Thanks, it's perhaps a sign of our litigous times that before they would open it, the watchmaker had to call the main corporate offices in Seattle and discuss it, then they faxed him a form for me to sign. Then he had it apart and fixed in 10 minutes.
The pearl was crushed when he pressed the bezel back on with his tool. Unfortunately he never gets to work on these old timers so he forgot to just click it back on with his thumbs.
Not to worry, I have already spied a vintage pearl and it's on the way north.