submariner bezel torn off

[Sing]

Newbie here, but a buddy of mine got this Rolex Submariner me, from someone in this forum, about 7 years ago. Love the watch and it has stood up very well. A few weeks ago, I caught the bezel on a door and pulled it off. Obviously the spring was no where to be found and the bezel is now loose. I am looking for advice on how to fix this. Just a new bezel? Or how can I tell if I did something worse.

[praetor]

ufortunately since barely any reps have genuine like bezel assembly, there are no spare parts available. So you could either get an entire bezel assembly and hope that it fits (highly risky), or get yourself a new watch which is what I suggest you do.

[Furu]

I can't tell from the pictures how your bezel was attached, but if it was with one of those multi-corner circular springs, i guess every watch smith in your city should be able to find something equivalent to replace it with.

The other alternative may be as good, your watch is 7 years old, and the movement would need a service. That would cost a decent amount of money so maybe a mid range Submariner (or something completely different!) would be nice, the reps ought to be much better these days. The old one will look nice in your bookshelf

Whatever you choose to do i wish you good luck!

[Dizzy]

There are aftermarket parts available on ebay. Looks like it might be a standard bezel spring for a 16610 Submariner. If not them i would suggest either using 2 part epoxy to secure the bezel back on or buying a new watch. You can get a very accurate rep (compared to this one) for about $100 or so. The Asian 21j Noobmariner can be bought used for about $100 and its lightyears ahead of this one for accuracy and quality. Dont spend too much to fix this one you have. If you cant fix it for $25 or $30 then i would toss it.

dizz

[kbh]

If you didn't loose any parts, why can't you put it back together? I looks like you still have the little click button and spring in the hole. The only other part is the wire that holds it in place which can be re-bent to fit properly.

Take off the bezel insert and then snap the bezel back in place. You'll be able to see the wire spring and how it fits. Then just glue the insert back onto the bezel.

[Nanuq]

If this is assembled like mine, it's an easy fix. There's a piece of wire bent into a hexagonal shape that fits inside the bezel. If it's lost, make another out of 6" of spring steel. Easy. You can see how I bent the bumps into this one with needle nose pliers.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

looks like the kind with a spring loaded nib that sticks up and add friction against the underside of the bezel ring that is teethed

[alligoat]

Like kbh says, if you still have the little pin and spring, that's good.

If you turn the bezel over, you should see a thin wire- 8 sided- which keeps the bezel on the watch. At that point, all you have to do is press the bezel back on. If you did loose the little click pin and spring, you can still snap the bezel back on- it will just move either way. This is the old classic chinese bezel construction. Not very accurate, but it works!

I've found this type of construction on Alpha watches also and other cheap reps.

A shot of the backside of your bezel would also help if you can.

[Sing]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The bezel will snap on but comes off real easily, acts like I bent the bezel out of shape. I do still have the wire insert that goes around the inside, but that does not seem to do anything for it. I think I will just stick this one up on a shelf and look around for a new rep.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

might be time for a new toy

[Nanuq]

Ah, very nice segue into the simple desire to just buy another rep!

While I can't fault your desire to buy another piece, I'm sure you can fix this one. Pull that 8-sided wire out of its groove and you'll find it is completely encrusted with 7 years of crud. Clean it off, scrape out the groove it was in, smear it with a little Vasline, and reassemble. Sadly, it will pop right on and work perfectly ... eliminating the reason to buy another rep!

But we won't tell. Every one of us has been bit by the same bug. We go to extraordinary lengths to justify a new watch.

[JoeyB]

[freddy333]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The bezel will snap on but comes off real easily, acts like I bent the bezel out of shape. I do still have the wire insert that goes around the inside, but that does not seem to do anything for it. I think I will just stick this one up on a shelf and look around for a new rep.

You may simply have bent (or unbent) the inner spring. If you look at Nanuq's pic, you can see the sections of the spring that stick out (towards the center) beyond the bezel. These parts that stick out (towards the center) are what slip around the crystal retaining ring (that metal ring, in your pic, that runs around the circumference of the crystal) & lock the bezel into place

With a pair of needle nose pliers, you should be able to rebend the spring to stick out a bit further towards the center. This can be tricky, because if you bend the spring too much, you may not be able to press it back down over the crystal retaining ring (to get it back on the watch). So bend it just a bit & then test. You just need very slight bends to the spring to keep it on the watch, but it may take a bit of trial-&-error.

[Nanuq]

Good explanation, Freddy. It might be there is so much crud accumulated inside the bezel that the spring got jammed in there and it cannot "spring back out" to grab the retaining ring.

When you pull the spring out be sure to clean everything thoroughly and that will help too.