Tim Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Unless the stem and crown are of 2 different materials, ie brass and steel, you will end up doing more harm than good with this method. The acid in the vinegar is simply not strong enough by far to eat and bite into steel, let alone differentiate between the crown and the stem. The crown needs to be colleted in a lathe and the broken stem drilled , a size smaller than the actual thread size. The broken stem will then be able to be un-screwed leaving the original threads intact. Tungsten carbide micro drills are used at 500 rpm with plenty of cutting oil. I have drilled down to 0.3 mm dia. into hardened steel with no problems. ( no annealing or re-hardening required ). White vinigar actually works well. And you don't need to wait a week. Overnight will usually do the trick. Though check it after a few hours and it may be loose enough that you can back the stub out with tweezers. Do this frequently with bridges. If your crown is also steel you got problems though. They do make watchmaker screwdrivers that can be used to back out a broken screw. A frequent repair on vintage watches are dial feet screws which always seem to get stripped by sloppy servicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenTLe Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Vinegar worked 10 days in it, crown in perfect shape, no more stem and my Hublot back on the road again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydenM Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 I need to try this soon. Broke the stem of my otherwise fine Tudor BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenTLe Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 I need to try this soon. Broke the stem of my otherwise fine Tudor BB It will not work: better to sell to me at 1/3 of its original price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydenM Posted November 3, 2014 Report Share Posted November 3, 2014 It will not work: better to sell to me at 1/3 of its original price Considering the movement is completely broken I'll definitely have to fix it instead haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakon Posted May 20, 2016 Report Share Posted May 20, 2016 Guys great thread here. I know I'm a little late to the party haha. Bought a Hublot Big Bang ceramic whose crown was broken and I have to remove the stem which obviously broke so that you can't remove it. I want to give the vinegar a go but, on the Hublot crown there is a rubber logo do I have to remove this one or is it ok to just leave the whole crown in the vinegar? Thanks for the help guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenTLe Posted May 20, 2016 Report Share Posted May 20, 2016 Guys great thread here. I know I'm a little late to the party haha. Bought a Hublot Big Bang ceramic whose crown was broken and I have to remove the stem which obviously broke so that you can't remove it. I want to give the vinegar a go but, on the Hublot crown there is a rubber logo do I have to remove this one or is it ok to just leave the whole crown in the vinegar? Thanks for the help guys! Had to do exactly the same on my hublot (chrono with pink gold case and ceramic bezel). It took 2 weeks to dissolve the stem with vinegar but it worked perfectly and no damage on crown or rubber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakon Posted May 20, 2016 Report Share Posted May 20, 2016 Jesus 2 weeks 😂😂. OK I'll start tomorrow. What vinegar did you use regular one like white vinegar or something else? Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenTLe Posted May 21, 2016 Report Share Posted May 21, 2016 Jesus 2 weeks 😂😂. OK I'll start tomorrow. What vinegar did you use regular one like white vinegar or something else? Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk White one. Kept in a closed (to avoid evaporation) little jar and on the boiler to keep it around 20°C to accelerate a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centheos Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Hi guys, I know this is a very old thread but it sure saved my crown as the stem was broken inside. I have a new problem though, my crown was a screw crown, after soaking it in vinegar, not just did the stem dissolve (the crown and gasket were fine) but the spring inside the crown seems to have dissolved as well. Is there any way to replace the spring in my screw crown? For now, I can still use it awkwardly, by pulling it as I set the time and date. Having to replace a entire crown would cost me about $300++ usd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Is it a Rolex crown? If so, Freddy333 did a fine tutorial a few years ago about this exact procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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