TIMEX/KELTON plastic bezel repair

[manodeoro]

Hello 

I'm not certain if this is the right place to put that repair tutorial but no problem if the moderators move it elsewhere.

 

So some month ago I had the opportunity to buy a 28mm KELTON "Yachting" for my wife ... 12€ shipped so the cheapiest watch she ever got but really nice and she loves it as much as her DJ I think.
The watch was OK and nedeed just to be cleaned but the plastic rotating bezel was cracked so I first fixed it with doube-sided tape because my wife wanted to wear it  for a "70es" party.

But I wanted the bezel to rotate AND to be firmly clipped on the rehaut so I tried the following DIY repair.

First I unclipped the bezel and removed all the doube-sided tape.
Here you can see that the crack is clean but goes all through the bezel so that it cant stay clipped on the rehaut.

 

 

01 - Clamping:

Before proceeding to the repair I tried my best to clamp the 2 sides of the cracked bezel as close as possible and without any height shift.
I just cut thin bands of painter's tape and stitched the bezel ... just like one use steri-strips on a cut.

 

 

Here one  can see that the 2 sides of the crack are very closely adjusted

 

 

02 - Preparing the Repair :

I used the refill of an adjustable sanding pen from which I cut some bits, about 1 cm long

 

 

Then I prepared some slow curing (5mn)  bi-component epoxy cement

 

 

03 - The "Surgery" phase :

I thinned a toothpick using anX-Acto and used it to put some of the epoxy cement, from the downside, between the exterior of the bezel an the inner lip that is supposed to clip on the rehaut.
I did that by 3 cm long, 1.5 cm long on either side of the crack.
The I inserted the fiberglass cuts "perfectly" centered (0.5 cm on each side of the crack) in the cement.
Then I put some more cement on the fiberglass cuts.
Sorry if I took only 1 pics along the phase but I had only 5 minutes to do all that before the cement would cure 

 

 

On that pic one can see that the fiberglass is becoming "clear" as it gets soaked by the cement ... that shows everything is going well.
Plus the bezel's plastic doesn't react with the epoxy cement, despite of my fears. 

 

Then I put the bezel on a support that do not react with expxy and ... wait for some hours.

 

 

04 - Test after 12 hours curing :

I let the cement cure all night then I removed all the clamps

 

 

Here one can see the the curing seems perfect and the 2 sides of the crack are almost invisible 

 

 

Then I had to test if the inner lip of the bezel is still smooth enough to clip on the rehaut
so ... BINGO !!!
The bezel clips firmly on the rehaut (no more risk of loosing it) and it turns perfectly, which is the least a rotating bezel can do.
Plus the crack between the 40 and 60 is now almost invisible.

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by manodeoro

[manodeoro]

05 - What else ? :

I'm a daredevil ... so I cliped the bezel off and on several times for a ultimate test.

 

My "experimental" method worked perfectly and the rotating bezel is now almost NOS

I procedeed the same way with my "Black Rallye" Kelton and the bezel is perfectly repaired.

Thanks for reading and hope it helps.

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by manodeoro

[JerseyMo]

well done but, I get in many that have lost the thin strips inside the ring.  How would you suggest to correct this one?

[manodeoro]

On 9/5/2018 at 4:13 AM, JerseyMo said:

well done but, I get in many that have lost the thin strips inside the ring.  How would you suggest to correct this one?

WOW !!!

Those strips (what I call a "lip" because we call it "lèvre" in French) are THE recurrent problem with TIMEX/KELTON's pseudo divers and that's why so much of those come without their original bezel.

I'm afraid there is no way to repair that.

The only option I see, if you really have MANY of those, could be to :

- select some (2,3, etc ...) of the same color that have lost lips at different positions (2h00, 5h00, etc ...)

- cut them into parts and select the parts WITH the inside lips

- use my repair method to stick the parts together and make ONE bezel from SEVERAL bezels

I really can't guaranty it will stand solid but it could.

I've never tried to do that because I only have a few KELTONs whose bezels were cracked but with almost all their lips. 

[JerseyMo]

15 hours ago, manodeoro said:

WOW !!! 

Indeed wow!  I have one Kelton Diver and it has the aluminum bezel with spring clip.  Too bad Timex did not use this across all of the watches with a ring.  But, they did final improve the rings in the late 70's and make the ring of aluminum with an inner ring of a more flexible plastic.  These can be taken apart and clean very easily.

 

have a look at some of those in my collection.   I think I need some more yes?

[JerseyMo]

My plan is to place a rubber o-ring inside and top it with a ring of a flexible epoxy.  Than remove the rubber ring and see how that works.

