Cleaning Smiths De Luxe

[jomcl67]

Hi folks
I'm a total newbie here so please bear with me.

I have a Smiths De Luxe that was left to me by my late grandfather and I am trying to clean it up myself.
The watch runs for a few hours after being shaken so after reading what I could I decided to give it a go.

My problem is that I managed to get the back and the winder stem off but the movement is still firmly in place.
As pointed out to me by someone else, the dial is a lot bigger than the space at the back which would suggest that the movement
should come out from the crystal side.

Can someone confirm that this is the case? As I can't see any obvious grooves on the front bezel, I am reluctant to go any further until I know
for definite that this is the way forward.

Please see pics below and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ishima]

You'll need to do two things, one is to get a 'crystal lift' tool this will allow you to compress the acrylic domed crystal and remove it from the case. The second is to undo and remove the two case screws highlighted here. 

A possible problem is the glass might be 'low dome', and won't work with the crystal lift but I do think it's 'high dome'. 

Edited December 27, 2017 by Ishima

[noirrac1j]

Ishma beat me to the answer by a few seconds, and he has outlined the screws that need to be removed. I do think that if you have a single edged razor blade (or suitably thin edge) you should be able to separate the bezel and crystal from the case, which you will have to do to remove the movement. The bezel and crystal should separate together from the case if you carefully pry it away. But first remove those two screws that Ishma has indicated.

 

J

Edited December 27, 2017 by noirrac1j

[jomcl67]

Thanks for the replies guys. It is a high dome crystal that's on the watch so I might get myself a lifter and try that first.

[jdm]

2 hours ago, jomcl67 said:

Can someone confirm that this is the case? As I can't see any obvious grooves on the front bezel, I am reluctant to go any further until I know for definite that this is the way forward.

No need for grooves to be on a removable bezel. it is also possible that the crystal has a step and won't come out with lifter. In that case as suggested above use a sharp blade like an X-acto knife all around, cautiously and slowly, until a bigger blade can be inserted. Then pry, do not twist..