Cyclops delete

[pickettt]

Anyone have experience removing the Cyclops from a non-AR crystal? How's it done?

[Chewbacca]

We've seen it around here in the past. I don't believe any Rolexeses have AR anyway. Maybe post in the Technical thread or DM Bas.

[pickettt]

Will do, thanks. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it's not a Rolex crystal. My 7 year-old and I are working on an SKX build/mod, and the crystal has the long day+date cyclops we want to remove.

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by pickettt

Will do, thanks. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it's not a Rolex crystal. My 7 year-old and I are working on an SKX build/mod, and the crystal has the long day+date cyclops we want to remove.

Oh ya. Get rid of that thing. Good idea.

I’ve only added mags so I can’t help with the safe removals. Some say they’re added or one piece. It depends on the manufacturer I suppose.

Good luck.

[Blansky]

Think I saw a video on it once.

A chisel and a quick tap and it popped off.

Not sure I'd do it but if I ever bought a Platinum dial Yachtmaster I'd be tempted.

Not sure of the coating issues.

[dmhines]

I took cyclops off a Tag AquaRacer ... Heated the cyclops by holding a solder iron on it and then popped it off with razor blade ... it takes some force .. will not just slide or fall off.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Think I saw a video on it once.

A chisel and a quick tap and it popped off.

Not sure I'd do it but if I ever bought a Platinum dial Yachtmaster I'd be tempted.

Not sure of the coating issues.

I did a search of past threads, and there was a post with a YouTube link. The guy was putting a torch to it, and hammering on the crystal...while it was still on the case. Craziness. I totally thought it was a joke. But he showed the undamaged Crystal after the fact and it was flawless. If I try that, I’ll do it before I press the Crystal into the case.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by pickettt

I did a search of past threads, and there was a post with a YouTube link. The guy was putting a torch to it, and hammering on the crystal...while it was still on the case. Craziness. I totally thought it was a joke. But he showed the undamaged Crystal after the fact and it was flawless. If I try that, I’ll do it before I press the Crystal into the case.

I'm not a fan of the cyclops and I did a bit of research at one time. Someone said to order a new crystal so if you ever sold the watch after removing a cyclops you could put the new crystal with cyclops on it and it wouldn't be a frankenwatch.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I'm not a fan of the cyclops and I did a bit of research at one time. Someone said to order a new crystal so if you ever sold the watch after removing a cyclops you could put the new crystal with cyclops on it and it wouldn't be a frankenwatch.

It’s already a frankenwatch, and there’s never going to be anything we can do about that. We, my son and I, are assembling it from the ground up. There are dozens of different crystal profiles out there, and the particular one we want is out of stock. This one was the closest we could get. My son is so excited about this project...it’s cool to see the interest. I’ll post it when we finish.

[droptopman]

Heat will do it. Done it many times on many watches. Even a hair dryer will work if you take the time. Heat gun much quicker. On old plexi watches I have ground it off then polished it up.

[Randy63]

Originally Posted by pickettt

I did a search of past threads, and there was a post with a YouTube link. The guy was putting a torch to it, and hammering on the crystal...while it was still on the case. Craziness. I totally thought it was a joke. But he showed the undamaged Crystal after the fact and it was flawless. If I try that, I’ll do it before I press the Crystal into the case.

I'd be concerned that excessive heat applied to a Seiko hardlex crystal may cause it to warp and deform.


Randy

[NKflyer]

I've removed them by soaking the crystal in a small bowl of acetone for a couple hours and it slid right off. Remove the crystal from the watch first and remove any gaskets before doing, obviously.

[pickettt]

Originally Posted by NKflyer

I've removed them by soaking the crystal in a small bowl of acetone for a couple hours and it slid right off. Remove the crystal from the watch first and remove any gaskets before doing, obviously.

That sounds way better than heat, hammer, and chisel! Thanks.

[pickettt]

Finished! Got the cyclops off with a butane torch and a tongue depressor. This is our final product. The mod was a fun father/son project. Granted I didn’t make 7-800,000 units this year, the crown wasn’t that hard to line up with a little time and effort.
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