old Resin Bezel and Straps
- Thread starter mpq
- Start date
Gary7
New Member
I thought that resin rot would always be an obvious thing. The telltale sign that resin may be suffering from it is a layer of "dust". It's actually particles of the resin breaking down. You can wipe it off and see the tissue having the color of the resin on it. The resin surface becomes shiny. Once the cracking starts, it'll just surprise you. There won't be much warning. A hairline crack will show up and then any pressure on it will cause the resin to separate.
I recently got an old DW-1100 without a band, and found my backup NOS TW-7100 resin band fit perfectly. There was some resin dust on the band, which I wiped off. But a flex test showed it to be in great shape. So I installed the band and wore the watch. Later that day, I'm sitting on my couch and while moving my arm the watch falls off my wrist. I discovered that one of the straps broke into two pieces. A clean separation, right through one of the tang holes. There was no warning, no sign of any problem. After this, I flexed all of the remaining bits--solid. No further cracking. Just this one place. A real shame. I wish it could be repaired, but I don't think there's any feasible way to fuse the resin back together.
I have to say this totally surprised me and completely changed my outlook on vintage resin. My hope is that newer resin has better formulations that will last for 50+ years. But that older stuff? It's an "any day now" proposition for failure. I would never buy a vintage DW-5500, unless at a bargain price (and then flip it for a profit). And now I'm tempted to sell off my older resin while it's still usable.
Have you looked into spare parts? Should be possible to repair it imo. I just did it with my 15-20 year old DW-6900. See this thread: http://www.g-shockzone.com/showthread.php?3711-Need-new-strap-(What-DW-6900-is-that-)/
Gary7
New Member
Oh I could get another band. Part of the advantage of this older DW-1100 (not a G-Shock) is that the lug spacing fits a common size, unlike the G-Shocks. I'm just lamenting over the unexpected resin rot. I have one more TW-7100 band and I'm just hesitant about giving it a go. Ultimately not much choice, as I don't want to sell it off to someone else and then stick them with a band that will fall apart. I should probably just install it and hope for the best. I don't think there's anything I could do to cure whatever rotting has already occurred. Some people say it'll happen when the band comes into contact with water--starts some kind of bizarre chain reaction. Not sure if there's any way I could treat it before water exposure and avert the decay.
Gary7
New Member
Yep. It's a real problem and it makes owning an original DW-5500 a serious risk. If I had one, I'd sell it immediately and just buy a new version. I do have an original DW-5700C bezel that I'm tempted to treat with vinyl restorer and see if it does the trick. But I'm going to test this out first on the fragments of my TW-7100 band... see if it accidentally triggers more breakage if the rot has already gone too far.