Help! What's happened to my Aquaracer 300? Crown broken??

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Hello. First time poster. Looking for a bit of advice with my TAG Aquaracer 300.

Not sure exactly what model it is - it was a present around 20 years ago. Anyway, was working up until yesterday when it stopped. The previous day everything was working, i had changed the date and the time using the crown - all was well.

Seeing it stopped I unscrewed the crown to adjust mode and nothing happened - i pulled ever so slightly harder and it came completely out. Additionally, it you look at the close up of the face, there is a tiny piece of wire appeared by the hands ... has this come off the crown mechanism itself.

So on to the "help" ... is this something i will need to send away to TAG for a service? Or is it quite a common issue that can be repaired quite simply (albeit not by myself)

To be fair it has not been to TAG for a service since I received it, and the most recent battery changes - while carried out by a jeweller - did not include re-gassing as I never take it in the water. So maybe a full service is overdue?

Any help, pointers or advice gratefully received. IMG_20240925_164746.jpg

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I suspect that bit of wire might be rubber from around the date window. No idea why that would happen... but I don't think it's to do with the crown. Obviously it shouldn't come out like that, the same thing happened to my Senna F1 (fortunately it was under warranty). I was told at the time that often more damage is done trying to force the crown back in and since it probably needs fixing I would leave it out and take it to your nearest AD, boutique or local watchmaker.
 
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Thanks -

I just looked at another photo of the same model (Tag Heuer Aquaracer Date WAF1010) and there does not appear to be any rubber around the date - but it might be hidden from normal view.

The crown goers back in smoothly with no friction and can tighten again to the bezel - but there is just no purchase when pulling partially out and twisting.

I guess I was wondering what provides that grip when turning the crown so that the hours or the date change - was it some kind of wire mechanism? My lack of knowledge on what goes on inside the case letting me down somewhat!

It certainly needs fixing - but is it one that needs to be sent away to TAG (in which case I would rather do that myself than taking to a watchmaker who will just send it away for me and add on his margin) - but I don't necessarily want to engage the full service if this is something simple and obvious (or rather obvious to someone who knows what they are doing, which is not me!!)
 
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I've done some more googling and understand the issue a bit better now. I had not appreciated that there was a "stem retainer" that has possibly got loose or broken and this has allowed the stem to come out of the movement completely.

I am away right for a couple of weeks right now (which is why I had to adjust the date/time) so I'm not in a position to open up the back for a few weeks (but suspect that even once I do I will not be in a position to self repair!)
 
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Great spot... I went through airport security yesterday and had to remove my watch... That was 1230 and it stopped less than 2 hours later.... I can only guess it got knocked going through the machine? This possibly has caused both these... I didn't see it dropped or anything but how would they become loose?

Oh well, off to tag service centre it goes then!