Update for those interested:
I removed the bezel just now in the hopes of replacing the acrylic crystal, which on inspection is cracked. Jelli rightly understood it wouldn't fit without sanding, but despite the sanding it cracked on install (or, I suppose, in transit or during wear, but it hasn't seen any hard wear, so I'm thinking it couldn't take the pressure of the bezel install. I had a new crystal on hand, and figured I'd give it a shot without sanding, but going really slowly. Nope! Cracked.
Here seems to be the rub: you can see the ID of the bezel through the crystal edge, so it makes perfect sense that J painted it. Otherwise, you'd have a blacked-out watch with some silver showing. But, and here's the point, the Dura Bake is pretty thick. It's so thick that the usual crystal won't fit, so it would have to be sanded even more than the original one to install without cracking, making the edges really quite thin.
The good news is, the bezel coating didn't chip on removal and I was able to reinstall the original crystal, so I'm back to square one, without any loss other than the spare crystal I had on hand.
Anyone have any clever ideas for reducing uniformly the OD of an acrylic crystal?