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Rolex Everest Look and Challenge Removing a Rolex Case Back


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You really need to invest in the proper cup dies for the case back. The two-point "generic" Rolex opener often slips, and damages the case back. That is a great looking case opener, and you'd never get that open using a hand-held 2-point opener.

I have a set of Chinesium ones and they have removed some rather stubborn backs with zero damage.

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6 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Did you forget nut super glue and spanner. Just be careful if you remove the wheel on that long pivot. If everything looks OK you might think about leaving it as it is. 

This is the Center Wheel, correct. I was watching a video on line and it looks like there is no cannon pinion and there is a long shaft that is held in place by a long metal spring.

PS: the nut and superglue was my 4th option that I almost exercised.

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5 hours ago, Tudor said:

You really need to invest in the proper cup dies for the case back. The two-point "generic" Rolex opener often slips, and damages the case back. That is a great looking case opener, and you'd never get that open using a hand-held 2-point opener.

I have a set of Chinesium ones and they have removed some rather stubborn backs with zero damage.

This opener has opened the toughest cases.  Picked it up from a gent who had a friend who was a watchmaker and past away.  I Cleaned a Rolex Tudor in exchange.  I will really need a very good Rolex case opener if I continue cleaning and repairing Rolex watches for those who trust me:)

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3 hours ago, jdrichard said:

This is the Center Wheel, correct. I was watching a video on line and it looks like there is no cannon pinion and there is a long shaft that is held in place by a long metal spring.

PS: the nut and superglue was my 4th option that I almost exercised.

It should be a standard train layout for an indirect-drive centre seconds. So, extended pivot on third wheel. Driving wheel mounted to that extended pivot. Centre-seconds pinion runs down hollow cannon pinion. Friction spring is there to create enough drag to get rid of "slop".

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3 hours ago, jdrichard said:

 

As with all indirectly driven min wheel, you wouldn't know about the jewel that min arbour (center seconds) runs through unless you take the min wheel off and inspect all its components under good magnifiction, then you run the risk of the wheel coming loose a few months after reassembly, even when you peen the hole on the minute wheel you can't be sure it stays put for long, when reassembled. 

Oiling both sides of pinion on center second is a must and tricky task as the oil might run down on the pinion, lucky giving it an epilame coat helps a lot. 

The piece is not ultra rare, yet one worthy of collection is pricy. 

I do have some parts to it, so please keep us posted as to how it goes.

Good luck.

joe

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

As with all indirectly driven min wheel, you wouldn't know about the jewel that min arbour (center seconds) runs through unless you take the min wheel off and inspect all its components under good magnifiction, then you run the risk of the wheel coming loose a few months after reassembly, even when you peen the hole on the minute wheel you can't be sure it stays put for long, when reassembled. 

Oiling both sides of pinion on center second is a must and tricky task as the oil might run down on the pinion, lucky giving it an epilame coat helps a lot. 

The piece is not ultra rare, yet one worthy of collection is pricy. 

I do have some parts to it, so please keep us posted as to how it goes.

Good luck.

joe

 

 

 

Hey joe, thanks a lot for the advice and I will most definitely keep you and others in the loop. I really wish I could find a service manual for this watch, but what the heck. Do you know what old hippie meant when he said “Just be careful if you remove the wheel on that long pivot. If everything looks OK you might think about leaving it as it is” 

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1 hour ago, jdrichard said:

Is this a good representation of what needs to be done in the disassembly?


 

At 2:50 he's magically made the driving wheel disappear. Maybe the removal wasn't very appetising to watch.

What Old Hippy means is that you must be careful not to snap the extended pivot or damage the wheel when lifting. Given that you can turn a balance staff, I can't see how you would have any problem. You usually either lift the wheel with hand lifting levers or a Bergeon Presto type tool. I prefer the latter.

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1 minute ago, rodabod said:

At 2:50 he's magically made the driving wheel disappear. Maybe the removal wasn't very appetising to watch.

What Old Hippy means is that you must be careful not to snap the extended pivot or damage the wheel when lifting. Given that you can turn a balance staff, I can't see how you would have any problem. You usually either lift the wheel with hand lifting levers or a Bergeon Presto type tool. I prefer the latter.

So the center wheel lifts straight up? I really need to see a diagram:) I saw this guy lift a stem straight out of the center and then the wheel that sits on top just disappeared.

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1 minute ago, jdrichard said:

So the center wheel lifts straight up? I really need to see a diagram:) I saw this guy lift a stem straight out of the center and then the wheel that sits on top just disappeared.

Probably best to use the traditional terminology to avoid confusion:

The centre wheel (2nd wheel in the train after the barrel) is conventional and drives the canon pinion.

The centre seconds pinion or "sweep seconds" pinion runs through a hollow drilled through the centre wheel and canon pinion. It just pulls straight out once the friction spring is out of the way.

