I have noticed for a long time that my black F1 classic has a smeary glass (on the inside) whoever refurbed it didn't clean the glass properly. I've put up with this for a long time but I'm fed up with it now. I really need to remove the movement so I can clean it, but I'm not sure how to do this. I gather there is a hole you need to stick something in to remove the crown, but what positiion should the crown be in when you do this? Any guidance would be much appreciated.

 

Super annoying

 

Hello there again! I removed the movement on my WA1211 the other day. There is a small area to press near the stem on the ETA movement. This will be the same process for both the 955.412 & 955.414 movements in all the vintage F1s.

Here is a quick video from YouTube!

 

Thank you, much appreciated.

 

I’d swap the crystal to sapphire and call it a day

 

So it came out perfectly. But it wont click back in again. I knew this was a bad idea.

 

The stem or the whole movement?

 

So I replaced the movement, but the stem goes all the way back in but it doesn't click back in and you can just pull it out again. Plus if you turn it it doesn't move the hands or anything. I presume the button on the movement hasn't popped back up so it's in the release state but I can't see any way of correcting that.

 

At least the glass is clean now

I saw another video where the guy seemed to be only pressing the button as little as possible while tugging on the crown. Maybe I pushed it down too hard? But the video above seemed to show that you push it down and it clicks back up....

 

I've done this procedure before on both my vintage F1 and my vintage1000. The button should just click back up. You need to be careful when re-inserting the crown stem to make sure the square end slots into place properly. If your hands aren't turning when you turn the crown, it's not engaged properly.

 

Thanks for the info Michael, but it doesn't appear to have a square end. It looks round (but it's tiny so hard to say for sure - even with my mega magnifying glasses on), and behind that there is a flatted part. It is going all the way in, if it wasn't engaging surely it wouldn't go all the way in? When it's all the way in I can turn it. but it's not doing anything. Which suggests to me that the release mechanism is broken... or rather the mechanism to push the button up again is broken? The bottom looks like it's still in the lower position - although it's hard to tell because it doesn't move that much.

 

It should have a squared off angular section, see the pic below. The part where I drew an arrow at needs to be slotted correctly when inserted. If it's not aligned right, it shouldn't go all the way in, unless you over-forced it in. If your stem doesn't look like these, then perhaps somehow the stem broke when your removed it.

If it's not engaging the date wheel and hands, either the stem isn't seated right, the stem is broken, or perhaps you did press too hard and broke the release mechanism.

 

Yep. looks like that.... I'm guessing I pressed too hard.

 

You Tube makes everything look so easy.... I knew it was a bad idea. Oh well, lesson learned I guess!

 

Ouch! Are replacement stems easy to obtain?

I had an interior smear on the crystal of my 2000 following a service back in 2015. To make a long story short, I just waited a few years and took it to my local service centre for a battery change. They swapped out the battery and cleaned the inside of the crystal (no extra charge) and viola! No more smear problems! LOL.

 

Can you pull the stem out now freely without pressing the button? Does it not click into the first position (date) and second position (hands)? If so, then the problem seems to be the release mechanism not re-engaging again.

The only other thing I can suggest is to try re-seating the stem a few times, which might also make the button spring back into place.

The F1 should've been a breeze. The 1000's release mechanism is much trickier in comparison. It's not really a button per se, I had more of a challenge getting the stem to seat properly on the 1000.

 

Yes, but the stem doesn't seem to be his issue.

 

No I think the stem is okay, I just think the mechanism is stuck 'open'. I believe to reset the mechanism you have to take the date wheel off and I'm not even going to think about doing that.

 

Oh no! Well, it’s a $30 mistake. I’d just buy a new movement and call it a day lol. Can you remove and fit hands?