Breitling Superocean Heritage Crown fell of - how to fix?

[Navik]

Hi guys,

A friend of mine has a Breitling Superocean Heritage replica and the other day his crown fell off when he was about to unscrew it. Now the watch does not work at all and he can't get the crown back in position.

I really do not know whether the stem (or whatever it's called? The "needle" that goes into the movement) is still there or not, he told me he did not see anything else fall of except the crown. He lives quite far away from me and I haven't had the opportunity to inspect the watch in person. He has sent me some pics which I am uploading here to see if you guys can help us out (sorry for the poor iPhone pics).

What do you think? Is this an easy fix? If not, does anyone know what e.g. Domi would charge to fix this? Or is it something that I can help him fix (I still have very basic skills when it comes to these things)? if it's an easy fix I might just give it a go.

FYI, it's a Swiss ETA movement (not sure which one of them though).

Thanks you guys!

[Jkay]

It would appear that the stem snapped in half *or* the crown has simply come unscrewed from the stem. Either way, this is a simple situation to amend.

The stem needs to come out and either be re-attached with a daub of thread locker *or* it needs to be replaced with a new ETA part, which is common and inexpensive.

[Navik]

It would appear that the stem snapped in half *or* the crown has simply come unscrewed from the stem. Either way, this is a simple situation to amend.

The stem needs to come out and either be re-attached with a daub of thread locker *or* it needs to be replaced with a new ETA part, which is common and inexpensive.

That doesn't seem to complicated. What do you reckon', is this something a noob can do or should I just send it over to a watchmaker? Problem is I am not aware of watchmakers that are willing to touch replicas, so it would probably have to go to Domi or someone.

[Jkay]

If you remove the stem, there is a 50% chance the internal mechanism of the watch will be thrown out of alignment, and if this happens, you must remove the movement, hands and the dial to repair it.

I'd send it off, if I was him. You don't give any clues about where the watch is in the World. That would help, to suggest a watch technician.

[Navik]

Then I guess it's best to send it to someone. The watch is in Sweden. So I guess Domi or perhaps Uwe are the ones to contact?

Thanks for your help Jkay

[krpster]

Actually looking at the pics I think he may have a bigger problem on his hands. It looks to me like the crown may have actually separated. You can see the sleeve still in the crown tube. I have seen this with many different types of spring loaded crowns, although typically PAMs. The outer and inner portion separate with the inner portion remaining attached to the stem and the outer portion just coming right out. Here is an example of a PAM that I repaired recently.

In this particular case I was able to reassemble the crown but it depends how it failed.

So best case for your friends SOH is that the crown can be put back together and all is good. Worst case a new crown will be needed, which may be hard to source. In either case it is best to send it to someone who can deal with the repair one way or another.

[Navik]

I sure hope that is not the case... I will advise him to send it for repair to Domi.

[Jkay]

Yes, I see; good catch.