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Fitting A New Watch Stem.

Geo

By Geo
in Your Walkthroughs and Techniques

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stroppy WRT Addict

stroppy

Posted
Posted

Question for you guys.  Some of my el-cheapo watches over the years had crown heads which would literally screw themselves off if you were adjusting the watch in one direction.  You could always screw them back on but they'd never fully catch and loosen again if you went to adjust the watch.

 

Would Locktite do the job?

ro63rto Distinguished Member

ro63rto

Posted
Posted

Question for you guys. Some of my el-cheapo watches over the years had crown heads which would literally screw themselves off if you were adjusting the watch in one direction. You could always screw them back on but they'd never fully catch and loosen again if you went to adjust the watch.

Would Locktite do the job?

Yes but not the permanent one.

If you do a search I believe Mark and Geo have listed the number before.

Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Not only would it do the job, I recommend it and should have said so in my original post to include the type 221. I'll go and modify it now. :)

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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On 12/02/2016 at 11:11 AM, oldhippy said:

I always tidied up the cut stem with a file taking off the edge before fitting the button.

That's covered in section (F) of the original post. :)

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rbfesquire Member

rbfesquire

Posted
Posted

Lovely way of doing it, thank you. I usually mark the stem with a marker to get the length, but it still needs a variety of tweaking to fit.

I shall give this way a whirl.

Thanks!

  • 9 months later...
Ishima Super WRT Addict

Ishima

Posted
Posted (edited)

I recently figured out you can most conveniently measure up the length of stem you're cutting once after measuring that gap between case and crown, leave your vernier on that measurement and adjust the amount of stem visible in the pin vice to match the depth prong that protrudes from the bottom of the vernier. 

Edited by Ishima
  • 2 months later...
MrRoundel Super WRT Addict

MrRoundel

Posted
Posted

Mark's youtube video on replacing a stem worked very well for me as I replaced a two-piece stem, with extension, on a Girard- Perregaux waterproof watch from the mid-forties (Ladies Sea Hawk style. Mermaid?). I ended up cutting it 3-4 times before getting it short enough to be passable, but it still sticks out a bit far from the case. Perhaps I should have used a deeper crown. I think it will pass. I'll post an image once I find a crystal to fit. I did use the bicycle-cable cutting tool, and it worked great, FWIW.

oldhippy Distinguished Member

oldhippy

Posted
Posted

It is always best to cut a little at a time. The crown should be flush with the case and the correct size. Buttons that tend to stick out can stick into the person’s wrist, which can be uncomfortable.  

vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

Posted
Posted
On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2014 at 8:21 AM, Geo said:

OOPS, I forgot to say the calipers had to be re-zeroed again!

(5) Remove the calipers and without touching the zero button set them to minus 1.96mm. THEN RE-ZERO THE CALIPERS AT THIS LENGTH The wire cutters are now used cut off the excess thread leaving a small amount to be filed to the exact length.

Please edit this into the original post if possible Mark.

excellent post Geo.  may I add; cut the stem with a cutting disk on your dremel tool.  its much easer to champfer the  end of the stem than the "side cutters"vin

jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted

Today I had to cut a stem, but since both my piercing saw and pliers cutter are in storage, I used a cheap triangle diamond file. The job took 20 seconds to complete. For an easy task like this the tool used doesn't really matter much.

  • 4 weeks later...
GeorgeC WRT Addict

GeorgeC

Posted
Posted

I'm curious if anyone has the images that were originally part of this thread?  All I see are placeholders now and I have asked Geo if he had them but he replied he didn't.   Seems like a great article but I wanted to see some images for clarity in my mind.

Thanks

  • 3 weeks later...
watchabit Member

watchabit

Posted
Posted
On 2/14/2018 at 9:19 PM, GeorgeC said:

I'm curious if anyone has the images that were originally part of this thread?  All I see are placeholders now and I have asked Geo if he had them but he replied he didn't.   Seems like a great article but I wanted to see some images for clarity in my mind.

Thanks

Prob photobucket ransom. I'd love to see pics referencing this too. 

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