# Crown Removal



## ISAIL (Sep 2, 2006)

I have an inexpensive quartz watch I want to use to practice dial re-luming. 

Is there a standard or common way to remove the crown I can try? I wouldn't mind if the watch still worked when I was through!


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## Henry Hatem (Sep 28, 2006)

Please clarify, are you trying to remove the crown from the stem or remove the crown / stem from the watch?



ISAIL said:


> I have an inexpensive quartz watch I want to use to practice dial re-luming.
> 
> Is there a standard or common way to remove the crown I can try? I wouldn't mind if the watch still worked when I was through!


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## ISAIL (Sep 2, 2006)

Henry Hatem said:


> Please clarify, are you trying to remove the crown from the stem or remove the crown / stem from the watch?


Which is easier, and less likely for me to damage the movement? I just need to remove the movement/dial from the case to play with the lume.


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## Henry Hatem (Sep 28, 2006)

ISAIL said:


> Which is easier, and less likely for me to damage the movement? I just need to remove the movement/dial from the case to play with the lume.


Todd,

I am about to do something I may regret. If I could fix watches over the internet without them on my bench I would be a rich man. So I will cross the double yellow line of fate with a few caveats and understandings. You have a sacrificial watch / movement that may not survive the operation. You have the proper tools and know how to use them. You hold me completely harmless for anything you do to the watch / movement. You tread these waters of your own volition. Observers are welcome but shield your eyes. B-) Agreed? OK with my lawyer satisfied onto the watch.

Looking at the movement side of the watch with a loupe, look at the area where the winding stem comes through the case and into the movement. If you zoom out a bit and look about the surface of the movement "USUALLY" in a quartz movement you will see an arrow pointing to a brass or polished steel button. This button is normally perpendicular to the stem axis. Sometimes however it could be a screw. You need to depress the button with a plastic stick while gently pulling on the stem. For a screw obviously unscrew but only enough to remove the stem NO MORE one or two turns are sufficient. Once the stem is removed you can remove any case attachments and remove the movement and then determine how to remove the hands and dial. Another subject in itself.

I wrote this with the caveats above knowing I am crossing a line of professionalism. But this is a precise example why some people find watchmakers to be secretive. This is a simple and daily operation of a trained watchmaker. And some would be shocked to find out the details I left out - IE watch on cushion, tools, lighting, cleanliness etc. But most people would need training to accomplish the task. Watchmakers and professionals of any trade would assume if you did not know how to this and understand &#8230;. There is no need to talk about mainsprings, timing, etc to name a few. I do not mean this to be an insult or affront just a continuing understanding or insight to the world of prefessional horology.


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## ISAIL (Sep 2, 2006)

Henry Hatem said:


> Todd,
> 
> I am about to do something I may regret. If I could fix watches over the internet without them on my bench I would be a rich man. So I will cross the double yellow line of fate with a few caveats and understandings. You have a sacrificial watch / movement that may not survive the operation. You have the proper tools and know how to use them. You hold me completely harmless for anything you do to the watch / movement. You tread these waters of your own volition. Observers are welcome but shield your eyes. B-) Agreed? OK with my lawyer satisfied onto the watch.


Agreed, and THANK YOU! :-! Just so you know, the watch in question was supposed to be 100m water resistant, but leaked the first time I swam with it on (saltwater no less). It wasn't costly enough to justify any shipping or repair, so I took the back off, rinsed it with alcohol, and put it back together. It surprised me by continuing to run (for a month now). DEFINITELY sacrificial. When I'm ready to play with the lume on a "real" watch, I'll take it to my watchmaker for the dial to be removed!


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## madmacs (Feb 9, 2006)

you could of course also try finding who made the movement and see if you can find the manual for it...

that or just press stuff inside and see if it comes out... :-D


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## ISAIL (Sep 2, 2006)

madmacs said:


> you could of course also try finding who made the movement and see if you can find the manual for it...
> 
> that or just press stuff inside and see if it comes out... :-D


Good advice! At least half of it anyway.


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## madmacs (Feb 9, 2006)

ISAIL said:


> Good advice! At least half of it anyway.


both bits are actually... the first crown i removed was on a timex beater that came with some other watches... didnt work, so nothing to lose...

you can actually learn a lot from taking it apart, or trying to... certainly gave me confidence.


