ROLEX 6-Digit Sub Bezel and Crystal Swap - DIY

[sting]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments guys! Just doing what I love to do. Hopefully this will reduce the aggravation for some and encourage more DIY modding. It can be fun and is so rewarding when you get it right.

Cheers! :drinks_cheers:

The tool you used to remove the bezel, can this not be used to remove the crystal retaining ring?
Here's a video of a 1675 restoration, and he uses a similar tool (just different blades) to remove the crystal retaining ring. It's at 5 minutes on the video.

Great tutorial by the way

 

[KJ2020]

The tool you used to remove the bezel, can this not be used to remove the crystal retaining ring?
Here's a video of a 1675 restoration, and he uses a similar tool (just different blades) to remove the crystal retaining ring. It's at 5 minutes on the video.

Great tutorial by the way

That is possible yes. I did exactly that with my gen 16710 when I swapped its original no AR crystal out in favor of a gen 6 digit crystal with AR cyclops. But the 5 digit retaining rings have quite a wide base on them, extending way closer to the edges of the case. This makes it much easier to guide the blades of the bezel removal tool underneath the bottom of the retaining ring all the way around.

A 6 digit GMT retaining ring has a wider base than a 6 digit Sub, so on these it's not an unreasonable approach. But a 6 digit Sub retaining ring base is only as wide as the ring's thickness so I think trying to lift it with a bezel removal tool would be more challenging and risky than using a razor blade and a case knife. It's pretty easy to scar up a case, a bezel or a retaining ring with tool blades if you aren't super attentive and careful. Your visibility of exactly where the blades are would be significantly reduced (perhaps prohibitively) trying to lift a 6 digit Sub retaining ring.

Also, the blades on the bezel removal tool are beveled such that lifting is provided largely through the blades' horizontal travel inward. With a thin Sub 6 digit retaining ring, there is only a tiny bit of horizontal travel that can be achieved before the blades would be halted by the outer side of the rehaut.