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Watch Crystal Gasket vs. G-S Hypo Cement

DanteFalcioni
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DanteFalcioni Member

DanteFalcioni

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Hello friends!

I was taking apart a Seiko today (reference V657-8060) for a well deserved clean and restoration, and when I popped the crystal out it had no gasket. It was definitely glued on, I’m assuming with G-S Hypo Cement and it was a gross yellowish colour and had for sure had water and dirt react with it over time. I cleaned all the glue off, took measurements of the crystal and it seems to be 29mm (1.5mm thickness). It fits loosely in the case which I measured to be slightly larger, from 29.05 to 29.1mm.

Any other watch I would’ve just ordered a 29mm crystal and some Hypo Cement right away but this watch has been worked on (and broken) by a “watchmaker” who didn’t know what they were doing in the past, so it just made me question if this is the original way/proper way the crystal was put in.

Is there/what are any downsides to using Hypo Cement instead of a gasket-crystal combo? The water resistance of this watch is only 50m and the owner (my moms bf) has no plans of swimming with it. I’ve found a gasket on Cousins which is 29.8 OD, 29 ID and 1.25mm thickness which I believe is the right size for this crystal. What should I go with here? It’s technically cheaper to do the gasket because hypo cement costs more than a gasket, but the price really doesn’t matter I just want to know what’s best.
 

One more side note my moms bf might want to pay the extra bucks for a sapphire crystal, will G-S Hypo Cement work with mineral and sapphire just as fine?

Thanks everyone! I’ve been on this forum for a few days only but it’s already helped me more than I could’ve hoped for!

B01CDA27-1769-4325-8E03-B6BE38E5B311.jpeg

26A3876B-52AB-4DE5-939A-AF7CED69697C.jpeg

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Poljot Super WRT Addict

Poljot

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, DanteFalcioni said:

Hello friends!

I was taking apart a Seiko today (reference V657-8060) for a well deserved clean and restoration, and when I popped the crystal out it had no gasket. It was definitely glued on, I’m assuming with G-S Hypo Cement and it was a gross yellowish colour and had for sure had water and dirt react with it over time. I cleaned all the glue off, took measurements of the crystal and it seems to be 29mm (1.5mm thickness). It fits loosely in the case which I measured to be slightly larger, from 29.05 to 29.1mm.

Any other watch I would’ve just ordered a 29mm crystal and some Hypo Cement right away but this watch has been worked on (and broken) by a “watchmaker” who didn’t know what they were doing in the past, so it just made me question if this is the original way/proper way the crystal was put in.

Is there/what are any downsides to using Hypo Cement instead of a gasket-crystal combo? The water resistance of this watch is only 50m and the owner (my moms bf) has no plans of swimming with it. I’ve found a gasket on Cousins which is 29.8 OD, 29 ID and 1.25mm thickness which I believe is the right size for this crystal. What should I go with here? It’s technically cheaper to do the gasket because hypo cement costs more than a gasket, but the price really doesn’t matter I just want to know what’s best.
 

One more side note my moms bf might want to pay the extra bucks for a sapphire crystal, will G-S Hypo Cement work with mineral and sapphire just as fine?

Thanks everyone! I’ve been on this forum for a few days only but it’s already helped me more than I could’ve hoped for!

B01CDA27-1769-4325-8E03-B6BE38E5B311.jpeg

26A3876B-52AB-4DE5-939A-AF7CED69697C.jpeg

I would clean the seat to press in a new 1.5mm thk glass, which I believe, comes with I-Shaped gasket (no need to get a gasket separately). At least 1.00mm Thick - Flat comes with "I-Gasket" - Mineral Glass - Sternkreuz MSI.

In any case, such Glass and Gaskets are dirt cheap. Get two in case you crack first one ?

The cost of such press in Canada will be around $30 CAD plus another $10-20 in shipping cost.

Edited by Poljot
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DanteFalcioni Member

DanteFalcioni

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10 minutes ago, Poljot said:

I would clean the seat to press in a new 1.5mm thk glass, which I believe, comes with I-Shaped gasket (no need to get a gasket separately). At least 1.00mm Thick - Flat comes with "I-Gasket" - Mineral Glass - Sternkreuz MSI.

In any case, such Glass and Gaskets are dirt cheap. Get two in case you crack first one ?

The cost of such press in Canada will be around $30 CAD plus another $10-20 in shipping cost.

Ok awesome, I have a crystal press already so I can do that no problem. The mineral glasses I've ordered from Cousins before didn't come with a gasket so I'm thinking maybe I throw one in with my order just in case? It's only like $1.50 Canadian so I'll just skip my Tim Hortons coffee tomorrow to pay for it. Do you think the size I mentioned in my original post is good?

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Poljot Super WRT Addict

Poljot

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11 minutes ago, DanteFalcioni said:

Ok awesome, I have a crystal press already so I can do that no problem. The mineral glasses I've ordered from Cousins before didn't come with a gasket so I'm thinking maybe I throw one in with my order just in case? It's only like $1.50 Canadian so I'll just skip my Tim Hortons coffee tomorrow to pay for it. Do you think the size I mentioned in my original post is good?

Or instead of x-large triple/triple you can get small coffee ?

Selecting a glass and gasket can be a bit tricky, you may want to purchase two sets that are close in case you have doubts.

The bottom line is that you should not be forcing the I-shaped gasket inside the seat. It should just land almost without any pushing and bending. And the glass DIA should be the same or extremely close to gasket's ID. Also, the seat must be perfectly clean and flat, and the glass should be also set flat (not under angle) before you press it in. Otherwise you will hear a cracking sound and that would be no good. I am installing TAG Heuer glass tonight (10 GBP small Sapphire). I don't believe you need to spend that much for your watch. Go with Mineral Glass.

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jdrichard Distinguished Member

jdrichard

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35 minutes ago, Poljot said:

I would clean the seat to press in a new 1.5mm thk glass, which I believe, comes with I-Shaped gasket (no need to get a gasket separately). At least 1.00mm Thick - Flat comes with "I-Gasket" - Mineral Glass - Sternkreuz MSI.

In any case, such Glass and Gaskets are dirt cheap. Get two in case you crack first one ?

The cost of such press in Canada will be around $30 CAD plus another $10-20 in shipping cost.

Yeah Canada, now excepting people, only if they are watchmakers.:)

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Poljot Super WRT Addict

Poljot

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Hope these three photos would help to visualize the process. This is a similar very inexpensive glass replacement project, but the watch case was in horrible condition and had some epoxy on the seat, both hand broken (i bought a new set)... ?

 

P - Copy.PNG

P2 - Copy.PNG

P3 - Copy.PNG

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