Can't get crystal to fit on seiko speedracer.

[Birbdad]

I got a sapphire crystal for my seiko speedracer and a brand new crystal gasket. I have one of those cheap chinese lever crystal presses that seemingly almost everybody uses and it seems to work well enough, it sure does for others. The sapphire is maybe 1/2000th of an inch bigger but that is likely the imprecise nature of my calipers and holding a round object in them. 

Either way i cannot get this damn thing in. I can get it in 100% on one side but the other side wont' go past about 80%. I've been at this for hours. I've put so much strength into it i'm pretty impressed i haven't broken the damn thing.

ANy advice or tips on how to get this thing in? I'm so careful, putting it in a bit at a time, rotating the watch to do it as evenly as possible but it always ends up the same. I've heard you're not supposed to lubricate these gaskets so i have not been using any.

EDIT: I broke down and pulled out the old gasket and it went into that with a pretty good bit of force but it actually went in. ANy advice for the future would be appreciated.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Birbdad

[HectorLooi]

If you look at your crystal carefully, one edge has a larger bevel than the other. Logically, one would assume that the larger bevel is there to assist you in getting the crystal in. But the correct way is to fit the smaller beveled edge in and the larger bevel facing up. The large bevel is just for cosmetic purposes only. If you fitted the crystal with the large bevel down, the crystal would pop up the moment you release pressure from the crystal press.

[Birbdad]

11 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

If you look at your crystal carefully, one edge has a larger bevel than the other. Logically, one would assume that the larger bevel is there to assist you in getting the crystal in. But the correct way is to fit the smaller beveled edge in and the larger bevel facing up. The large bevel is just for cosmetic purposes only. If you fitted the crystal with the large bevel down, the crystal would pop up the moment you release pressure from the crystal press.

Yeah they're so similar i wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me but it did look like one bevel was slightly larger than the other. Elsewehre somebody also told me that the gasket for seikos have a correct orientation and that if i had the gasket in the wrong orientation i probably ruined it.

I ended up pulling out the old gasket and it still took a tremendous amount of force but i got the crystal fully seated with the old gasket. I guess i can chalk this up to a lesson learned.

Do you or anybody know how to tel lthe correct orientation of a plastic crystal gasket for a seiko? I looked and could not see any asymmetry whatsoever!