Diy repair of Citizen watch buttons/pushers?

[MrBeetleman]

I have a couple Citizen watches that are well used. The buttons have started to either not work at all, or skip over functions, etc... I have heard that the 'pushers' are worn out. Is there a diy way to fix them?

[automatico]

"I have a couple Citizen watches that are well used. The buttons have started to either not work at all, or skip over functions, etc... I have heard that the 'pushers' are worn out. Is there a diy way to fix them?"

 

I have cleaned quite a few Citizen pushers and it usually works out Ok.

 

After removing the caseback, look at everything carefully to see if anything appears to be bent, broken, or out of place.

Remove the crown and movement being careful not to break the plastic spacer by letting a pusher pin etc catch on it.

Cover the movement.

Remove the keeper clips from the ends of the pushers and remove the pushers one at a time being careful not to lose anything (spring, gasket etc).

Spring tension for some pushers is provided by the movement and some have springs inside the pusher tube.

Do not mix the parts up...always put the pushers etc back where they came from.

Many pusher clips are plastic and break when you r/r them.

A supply house should be able to get the clips...order a few extra.

Clean the pusher and parts in hot soapy water along with the case.

Do not wash the inside of a case that has anything printed on the crystal or with a bezel, index etc mounted inside the case.

Wipe the inside of the case with a soft cloth, then hot air dry it (hair dryer etc)...get all the lint out.

Do not get the case hot enough to melt the crystal gasket etc.

Clean the inside of the tube or hole in the case with a wooden pick of some sort.

If the original gaskets are Ok you can probably reuse them.

Lubricate the gaskets lightly with silicon grease (silicon 7 etc).

Put all the pushers back together in the case and check to make sure they all work properly.

Pushers with no springs should move easily and not bind at all.

Sometimes watches with 'leaf springs' mounted on the movement to provide tension for the pushers will not work with dry or dirty pushers and this simple clean/lube project usually gets them functioning again.

Put it all back together making sure all pushers are shoved toward the outside of the case.

Make sure the pusher pins do not catch on any movement/spacer parts.

Lightly lube the crown and caseback gaskets with silicon grease.

 

Free advice...

If you have to pay someone to do the work...it may be a lost cause as Citizens are not worth a whole lot in rough condition and the $$ could probably be better spent on another watch.

example...

I have a 'like new' (no kidding) titanium Citizen Eco-Drive chronograph on original bracelet that is doa and out of warranty...it is not worth fixing because it will not sell for much over $100 running.

 

Imho, 'keeper' Eco-Drives are a losing proposition...$16 to $20 batteries (I have replaced quite a few Cit-Eco batteries), very few complete movements or parts available. I wear one quite a bit only because they are free...it's a long story.

Same goes for Seiko Kinetics imho...except for the free part. 

[MrBeetleman]

Excellent advice. I'll give it a try. Thank you very much...