# Trouble with Bulova Chronograph hands?



## Thomas H

I have a Bulova Marine Star with the Miyota 0s60 movement. I am able to get all the hands on the chronograph to reset by pulling the crown and pressing the buttons... But the hour marker hand of the chronograph is currently on 11 and I have no idea how to get it to move and reset. I think the watch must have had the battery die when the chronograph was running or something but I'm at a loss on how to reset this hand. The only instructions I find online tell me how to reset the top and bottom chronograph dial but not the side dial. Does anyone have a clue how to fix this?


----------



## Addictedtowatches

Typically on Quartz chronos like that you might have to pull the crown to the first or second position then try hitting the buttons. One of them may advance the hand by a minute a push. I have a Seiko chrono that operates this way.


----------



## Thomas H

Addictedtowatches said:


> Typically on Quartz chronos like that you might have to pull the crown to the first or second position then try hitting the buttons. One of them may advance the hand by a minute a push. I have a Seiko chrono that operates this way.


Yes, I have a Seiko that works as you said... unfortunately the buttons push after pulling the crown either 1 or 2 positions only impact the top and bottom dials... Nothing seems to move the side dial... Am hoping someone knows of some trick beyond me taking the watch apart and pulling the hand off and resetting it physically


----------



## Kilovolt

It is likely that the chrono minutes and hours hands are mechanically connected and not moved by two separate motors. In this case you should push the upper button until the minutes hand makes a complete round of its dial and this should solve your problem.


----------



## Thomas H

Kilovolt said:


> It is likely that the chrono minutes and hours hands are mechanically connected and not moved by two separate motors. In this case you should push the upper button until the minutes hand makes a complete round of its dial and this should solve your problem.


Well I thought that was the answer and it seemed to be working... I held down the button for the minute reset for about 15 minutes until it moved the hour hand around to the 12 o'clock position... But sadly as soon as I pushed the crown back in and did a test of the chronograph reset the hour hand popped right back over to 11 o'clock.


----------



## Kilovolt

Unfortunately the manual says why the watch does that (last sentence) but not what to do to solve it ...









For some reason (possibly the death of the battery) your watch has memorized the 11 position as its reference position but the manual does not give a solution.


----------



## Wolfsatz

I had the same problem with an Invicta Reserve Quartz Chronograph. Take a look at this. it may help

https://cdn.invictawatch.com/www//manuals/134031_preivew_8172_220.jpg


----------



## nello

Kilovolt said:


> It is likely that the chrono minutes and hours hands are mechanically connected and not moved by two separate motors. In this case you should push the upper button until the minutes hand makes a complete round of its dial and this should solve your problem.


I am surprised this did not correct the problem. What is the likelihood of using this procedure to correct that subdial,then pulling the battery while the crown is still out?


----------



## nello

Thomas H said:


> I have a Bulova Marine Star with the Miyota 0s60 movement. I am able to get all the hands on the chronograph to reset by pulling the crown and pressing the buttons... But the hour marker hand of the chronograph is currently on 11 and I have no idea how to get it to move and reset. I think the watch must have had the battery die when the chronograph was running or something but I'm at a loss on how to reset this hand. The only instructions I find online tell me how to reset the top and bottom chronograph dial but not the side dial. Does anyone have a clue how to fix this?


Anything correct the problem?


----------



## Thomas H

nello said:


> Anything correct the problem?


Okay I finally solved the problem. There is no way that you can fix this issue by pressing buttons or even applying a jumper to the electronic contact spots on the back of the watch, I tried all those contact spots and only managed to move the hands the same as if I was pulling pushing the chronograph buttons.

The only option that worked for me was taking the movement out of the watch and physically removing the hour sub-dial and then replacing it in the correct position. I did that and it is now working perfectly.

It did raise another question though... When I removed the crown I noticed there was no o-ring on the stem or inside the crown... Anyone know how these watches are waterproof when they have no screw down crown or o-ring anywhere?


----------



## nello

Thomas H said:


> Okay I finally solved the problem. There is no way that you can fix this issue by pressing buttons or even applying a jumper to the electronic contact spots on the back of the watch, I tried all those contact spots and only managed to move the hands the same as if I was pulling pushing the chronograph buttons.
> 
> The only option that worked for me was taking the movement out of the watch and physically removing the hour sub-dial and then replacing it in the correct position. I did that and it is now working perfectly.
> 
> It did raise another question though... When I removed the crown I noticed there was no o-ring on the stem or inside the crown... Anyone know how these watches are waterproof when they have no screw down crown or o-ring anywhere?


How old is the watch?
Refurbished?
My guess is it was left out when refurbished, or it rotted and fell out.
Any possibility you did not see it fall out?
Also, there may be an oring attached to the back of the crown, encircling the stem.


----------



## Thomas H

nello said:


> How old is the watch?
> Refurbished?
> My guess is it was left out when refurbished, or it rotted and fell out.
> Any possibility you did not see it fall out?
> Also, there may be an oring attached to the back of the crown, encircling the stem.


Not refurbished, about 3 years old. Unless it was made of clear or white material I don't see how I could have missed it, I opened the watch on top of a white cloth so that if I lost one of the hands I would be able to see it... As far as I could tell there was nothing that fell out... I kind of figure it would be a standard black o-ring if it had one. I did notice that the stem on the crown had a indented ring around it that I would have thought would have been where the o-ring would have been. But there wasn't any there.

I've tried to look inside the back side of the crown but to be honest it is very difficult to see in that area because the only light I have connect to a magnifying lens is such that when I try to look in the sunken in area all I can see is the bright reflection of the illumination light.

Was hoping someone might know if Bulovas were know to use a o-ring around the stem on a seal inside the crown. I figured once I knew what the normal method they used was I could find the right sized ring and put one in. Right now I'm just assuming the watch is at best resistant to water but certainly not capable of being submerged.


----------



## nello

Thomas H said:


> Not refurbished, about 3 years old. Unless it was made of clear or white material I don't see how I could have missed it, I opened the watch on top of a white cloth so that if I lost one of the hands I would be able to see it... As far as I could tell there was nothing that fell out... I kind of figure it would be a standard black o-ring if it had one. I did notice that the stem on the crown had a indented ring around it that I would have thought would have been where the o-ring would have been. But there wasn't any there.
> 
> I've tried to look inside the back side of the crown but to be honest it is very difficult to see in that area because the only light I have connect to a magnifying lens is such that when I try to look in the sunken in area all I can see is the bright reflection of the illumination light.
> 
> Was hoping someone might know if Bulovas were know to use a o-ring around the stem on a seal inside the crown. I figured once I knew what the normal method they used was I could find the right sized ring and put one in. Right now I'm just assuming the watch is at best resistant to water but certainly not capable of being submerged.


How about a picture of your watch, or model number.


----------



## Thomas H

Model number is C899197.


----------



## Kilovolt

Your watch has a 100 m rating, it seems highly unlikely that the crown stem has no gasket. Have you looked inside the case and inside the stem tube? Maybe the o-ring is just well hidden. Or it slipped away when removing the stem and it is still inside the watch.


----------



## Thomas H

Kilovolt said:


> Your watch has a 100 m rating, it seems highly unlikely that the crown stem has no gasket. Have you looked inside the case and inside the stem tube? Maybe the o-ring is just well hidden. Or it slipped away when removing the stem and it is still inside the watch.


I looked when I took it apart, was hoping someone might know where Bulova tended to put the gasket/o-ring so that I could take it apart again and see if it was just hard to see.


----------

