Longines 3450 Case

[David1984]

Hello all.   Just got this pocket watch and I am unable to remove it from the case.   It appears to remove from the front, but I cannot unscrew the, and didn't want to try and pry it open with a case knife before getting a second opinion. 

 

Any help/advice would be very helpful!

[oldhippy]

It comes out from the front, so the bezel needs to come of, have a good look around the bezel you should see a place for the blade of your case knife to fit in als pull the button out as if you are setting the hands. 

[JohnR725]

25 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

place for the blade of your case knife to fit in

Did the back unscrew or pop off? Usually not always but if the back unscrews the front would unscrew. But your case looks like both sides should pop off. You do want to be careful though in that overenthusiastic people trying to pry off screw on bezels will leave marks where they tried and that's not always good. Trying to pry off a screw on bezel is not a good thing.

But as quoted above there should be a place to insert something to pop the front off. Usually factories would like you to build the disassemble their watch without destroying it so they will put something. A lot of times when people reassembled I don't put that back where there supposed to they might put it where the stem comes out as opposed to somewhere else more convenient.

[David1984]

I was able to get the front clasp off with a small case opening knife.  I also removed the screw that should hold in the stem, but I am unable to get the movement to drop out.  The movement Def goes out the front, but seems to be held in atm by the stem.  Thoughts?

[JohnR725]

If you pull on the crown can the watch go into setting? Or does it appear to be stuck?

[David1984]

1 minute ago, JohnR725 said:

If you pull on the crown can the watch go into setting? Or does it appear to be stuck?

Yes, I can get it to go into a setting mode for the hands.  But won't slide out of the keyless works.

Edited July 19, 2024 by David1984

[JohnR725]

It does look like you remove the screw that normally is used to remove the stem? The problem with that strategy is you still can't get the stem out. I found a fast picture online it's not exactly not like yours exactly but the part that the screw goes into is still in place holding the stem in place. So normally what she would do is loosened the screw and push down on it allowing the part that's holding the stem in place to come out of the slot that it's in. So put the screw back in but leave it out a couple of turns and push down gently in the stem should come out.

[David1984]

5 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

It does look like you remove the screw that normally is used to remove the stem? The problem with that strategy is you still can't get the stem out. I found a fast picture online it's not exactly not like yours exactly but the part that the screw goes into is still in place holding the stem in place. So normally what she would do is loosened the screw and push down on it allowing the part that's holding the stem in place to come out of the slot that it's in. So put the screw back in but leave it out a couple of turns and push down gently in the stem should come out.

That worked!  Thank you so much everyone!