Advice needed re another watch repair

[Dave2302]

OK, so I may be deluded, (yeah yeah), but the watch is a £30 spares or repairs job, it's a pretty wee thing, but if I screw it up I won't be grizzling, jeez it costs more than £30 for a round of drinks at the local

It's a TAG Heuer Carrera, hands come off and dial loose. the reason for this is that the 2 "legs" on the back of the dial have snapped, where they fix onto the back of the dial. I don't want to try soldering to reattach due to the risk of damaging the finish on the crystal side of the dial.

It is one of those watches where the dial attached to the movement is fitted through the front of the case and then the bezel / crystal pressed on.

So obviously being extremely careful my plan is to bond the dial to the spacer ring, using epoxy applied very sparingly with a needle. It aligns easily as there are 2 very short bits of the legs that are still attached to the back of the dial.

Once that has set, apply teeny dobs of epoxy to the spacer ring on the area that touches the movement on it's very outer edge, well away from the date wheel.

If that all goes well it means I can then reassemble the watch and enjoy it for hopefully years to come. If it doesn't work, salvage any bits useful for the future and bin the rest.

The only issues I see with this is the potential risk of getting epoxy some where it will block the movement, and obviously it's a one shot deal as if the movement craps out in 6 months would likely wreck the dial removing it. The movement runs well atm.

Any comments, or better suggestions welcomed

Pixels so far ....

Stripped down:-





Bond on spacer ring then bond to very edge of movement and reassemble in the usual way :-

 

[Feefo]

Vaselume (TM).

 

[fnfalguy]

Would using dial dots work in this case?

 

[Dave2302]

Vaselume (TM).

Eh ? Is he not shot yet ?

Plenty of Vaseline though

Would using dial dots work in this case?

I have 3mm dial dots coming, not here yet, but having looked at the movement this one may be difficult to get more than 1 or 2 and the spacer ring needs fixing nicely aligned anyway between dial and movement.

Thanks for replies guys,

 

[tbandy]

Hey Dave2302 Check this out it may help you fix the your problem

Changing dial feet location - quick tutorial

So we are always hearing how hard it is to change the movement in our watches. You will need a new dial and hands! Well, yeah the hand thing requires a lot of skill to mod, but you can get most hands pretty cheap $15 or so. Dials are both hard to get and expensive. So what to do? You can remove t...

www.rwg.bz

 

[ward1991]

Hi Dave,

My suggestion,

With a needle file, then some sand paper, remove those dial feet nubs altogether and rodcio it and degrease if epoxy says to, some don't want you too. Good to get the spots roughed up though, so sand with like 180 or 220 and stop. , just where the feet will generally go.

The get yourself some dial feet, here ,
Place them into the movement, check for any interference with the datewheel, if the base of dial feet will interfere with the datewheel, sand the bases in half, turning them into half circles, you can also thin the bases of the feet too, if needed.

Install them into the movement, use epoxy to secure the dial to the new feet while in the movement, yes you will have to align the dial, but it's not all that scary and epoxy dries slow. Use a cleaver dial protector and something to weigh it down.

Then, once they are bonded in 24 hrs, remove the dial, then glue the dial with the feet already attached with tiny dots of epoxy to the spacer ring as well, as you mentioned.

Both the feet and spacer glued provides the strongest hold in my experience. Use the needle backwards if you can't pick up enough epoxy with the tip, or use a very small screwdriver, or old oiler. Use many micro dots of the stuff around the circumference of the spacer. Steady hand and practice on a spare movement spacer right before should help keep the epoxy out from where it should not be.

Anywayz, justmy 2 cents.

Good luck!

 

[Dave2302]

Hi Dave,

My suggestion,

Thank you, that's great advice, and I just ordered a packet of each of those feet

They will take a while to get here, so I have very carefully proceeded with plan A for this particular watch, but now I know they are available and have some coming I will be set if this fails, in the future, or if I find one of the other 2 spares / repairs watches just purchased needs them.

So the only epoxy I could get locally, (25 mile round trip), takes 9 hrs before I can touch it again, 14 hrs to full strength.

