Maurice Lacroix vintage quartz, battery change

[fiddler]

This my mother-in-law's, I thought it's a routine battery change but to my dismay the caseback is integrated with the part of the case hoding the movement and so once I popped off what I thought was the back cover, I was staring down at a naked dial. Any ideas how to get at the back of the movement? I don't see any obvious way of removing the stem...

Edited January 5, 2022 by fiddler

[Nucejoe]

Movement with crown attached should lift right off.

 

[watchweasol]

 Hi try to list the movement out it may just be tight, looking at the pictures close up it shoulf come out, may need a little help.  Use a cocktail stick shaped to a wedge to ease it out.

[fiddler]

8 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

Movement with crown attached should lift right off.

 

The picture is a not very good, sorry about that. The stem is going through a tube, going through the side wall of this case. The stem cannot go through that way, as far as I can tell.

[jdm]

52 minutes ago, fiddler said:

The stem is going through a tube, going through the side wall of this case. The stem cannot go through that way, as far as I can tell.

Remove the bezel and crystal and as mentioned the mov.t will follow up. 

[fiddler]

57 minutes ago, jdm said:

Remove the bezel and crystal and as mentioned the mov.t will follow up. 

The crystal and bezel are already separated from the movement.  G

[jdm]

4 minutes ago, fiddler said:

The crystal and bezel are already separated from the movement.

Sorry I  missed that.  Now while slowly turning the crown, lift gently at 3H and 9H,  and the two parts of the stem should separate. The reverse to refit it.

[Nucejoe]

2 hours ago, fiddler said:

The picture is a not very good, sorry about that. The stem is going through a tube, going through the side wall of this case. The stem cannot go through that way, as far as I can tell.

So,  its a split stem, which you can pull the male part out with a nipper.

[jdm]

12 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

So,  its a split stem, which you can pull the male part out with a nipper.

You could. But, when a gentler way can be used, that should be preferred as it avoids all stress.

Beside, then you have the issue of refitting the stem, pressing the two halves often breaks it and should never done, so better to either to align the joint, otherwise remove the inner portion from the movement.t, join the two parts outside the case, then refit.

[fiddler]

Oof, sounds like I got myself into more of a pain in the butt than I thought. Thanks to both of you for your help. I'll have a go at this later...

Edited January 6, 2022 by fiddler