Jump to content

Citizen tube replacement

clockboy

By clockboy
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

 Share

Recommended Posts

clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
Posted

By any chance have any of you guys replaced a Citizen watch tube. It is a diver case No. 824164 fitted with a 8200A movement.

I have refurbished this watch and thought a new crown would resolve the poor fitting but of close inspection the tube thread is knackered.
I have read they are soldered in which is a real problem (I think) anyway see pics.

New & old crown

IMG_1213.thumb.jpg.5a4f9cc4d0523d69dca4d3c402b3bdf6.jpg

Tube that need replacing

IMG_1227.thumb.jpg.667399bad8c157b108ea44b5806fc8af.jpgIMG_1225.thumb.jpg.32209ffa20c1c6b2ec5afe0f0283b7a3.jpg

rogart63 Distinguished Member

rogart63

Posted
Posted

Don't think they are soldered in . As the thread is brass and the case is stainless steel. Think they are pressed in. Have some old Citizen cases with crown a 4 somewhere. See if i can take the tube out. 

clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks pushing the old one out is going to be a real challenge I have no ideas at present


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
  • Author
Posted
36 minutes ago, clockboy said:

Thanks pushing the old one out is going to be a real challenge I have no ideas at present


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have just removed a tube from a scrap Citizen just by inserting a broach & twisting and it came out. However this blighter is different. I have looked at it closer with a microscope & it looks like the threaded part is inserted over a tube or the tube is threaded. 

  • 2 weeks later...
clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I can now give you a heads up on how these tubes are fitted & replaced. It was the most difficult job I have done in a long,long time. Despite a long time on the internet doing research I basically found nothing of any help. I received no help or advice from this forum or other forums apart from one bit of advice on another forum that suggested it was friction fit which was incorrect. 

So after a lot of experimenting and measuring with some scrap Citizen watches I found that the tubes are friction fitted to their standard watches BUT their Diver style watches to improve water resistance are a screw fit. I removed the old tube by putting a slit into the top of the old tube with a slitting file and twisting it out. 

Unfortunately with this watch a previous repairer had stripped the original case thread and had glued it in another tube and then packed it with a clear silicone. 

The Citizen diver style threads put in these cases only have a depth of 2mm. After a lot of thought & weighing up all the options I decided to try and tap the remainder of the case with a 3mm thread & screw in a longer crown tube that was 4mm long. The tap used had to have a 0.35 pitch not the usual 0.50 pitch for the tap to work and the hole required for the tap is 2.6mm. This proved to be another problem as the drills I purchased marked as 2.6m were actually only 2.52mm so I had to broach out some extra. 

HOWEVER despite this working fine on a scrap piece of metal I just could not get the thread to take in the watch case. I don,t know if it is because the case is a cast metal. I really don’t know why.

So plan B was to but a friction fit tube in but the problem I now faced was I had made the original hole bigger trying to tap the hole. So I fitted a friction fit tube & used Loctite 243 a micro seal at the top of the new tube. I then held it in place overnight to dry.

Unbelievably on test the case is actually watertight up to 5 bar. All I can say is I just got lucky and the loctite 243 really does do a lock & seal.

I am not 100% not happy with the result because I finished doing the same really as a previous repairer had done which is a bodge job which is not my style.

If I encounter this problem again I will just friction fit a tube and use the magic Loctite 243. If the original thread is OK then it would be a very simple job to just shorten a screw in tube and just fit.

See some pics  taken during repair

TUBE REMOVED

59104532390fb_tuberemoved1.thumb.jpg.23ee4187554888a8163f9a32509a9301.jpg

LIP ON THE CITIZEN REDUCES TUBE THREAD TO 2MM

591045d247ab5_Liptoreducedepthoftube2.thumb.jpg.6c47e53a6f3813e354d51c23a6a46587.jpg

FRICTION FIT TUBE HELD IN PLACE FOR 24 HRS.

59104600bc3b1_Tubeheldovernight3.thumb.jpg.da3d8a65002022c706c76d2c8ff389b5.jpg

WATERPROOF TESTED UP TO 5 BAR (50 METERS)

5910463221c62_watertested4.thumb.jpg.7326ce67bbefd1c932b7a5c861a51ca5.jpg

  • Like 3
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Michael20
      French drum novice

      By Michael20 · Posted

      Regarding the spring winders, I made my own and used copper pipe reducers as the tubes to retain the spring. You will need to cut out a section for the end of the spring to protrude but if you watch one of the many videos on this subject that will make sense. You can find a selection of sizes on Ebay for very little cost. I'll attach a pic showing one of mine.  Good luck!
    • JohnR725
      Omega sweep second pinion friction spring - correct tension IS important

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      There were things bothering me about this discussion that took me a while to figure out the problem. In the image below it appears to be the spring may be pushing up? Normally when Omega has a spring pushing up the pinion has a pivot with a bridge to hold it in place so in other words the spring can push on something that stationary as opposed to this which appears to be floating? To understand the problem with the above image we need another image of side view which I have below. In my image down below on the left-hand side it agrees with the image up above. But the only problem is the left-hand side is defective and the right-hand side image is the way it's supposed to look. Then Omega if you can access the right documents does explain how and why this problem occurs. With the pinion floating around it might be assumed that you support it when putting on all the hands but you do not because as noted below if you do this small bush on the pinion will relocate out of position exactly what we see in the image up above.   Then Omega does not mention this but there is a possibility of also damaging the pinion and causing the bush to move to where it's not supposed to be when removing the hands.   
    • LittleWatchShop
      Regulating is too touchy

      By LittleWatchShop · Posted

      Maybe show us 1) the watch, 2) timegrapher readings in DU, DD, PU, and PD.
    • Louis1969
      Regulating is too touchy

      By Louis1969 · Posted

      The timegrapher displays significant beat error variations in the dial-up position. When the watch is lying flat (face up), the beat error is much higher than in other positions. Beat error readings are inconsistent, with especially large gaps in the face-up position.  Please help !  
    • Geotex
      Informational universe.

      By Geotex · Posted

      Looks like an open-access journal that runs as a glorified pre-print server with no true peer review, so it’s not easy to judge the veracity of the conclusions.
×
×
  • Create New...