How to Repair VSF 126610 Submariner Bezel / Hytrel Ring - Long Term!

[wristonfire123]

After reading in an earlier page about someone using dental floss to help 'thicken' the hydrel ring by wrapping it around the ring. I've just found another way by combining it with the electrical tape coating the hydrel ring channel on the bezel.

I've only tried it with the flat dental floss, using silicon grease to keep it in place but it has worked well. First attempt made the bezel too tight, to the point that it couldn't rotate. Not even a little. Great considering that before the whole thing would pop off if you tried to rotate it at all.

Second attempt, I thinned the dental floss by sticking a needle through the middle and pulling it along to give me a piece that was about the width of human hair (from your head ) I didn't think it would work as it was so thin, but wanted to start small and work up. Using the same method, grease to hold the floss in place while adding the hydrel ring on top so secure it in place. Snapped the bezel on and it worked. Nice rotation in both directions with the click each time now that some of the grease had been removed. Abiet added to some new locations. (CF GMT) Feels secure too.

I used to have different rolls of fishing line that I'd used before but moved countries so threw it out. Turns out with enough tinkering and forum lurking you can figure it out.

To clarify, this method still uses the original damaged hydrel ring, but the dental floss added to the bezel first creates enough extra pressure for the hydrel ring to catch and secure the bezel in place.

 

[Tomback]

Hoy compré unos anillos Hytrel de repuesto, pero necesito hilo de pescar en casa, ya que siempre estoy arreglando GMT (mi reloj favorito). Hoy, al quitar un bisel C+F, se llevó el cristal, la junta, el anillo de retención y todo. Pensé: "¿Qué demonios?". Después de varios intentos y diferentes anillos de retención, pensé que necesitaba un nuevo anillo Hytrel (demasiado grueso y estirado) y un poco de grasa de silicona para que el bisel girara. Tal como está, todo hace clic, se mueve y suena bien. Solo necesito una junta nueva y, por desgracia, un inserto Pepsi nuevo, ya que lo rompí al reinstalarlo. ¡Así es la vida con un GMT!

 

[SS72]

Not VSF, but my Clean 12X bezel has been a loose goose from day one. And it bounced up and down like a trampoline.

Popped the bezel off today after reading through this thread and the HR was upside down. It survived the operation and the bezel click tension is now pretty normal. Bounce is also significantly reduced.

Love this place and the awesome contributions! Thanks legends.

 

[LeftRightSwitch]

Resurrecting this semi-zombie thread here.. Received what's basically a GMF 124060 (It's a Tempus Machina 216A.. Rep of a mod of a gen, funny if you think about it) and the bezel is awful. Misaligned 12 O'Clock, tons of play in the bezel action.. Sounds an awful lot like what folks are describing here.

I'm still waiting for the TD to get back to me, but has anyone popped the bezel off a GMF 12X lately? If so, do the fixes in here line up with correcting what's an otherwise pretty solid piece?

PS mute unless you want to enjoy my heavy breathing. Allergy season sucks.

 

[Cubatobaco]

Resurrecting this semi-zombie thread here.. Received what's basically a GMF 124060 (It's a Tempus Machina 216A.. Rep of a mod of a gen, funny if you think about it) and the bezel is awful. Misaligned 12 O'Clock, tons of play in the bezel action.. Sounds an awful lot like what folks are describing here.

I'm still waiting for the TD to get back to me, but has anyone popped the bezel off a GMF 12X lately? If so, do the fixes in here line up with correcting what's an otherwise pretty solid piece?

PS mute unless you want to enjoy my heavy breathing. Allergy season sucks.

First thing I was going to say was, “I hope my wife doesn’t wake up while I watch this”. Lol!

What have you attempted to correct the play in the bezel? Have you tried a new Hytrel ring?

 

[LeftRightSwitch]

What have you attempted to correct the play in the bezel? Have you tried a new Hytrel ring?

No correction attempt *yet*, but given what's been described I think it's worth a shot inverting the Hytrel ring. I'm told certain factories secure their bezels differently so I'm curious whether anyone's tried removing theirs. Info is a little spotty on these GMFs!

 

[KJ2020]

Resurrecting this semi-zombie thread here.. Received what's basically a GMF 124060 (It's a Tempus Machina 216A.. Rep of a mod of a gen, funny if you think about it) and the bezel is awful. Misaligned 12 O'Clock, tons of play in the bezel action.. Sounds an awful lot like what folks are describing here.

I'm still waiting for the TD to get back to me, but has anyone popped the bezel off a GMF 12X lately? If so, do the fixes in here line up with correcting what's an otherwise pretty solid piece?

PS mute unless you want to enjoy my heavy breathing. Allergy season sucks.

Is it a sapphire crystal? If so I think the bezel assembly should be just like any other modern Sub rep. If you want to find the watch on Trusty site and post a link I'll look at it.

I think it's unlikely it would have a wire circlip bezel arrangement so the first step removing it for me would be to put it in the bezel removal tool and see if it lifts off easily. I can tell early on if a bezel has a wire clip as it will not budge upward one bit with moderate pressure from the removal tool.

6-digit Sub crystal and bezel swap

 

[RoXeW22]

@LeftRightSwitch the base model should be the 114060, not the 124060, from what I can recall.

 

[KJ2020]

OK I looked at the listing and this does have a sapphire crystal so no doubt this bezel assembly is constructed like other modern Subs.

trustytime88

So you should be able to apply the same techniques to improve bezel operation that are discussed here and in other modern Sub threads.

 

[LeftRightSwitch]

Appreciate the replies - sorry for my own late reply, busy day so far. Should be interesting to see how the fix goes!

 

[Cubatobaco]

Appreciate the replies - sorry for my own late reply, busy day so far. Should be interesting to see how the fix goes.

Keep us posted. For some reason, I can do GMT’s and not Subs. Good luck!

 

[Slugger]

Appreciate the replies - sorry for my own late reply, busy day so far. Should be interesting to see how the fix goes!

Since this is your first go at this, I want to remind you to take a breath and think through each step as you go. Most mistakes are self inflicted unforced (redundant?) errors.

Don’t forget or bypass these steps:

• Tape your case before bezel removal to avoid scratches.
• Unless you have the bezel removing tool that lifts the bezel from four corners simultaneously, work a sharp (thin) blade all the way around the bezel. I use those single sided razor blades for this. Then, if necessary and you have adequate access, circumscribe the bezel with a slightly thicker blade and work it up; leveraging the bezel off from a single point of access can lead to all sorts of problems including bent bezel, cracked insert, etc.
• Take care that you don‘t lose the springs, click, and balls (if not soldered to the springs) held in place under the bezel ring. Some people suggest doing bezel removal inside of a clear plastic bag (Baggie). I’ve never done this but it seems like it would help.
• Before reassembly, confirm the retaining ring is seated. A lot of loosey-goosey bezels, particularly with excess vertical play (when you push down) are due to a retaining ring that is not fully seated.
• Finally, any insert alignment is best done after the bezel is back in place. In other words, the insert should be removed from the bezel ring before you press the ring back in place. Then realign and seat the insert once you are happy with how your bezel is working.

 

[Daniel_AUT]

Hi guys if someone has something lying around ... look for VSF Black bezel insert, hyrtelring and all four click springs. If anyone has something, please send me a message, thank you