Will take pictures and document once I get around to this.

[manodeoro]

My plan is to place a rubber o-ring inside and top it with a ring of a flexible epoxy.  Than remove the rubber ring and see how that works.
Will take pictures and document once I get around to this.

It could work and there’s no risk trying so let us know how that works.

BTW ... I have one of those aluminium/plastic bezel on my « Rallye » KELTON from 1975.
I definitely love that one and she often sits on my whist.





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[manodeoro]

Here are some pics I took while servicing and reluming my « Black Rallye »












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[Ianh]

Excellent work I’m about to relume a Timex Rally hands never done it before and very new to watch repair and Timex, is it very easy to do some tips would be helpful.

[manodeoro]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:05 AM, Ianh said:

Excellent work I’m about to relume a Timex Rally hands never done it before and very new to watch repair and Timex, is it very easy to do some tips would be helpful.

Thanks 

If I were you I would  relume the dial at the same time as the hands, so that you can get a perfect matching ... that's what I dd on my "Black Rallye".

About the "difficulty" ... honestly ... I would say it is really easy if you have a steady hand and some patience.

I think almost all the tips I could give can be seen on the pics I posted here but here are some "tricks" :

1 - really thin luminous powder ... the thinner the easier in my opinion ... mine is a cheap product from a GB website (I'll post a link here when back home) not  sold for watches but really thin and with a bright "vintage" green lume (they have other colors)

2 - waterbased medium (I use microflat from microscale ... a waterbased acrylic resin)

3 - cheap watercolours ... only if you want to colour your lume

4 - oilers ... I mostly  use the yellow one but sometimes I use thinner ones for specifically precise lumes (like 3/6/9 dials)

First I prepare the colour I want to get with my watercolour set then I use that coloured water to mix the waterbased resin and the lume.

I first focus on the colour I want to get and do not bother with the thickness of the mix ... just dont forget that the color will be  a little more "off" when the lume has cured.

When the colour is OK I just add some clear water to get the thickness I need for the specific work I'm doing.

If the mix is not thick enough I just wait for the water to evaporate a little or heat eat with a hair dryer, but I always try to get a thick mix at first then dilute it with water to get the "perfect" thickness.

For example, to relume my "Black Rallye" I needed a "medium thick" mix for the lume dots around the dial because I wanted to do each dot in just one drop ... so I did the lume dots at first then added some water to make the mix smoother before luming the hands.

If I want to redo a vintage 3/6/9 luming (will have to do that within a few weeks for a vintage pocket watch) I will add some water to get a really thin mix so that I can use my oilder as a pencil and the lume mix as ink ... plus I'll proceed in 2 stages : first stage the design with a really thin coat + second stage adding some thickness to the lume.

About the lume powder thiness ... if you want to use your lume mix as ink you need a really thin powder and if you want to give some "raw" look to your lume you can always add a thicker powder to your mix (salt, sugar, really fine sand, etc ...) the lume effect will be weaker but it will be perfect for a "vintage" look.

I think that's all about my "lume tricks"

Hope it helps.

Edited September 10, 2018 by manodeoro

[Ianh]

Thank you I’ll give it ago!!

[manodeoro]

Thank you I’ll give it ago!!

You're welcome !!!
Just let us know how it works and fell free to ask for help.

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[manodeoro]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:05 AM, Ianh said:

Excellent work I’m about to relume a Timex Rally hands never done it before and very new to watch repair and Timex, is it very easy to do some tips would be helpful.

Hello ... if you're about to relume a Rally like the one below (which is yours BTW) one thing you can do is to GENTLY remove the lume on the dial with a fiberglass pen eraser and DO NOT remove all the lume.

Just keep a thin coat of lume and use it as a guide.

The existing lume will prevent your new lume to spread around sothat  you can get a really crispy result.

[manodeoro]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:05 AM, Ianh said:

Excellent work I’m about to relume a Timex Rally hands never done it before and very new to watch repair and Timex, is it very easy to do some tips would be helpful.

Hello again

I promised to put a link to the "cheap" lume powder I use so here it is : Fine Green glow in the dark

I paid a little less than 10€ shipped to France for a 20g package.

I choosed that one because the pigments are really thin so one can even relume circled indexes on a submariner style watch, using a glossy water based medium, and get a really smooth result.

Plus that product is specially coated to allow the use of water based mediums so you can color it as you want with a watercolor set.

Plus it is really cheap, at least compared to a basic relume kit you can pay up to 20€ shipped for a 7g powder kit plus binder.

