Damaged Case Back? Repair or replace?

This is a commonly asked question in the collector world. We believe unless the case back is damaged beyond repair, keeping the original case back is always the better route. With proper technique and the modern day tooling, even this seemingly unsalvageable case back can be brought back to life.

The cost for this repair? $270 done in 3 days.

This case back has seen better days. In addition to the dents, the transition from the brushed and polished portions are fuzzy and not quite a circle. After years of improper polishing, the edges are rounded and turning oval shaped. We will need to address this as well.

On with the dapping tools. A large part of the damage is banged out on the anvil. Deeper spots are laser welded. The rest will be done on our lapping machine. We will lap the bottom to be totally flat then restore the edges so the transition from polished to brushed areas will be nicely round and sharp.

The wider dents are removed through dapping

The deeper dings are filled though laser welding

Using our Swiss lapping machine, an assortment of discs from coarse to fine are used to restore the flat bottom and sharp edges. Special collets and work holdings allow us to set the perfect angle.

A good case back should have a nice round brushed area in the center and a nice crisp transition from the brushed to polished section.

Does your case back look like this? If no, why not?