BB GMT Bezel Alignment

[CatMoop]

Hello,

Just received my ZF BB GMT and I have to say it's beautiful!!

The one flaw that is driving me nuts is that it appears to have a misaligned bezel insert. This definitely was not in the QC photos.

Is there an easy way to adjust this?

Take a look...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[warriorman505]

Maybe contact your TD or have a smith work on it?

Where did you get the nato, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[DetektivTudor]

Looks like one of Erika's Originals, great straps

https://erikasoriginals.com/mn-straps/trident.php

 

[CatMoop]

Maybe contact your TD or have a smith work on it?

Where did you get the nato, if you don't mind me asking?

It's actually from crown and buckle


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DetektivTudor]

Yeah, they're also very nice, this one, isn't it?
https://www.crownandbuckle.com/chevron-adjustable-night-crimson.html

 

[CatMoop]

Yeah, they're also very nice, this one, isn't it?
https://www.crownandbuckle.com/chevron-adjustable-night-crimson.html

Yes, that's the one.

 

[thrillofhunt]

You will have to pop the bezel off, remove the insert and reseat it back to the bezel.

On a sidenote, your DW looks left justified, could just be the angle though. Its a common problem on this watch, my first watch had this issue too.

 

[CatMoop]

You will have to pop the bezel off, remove the insert and reseat it back to the bezel.

On a sidenote, your DW looks left justified, could just be the angle though. Its a common problem on this watch, my first watch had this issue too.

Is it easy to remove the insert without damaging it?

 

[KJ2020]

It depends. Most inserts are attached with a two sided tape ring. Sometimes you can find a little gap under the insert and stick a thin piece of plastic under it to try to begin to pry it up. Like a shirt collar-stay. Or cut a piece of clear hard plastic from a packaged item. It needs to be very thin.

If you can't do this, the bezel may have to be removed which is considerably more involved. See this post for more info.

https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...ezel-ring-be-installed-on-a-rolex-gmt-rep-gmf

Shame this happened to you, your TD obviously knew about it and just set the bezel between clicks for QC pics. My gen Rolex GMT came to me this way from the factory, I lived with it for years by just doing exactly that - setting it between clicks. Was finally corrected when I learned about swapping inserts around.

 

[CatMoop]

It depends. Most inserts are attached with a two sided tape ring. Sometimes you can find a little gap under the insert and stick a thin piece of plastic under it to try to begin to pry it up. Like a shirt collar-stay. Or cut a piece of clear hard plastic from a packaged item. It needs to be very thin.

If you can't do this, the bezel may have to be removed which is considerably more involved. See this post for more info.

https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...ezel-ring-be-installed-on-a-rolex-gmt-rep-gmf

Shame this happened to you, your TD obviously knew about it and just set the bezel between clicks for QC pics. My gen Rolex GMT came to me this way from the factory, I lived with it for years by just doing exactly that - setting it between clicks. Was finally corrected when I learned about swapping inserts around.

As always, thank you so much for your help! And yes, I will likely not use this dealer anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Phoenixboy]

There a great watch and love mine.
But like you say, would annoy me until I got it right.
I got lucky with mine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KJ2020]

As always, thank you so much for your help! And yes, I will likely not use this dealer anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're welcome bro. You'll probably figure out a way to get it fixed eventually. We usually do. BTW all TDs do this kind of thing to move their products.

 

[CanRep]

Before you go on replacing the bezel or trying to pry it off, try with a hair dryer method first:

Heat up the bezel with a hairdryer, and this will warm up the double sided tape that adheres the insert to the bezel. Then, I use a thin elastic to get a good grip on just the insert and slowly give it sidewards pressure while holding the bezel in place on the sides with my other hand. Keep in mind you want to keep the alignment in place until the tape underneath cools, so might have to hold it in place if you can get it aligned. ​​​​​​

It's easier with a unidirectional bezel, but with some patience you can make it worth with a bidirectional bezel too!

I've done this a couple times with reps and Gen watches and it's always worked well for me. I actually never worried about misaligned bezels because I would just use this approach to fix it.

​​​​​​​Give this a shot before you get crazy with a total removal, and hopefully it works!

 

[KJ2020]

Be mindful that using direct high heat on a watch is detrimental to lubricants. It will cook and then congeal them. I have used this method to remove inserts on watches that have bezels held on by the 8 sided wire under the retaining ring. These bezels won't come off without removing the insert first. However when using this method, I take the movement out first.

 

[CanRep]

Be mindful that using direct high heat on a watch is detrimental to lubricants. It will cook and then congeal them. I have used this method to remove inserts on watches that have bezels held on by the 8 sided wire under the retaining ring. These bezels won't come off without removing the insert first. However when using this method, I take the movement out first.

Great point. Honestly never even thought of that myself, and you learn something new every day. I had always thought that they had some heat resistance being oil based, so thanks for the info. Luckily the movement is fairly straightforward to remove on these if you are keeping the hands and dial on!
​​​

 

[uphoto]

Every rep of Tudor I've had has had this issue. Most of them have enough play that even if you can realign it the play in it will make it off either direction. Is there play in it? Can you move it to where it lines up?