Bezel retaining ring vs. crystal dimensions

[spazthecat]

Hi,

I’ve got a Cartel 1680 case that I’m working on and I’ve managed to crack two crystals when pressing the retaining ring on.

The retaining ring is small, only 30mm ID. So, I’ve had to sand down both crystals. This last time, I sanded the crystal to an OD of 30.1mm. Which, I thought would be small enough. Guess not.

So, what is a normal size difference between the crystal and retaining ring?

Thanks,
Andy


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[tripdog]

I'm surprised you've cracked 2 crystals - usually the retaining ring is too large for the crystal. Are you sure it's a Cartel ? not that it matters -if your retaining ring is 30 mm diam' and it cracked a crystal that was 30.1 mm diam, then the problem is elsewhere - maybe the method your using to put the retaining ring on, or maybe the quality of the crystal.

 

[spazthecat]

Yeah, it's weird. They were good quality crystals, GS.

I got the retaining ring on about 1/3 of the way with my fingers and made sure it was even all the way around and the pressed out the rest of the way on with a crystal press.

Only thing I can think of is the interior aspect of the retaining ring is "stepped" and came with a nylon gasket to fill the gap. I elected to not use it as it felt snug with just the retaining ring. Maybe the unevenness of having that gap makes it more prone to cracking the crystal?

 

[tripdog]

The rubber/nylon gasket rings used on the necks of the Cartel rehauts is there as a cheap and easy way to improve WR. If you're not using the gasket I suppose it's possible that the crystal is 'collapsing' (and then cracking) under the pressure of the retaining ring - the gasket may serve as a sort of reinforcement to the crystals side walls and absorb the pressure from The retaining ring.

Sacrifice another crystal, but put the gasket in place this time, see what happens.

 

[spazthecat]

Thanks, but to be clear, the nylon gasket is not the one for the rehaut. I have a small black rubber gasket for that and it is in place. The nylon gasket goes around the outside of the crystal between it and the retaining ring.


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[yodog]

You don't really need the nylon gasket between the crystal and retaining ring. I just shave the crystal down enough to fit it over very tight with just using my finger strength, and then epoxy the crystal down to the rehaut.

Or - use the same dimensions but put some silicon grease around the crystal before you press down. That stuff makes anything slide through

 

[Rolexmike69]

I just posted this, but then saw this and thought I’d post here as well…

I just purchased 5513 JKF from trusty. Long story short, I ordered a Superdome T 19 crystal from Clark’s. I also ordered his 5513 Bezel assembly.

I put crystal on. It fit very tight when pressed on.
When trying to fit retaining ring, it’s not pressing on. It’s clearly too small.
OD of crystal is 30.6 when pressed on case neck
The INSIDE diameter of retaining ring is 30.25 at bottom most opening.

All I can think is that when crystal was pressed onto neck it widened to make fit too tight?!?

Thoughts or suggestions?

Can I sand the retaining ring to open ID of crystal retaining ring?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank you