Eric L.

So I guess no updates yet on possible repair options for a non screw down UPO. I managed to get mine working again with a crown extender, but the crown still sticks out somewhat due to the spring inside pushing it out. There had been some suggestions to somehow "eliminate the action of the spring in the crown" but so far no details on how that can be achieved. In the end, if the stripped crown is inevitable on UPO's, I think it seriously decreases its value as a good rep. My dealer (EL) has been no help, having disappeared from the forums for several months now and not replying to PMs.

So any updates on which gen parts fit and which don't for the 45mm UPO ETA? I'm off to pick up a stem extender tomorrow so I can at least use the watch again temporarily. I told my watch repair guy the issue and he refused to work on the watch, so I'm off buying parts and trying it myself.

Yeah I'll have to pick up a couple stems. But I'll hold off for now until I hear whether gen tube/crown fits, and if so I'll order those at the same time.

Fantastic, let us know whether the gen parts fit. Thanks in advance, I'll wait for your report before I proceed further with my repair.

Thats an interesting idea. How does one disable the spring in the crown???

I actually have two ETA UPO's - one orange and one black. The orange one is the broken one and that was purchased from Eddie Lee, who promised to send me a new dial when mine was defective but never delivered. The black UPO was from Andrew and I expect that while most dealers will replace watches that are defective on arrival, I'm not sure if any guarantee applies to watches that fail a year after purchase (such as it was in my case with the orange ETA UPO, which I wore maybe once or twice a month).

In the end, no one really answered my question regarding how to unscrew the stem from the crown, but I figured it out myself. It is indeed lefty loosey righty tighty. I shortened the stem just a tad but it may have been too much as I cannot reliably engage the various stops as I pull out the crown anymore. I guess thats what I get for working with a rep. I'll source another stem for the 2824-2, but this is a real hassle for something that should have never happened. Not particularly happy with the UPO right now - first it was the crooked Omega logo, then the bezel insert fell out, and now the crown problem. Why would anyone buy one of these watches, no matter how good they look, if they don't even function well as a usable watch? Sorry if I sound harsh, I just needed to vent. I see no real way to resolve this issue because even with the shortened stem, the watch is no longer water proof so to speak, making it all flash and no function.

Mine is the ETA UPO, and it has the problem.

Oh I always use the "back" then forwards method of screwing down the crown. My question though it not screwing the crown to the case, it is removing the stem from the crown so I can shorten it. No matter what I do, it appears stuck. Before I use a lot of force, I just wanted to verify the direction the stem screws into the crown so I can turn it the opposite way.

In another thread it was clear that the gen parts will not fit the rep without extensive modification. I'll ask the question again, which direction does the stem screw into the crown? Lefty loosey, righty tighty? I cannot unscrew mine even with pliers.

I tried it with a pair of small pliers but for the life of me cannot get it to unscrew. Does it screw in like normal (i.e. righty tighty lefty loosey)? So I should turn the stem counterclockwise to unscrew is right? I think mine is just in there really really tight.

How do I remove the stem from the crown? I know how to remove the stem/crown from the movement (push the little dot) but the stem seems to be pretty tight on the crown.

How did you shorten the stem? Can you post brief instructions on how this was done? I know how to remove the stem from the movement but how do I separate the stem from the crown? Does it just pop in? Or is it screwed in? I don't want to break anything (yet).

Alright folks, my UPO purchased late last year from EL has performed flawlessly until tonight when the crown refused to screw down. I opened it up to clean the stem but there is no debris on it, and for the life of me I don't see any threads on the tube (well there's your problem!). I did some searching on the forum and have not found a satisfactory answer as to how to fix this, since apparently the gen tube does not fit on the rep case. So, how can I repair this? I doubt I'd be able to get a replacement from the dealer since the watch is ~10 months old.