How to open up Swatch flik flak watch?

[KennethLee]

Hi,

I do know that Swatch Flik Flak watches are not meant to be opened up.  

The case is all metal with the crystal pushed in.

Has anyone tried to do so and have succeeded?

thx!
kenneth

[HectorLooi]

Are you sure the case is metal? Those that I've seen were all plastic. 

I don't think Swatch watches are meant to be repaired. But I've seen some videos on YouTube where the crystal was deliberately broken off, then replaced when repairs were completed.

Again, photos would be nice. Good luck and keep us posted.

[watchweasol]

As Hector mentioned some picture of the said watch fornt and back would be of great help.

[jdm]

12 hours ago, KennethLee said:

I do know that Swatch Flik Flak watches are not meant to be opened up. 

Just curious as to why you want to open it?

[KennethLee]

Here's how they look front and back.
Would like to see if I can replace the movement with an inexpensive Chinese made one (<$1) and get the watches working again.
It's such a waste to throw them away just because the battery leaked.  Worse case scenario is to salvage the hands ...

thx

 

 

[jdm]

You can try pulling the stem out with force. That may or may not damage the keyless works, but that's immaterial since the module is faulty anyway. Once it's out try pumping air in with a syringe and improvised sealing to pop out the crystal, actually for that there is a specific tools that seals on the tube. If replacing the module you may want to stick with the original, because replacing to something different while doing a decent job is much more difficult than beginners imagine. The stem can have an extra chamfer cut on the lathe to allow future extraction without damage. 

Being honest and aesthetics tastes aside, all in all I don't see much loss in having these melted for aluminium. 

[clockboy]

I think our Mark attempted to open one but failed. If. I remember correctly he removed the crystal and tried to wriggle the movement out with the stem pulled out but it was not possible. Unfortunately the wasteful throw away age is still with us.

[KennethLee]

>where the crystal was deliberately broken off
Ok, I took the plunge, broke the crystal and here's the result.

There is a metal ring on the top right of the picture that presses down on the dial very tightly. 
The rotation of the movement is prevented just by the stem.

Tried using a thin screw driver to pry off the ring without success.  In the end, brute force was used.  I used a wooden chopstick through the battery compartment and bashed the dial out from the back.  When it came out, the dial was badly bent and the movement was trashed.  I used a nylon hammer to flatten the dial.

I have an existing chinese SL68 movement but unfortunately the battery position is directly opposite the battery hatch.  Am waiting for another movement that has the battery compartment on the same side of the hatch.  Hopefully it will fit in the gap.

I've also broke open the original ETA movement so that one can see the inside of it.  It was all held on by plastic welds so one probably cannot repair it.  But the replacement chinese movement (if it fits) costs only a dollar or so, it won't be worth repairing it.  The only problem is that if there's a second hand, it probably wont fit the Chinese movement if it uses the "Swatch standard size".  Too loose.  I'm waiting for a pin vise to arrive to see if I can make the second hand "collar" smaller so that it would fit the chinese movement.

[KennethLee]

The gap in the aluminium watch case for the crystal is 24.5mm.
With the nylon ring in place, I think the crystal size is 24mm.
I'll be ordering a 24mm crystal to see if it'll fit.

[HectorLooi]

2 hours ago, KennethLee said:

The gap in the aluminium watch case for the crystal is 24.5mm.
With the nylon ring in place, I think the crystal size is 24mm.
I'll be ordering a 24mm crystal to see if it'll fit.

Nice job!

You should order a crystal that is larger than the seat size. A crystal lift should be used to compress the bigger crystal in.