Removing a flat watch crystal - front only

[rockpenguin]

Hello,

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and for any advice you can give. I have a 'SKAGEN' SKW6557 watch in which the minute and second hands have come lose as the battery was being changed. 

The rear access is through a hole which is much smaller than the watch dial, so I can only assume that the watch crystal needs to be removed to access the dial side. I'm stuck as to how to do this as I can't press it out without damaging the dial.

I came to the conclusion that it must be using a crystal lift, but can one be used for a flat crystal? I'm happy to invest in a crystal lift at this stage of my watch 'fiddling' but not sure if I'm missing something obvious.

Any advice much appreciated!

Rockpenguin

[Waggy]

This is a bit of a head scratcher...I'm pretty sure a crystal lift won't help you as they are designed to grip and deform the crystal enough to reduce the acrylic crystal outside diameter just enough to where they can pop in/out of the watch case. It looks like you have a mineral glass or sapphire crystal which will not be deformed by the crystal lift. Also, your crystal looks to have chamfered edges making it very difficult for any type of tool to grip without slipping off.

There are some watches designed to use pressure to blow out the crystal, but I would be surprised if this was the case here, but maybe I am wrong about this? I suspect that someone may have replaced the original acrylic crystal with the one you have now leading to this 'catch 22' situation.

One idea I have is to superglue some wood to the crystal so you have something to pull on to try and remove it.  But when you have made the repair you will have to either clean up the crystal (acetone or IPA??) to remove the glue or use a fresh acrylic crystal. But, maybe there is someone else on this forum who has faced this situation before and can give you the benefit of their experience rather than my crazy ideas ?

[rockpenguin]

Thanks for the input - I do know that this is the standard watch glass - it hasn't been changed, so is the factory standard.

I do worry that maybe it was not designed to be removed! In which case I'd be a bit stuck.....

[Waggy]

Maybe it is a pressure release type, you would need to remove the back to access and remove the winding stem, the replace the back and pressure up on the watch, see below:

 

 

I've never done this myself, so don't take my word for it, hopefully some other members can chime in and confirm if this is the right course of action or not

Here is a link to these pumps:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/glass-removing-pump?code=G52921

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Waggy

[rockpenguin]

This worked really well. A warning note for anyone following on. The glass blower will need to give quite a high pressure the first time on a factory 'sealed' watch. Keep a thumb firmly over the crystal when you do the job as when I did it the crystal popped out fiercely and the edge chipped the paint on the dial.... live and learn!

Edited July 27, 2023 by rockpenguin