Wrong Crown

This watch case had a crown that, from the style, I'd say was put on in the '50s or '60s at the earliest.  The problem is that this style of crown can not go down past the shoulders of the neck of the case.  Because of that, the winding arbor can not go out into the movement far enough to fully engage winding mode. 

I thought I had it tuned up so it would barely work, but it didn't last.  The owner sent it back with the symptom that it was always in setting mode.  A watch will actually continue to run in setting mode, but the train will be working overly hard to turn all the winding/setting parts all the way out to the crown as it ticks.  This causes poor time keeping and stopping.

The arbor just needs to go in further, but the crown blocks it.

I always try to keep watches "as-found", if they are able to function correctly, but this time I am going to have to replace the crown with one of the correct style, or at least a lot closer. 

Looking at the photo you can see how the tapered base of the replacement crown I selected goes all the way into the neck, past the shoulders.  Now the arbor can be adjusted to snap inward further.

More examples of what I'd call creative repairs here...