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Hi All

I recently serviced a Wyler Incaflex Navigator watch with a WM29 movement..  One half of the split stem is there - the female half that goes into the movement.  This enables me to wind so I need the male half and crown.  I assume therefore that I need to find a complete split stem and likely a crown separately - but it is proving fruitless, at least with my level of knowledge...

Can anyone point me in the right direction?  I have tried Ofrei, cousins and eBay but nothing has shown up..  It does make reference to ETA and Omega movements with split stems but I don't know if thats just a similar stem rather than the 'same'.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

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The movement side of the split stem is the part that is caliber specific, so what you need is a generic compatible male segment. That's an ETA movement, so the stem should fit with the common style of coupling that can be either slid together/apart from the side (preferable when possible) or pulled/pushed straight on (seems brutal but they are designed to work that way). You DON'T want the Mido-style coupling which is more bulky and incompatible with cases requiring push/pull. You should determine the thread size of your stem to be sure what you buy will fit the case tube (and it must also fit the crown you want to use) and then you are looking for a part like this: https://www.leosics.co.uk/male-pivot-shank-l12-tap-090.html

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Thank you very much gentlemen!  Makes sense that the part that I still have is calibre specific, and I can see how the extender would be generic. I'll try that first.  I saw that there are also Stem extender and crown kits available on eBay too:

Stem and Crown Extender Kit

Do you think there will be a generic male (crown end) part in here?

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20 hours ago, Jonno65 said:

Thank you very much gentlemen!  Makes sense that the part that I still have is calibre specific, and I can see how the extender would be generic. I'll try that first.  I saw that there are also Stem extender and crown kits available on eBay too:

Stem and Crown Extender Kit

Do you think there will be a generic male (crown end) part in here?

I think I answered my own question here.. No!  

Just as an update also - the Esslinger 15 piece assortment kit is $19.95 US - the shipping calculator estimated a shipping cost of $106.00 to get it here!

That's $190 AU for some stem extenders!

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Ouch!  I can see how that's a problem unless it's a watch with tremendous sentimental value or you can see yourself working on similar watches in the future. Any chance you can find some contacts in a local/regional repair ship, horological association or hobbyist club to find a source in your hemisphere? 

You might be able to move over to a case that doesn't require a split stem if you just want to rescue the movement (with its classy Wyler spiral balance arms) because standard stems may be easier to source. I know that Benrus used the same movement family for a lot of their watches from that period, but they also used waterproof cases with a split stem.

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  • 1 month later...

I've only just got back to this.  Can you advise what crown I would need?

The stem from a link above states L12 0.95 (here).  Would I be correct in thinking that I need an L12 crown and .95 is the stem diameter?

The stem tube is approximately 1.75mm dia. (1.5mm drill shank fits loosely, 2.0mm does not fit).

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