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A Quick Alum Question to the Watchmakers (and wannabee's)

redpcar
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As a hobbyist watchguy, I fix the occasional watch. On my bench is a Movado with a screw down crown. Of course somebody took it swimming and now there is a bunch of rust. The stem has rusted in two. Broken off inside the crown. Now the alum trick works terrific for standard crowns BUT what about the spring loaded type? Will the alum damage the little spring inside? Any experience with this?
Thanks as always.
upload_2022-2-5_21-13-28.png
 
JimInOz
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I suspect the spring is steel, in that case alum would be unsuitable as it would dissolve the spring.

I would try penetrant and file a slot in the end of the stem and use a screwdriver to try and undo it.

Only my thoughts, be interested to hear from others.
 
Canuck
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Agreed, the telescopic crown has a spring inside which is likely spring steel. You might want to pour melted candle wax into the recess in the crown to act as a resist against the alum. But you are still taking a chance that other components might be affected by the alum.
Edited:
 
Archer
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It should be fine. I can’t speak for Movado, but the springs in Omega crowns don’t appear to be made of a material that rusts, and that generally means that it won’t be affected by alum.
 
redpcar
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Just a quick follow up. Alum worked with spring in tact. All repaired, well as much as feasibly possible. 😀
 
timoss
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Since we are on the topic, can someone recap “the alum trick”…?
 
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