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## Henry Hatem (Sep 28, 2006)

madmacs said:


> both bits are actually... the first crown i removed was on a timex beater that came with some other watches... didnt work, so nothing to lose...
> 
> you can actually learn a lot from taking it apart, or trying to... certainly gave me confidence.


I do not advocate working on watches without proper training or guidance. However learning through practice on a hobby level with non working movements is another thing. My disclaimer.

A bit of advice while you are disassembling. Inspect what you are about to remove. Observe how it is attached and how it interacts with other components. Ask yourself, Is there any signs of damage or wear? look for plating being removed, gritty oil or grease etc. Then remove the component and inspect it out of the watch. Do not forget to inspect the screws and threads as well. look at the mating components and the one you removed and place it back in the watch and secure it - this will help memorize and understand the function and relationship of each part. This is where you learn and understand what may be wrong and what needs attention.


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## Goldschmied (Oct 21, 2008)

Hi Henry,

I'm a German trained master goldsmith with 40 years experience and routinely work to 0.01mm. freehand, have a good mechanical aptitude, but have no knowledge of watchmaking other than working on cases and bands. I always had a watchmaker around to remove the movements and crystals before working on the cases and bands and wondered how stems were removed, but never got around to asking. The man I'd apprenticed with was close friends with, and had introduced me to, the late Paul Kast who had been president of the American Horological Society, but we never discussed watches, just antique jewelry.

My wife likes small Citizen quartz day/date watches and they don't last forever so I've picked a few NOS ones on eBay as well as some used ones. One of the used ones came with a working movement and a really bad crystal, so I sought to swap out the crystal with one of her non-functional ones. First thing I had to do was to remove the movement, which necessitated removing the stem. I found your instructions in this forum, located the arrow on the movement, made an appropriate tool and pressed on the little lever that released the stem. Did it on the other watch, removed the crystals from both and found the good one was 0.10mm. too large in diameter. Trimmed it down, installed it, replaced the movement and tried to replace the stem using the same technique, but it wouldn't seat all the way. I had observed when pulling the stem out that to set the date and time, the little lever I'd depressed moved laterally so I tried moving it laterally while trying to seat the stem, but it didn't work either.

Her old watch had a screw back, but this one has a snap back. Nomenclature on the snap back is:
6000-K04069 CCK
2051386
GN-4-W
Right hand facing arrow followed by the numeral 6

This is important to me as I hate to give up on something that I have half done. It isn't life or death as my total investment in the watch is $10 shipping included, but I'm sure you understand not wanting to be defeated by a small, common machine.

I would appreciate any help you could provide and would glorify you in song and legend if you could help me out. 

Thanks in advance,

Goldschmied


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## lysanderxiii (Oct 4, 2006)

A picture would help.


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## JohnF (Feb 11, 2006)

Goldschmied said:


> Hi Henry,
> 
> I would appreciate any help you could provide and would glorify you in song and legend if you could help me out.


Hi -

First of all, welcome to WUS! I am sure that many here will be fascinated what you can tell them about casing and the like from a jeweler's perspective! Hope we can help you out here as well.

Second: I am going to shamelessly steal that line. One of the better ones around... 

JohnF

PS: We looooooove pictures. Pictures make us smile, enlighten us and allow us to glimpse things far away and never before seen. And that's just watches...;-)


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## Goldschmied (Oct 21, 2008)

Sorry about not posting a picture, but I wanted to see what the response would be prior to utilizing band width that could have been better used for pictures of complicated watches, tourbillons, or some other rare and pornographic piece of mechanical genius.

I just found that if I'm going to be posting pictures here, I'm going to have to upgrade my digital camera and get some new photo flood lights. Hope the picture is adequate for the purpose.

Always happy to share any knowledge of goldsmithing that will help you. Again, working on cases and bands, particularly karat gold is no problem for me. Making cases is possible, but my experience in Germany taught me that I'd probably need some specialized tools for the necessary tolerances for fitting the movement. One of the shops I worked at put out some cast sterling cases and we'd make use of a large burr in a drill press to get the case to accommodate the movement. On the other hand, I could probably use my Unimat for that purpose if necessary.

Any of you are welcome to use any of my prose for any purpose whatsoever and you don't even have to cite the quotation.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. It's a pleasure being in the company of a crew with such an extraordinarily high level of precise mechanical skill.

Neal


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