Seiko 2220-0430 Crystal Fitting

[JBerry]

Hey Guys,

Couple of questions, I picked up this Seiko 2220-0430 with a chipped crystal. I was able with just a small amount of pressure to press the glass out from the back out of the bezel.

Am I correct in assuming that I need to use a crystal cement/epoxy to fit a new crystal?
Also, is a flat Cousins/Sternkreuz glass/sapphire crystal going to have a similar bevel to the one shown on the front face of the crystal?

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Chopin]

I don't know about sapphire but the mineral glass on cousins looks like yours at first glance.

Are you sure that this is the original glass of the watch ? Usually glasses nowadays (glass glasses not acrylic) are held in place by a plastic gasket. Either it might not be the original glass for it and, maybe, it used an acrylic either you'll need a plastic gasket as well.

[JBerry]

Thanks for the insight!

From what I can see online I'm fairly confident it is the original, but can't be certain. There are no spares available anywhere I know of.

The crystal is approx 1.3mm in depth, the bezel has about a 0.6mm recess and the crystal apprears to just fit into this slot with the rest of the crystal protruding and showing the bevel. Would there be sufficient room in this 0.6mm to fit a gasket too?

The wall of the recess seems to be dead straight too, would I be right in thinking if it was an acrylic crystal the recess would be shaped to retain the crystal once fitted?

 

[JBerry]

What I wrote in the initial post may have been misleading, the Crystal was fitted into the front of the bezel

[oldhippy]

To obtain the correct glass you need to quote the numbers on the back of the case to your supplier.

Then you need a glass fitting tool like this.  

[Chopin]

Regarding the acrylic crystal, not necessarily, but even so this is not the type of watch that probably came with an acrylic. Seiko usually does mineral glass, not acrylic, like the vintage Swiss watches.

Most of the watches that I've encountered have had a gasket as well and yes your bezel should have space for one but, I guess, since yours didn't come with one maybe they really didn't use a gasket after all.

To go for the original look I'd just get a standard cousins mineral glass. I don't know if there's a difference between the sternkreuz and the cheaper one. The cheaper one seems to look like the one that you have.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Chopin

[jdm]

39 minutes ago, JBerry said:

From what I can see online I'm fairly confident it is the original, but can't be certain. There are no spares available anywhere I know of.

The crystal is approx 1.3mm in depth, the bezel has about a 0.6mm recess and the crystal apprears to just fit into this slot with the rest of the crystal protruding and showing the bevel. Would there be sufficient room in this 0.6mm to fit a gasket too?

The wall of the recess seems to be dead straight too, would I be right in thinking if it was an acrylic crystal the recess would be shaped to retain the crystal once fitted?

No acrylic on modern Seiko watches, all you need is a flat miner cystal and a gasket if the original is gone or damaged.

Also, no "approx" has place on watch repair, you need a vernier caliper to measure exactly.

Many threads on the subject, use the search function.

[JBerry]

I do have a vernier calipers, I say approx because no €20 uncalibrated calipers is 100% accurate,

[Chopin]

It better be a double digit caliper, after the comma that is.

[JBerry]

Also, the watch is from 1975, so not exactly modern.

[jdm]

20 hours ago, JBerry said:

I do have a vernier calipers, I say approx because no €20 uncalibrated calipers is 100% accurate,

These are 100% OK, generic crystals come in 0.1mm dia. increment and no special thickness like 1.35 or 1.6,mm that Seiko often use, just get the closer one and will be fine.

[JBerry]

Just as a conclusion, the original Seiko crystal is of 31.0mm diameter. So I think it's safe to assume the crytal is epoxied directly into the bezel. A 0.70mm Sternkreuz MST crystal of 31.0mm diameter was a perfect fit, secured with some nasty Bisphenol-A Seiko epoxy.