Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hello everybody,
I was looking for a watch forum and found the WRT. The friendly and useful discussions I saw, convinced me, that this is the right place for me and my questions (and hopefully my contributions) concerning watch repairs.

My name is Martin, I am 60 years old and live with my family in Bonn, Germany.

After the fitness tracker and smart watch hype also attracted me for a while, I recently rediscovered the many watches, I acquired or inherited over the decades and now I wear a different one every day 🙂. One of my oldest watches is a Citizen Crystron Solar Cell wrist watch from 1976. It is working perfectly, still there is one thing, I would like to fix: The lume on the dial and the hands is worn and I would like to relume them. A modest fix, I am confident to perform :). Also the solar cells have grown damp a little, so I'd like to clean them. I was able to open the back and remove the winding stem, but now I do not see, how to get the movement out of the case. The movement sits firm and I didn't dare to use any force to get it out. As I was also unable to find a technical manual for this watch in the internet (not even at archive.org), I hope, that someone in this forum can give me a hint of how to proceed.

Many thanks in advance.

Posted
19 hours ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Photos always help. 

You are absolutely right. I am sorry. So here are some which show, what my problem is.

In Citizen_back_1 you see the movement sitting inside the case directly covered by a white plastic ring. The ring seems to be fixed under the ring of the watch case (inner blue line). So I don't think the whole plastic ring can be pulled out. At the four red arrows there are clips which seem to hold the movement, but I was unable to bend them. In citizen_clip, one of the clips is shown in more detail. In citizen_clip_2 I show, what I suppose must be done. Get a tool between the movement and the clip (blue arrow) and bend it outside (green arrow). I tried this with a small screwdriver, but the clip didn't move in the slightest way. And because I don't want to break a clip, I hope, someone can give me a hint, what better tool to use. Maybe, this isn't even the right way to get the movement out.

Citizen_back_1.jpg

citizen_clip.jpg

citizen_clip_2.jpg

Posted

Look down the hole near the stem.  Most likely there is a place to press down with a sharp tool like a needle.  While pressing, the stem will release. 

Show a picture of the front of the watch please.  Is there a front bezel?  I have a citizen eco drive that has a front bezel.  The movement may come out the front.  A picture will help us.

Posted

Hi Martin  without a caliber number I searched around, one used cailber in the crystron was the 8629A so I fished out two tech sheets, the  8600 and the 8627 in the hope they may offer a little help.  can to also post pictures of the front and sides as well as another of the movement without the glare. as LWS said it mat be a front loader hence the reason for the extra pictures.  thank you.

8600.pdf 8627.pdf

Posted
12 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Here is the front view of the watch. There are two slots between the upper and the lower bezel. I took them for defects...

 

citizen_front.jpg

citizen_slot_2.jpg

citizen_slot_1.jpg

 

12 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi LittleWatchShop,

I found the button which releases the stem and was able to take the stem out. Thank you for the hint. After that, the movement can now slightly be moved to the left and right, but otherwise sits firm in the white plastic ring. But maybe there is a another button, which I have to press to be able to rotate the movement more?

@watchweasol: Thank you for the documents. Your guesses were really close. The caliber is an 8609A.
Sadly, the documentation gives no hint to how to get the movement out of the case and I fear, the document for the 8609A will be no exception.

 

  • Like 1
Posted

Hi Martin. The two slots are indeed pry points for removing the bezel, there is a chance that once it’s removed the movement will drop out. Checkout the clips at the back do not swivel out on a hinge pin to release the movement, will have a look for the 8609A sheet.

  • Like 1
Posted
10 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi watchweasol,

"The two slots are indeed pry points for removing the bezel"
YEEEEES! The case is open! The entry point is indeed the front bezel. I succeeded with the one at 6 o'clock. And I even managed to open it without too many scratches 🙂.

Many thanks to all of you, who helped my with this!
Now I will continue and make this nice watch shine again.
Next problem might be, to get the bezel back into it's place, I guess 🙂.

