Crystal installation without special tools

[medicmandan]

Hope to start reassembly this week on an old Elgin pocket watch.  Other than needing a little polish, the existing crystal will be fine.  Any tips for reinstalling it without a press?  Recommended products to polish it up?  Saw toothpaste in one video.  

[Klassiker]

What sort of crystal (material), and how did you remove it?

[medicmandan]

It's acrylic.  It popped out easily from the backside of the bezel.

[Waggy]

Most of the time I can pop the acrylic crystals in by hand, just slow gentle force and a little bit of wiggling and they usually go in. Occasionally if they are being stubborn I use a crystal lift tool with the plate thing that is often supplied with it - place it in the plate and snug up the metal plate, which will give you enough stand-off to grip the crystal and let it seat before releasing. The risk here is that the crystal lift teeth may damage the new crystal, so go carefully.

I have tried a case back/crystal-press tool, but these are usually 'death or glory' for me, they either pop straight in or crack or jump and mangle the watch hands. Recently a forum member told me about bakelite domed dies LINK which I plan to order soon which can be used with my case back/crystal-press tool (I think) to arch the crystal and then you snap on the case/bezel to the crystal from below, they guy on Vintage Watch Restoration on YouTube does this a lot, just skip to the end of any of his videos and see him do it.

Hope this helps.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Waggy
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