View single post by sleddog218
 Posted: Tue Jun 27th, 2006 09:03 am
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sleddog218

 

Joined: Fri Sep 9th, 2005
Location: Duluth, Minnesota USA
Posts: 493
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As I mentioned yesterday, the hour hand on my Alpha was not lined up properly, and I wanted to attempt a repair. Well, due to some encouragement around here, I gave it a shot last night.

My biggest concern was how to unscrew the back. My solution was to use my multi-tool. The pliers attachment worked perfectly! The advantage of the multi tool is that the plier portion is hinged to open very wide, as opposed to my regular needlenose, which don't open enough. I used a little blue tape on the tips, to avoid scratches. I held it tightly at the junction of the handles, and held the movement w/ the other hand, and slowly increased the torque until the back turned.

Once I had it open, it was a simple matter to press the crown release, pull the crown, then removed the movement. I was a little worried about moving the hour hand, but it was very easy to move without removing the hands, just went right where I wanted it. I cleaned the foggy stuff off the crystal that had been bugging me, and popped everything back together.

This operation was so simple, I decided to attempt another one. My OGII Silver face had a stripped crown, so it wouldn't screw down. I have another OGII Black face, which I rarely wear. The advantage was that the Black face was purchased through SlopNBC, and has the 5 year warranty, but the silver doesn't. I unscrewed the backs of both, and swapped out the crowns. Unfortunately, this didn't solve my problem, as it still wouldn't screw down. Obviously, there was a problem w/ the threads on the housing as well as the crown. So I decided to pop both crowns, and swapped the movements out on both. So my silver face resides w/ a crown that works in the housing of my black face, and vice versa. So now I can send the black back to Infecta to have the crown repaired for free, and my silver is fine. While I had the black open, I also cleaned the inside of the crystal, which had the fog that many had problems with.

When I get the black back from repairs, I'll just toss it on the sales corner, as I never wear it, and whomever gets it will have a brand new watch, as I don't think the screw down crown can be fixed.

All in all, feeling pretty confident about some minor repairs now.

David