H-screw broke, stuck in case

[pushpull]

These damn cheese screws... I was really unlucky today. Was going to switch strap on a Hublot Big Bang and the screw broke. It's stuck in the hole underlined on the picture below and it's below the line so there's no way I can reach it with a pliers tool or anything like that. Basically nothing I can fix myself.

I read about a special tool watchsmiths might have to deal with things like this but I called a rather large local watchsmith and he had no clue about such a thing. He also seemed quite pessimistic about being able to help me at all.

What do you guys think? Best way to solve and what sort of tool will be needed? All input appreciated.

Location where part of the screw is stuck

As you can see one of the screws is slightly shorter

 

[Calibre16]

Well to be honest, this is a pretty tricky situation you have gotten yourself in to.

Can the screw still be screwed in or is it too short?
I would personally just screw it back in and leave it like that, if possible.

 

[hurk]

@pushpull Screw back in with some loctite and maybe some glue around the screw.
The screw should assist in holding the strap in place and the loctite and glue should keep screw from falling out.


How hard were you screwing this thing man.

Shoot me a pm. I just happened to come across a spare h screw i have last night.
But honestly not sure if its from the case or not....

Regardless, im willing to send it over for free if you wana mess around w it.

 

[GhostPilot]

Punch the center and drill it out.

 

[pushpull]

Hehe yeah, it sure is a tricky situation No, I cannot screw it back it. It just spins around forever. Also I don't have equipment myself to drill such a tiny thing. Right now I'm thinking I might just superglue the whole thing. I have the new Donerix strap I want for this particular watch and dont need to change it again. So I think I will just try to put the part screw back and glue it.

If it was a gen I for sure would have gotten someone to drill it. But this is a regular $400+ rep. Not sure if it's worth spending cash on a watchsmith plus wait weeks for screws to arrive.

Ok I admit, I was probably screwing the little f**ker a bit hard in the end. But the screw just stuck completely after moving a tiny bit. Completely stuck. I think it would have broken anyway.

 

[pushpull]

thank you so much for offering the screw Hurk, very cool. And I appreciate the input. I am gonna order another Big Bang from Ryan any day so I've already emailed him about sourcing me extras for all the Hublot screws. If I do need to use another screw I will take one of these.

 

[GhostPilot]

Hehe yeah, it sure is a tricky situation No, I cannot screw it back it. It just spins around forever. Also I don't have equipment myself to drill such a tiny thing. Right now I'm thinking I might just superglue the whole thing. I have the new Donerix strap I want for this particular watch and dont need to change it again. So I think I will just try to put the part screw back and glue it.

If it was a gen I for sure would have gotten someone to drill it. But this is a regular $400+ rep. Not sure if it's worth spending cash on a watchsmith plus wait weeks for screws to arrive.

Ok I admit, I was probably screwing the little f**ker a bit hard in the end. But the screw just stuck completely after moving a tiny bit. Completely stuck. I think it would have broken anyway.

Screws that small are brittle if they ever get stuck do not try to force them in, unscrew and brush them under water with a old toothbrush dry them out and try again after cleaning out the female threads in the inside the best you can.

You can also gently try rocking it in the hole back and forth and slowly screwing it in a bit more and out till you hit your last thread, it will dislogde debris and slowly make it climb up the threads, though I would only do this as a last resort.

 

[Tigerdragon]

Thats the reason why i only changed it to my gen rubber strap (which is not really good but better than the rep) and NEVER touched it again good luck to you. Should it be easy to just screw in the oberside?