I realise people may find this a little basic to themselves, but why do some movement holding screws only have half a head to secure them to the body of the watch?. I thought that maybe it was to avoid interfering with the thread for the cover but it is possible to miss securing it at all!....Regards, Steve.

The screws with half a head bites into the edge of the case, essentially making it a tight fit......but it also gouges the metal and eventually cuts a hole in the said case.

Most watch owners hate these things and replace them when they can.

Regard! Mark

I believe the intent was to allow 1/2 turn, then movement removal. Complete screw removal not required for maintenance. Might save a busy mechanic a few minutes a day.
Just my thought.

Using our "Find or Search Feature" and typing in "clipped screws" brings up this previous discussion...

Clipped Screws


=========================================

"My belief is that all screws were made completely round and movements were originally fitted with complete screws. Apparently, in order to speed the repair process some watch repair people would clip about a third off one side of case-screws, that way they need only turn them by one-half turn in removing and re-installing the movement. Close examination will confirm the clipped screws are roughly cut and not at all uniform. Many of us consider them offensive looking and as Mark pointed out they do serious damage in "gouging" cases, we try to replace clipped screws on our nicer watches.

Lindell
posted October 26, 2010 @ 15:06

=========================================


...other members contributed their thoughts as well.

Thank you all very much for your contribution.
Steve.

I do not totally agree with the line of thought that repair people made half head screws in all cases. I would concur that this would have happen at times but half head screws were supplied by some of the material houses.

I have tins of cases screws marked from some of the material houses that have their original labels that read half head screws. Maybe due to requests by repairers the suppliers decided to furnish the Industry with this type of screw, example below? I definitely agree that they are case destroyers.

Bila, looks like they catered to the needs of everyone.

My screws came in a box just like yours and I too need one tin to fill it up.

The orange stuff is grease not rust.

A nice little collection there Lorne.

Just an added note about these half head case screws, I have noticed in some of the old advertising material and catalogs for different watch company's the plates drawings (or cuts which ever you prefer)in some instances show half head screws, strange!

I really despise them also , for some reason I always thought the manufacturer started it , it must have been looked at as a real time saver to add another operation to screw making