
Posted October 16, 2013 - 1:06am

Please add me to the list of folks interested in the Corrigan lug extenders.  It would be great to add it to my Corrigan...

 

 

OldTicker
Posted October 16, 2013 - 7:48pm

I wish I had one...looks like Plains and the rest of you snapped them all up. : )

bourg01
Posted October 16, 2013 - 11:32pm

In reply to by OldTicker

Just keep looking. sooner or later you will find one, If  not you can bid large for mine. I'm thinking of selling off my collection and just gettin  out of the business. I think mines posted, make me an offer via PM.

OldTicker
Posted October 16, 2013 - 11:47pm

I get the same feeling every now and then Shawn, but when I look through all of them in my collection, think back on how I acquired them, look at the work & $$ I put into them plus the time I spent on here to ID them...they would be priceless. Plus I still love the challenge of finding that "diamond in the rough" for next to nothing...that part is the most fun.

When I pass on, at least the kids will have fun and I won't have to worry about it anymore!

 

bourg01
Posted October 18, 2013 - 9:13pm

In reply to by OldTicker

Yea, I hear you. I looked in my display cabinate at all my AA's thinking, Wow! I spent 10 years aquiring the beauties and I'm still looking for the 2 men's I don't have. Yep, then the watch addict in me kicked back into play. So like you, I couldn't decide on even one watch in my collection I could part with.

dhhirsch
Posted October 18, 2013 - 10:37pm

In reply to by bourg01

I'm relatively new to this by the standards of the other folks particpating on this site, but I"ve been bitten by the same bug.  In the last week or so I was happy to get a new AA, a very nice 1928 Ambassaor (plain bezel, later to be the Envoy), and my real prize, a 1925/26 Conqueror that has been the subject of much discussion on this site.   I just have to figure out how to tell my wife why I keep buying these watches, and how neat they are.... Fortunately, she is used to my collecting mania after being together close to 30 years...

plainsmen
Posted October 18, 2013 - 10:46pm

In reply to by dhhirsch

Haha... welcome dhhirsch!  Man.. it's like vampirism.  Once bitten... it's pretty assured until they put a stake in your heart your gonna be a Bulova collector!  =)

OldTicker
Posted October 18, 2013 - 10:48pm

In reply to by dhhirsch

Just tell her you are doing your part in preserving history...and it doesn't hurt to buy her a nice vintage ladies Bulova every now & then so she can also be preserving a little history ; )

bourg01
Posted October 18, 2013 - 11:57pm

In reply to by dhhirsch

Try to find her something like this one. http://www.mybulova.com/watches/1955-marquise-5644

You'll never hear another peep from her......... till Christmas..........her Birthday............Anniversery etc. My better half has another similar to this one, 3 American Girls, a couple older Hamilton's and a 3818A Military for weekends. Duh........what was I thinking.

dhhirsch
Posted October 19, 2013 - 12:12am

In reply to by bourg01

Since around Valentines day I've been buying vintage Bulovas for my wife and my daugters and they really seem to  like them.  One of the secrets of Bulova watches is how reasonable the ladies watchs from the 20s and 30s are... For $30. $40 bucks you can get some amazing watches!!!     I guess I've let the proverbial cat out of th bag...

bourg01
Posted October 19, 2013 - 12:37am

In reply to by dhhirsch

OMG, I thought 2 collectors in one family is 1 too many but to enlist your Daughters too, Wow, that's pretty cool.

airborne
Posted January 7, 2014 - 3:33am

Any news about the possibilities off making the lug extender ?

I really want it....

bobbee
Posted June 12, 2014 - 5:41pm

 I came across these on an old Smith's Empire watch, they are brass and a bit dented, but fit like a dream.

I polished them up a bit and am now waiting for a 16mm. open end band to come. I think they'll do until some real endpieces turn up.

What do you think?

 

airborne
Posted June 12, 2014 - 1:53pm

NIce Bobbee, good replacement  :-)

bobbee
Posted June 12, 2014 - 3:41pm

Thanks buddy, will post pics when the strap is fitted.

bobbee
Posted June 12, 2014 - 3:59pm

There are also these things:

 

 

If I can make a folded brass sheet insert, then fix these in place and fit the proper Cartier-style band, no-one would be able to tell the difference from an original, no?

Got to be worth a go!

bourg01
Posted June 12, 2014 - 4:56pm

Neat but no where close to original. Non conforming at best. Even if one of us did reproduce a decent set of reproductions, they would still be just that, non conforming.

any way, congrats for taking this one step further than any of the rest of us.

bobbee
Posted June 12, 2014 - 5:39pm

Thanks Shawn.

Well, the brass sheet is on it's way (0.5mm), and hope to get that cut, shaped, polished. It will take a while of trial and error, but that's how I roll.

 

There seems to be two types of lug mount:

 

 

 

So which is correct and "original"?

bobbee
Posted June 12, 2014 - 5:53pm

 

  I was just thinking, if you make new lug extenders and that would make it non-conforming because they are not original, what about  redials?

You are removing something original (dial finish) and replacing it with something new.

Exactly the same thing.

bourg01
Posted June 12, 2014 - 8:14pm

In reply to by bobbee

Hey, I just bought 4 of those round pieces, listed as NOS Bulova parts. I'm kinda leaning towards a 2 piece extended lug now. Perhaps 2 different lug extentions were available??

As far as redials, if done as original then that's ok with me. If done custom, then it's non conforming but maybe we should still keep the ID and non conforming.

As for these kug extentions, I'm going to use the pics we have, Take some measurements from my Corrigan and see what I can fabricate. Rather than casting I'll try solid brass and my milling machine for the main extentions, engrave the lines and see hoe they come out. If all is good, Then they'll be off for gold plating.

Maybe we need to re evaluate just how anal we want to be with things like this. We don't call a Corrigan without the lug extentions anything but a Corrigan so perhaps remanufactured lug extentions should be allowed even if they are not original.

 

Jim Townsend
Posted June 13, 2014 - 4:04am

In reply to by bourg01

Hello where would one get a watch case replated? I have one i would love to have replated.

bobbee
Posted June 13, 2014 - 4:11am

In reply to by Jim Townsend

[quote=Jim Townsend]

Hello where would one get a watch case replated? I have one i would love to have replated.

[/quote]

Try Google Jim, or even the 'bay. It may be cheaper if you want to do more than one to buy your own kit.

Youtube has many fascinating videos of people using these kits, and even making their own from battery chargers and such like, and it looks pretty easy to do.

bourg01
Posted June 13, 2014 - 10:17am

In reply to by Jim Townsend

Hi Jim,

I checked out Rob's link and it looks to me that replateit.com may be the same company under new management that I have used.

It has been quite a while since I've had a case done. 

bobbee
Posted June 13, 2014 - 2:14am

It's fun making stuff for the first time Shawn.

Hope you do well!

I'm good with redials too, just throwing a "what if" out there to get the grey matter working!

bobbee
Posted June 13, 2014 - 4:56pm

Quite reasonable there.

In UK about the same but in pounds sterling, making it about a third more.

bobbee
Posted June 16, 2014 - 8:18am

My new band came today.

It doesn't look too ridiculous on my near-8 inch wrist.

airborne
Posted June 16, 2014 - 1:14pm

Looks great Bobbee.

There was lot off talk a while ago to cast extenders in brass and gold plate it.

bobbee
Posted June 16, 2014 - 2:34pm

Thanks for that my friend.

Rotsa Ruck with those castings, buddy.

I will try and do something in brass sheet, get some of those T-bar screw lug ends, and see if I can come up with a realistic "Douggie" lug extension.

$500 a pair.  :-D