I choosed green  glow because I work mostly on vintage watches and the gren light is really close to old Tritium green light.

But they also provide a "fine aqua glow" powder that seems to be really close to blue Luminova.

It's a shame that they have only those 2 colors in fine powder (10um) ... I would have liked to try their white one on an all-glow dial.

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by manodeoro

[Ianh]

Hi thank you for the valuable information.

[Tudor]

For the "lip" rebuild, perhaps a silicone o-ring that fits the inside well as a "dam" could be used to allow a build-up of epoxy with (perhaps) a binder of some sort... I'd also suggest cleaning the surface where the repair is to be done with a strong solvent that can/does attack the plastic. That will act as a "primer" and ensure the plastic is clean and ready to take the epoxy. Obviously use small amounts so as to not melt the entire thing!

Really good idea with the glass fibers for strength! For that sort of crack, my first thought was to use a soldering iron on the back side to weld the pieces but they would probably re-crack in the same place...

[manodeoro]

Hi thank you for the valuable information.

You can also try Omega chrono central second hands which should have a 0.22mm tube if I'm true.
It could work with the 0.21mm pinion of the Timex M25.

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[manodeoro]

For the "lip" rebuild, perhaps a silicone o-ring that fits the inside well as a "dam" could be used to allow a build-up of epoxy with (perhaps) a binder of some sort... I'd also suggest cleaning the surface where the repair is to be done with a strong solvent that can/does attack the plastic. That will act as a "primer" and ensure the plastic is clean and ready to take the epoxy. Obviously use small amounts so as to not melt the entire thing!
Really good idea with the glass fibers for strength! For that sort of crack, my first thought was to use a soldering iron on the back side to weld the pieces but they would probably re-crack in the same place...

I did that repair about 4 months ago and it's still holding perfectly.
I'm working with a friend on a 3D print project of Timex diver's bezels.
If we achieve that that could be really good for Timex/Kelton renovation projects.

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[manodeoro]

Hi thank you for the valuable information.

Sorry ... I posted on the wrong thread about Timex second hands.
I put a link to cousins 0.21mm second hands on your other thread.
And you still can try Omega Chrono second hands ... Ofrei sells some nice orange ones.

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[JerseyMo]

On 9/11/2018 at 2:27 PM, manodeoro said:

I did that repair about 4 months ago and it's still holding perfectly.
I'm working with a friend on a 3D print project of Timex diver's bezels.
If we achieve that that could be really good for Timex/Kelton renovation projects.

I have spoken to some others about the 3D printing as well.  First concerns is the end product maybe somewhat rough around the edges.

Just so many other things to be concered about.  SO don't think I'll get to it.

[GraeP]

On 9/3/2018 at 4:03 PM, manodeoro said:

Then I prepared some slow curing (5mn)  bi-component epoxy cement

What an awesome post! I would like to try this fix on my cracked bezel. What was the brand of epoxy cement you used please?

Many thanks,

Grae

[manodeoro]

What an awesome post! I would like to try this fix on my cracked bezel. What was the brand of epoxy cement you used please?
Many thanks,
Grae

I'm not 100% certain but I think it was "Araldite" ... nevertheless I suppose that any slow curing epoxy cement would work ...

[GraeP]

Great, thank you for that, it's much appreciated!

I have araldite but I thought it might not be fluid enough for such a delicate repair. I'll get the bezel nice and clean and give it a go.

Thank you for posting this repair and fingers crossed I will achieve similar success!

[GraeP]

I gave it a go, very carefully and it worked until I went to clip it back on to the watch. As I clipped it on, the bezel cracked again just after the repair and a small piece fell out. It is very brittle. I tried again but it didn't turn out so well. Fortunately, JerseyMo came to the rescue and sent me a nos bezel. Thank you JerseyMo and thank you too Manodeoro for your advice. It is much appreciated!

[Hutchlee]

On 9/11/2018 at 7:39 AM, manodeoro said:

Hello ... if you're about to relume a Rally like the one below (which is yours BTW) one thing you can do is to GENTLY remove the lume on the dial with a fiberglass pen eraser and DO NOT remove all the lume.

Just keep a thin coat of lume and use it as a guide.

The existing lume will prevent your new lume to spread around sothat  you can get a really crispy result.

I have just bought this watch and wanted some advice (not sure if this is the place to ask, so sorry if not).

1. Where can I get the bezel as mine is missing? 
 

2. The watch is wound but it does not tick, is there anything I can do to try and fix it? 
 

Thanks for any help anyone can offer