 

 

citizen_open_front.jpg

 

😅

citizen_dekonstructed.jpg

Posted
19 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi watchwasol,

yes, your are right. I have already tried to get the bezel pressed back on, but failed. So I will order such a tool. I will surely have enough work for it, as there are several watches with backs to press back on.

Again, thanks for your help. I will occasionally post my lume experiences here.

 

  • Like 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Hi, this is the first place I found when looking for advice so I hope someone could advise me.  Im completely new to touching watches but I’ve always wondered how they work.  I’ve bought a cheap movement, an ETA replica to take apart and rebuild.  Im thinking I’ll need some screwdrivers, tweezers, movement holder and a loop? My goal is just to have a go first and see if I enjoy it enough before buying more tools.  Do I buy cheap tools for now and get better quality tools later if I enjoy it like I think I will? or will the cheap tools be a pain and take some of the fun out of it?  With quality tools being relatively expensive I’m unsure what to buy.    Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
    • Yeah I have seen 44-56 documented for Elgin 18 size elsewhere. I have the style of gauge that's like a set of feeler gauges and I never noticed before today it is faintly stamped "Elgin". Pictured is the way I have been measuring. I am going to go to a larger jewel than the 42 that had been in there. I recently won an auction on a big set of Fitrite jewels all in the little bottles, to discover that the what's actually in the bottles bears no relation to the chart of sizes printed on the box. In most cases it seems to be all mixed so in fact I have about 24 little bottles and thousands of assorted jewels of all diameters and lengths, which is better than nothing. But since I don't have a micrometer with a table, measuring for the exact diameter will be a big job. Instead I will test a lot of them in the fork slot the same way I measure with the gauge. But this is still the next thing. I have to get the escapement to unlock first.
    • it would be nice to have the exact model of the watch the or a picture so we can see exactly what you're talking about. this is because the definition of Swiss watch could be a variety of things and it be helpful if we could see exactly the watch your dealing with then in professional watch repair at least some professionals they do pre-cleaned watches. In other words the hands and dial come off and the entire movement assembled goes through a cleaning machine sometimes I think a shorter bath perhaps so everything is nice and clean for disassembly makes it easier to look for problems. Then other professionals don't like pre-cleaning because it basically obliterates the scene of the crime. Especially when dealing with vintage watches where you're looking for metal filings and problems that may visually go away with cleaning. Then usually super sticky lubrication isn't really a problem for disassembly and typically shouldn't be a problem on a pallet fork bridge because there shouldn't be any lubrication on the bridge at all as you typically do not oil the pallet fork pivots.  
    • A few things you should find out before you can mske a decision of what to do. As Richard said, what is the crown and all of the crown components made of . Then also the stem .  The crown looks to have a steel washer that retains a gasket. So be careful with what chemicals you use to dissolve any stem adhesives or the use of heat. You might swell or melt the gasket unless you are prepared to change that also . The steel washer maybe reactive to alum. Something I've just used to dissolve a broken screw from a plate. First drilled out the centre of the screw with a 0.5mm carbide . Dipped only the section that held the broken screw in Rustins rust remover. This is 40 % phosphoric acid. 3 days and the screw remains were completely dissolved, no trace of steel in the brass threads. A black puddle left in the solution.
    • I suppose this will add to the confusion I have a roller jewel assortment. It lists out American pocket watches for Elgin 18 size and even 16 size it's a 50. But not all the various companies used 50-50 does seem to be common one company had a 51 and the smallest is 43. American parts are always interesting? Francis Elgin for mainsprings will tell you the thickness of the spring other companies will not even though the spring for the same number could come in a variety of thicknesses. But if we actually had the model number of your watch we would find it probably makes a reference that the roller jewel came in different dimensions. So overlook the parts book we find that? So it appears to be 18 and 16 size would be the same sort of the arson different catalog numbers and as I said we don't have your Mongol know which Log number were supposed to be using. Variety of materials garnered her sapphire single or double but zero mention about diameters. Then in a section of rollers in this case rollers with jewels we do get this down in the notes section Roller specifications but of course zero reference to the jewel size. I was really hoping the roller jewel assortment would give us sizes it doesn't really. But it does show a picture of how one particular roller jewel gauge is used  
×
×
  • Create New...