Bezel removal tool- a different way
Sept 17, 2018 18:24:15 GMT -8
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Groundhog66, HiBeat, and 10 more like this
Post by steve855 on Sept 17, 2018 18:24:15 GMT -8
Hi guys.
I've been busy all summer and haven't posted anything useful here in a long while, so I hope this is of interest to some of you.
I occasionally do case work and mods for people, and I was contacted a few weeks ago by a fellow watch enthusiast who wanted me to modify a bezel. He explained what he wanted and I agreed to have a look. I kept him informed by email as the project progressed.
The arrangements were made and the bezel arrived not too long after. I made up some fixtures and machined part of the outside diameter as requested. The deburring and final finishing took longer than I would have liked, but it wasn't too bad. Once I had the bezel finished, I figured I should test fit it and check its function before shipping to its owner. It popped on ok, although fairly snug on my own well-used SKX. Everything seemed ok, so I was ready to take it off, give it a final inspection and box it up.
Well hold on, not so fast! The mod to the bezel leaves nothing to work with if using a normal case knife, or even a very thin razor blade which sometimes works. There's not enough gap to work with safely, and still avoid possible damage to the bezel or case. So I was in a bit of a jam, with someone else's bezel stuck on my watch!
Best move was to put it aside to think for a while. After a liitle while an idea came to me that was worth a try.
I drew up a tool/fixture that would cradle the bezel at the two 22mm areas between the lugs. I figured this would allow me to push gently with a crystal press die and pop the bezel off.
I fired up my lathe and mill, and made the tool. Those of you who are machinists will know right away that this item is nothing overly difficult, but there are a few critical dimensions that I had to hit.
Fingers crossed, I setup the watch and new fixture in my press. I don't have the typical crystal press, I use a small arbor press and make my own dies as required. Anyway, once it was all aligned on the press, I applied some very gentle pressure and the bezel popped right off! No marks or damage to case or bezel.
I had planned to send this tool along with the bezel, assuming that he has crystal press of some type. Then I had a thought- maybe it wil work on the OEM Seiko bezel too? I reinstalled my own bezel then gave it a try. It worked great, no drama whatsoever and very controlled. I've always hated removing the bezel on someone else's watch with a blade. I just think there's too much possibility of damage, even though I've done it succesfully many times. This fixture takes much the stress out of the procedure.
Now that I see how well it works, I really want to keep it for myself! Which would probably leave him to struggle should he ever need to remove the bezel. He requested that I make another one, so I did.
I haven't seen a tool like this before and it seems to work quite well. It holds the bezel straight as it comes off, which seems to help a lot. This one fits the 7s26-0020 case. It may fit others but it's not designed to be universal. It took some time to make but it was worth it. I'll hold off final judgement until I've tried on a few more SKX bezels but so far, so good.
Here are some photos, although not great quality. I took these in the middle of the project to let my friend with the bezel know what I was up to. I didn't spend any time making the tool look nice, because I wasn't sure how it would work. Maybe I'll pretty it up later. Hope you guys like it, and thanks for reading.
Steve
I've been busy all summer and haven't posted anything useful here in a long while, so I hope this is of interest to some of you.
I occasionally do case work and mods for people, and I was contacted a few weeks ago by a fellow watch enthusiast who wanted me to modify a bezel. He explained what he wanted and I agreed to have a look. I kept him informed by email as the project progressed.
The arrangements were made and the bezel arrived not too long after. I made up some fixtures and machined part of the outside diameter as requested. The deburring and final finishing took longer than I would have liked, but it wasn't too bad. Once I had the bezel finished, I figured I should test fit it and check its function before shipping to its owner. It popped on ok, although fairly snug on my own well-used SKX. Everything seemed ok, so I was ready to take it off, give it a final inspection and box it up.
Well hold on, not so fast! The mod to the bezel leaves nothing to work with if using a normal case knife, or even a very thin razor blade which sometimes works. There's not enough gap to work with safely, and still avoid possible damage to the bezel or case. So I was in a bit of a jam, with someone else's bezel stuck on my watch!
Best move was to put it aside to think for a while. After a liitle while an idea came to me that was worth a try.
I drew up a tool/fixture that would cradle the bezel at the two 22mm areas between the lugs. I figured this would allow me to push gently with a crystal press die and pop the bezel off.
I fired up my lathe and mill, and made the tool. Those of you who are machinists will know right away that this item is nothing overly difficult, but there are a few critical dimensions that I had to hit.
Fingers crossed, I setup the watch and new fixture in my press. I don't have the typical crystal press, I use a small arbor press and make my own dies as required. Anyway, once it was all aligned on the press, I applied some very gentle pressure and the bezel popped right off! No marks or damage to case or bezel.
I had planned to send this tool along with the bezel, assuming that he has crystal press of some type. Then I had a thought- maybe it wil work on the OEM Seiko bezel too? I reinstalled my own bezel then gave it a try. It worked great, no drama whatsoever and very controlled. I've always hated removing the bezel on someone else's watch with a blade. I just think there's too much possibility of damage, even though I've done it succesfully many times. This fixture takes much the stress out of the procedure.
Now that I see how well it works, I really want to keep it for myself! Which would probably leave him to struggle should he ever need to remove the bezel. He requested that I make another one, so I did.
I haven't seen a tool like this before and it seems to work quite well. It holds the bezel straight as it comes off, which seems to help a lot. This one fits the 7s26-0020 case. It may fit others but it's not designed to be universal. It took some time to make but it was worth it. I'll hold off final judgement until I've tried on a few more SKX bezels but so far, so good.
Here are some photos, although not great quality. I took these in the middle of the project to let my friend with the bezel know what I was up to. I didn't spend any time making the tool look nice, because I wasn't sure how it would work. Maybe I'll pretty it up later. Hope you guys like it, and thanks for reading.
Steve