rangers158 Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 As any early GMT owners would know, some watches came with unevenly pressed crystal, usually higher on the 3 o'clock and lower at the 9 'clock side. For some, it is an easy fix of simply pressing the higher side in. For others who are not so lucky, it is not possible to press it in without removing the crystal and sitting it properly. Then the problem that exist for many owners is how do you remove the crystal? This has to be done either via removing the entire bezel or the ceramic bezel. Removing the ceramic bezel seems to be the easier way since the bezel construction is a little different from the normal submariner bezels. But removing the ceramic bezel does pose some challenges in removing it cleanly and safely without destroying it in the process. One of my principle when working on watches is that if you do not want to scar, scratch or ruin the case, you have to preferrably use tools that are softer than the material you are getting in contact with. To remove the ceramic bezel, some have suggested and used a penknife to pry it out. That got to be the most risky thing to do cause any slip will probably mean damage to the steel or bezel. Even if you do not slip, the contact between metal and metal is likely to cause scratches. Through trial and error, I find that using a piece of stiff plastic to wedge the bezel off is the best method for me. The piece of plastic I use happens to be from my shirt's collar. Using the gap between the bezel and the crystal, insert the plastic and work your way around the bezel. The bezel is attached using double sided tape and therefor it is quite easy to separate it. Once the bezel is removed, you can simply press out the crystal from the inside. The root of the problem of the uneven crystal becomes clear. I did not take any pics for this. The problem is really the nylon gasket. It is uneven in thickness and hence causing one side to be higher. What I did was to use a penknife to delicately thin out the thicker section of the nylon gasket. This has to be done very carefully or you might risk cutting through te gasket or making it too thin to hold the crystal properly. Once pressed in properly with the reworked gasket, it is absolutely flat. I have also removed the double sided tape and use clear 2-part epoxy to re-attach the bezel. By doing so, the bezel is more recessed and looks more gen. All this just shows that with a little more care and QC, the factory could have prevented some of these agonies for their customers. Hope the information will help other GMT owners to get the most out of their watches... Enjoy the pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demsey Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Looks great! Well done. Do you think 'sanding' the nylon spacer instead of shaving it with the pen knife, testing as you go, would be a safer option? Enjoy the watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billywhiz Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Spot on - Great Tutorial - > just to confirm This is a CHS GMT correct ? My ICHS version does not appear to suffer from this pressed crystal prob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangers158 Posted March 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Looks great! Well done. Do you think 'sanding' the nylon spacer instead of shaving it with the pen knife, testing as you go, would be a safer option? Enjoy the watch. Sanding is definitely the safer option but I gues the sand paper must be at least 600-800 grade since the ring is really not that big. Also, in my case, the thicker portion is actually cause by bad moulding. There is a thin protruding layer of nylon perpendicular to the width of the gasket. It is similar to the excess plastic on the edge of a badly moulded toy. So for my case, I used a penknife to thin it instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangers158 Posted March 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Spot on - Great Tutorial - > just to confirm This is a CHS GMT correct ? My ICHS version does not appear to suffer from this pressed crystal prob. Yep, this is the CHS. Newer versions should have this problem rectified by the factory. Early adopters helped others to sort out the problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demsey Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Also, in my case, the thicker portion is actually cause by bad moulding. There is a thin protruding layer of nylon perpendicular to the width of the gasket. It is similar to the excess plastic on the edge of a badly moulded toy. So for my case, I used a penknife to thin it instead. Ahhhhhhhhh, in the plastic extrusion/injection molding process, this is called 'flashing'. Yes, a trim with a blade would make sense then. Wow, you'd think these things were made in China or something. Great watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzzy Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 (edited) Nice illustration! Wish I had the skills you have...I had my heart broken last week when the crystal on my ICHS from PT just popped right out...clean as a whistle. Never saw anything like it! I doesn't even look like it had a lip or edge that went under the bezel...looks like it was just wedged in there??? I wore her every day for 6 straight months and now my heart is broken ;( Edited April 6, 2009 by Fuzzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4GTR Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Great modding tutorial. These are helpful for others, knowing what they're up against going in. Try heating up with a hairdryer, makes the bezel insert much easier to extract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmurphy926 Posted April 6, 2009 Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 Excellent method. It worked great for me. I would have never thought of that...Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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