I have bonded the ring to dial exactly how you said tiny screwdriver, wee dobs applied, and then did the same to attach it to the movement.
I did wipe the areas with a q tip and solvent to clean it before bonding, no mention of not doing so on the pack of the epoxy.
Dial lined up well with date @6 and crown stem @3 so that's all for today now.

Will see what's what tomorrow morning, and if it's a good bond I'll go at reassembly, if not will wait for the feet and have another go at it.

 

[Dave2302]

Hey Dave2302 Check this out it may help you fix the your problem

Changing dial feet location - quick tutorial

So we are always hearing how hard it is to change the movement in our watches. You will need a new dial and hands! Well, yeah the hand thing requires a lot of skill to mod, but you can get most hands pretty cheap $15 or so. Dials are both hard to get and expensive. So what to do? You can remove t...

www.rwg.bz

Great tutorial, thank you, I learn something new every day here

 

[Dave2302]

Well, I'm one of these guys who hates waiting. My workshop office is heated, so I just had to see how the epoxy was doing

Very carefully I lifted the movement / dial assembly by the crown, turned it upside down and it is stuck firm

Placed it back on the laptop lid, gently gently pushed down slightly on the edges to hold it, and rotated the Crown counter clockwise, date wheel free and easy as miss Daisy ................... dial seems stuck fast, so it's gonna be left alone for a couple more hours now as I gotta go out.

I promise I will try not to install the hands tonight, honest ............

 

[Dave2302]

Second to last report on rebuilding my second watch.

I fitted the hands later last evening, Hour and Minute no drama. However, try as hard as I could I could not get the bloody second hand to set down on it's shaft. after 2 or three goes I gave up !!
It was end of the day, my eyes were getting tired. I don't know the history of this watch, perhaps it was a customer return, perhaps someone had had a go at this before. Anyways, no complaints, it is a cheapie to practice with.

So I set the watch date and time, and left it running all night. Date has changed, it also gained 8 seconds over night, so not awful, will regulate it at some point.

I got back on it this morning, gave the second hand one more go with fresh eyes, no way in the world is it going on !! As close as I can inspect it, it would appear that second hands centre bore is blocked ????????????

I thought perhaps the tiny "shaft" in the movement had snapped in the hand, but I can clearly see it, can also see it in one of my pictures above !!

So second hand should go on but won't, appears to be blocked, no history, IDK who may have got at it before me etc etc.

I have ordered a hand set with a 14mm long silver second hand which is same shape should fit this movement, will be here approx 10 days, then I will try again.
To clarify / justify this a bit I very recently fitted a new movement in one of my black Submariners, had no issue at all popping the hands on first go.

I put the watch all back together this morning, and apart from the lack of second hand it works like a champ and has no marks on it at all, with the exception of some teeny tiny micro marks on the inside of the crystal AR coating, looks like from where the hands were all floating around free, but since these cannot be seen with naked eye, (needed 2.5 x magnification) I'll definitely leave that well alone, this one and 2 more en-route are just project watches to play with.

When the hands arrive I'll pop the Bezel off and whip the Movement / Dial assembly out and have another go at fitting it with a second hand.

 

[Andy83n]

Does it need a second hand?

 

[Dave2302]

No, it is fitted with one of those new security tech invisible second hands, only the watch owner can see it

 

[Andy83n]

No, it is fitted with one of those new security tech invisible second hands, only the watch owner can see it

I think it looks great as a two hander, is what I mean.

 

[Karbon74]

You lost the seconds hand? Or you are struggling to put it ?

 

[Dave2302]

I think it looks great as a two hander, is what I mean.

Oh Jeez , soz for the poor attempt at sarcasm, my messed up brain doesn't spot the obvious sometimes

Yes I agree I like it like that too.

 

[Dave2302]

You lost the seconds hand? Or you are struggling to put it ?

The hand will not go on, closer inspection after my post yesterday reveals part of the hand that goes over the wee shaft is damaged.

Might have been me, or perhaps a previous repair attempt, I don't usually have issues fitting hands.

I've ordered a couple of new hand sets that have same look second hand, and should fit. they will be a week or so to arrive, so as I hate having a load of bits lying around I put it back together until the bits arrive. So far so good, running well.