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5 hours ago, jdrichard said:

Hey joe, thanks a lot for the advice and I will most definitely keep you and others in the loop. I really wish I could find a service manual for this watch, but what the heck. Do you know what old hippie meant when he said “Just be careful if you remove the wheel on that long pivot. If everything looks OK you might think about leaving it as it is” 

"The wheel on that long pivot",   is the big wheel you see sitting outside ebauche( sits on gear train bridge and drive center arbour) a rare and hard to find part, some folks are for removal/ replacement of it at service time so to inspect, clean, peg the jewel underneath, however, if it was to be removed at every service, its hole would wear out, so OH says" if every thing looks OK you might think about just leaving as it is" meaning don't remove it if all looks OK, clean in place. 

I explained part of the delima one usually face in my earlier post and am with OH, specially if you haven't  found a source for all new parts to its drive unit. 

Needless to say, pull streight up, is concernd about bending of its pivot or cracking its jewel, but doesn't gurantee more.

The piece is worth a good restoration. Knowing you, you wont spend much time on aestetic restoration. lol.

Good luck.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

"The wheel on that long pivot",   is the big wheel you see sitting outside ebauche( sits on gear train bridge and drive center arbour) a rare and hard to find part, some folks are for removal/ replacement of it at service time so to inspect, clean, peg the jewel underneath, however, if it was to be removed at every service, its hole would wear out, so OH says" if every thing looks OK you might think about just leaving as it is" meaning don't remove it if all looks OK, clean in place. 

I explained part of the delima one usually face in my earlier post and am with OH, specially if you haven't  found a source for all new parts to its drive unit. 

Needless to say, pull streight up, is concernd about bending of its pivot or cracking its jewel, but doesn't gurantee more.

The piece is worth a good restoration. Knowing you, you wont spend much time on aestetic restoration. lol.

Good luck.

 

 

 

Exceptional answer. I am starting to get really busy repairing pocket watches and watches for 3rd party friends, but have not established myself as a part time business yes. I do have a gentleman from the US who is sending me 1 of 12 pocket watches at a time for servicing as he pulled my heartstrings for me to do this)nice guy) and he has watched my crazy YouTube videos over the years. I would like to get into more higher end watches and I dropped a cool $1000 on a Swiss mini bench to do watches properly. The only thing left is a proper cleaning machine. Lighter fluid works fine but I’m sure I will eventually poison myself:) So this Rolex is my third and I am getting a little braver. I can soon retire from the daily grind and my wife said I should go take the watchmakers course in Switzerland (where my mom came from). Who knows and I will shut up now. All you Guyses help is really appreciated btw.  Look my up on LinkedIn and you will see a different sort of guy : JD Richard, L3Harris. 

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I had the necessity to open this Tudor Rolex Oyster for a friend to regulate it (said friend stupidly declined to get it serviced)....

I used this, worked perfectly ?, and at about £16 for the set, was an absolute bargain!

Wish it was mine.......(still needs a service but keeps better time now......?)

Tudor Oyster .jpg

Tudor Oyster back.jpg

Burgeon Chinese copy case back tool.jpg

Tudor Rolex back off.jpg

Tudor Rolex before, back removed.jpg

Tudor Rolex after.jpg

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    • Hello everybody, sorry for the late reply. Thank you all so much for your help and your tips. I got lucky and found a replacement wheel bridge for cheap which actually ended up being in decent condition. I decided not to do anything about the mainspring barrel pivot since I didn't have the right tools and the barrel didn't have much endshake anyhow. I am happy to report that the watch now runs great, I have regulated it to about +-10/s day which is fine by my standards. The timegrapher result looks decent as well, although beat error is around 0.6ms which could be better I suppose. Amplitude reaches over 230 quite consistently which I'm happy with also. My lighter fluid has also been replaced by balance spring cleaning solution and now the springs don't stick to themselves anymore - who would have thought. I'm super happy with this watch, it might not be worth a whole lot but it's awesome that I could restore it and it makes me wear it with pride. To me it's a genuinely good lucking watch, it'll be my daily driver for a while. Thanks again to everybody for their input! I couldn't have done the repair without your help.   Here are some images for those interested, the bracelet isn't original but I don't really mind:    
    • Balance-hairspring system is oscillator with big Q-factor. When all in the movement is OK, the rate (frequency) is verry close to the own resonant frequency of the balance-hairspring. But in some cases, the movement (with foult) will force the resonator to work on pritty different frequency, sometimes faster, and sometimes slower. When this happens, the amplitude is always weak. So, the first thing to ask is what is the amplitude. If it is more than 180 and the hairspring doesn't touch itself and anything else, then for sure it is 'short'. If the amplitude is weak, then the first thing to do is to understand why and rectify the problem. At this time no point to check timekeeping. But, if one doubts that the hairspring is not correct, then He needs to calcullate the rate of the movement, then to 'vibrate' the balance-hairspring out of the movement and to measure the free oscillations frequency (period) with timer in order to ensure that they comply with the rate. If we have pictures, then it will be easier to tell something about that wheel.
    • So much work has gone into this! Thanks again @Jon. I will go back and check my adjustments from last weekend. A few questions for you, if you don't mind. In the reset position, I can understand the problem if the gap between the hammer and the minute counter heart is too big (slide 77) but what is bad about both hammers being in contact with the cams (slide 76)? I read somewhere that Landeron recommended grease on the runner cam, but the minute counter heart should be dry. Is that so, and why? How many tads in a ligne?
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