highlydope Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) Today the minute hand fell off my cartel Fiddy rep with 6497 movement. I guess this is a fairly common problem. After contemplating my options I decided to fix it myself. Here's the steps I took to repair it... 1. Open the crown guard lever, remove the 2 crown guard screws and set the entire assembly aside. 2. Remove the case back using case tool if you have it, a lint roller if you don't (works great btw) and set aside. 3. Pull the crown out to the setting that you set the time with. 4. Loosen the detent screw about 1 full turn (do not remove it!) 5. Pull out crown/stem assembly. 6. Carefully remove the two case clamp screws and clamp plates. 7. Carefully remove the movement assembly and place dial up. 8. Center the minute hand on the center pinion with tweezers being sure to lay it in the correct time position (otherwise your hour marker will be off when you set the time). 9. If you don't have a tool for replacing hands, make one out of a ball point pen (see example below) and center the tool over the hand and pinion and press fit the hand back on. 10. Reinsert crown/stem into naked movement, tighten detent screw, and test operation of hands making sure none hit each other, also make sure that hands are not too high as this may result in scratching the inside of your crystal 11. Loosen detent screw 1 turn and remove crown/stem from movement. 12. Check dial face, inner crystal & outer crystal for dust or fingerprints & clean as required. Rodico if you have it, scotch tape if you don't. Finish up with a clean, high quality microfiber cloth. Use a flashlight to check clarity of crystal/dial. 13. Reinsert movement into case and align the notch in outer ring with crown/stem, insert crown/stem, tighten detent screw. 14. Using tweezers, insert one case clamp plate, rounded side towards center, bend in plate downward, align over screw hole, insert screw and tighten, repeat for other side. 15. Inspect caseback display bezel for dust or debris, clean with rodico or scotch tape, finish with microfiber, inspect with flashlight. 16. If rubber case gasket popped out, reinsert gently into slot. 17. Reinstall case back, tighten well. 18. Reinstall crown guard. 19. Set the time (see this tip) - should be a MINOR adjustment at best since you put the minute hand in the correct position... RIGHT? 20. Polish up with a bit of cape cod cloth and you're done. The whole process takes about 20 minutes.Hope this helps someone else. As promised, a pic of my homemade ball point pen hand installer is below - to make one, just remove the ink tube and ball point nib, clean any ink out thoroughly and voila... Fiddy back in action! Edited March 29, 2011 by highlydope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utheman Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Great tip High! If I mess it up, will you give me a hand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlydope Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Great tip High! If I mess it up, will you give me a hand? Sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteM Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Great advice mate...Thanks for taking the time to share,, I think this should be moved to the HowTo section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cht Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 so, the tip is to put the minute hand back on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlydope Posted March 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 so, the tip is to put the minute hand back on? In your case please leave it off and floating around inside the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cats Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Amazing how inventive people can be with little resources. Great solution. Carpe Diem Cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteM Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Amazing how inventive people can be with little resources. Great solution. Carpe Diem Cats Yeah it reminds me of when WM put his case in the oven to remove the crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlydope Posted March 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Yeah it reminds me of when WM put his case in the oven to remove the crystal Not a bad hack since heat expands the metal. Question is, how did he get it back in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utheman Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Heated the metal and cooled the crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cht Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 In your case please leave it off and floating around inside the case. Seriously though, is there some other option to fixing a minute hand that has fallen off that I am not aware of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlydope Posted April 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Seriously though, is there some other option to fixing a minute hand that has fallen off that I am not aware of? Would it help you more if I called this a solution instead of a tip? Sometimes the rep makers just don't press the hand on all the way and it falls off. What do you want to hear? You gotta admit that the price is right on this type of advice, is it not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.