I have a near-new, Hamilton cross-bow case that I bought at the national. I have been looking for a movement for it and came across an auction by “Tam-Tam” for a Hamilton 992E.

The watch was cased in a Hamilton #10 case, which is proper for the movement but…… the bezel was stuck and could not be removed. The watch ran but it was impossible to confirm whether it would set or not.

My plan was to try to salvage the movement, even if it meant cutting off the bezel. I thought it was a shame because the case was so nice.

We tried everything, suction cups, multiple people (with strong hands), heat, and it wouldn’t come off. We wondered if some fool had glued it on.

We actually had the Jewelers Saw in hand when we remembered… razor blades. Rolex bezels are actually removed by CAREFULLY running a razor blade around them. Could we do this with the Hamilton case and work the threads free?

It actually worked and we found that the threads were just fine… just hopelessly stuck. A cleaning, in ultra-sound and a touch of watch grease and the bezel (and back case) now screw on and off easily.

The movement turned out to be wonderful, timing to factory specs with no problems (after servicing). The dial has an unfortunate chip and the case does have a thin ring of brass on the high point of the back. But… it’s a nice case, proper and now preserved for awhile anyway.

A nice project.

Pete,

Did you try any of the procedures in this Helping Hand Tutorial?

If you hadn't solved the problem yourself I would have suggested the razor blade method. There are a couple of other methods available if the razor doesn't work. Ya hate to have to cut but sometimes there is no choice. My guess at what would be a last ditch try would be to put the entire watch in the ultra-sonic(pray for the dial)and then 5-minute J-B Weld a wood "wrench" to the case, wait an hour an have a go at it. When that doesn't work it would probably become apparent the case was a dustproof and meant to open from the front.

Congratulations on the success of your more reasoned technique.
-Cort

There,s a product called PB balster ,it is a penetrating catalyst that has worked good for me on stuck bezels...I spary a little of it in a cup and take a small brush and apply it all around the bezel,,let it set a hour or so then take a little cleaning fulid and wipe off the execess so your case cup wont slip..

I guess that all's well that ends well.

You know, John.... I DO remember that tutorial but I didn't at the time of this project. The super-glue idea is interesting but.... unlike your example, this was a nice looking case and I really had a feeling it could be salvaged.

Very early on... we determined that the crystal was not in good conditon and not salvageable. We (carefully) broke it and immediately removed the hands before proceeding.

We used a fairly dull razor blade but I still felt creepy about cutting myself.

Now, my biggest problem is that I still have that nice cross-bow case.... still awaiting a movement. But... there are regionals coming up!

Peter,

The tutorial example was the the worst case I could find that the super-glue procedure would work on. I would discourage the use of anything metalic to pry on threaded bezel or case backs. When properly used, Super-Glue is safe and reverseable whereas damage from prying is not.

I don't think we did very much or any prying (well, I guess we had to be doing some). We ran the razor around the edge to basically try to break the threads loose. And that worked. There is absolutely no damage to the case.

Do you think that the super-glue would be safer than that? (One of my concerns was the possibility of injury with that razor. Cases have an ability to slip, as we have all learned!)

Second question. Where to you get those pliers? I have an instrument pilot's license but I've never seen those.

Peter,

You have the wrong type license to know about the cannon plug pliers. You need an A&P (Airframe & Powerplant) license!

Seriously, follow the Helping Hand procedures closely and you should be able to remove just about any stuck bezel or caseback using super-glue. A lot of thought went into making that presentation and I tried to think of every angle. The watch that was used was definitely a worse case scenario! Both the bezel and caseback were hopelessly stuck.

Here's a pair of cannon plug pliers currently on eBay. They are easy to find. The best are probably made by Crescent.

When I sold the airplane... and stopped paying the A&P's, I had enough money for..... watches!