As last resort, I grab the stem with a longnose plier and unscrew the crown off.    

Lol that's the problem JohnHutchins....I do not want to have to take apart this watch just to replace a capacitor, especially with those annoying/fragile plastic gears. Not worth the effort for a $60 job. I feel like Citizen made it like this in order to force customers to send their watch in for a $200 service that takes 6 months (in which they will just rip the stem out and replace the entire movement). Shame. You might be right though, Pip, maybe there's been some sort of manufacturing flaw or unseated piece that is preventing the stem from coming out. Shit does happen.

Maybe you have a broken or unseated piece meaning the stem removal lever doesn’t move into position when you pull the stem out. Shit happens! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

A vintage Dundee lady tonight. I doubt if this is the smallest Timex watch ever made, but it is certainly fairly dinky. Serviced and polished, but the strap that was on it is done, and I have no 10mm straps, so I'll need to get one. I'm unsure of the age, if any of the experts know, do tell.  Other than a very light crop of green fungus on the strap pins (fresh pins fitted) and the dead strap it was fairly tidy and polished up rather nicely. It is managing a fairly respectable swing of 265 degrees and sitting slightly fast at +70 at the moment, so I'll let it settle overnight and finish it up tomorrow.

Seems like you are getting to the point where you have to make a decision - do I disassemble the watch completely in order to get the movement out of the case?