Can't remove Bezel fit case

[Alecs11]

Hello friends, so originally I wanted to get a NH35A movement to practice my skills (I am a total beginner), however I found this Cadisen with the same movement for the same price as a new NH35A movement (30$). Watch worked great, losing only 2-3 secs per day.

 

anyway, it has a screw off case back, so no problem there. However, in order to get the dial out, I understand I have to pry the bezel part open. After several tries with different case knives, I can't seem to figure out how to get it out.

 

I even scratched the case a little in my attempts to open it, no problem there as it is a practice watch however I want to learn how to at least open it so I know what to do and how to be more careful on my next watch.
 

I am starting to think maybe I don't have to pry it open? Is there another way to get the movement & dial out? I didn't see any dial or case screws so I assumed I had to pry it open

If you need more photos or anything, please let me know and I thank you for you help. And if the answer was obvious, apologies, I am at the very beginning of this journey, but I am eager to learn.

[MichaelT]

I'm relatively new, but have a few ideas:

- Have you tried picking up the plastic ring around the movement from the back? I have quartz watches where you just lift it off.

- A simple thing you probably tried would be to turn the watch case over and see if you can jiggle it loose.

- Also I would search YouTube for your watch brand and model or for your issue and see if any results come up that give you new ideas.

If you do need to pop off the bezel there are wrench devices with plastic jaws made for this, just search for bezel removal tool. 

I hope something in there helps.

[Kalanag]

The movement has to come out through the front. Therefore the bezel has to be pried off.

Not having a special bezel removing vice my recommendation is this:

The picture is derived from a fantastic book for beginners:

Edited December 30, 2023 by Kalanag

[CYCLOPS]

sometimes I use a razor blade to help start the removal of bezels

[Jon]

The way I remove bezels is with a Stanley blade and a brass hammer like @Kalanaghas shown. Start where the indentation is on the bezel, if there is one, and work your way around. try not to twist the blade, as this might bruise the case and bezel. Go slow and it will work a treat. I do this with all Rolex bezels as well. The four-bladed bezel removal tools are rubbish and most watchmakers I know never use them. They use the blade and hammer method.

[ColdWind]

This is a problem with most Chinese modern watches I've seen and came across. They design front-loader watch, means the movement comes out from the front, but they make a bezel with no indentation or "lip" gap for tools to get in. And the bezel is a super tight fit, like the tightest I ever seen on a watch. After a few times of getting open they start to get loose and become "friendly" but for the first time oh well. You can still get the bezel off of course, but because there is no indentation, it is impossible not to put any damage to the bezel in the process. And if you're going to hammer it off, best to take the balance bridge off first, even it is shock protected the balance pivot still has a good chance to break if you hit the case hard enough. 

So for snap-on bezel the "lip" is supposed to be there for you. Swiss watches, Japanese watches, there's always lip there in the bezel. The Chinese just does some lazy work or they didn't expect their watches to get repair or service at all. Now if you keep popping the bezel on and off, without doing any moddification to it, soon there will be tool marks and damage all around the bezel. Plus it will be hard every time you have to open it. That why I made the lip after the first time I pop the bezel off like in this photo. Just a tiny lip but makes up all the difference, with it the opening tool gets proper support and the bezel wouldn't have any damage no matter how many times it got open, and if at all the damage would go to the lip only, not every where around the bezel.

Edited January 1, 2024 by ColdWind