Hello all. I hate this to be my first post but I am looking for advice. I just purchased a Bond SMP rep from TrendsTime a few weeks ago and when I unscrew the crown, it and the stem seem very loose. I've also noticed that the crown doesn't sit flush against the case when I screw it back in, there is a bit of thread showing. I'm a relative novice when it comes to watch repairs and have only taken watches to a jeweler for battery replacements and sizing. My question is, can I take the watch to a jeweler and expect a cheap and easy fix?
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Loose crown, stem
- Thread starter wheresgerald
- Start date
First off, you must find one that is willing to work on reps. I am telling you this from experience. You would be better off finding one of the members of the board who does watch repair work like Joe. I once took a watch to guy who agreed to do some work on a rep datejust. All I wanted was to have the dial change with one I had and a new set of hands applied. It took over 3 months for me to get the watch back. What i did not know is that he used an outside repair guy for work that required more that just a battery change or strap change. The outside repair guy did not appreciate the fact that it was a rep. Once I finaly had enough of the wait I called the guy for the 4th time and told him to call his guy and have the watch returned to me on his next visit. The next week I went to pick the watch up and it was a complete mess, the old dial was still on but was covered in scratches with the hour markers broken off. The hands were changed but with some cheap thin gold hands nothing like rolex ever used. The case was scratched up, deep scratches, and the back had deep cuts from not using a rolex compatable case back remover. Needless to say I was very pissed that they damaged my watch like this on purpose but there was nothing that I could say or do, it was a rep. Please be carefull when dealing with public watch repair guys.
This is funny because my crown on my Rolex 50th anniversary sub came off while I was turning it to move to the correct time. I purchased this from Eddie and this watch wasn't cheap and now I feel bad about it. Why is this happening on the Rolex Stem and is this fixable?
razorfish said:This is funny because my crown on my Rolex 50th anniversary sub came off while I was turning it to move to the correct time. I purchased this from Eddie and this watch wasn't cheap and now I feel bad about it. Why is this happening on the Rolex Stem and is this fixable?
I have found in my experience that this happens for a few reasons. 1 the crown threds that screw to the stem are a slight too big for it and easily come loose. 2 the stem is cut too short and can not screw into the crown fully or 3 the crown was just simply not installed to the stem correctly and just needs to be tightened to the stem. I hope that the 3rd is the most common for you because you could fix it with a little knowledge of how to remove the stem and screw the crown back to the stem. If it is the latter you will either need to purchase a new stem and cut it or get your hands on a new crown that fits that stem.
Ken72
wheresgerald said:I've also noticed that the crown doesn't sit flush against the case when I screw it back in, there is a bit of thread showing.
Your issue could either be that stem is too long and needs to be cut down maybe 1mm or you just need to tighten the crown down on the stem. A crown that needs to be screwed down more to the stem is usualy a sign on a loose or "wiggly" crown. You could do this yourself if you understand how to remove the stem from the movement.
Ken72
ken72 said:razorfish said:This is funny because my crown on my Rolex 50th anniversary sub came off while I was turning it to move to the correct time. I purchased this from Eddie and this watch wasn't cheap and now I feel bad about it. Why is this happening on the Rolex Stem and is this fixable?
I have found in my experience that this happens for a few reasons. 1 the crown threds that screw to the stem are a slight too big for it and easily come loose. 2 the stem is cut too short and can not screw into the crown fully or 3 the crown was just simply not installed to the stem correctly and just needs to be tightened to the stem. I hope that the 3rd is the most common for you because you could fix it with a little knowledge of how to remove the stem and screw the crown back to the stem. If it is the latter you will either need to purchase a new stem and cut it or get your hands on a new crown that fits that stem.
Ken72
I hope your right about number 3. I do know how to take the stem apart from reading the other how to's and purchased the tools for it. I will give it a try and see what happens.
Thanks for the advice. I was not familiar on how the crown is actually screwed into the stem.
D
d4m.test
Guest
Hope everything works out for you razor. Thanks for the info ken, and sorry to hear about the shoddy treatment you and your watch got. That's why I was a bit skeptical about taking the watch to a jeweler and getting the old "you get what you paid for" job even though I did pay quite a bit of money. You mentioned Joe, are there dealers or members on the forum that do repairs and how do I contact them? I would much rather have someone with some knowledge about reps then deal with retailers.