Crown Fell off

[scooba]

I have a 1969 1680 Submariner the crown fell off as in it unscrewed from the stem , Having Googled the problem and feeling confident I have just applied a tiny drop off Loctite with a pin to the thread and screwed it back on my intention is too leave it alone and hope it’s now fixed but if it comes off again should I have a watchmaker remove the stem ? And glue it to the crown .

You may have worked out by now I am in uncharted territory 😂🤔

[watchmaker]

1. You cannot apply sufficient torque to the crown and stem just whilst it is still in the movement, the stem needs to be removed and held in place while you tighten the crown. Loctite is not intended to be the primary bond.

2. Loctite offgasses as it cures and is known to cause a reaction with certain horological lubricants. It should never be allowed to cure inside the case when the movement is fitted.

I’m not saying you will definitely have problems, but you have unfortunately left the door wide open to the possibility.

[scooba]

Ok , Thanks for the advice so I have removed the crown and will take it into the watch maker in town

[enjoythemusic]

Originally Posted by scooba

Ok , Thanks for the advice so I have removed the crown and will take it into the watch maker in town

Excellent choice. Yeah, it needs to be open to the have the crown properly affixed.

[scooba]

I watched a you tube video on replacing or reattaching the crown to the stem , It looked like he removed the case back then released the stem by pushing a button then held the stem in a special holder /tool screwed the crown on Tight and popped it back in

I don’t want the movement removed if at all possible in case the dial gets chipped on the minute markers

Can the crown be refitted to the stem without taking the movement out ?.

Thank you

[watchmaker]

Ordinarily you won’t need to remove the movement to remove and replace the stem. Sometimes it is unavoidable.

[scooba]

Hi Scott

When does it become unavoidable? .

Thank you

[watchmaker]

The most common two reasons off the top of my head are;

A portion of the stem can be broken off and require retrieving.

Sliding pinion can slip and be blocked by the yoke, preventing the stem from being reinserted correctly.

[scooba]

Thank you Scott,

It all appears to work fine apart from when I set the time the crown just winds off the thread on the stem ,Everything crossed as I really don’t want the movement taken out due to dial chipping concerns

[watchmaker]

I’m sure it’ll be fine