Mkelly

[MKelly]

Hello everyone,

I am Michael Kelly, a retired Army Chaplain. I have been mostly doing antique clock repair and just started falling in love with watches. I am looking for a way to identify the release button for crown stems on most watches. Is there a solid rule of thumb for this? Thanks for the help.

Mike

[Nucejoe]

Welcome to the WRT forum.

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

Here is Marks video which tells you what you need to know about watch stem removal.

[clockboy]

Welcome to the forum,  enjoy. Stem release is always in the proximity of the stem. Usually if you know the caliber then the answer can be found online or here on the forum.

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum.  some movements have an arrow etched in the plate pointing to a hole through which the stem is released, some require the stem to be in the set position before removing.  But as Clockboy said if unsure just ask, better safe than sorry.

[JohnR725]

12 hours ago, MKelly said:

release button for crown stems

then as a reminder they're not always a button they could be a screw. Then even that can be a challenge of you have to be careful of how much unscrewing or the part on the other side falls off. Or some watches have to be in setting rather than winding when you remove the stem otherwise the mechanism shifts and you have to take the watch apart.

 

[MKelly]

Thank you everyone for your help.  It was very informative.  My biggest trouble on stems comes in when I try to release a stem from a very cheap quartz movement.  Some are so small I can't see what is going on. Even with magnification I seem to press in the wrong spot. 

[Shane]

Hi MKelly.

Welcome.

You omitted it from your introduction and I hope it's not considered impolite to ask but from who's Army are you retired?

It doesn't make much of a difference to me, just curious.

Shane