[lactardjosh]

During one of my late night auction site browses, I came across a Buy It Now/Make an Offer blurry cam 6139-6001. It was impossible to tell the condition from the photos, but from the description it sounded as though it were in reasonable good shape. So, in a moment of late night impulse, I put in a lowball offer and promptly went to sleep. I awoke the next morning to find that my offer had been accepted (surprisingly, as it had just been listed and there were about 28 days left on the listing). Now I got a little nervous and a little excited to see what I had just bought.

Well, it arrived today and indeed, it was not in bad shape at all. The pushers worked, but stuck. The crown worked, the quickset day was very hard to press in, but the bezel action was smooth. In the hours since I pulled it out of the box, it's been keeping time. I knew it needed a cleaning, but overall not too bad at all.

Serial dates it to 1970, resist dial.

Movement looks relatively clean.

Dial looks mostly good. Some light spots that I might try to clean up some time, but not tonight. Same for the hands.

(For whatever reason, one of my favorite types of watch photo is the movement and dial sitting in a movement holder. I just like it.)

The case is a little dirty.

And the reason for the sticky pushers.

Cleaned up easily, though.

Toothpaste and a Sonic Care toothbrush with an old head does wonders.

So, putting everything back together and I've got the crystal and bezel back on. I decide to make sure it's secure, give it a little extra squeeze and...

Well, damn. If I hadn't given it the little extra squeeze, there'd be a wrist shot at the end of this post. But now, I'm waiting for a replacement NOS crystal to make it's way to me. At least I found one straight away (Thanks Stoph). So now, this will continue next week.

 

[Gaz.]

Lol, I know your pain with the crystal!

Should be good once you sort that.

 

[ClockBloke]

At first I broke 3 to every 1 I fitted.... Try Stefan aka seikochrono on this forum he might have NOS crystals but I think I brought them all and broke them all already....

 

[mmounce]

You are either using the wrong size die on your crystal press or they don't have enough dish to them.

There should be no reason a die is ever touching the crystal only the bezel and it can only be pushed down until it bottoms out on the case.

Unless it is the wrong profile crystal to start with.


I think your process needs to be re-evaluated.

 

[ClockBloke]

I take it you had a crystal gasket as there are none shown in the photos?

 

[lactardjosh]

At first I broke 3 to every 1 I fitted.... Try Stefan aka seikochrono on this forum he might have NOS crystals but I think I brought them all and broke them all already....

I've already got another NOS crystal on the way, but I'll keep Stefan in mind if I need another (heaven forbid).

You are either using the wrong size die on your crystal press or they don't have enough dish to them.

There should be no reason a die is ever touching the crystal only the bezel and it can only be pushed down until it bottoms out on the case.

Unless it is the wrong profile crystal to start with.


I think your process needs to be re-evaluated.

It's very possible that the die was the wrong depth. I checked that it wasn't touching the edges before I went ahead with this, but the depth is a possibility. I'll have to double check that.

The crystal was the original to the watch.

I take it you had a crystal gasket as there are none shown in the photos?

There's a gasket there, you can't see it because the bezel is covering it in the last photo. I didn't take a photo of it separately.

 

[ClockBloke]

There's a gasket there, you can't see it because the bezel is covering it in the last photo. I didn't take a photo of it separately.

Cool I thought I had better ask. Also emm this will be hard now but I'd check to make sure the crystals were the same height. Early 'domed' crystals are slightly higher and need a thinner gasket than the later post '71 watches. Well that's what I think anyway. I've killed all types of crystals. It's some thing I seem to excel in.

 

[lactardjosh]

So the new crystal from Stoph arrived today, faster than expected. Great news for me!

Before attempting to fit this crystal, I decided to take the advice from mmounce to heart and I double checked the die. I probably used one that might have been a touch small, so I tried the size up, which fit the bezel and crystal better. But, as it turns out, I think the problem was actually a flaw in the design of the cheapo press that I have. If you notice in the photo below, the part that you screw the die onto protrudes into the dish of the die. Basically, all of the pressure from the press was coming through to the point. No wonder I cracked the crystal.

A couple of washers fixed the issue and I was ready to proceed with fitting the NOS crystal. No problems at all.

From there, I simply applied some silicone grease to the pushers, put everything back together and screwed the caseback on.

I'm finished for now, but I want to read up on cleaning the dial and hands. I'd like to get them looking better.

And one niggling detail is that I noticed that the bezel is a degree or two off center. I'll live with it for now.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 

[fmc000]

Well done, beautiful job.

 

[SeikoPsycho2]

When installing the outer bezel I find the best way is to line it up, tape it in place, and then press it home. This is the best way to get it right the first time.

 

[lactardjosh]

That's a good bit of advice. I was wondering how people got them in place correctly.

 

[Gaz.]

Top work mate.