Does Anyone Know How To Take Apart A Screw Down Crown?

[chris5264]

I'm dealing with a screw down crown that I basically want to change into a non-screw down crown. The crown itself must have a small spring inside between where the stem screws in and the base of the crown. What I want to do is remove that spring. Is there any way to get these things apart? This is from a vintage panerai, a 3436, but I think they are all the same.

[Finepics]

I found the way to do this was to put a drop of superglue in the hole then screw in the stem quickly. The glue will not lock the sem in as the threads are too fine for it to really spread but it will freeze the spring.

[Rolexman]

I was told by a watchmaker that you can't get tem apart because the stem and crown are 'glued' with a tiny drop of tin.

[Highflyingclive]

This may, or may not , be irrelevant - DavidSen is now offering screw-down crowns - and matching crown tubes for (I think) the 183.

[chris5264]

I found the way to do this was to put a drop of superglue in the hole then screw in the stem quickly. The glue will not lock the sem in as the threads are too fine for it to really spread but it will freeze the spring.

thanks, that worked perfectly. I can't believe there was a hole there and I didn't think of putting some glue in it. I also ordered Davidsen's crown, only because I have wanted one of these for about a year.

[ryyannon]

@finepics et.al.:

The Superglue trick sounds like the quick fix of the year for all of those stripped crown tube problems.

But my problem is that I can't quite visualize it: let's imagine a vintage Panerai with a screw-down crown (I have one, and I'm dreading the day when I have to confront this issue).

First off, what do you mean by the 'hole' that you drop a bit of Superglue into? I'm assuming that the crown is still attached to stem, and the stem is within the case. In the event that the crown somehow strips itself right out of the tube (thus revealing a 'hole' where the crown used to be) will squeezing a bit of Superglue down there and then re-inserting the crown really work?

Even though it may sound like it, I'm not doubting that it does - it just really seems a bit abstract to me - especially given the mechanics involved in (a) winding the watch (one click on the crown up) and setting the hour (a second click up).

I would also imagine that the Superglue would gum things up to a point where it would be impossible to either wind the watch or set the time, given the necessary 'vertical' mobility of the crown-and-stem mechanism.

Without going into full-color schematic explanations, could one of you provide a quick summary of what you actually do?

Thanks if you manage to answer this question, which I hope will not be harder than fixing the crown itself....

[Finepics]

@finepics et.al.:

The Superglue trick sounds like the quick fix of the year for all of those stripped crown tube problems.

But my problem is that I can't quite visualize it: let's imagine a vintage Panerai with a screw-down crown (I have one, and I'm dreading the day when I have to confront this issue).

First off, what do you mean by the 'hole' that you drop a bit of Superglue into? I'm assuming that the crown is still attached to stem, and the stem is within the case. In the event that the crown somehow strips itself right out of the tube (thus revealing a 'hole' where the crown used to be) will squeezing a bit of Superglue down there and then re-inserting the crown really work?

Even though it may sound like it, I'm not doubting that it does - it just really seems a bit abstract to me - especially given the mechanics involved in (a) winding the watch (one click on the crown up) and setting the hour (a second click up).

I would also imagine that the Superglue would gum things up to a point where it would be impossible to either wind the watch or set the time, given the necessary 'vertical' mobility of the crown-and-stem mechanism.

Without going into full-color schematic explanations, could one of you provide a quick summary of what you actually do?

Thanks if you manage to answer this question, which I hope will not be harder than fixing the crown itself....

I can see why this is not obvious. The crown and stem needs removing from the watch then the crown needs to be unscrewed from the stem. The glue goes into the stem thread hole in the crown then the stem screwed back in place. The glue will then fix the spring in the crown. I must say that for a screw down crown this is not advisable as the spring is there to allow the crown to screw up to the case without stressing either the crown or the movt.

[ryyannon]

Thank you for taking the time, Finepics...

My particular vintage was done by Watchmaster in a 45mm Radiomir case with a California dial. No problems yet, and since I'm aware of the issue and take care not to manipulate the crown too harshly, I keep hoping that there won't be....