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  1. Bond360 Mar 12, 2018

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    Hi everyone - hoping for your helping hand!

    I recently became the owner of an Omega Seamaster Deville (Cal 563 / KM6610 / 14ct solid gold unishell caseback). I believe in order to set the date you're required to pull the crown twice. Pulling out the crown once allows you to adjust the time, then you pull the crown out again to adjust the date. Apologies if this is common knowledge - am completely new to this and am just trying to best explain the situation.

    My problem is that when I was trying to set the date I accidentally pulled the crown out of the watch along with a seperate stem piece. I took it the watchmaker and had it repaired, but then the exact same thing happened again. This has happened 4 times now. Their explanation is that due to the unishell caseback the stem is connected in two parts (rather than one stem piece?), which made it susceptible to breaking every time the date was attempted to be set. They explained that while normally the Seamaster watches are generally reliable the model I have, with the unishell caseback, has this issue and that there is no apparent solution - effectively irreparable.

    I'm wondering if anyone could help shed more light on this problem. Being an absolute novice and having little knowledge, does their explanation above make sense? Is it definitely irreparable? If not what could possibly explain the issue I'm having and is there a potential fix?

    If you've managed to read this far I greatly appreciate it and thank you in advance for your help.

    Best regards,
    B
     
  2. Lucasssssss Mar 12, 2018

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    I have a couple of these split stem watches, a Seamaser Deville like yours, and a Deville, both with monocoque (unishel) cases.

    As for the stem issues, the split stem generally works well, although I have too encountered problems such as yours as well as the opposite problem where the stem will not spilt at all. There is a very simple solution of just replacing the entire stem which I have done in the past, the parts are readily available. I imagine what the watchmaker you took it to did was simply put the split stem back into the watch rather than replacing it. I will quote our 'resident' watchmaker here @Archer :

    "This watch uses a split stem, so the stem is in two parts and has to be popped apart in order to remove the movement through the front of the case (after the crystal is removed). Over time the connection between the 2 parts of the split stem can wear or get sprung, so the solution there is to replace at least the female half, which is usually the part that goes with the crown. This will likely mean changing the crown also, because the threads are different diameters between the new and old split stems where they enter the crown."

    Which should resolve the problem
     
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  3. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 12, 2018

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    You need to find a different watchmaker. First some split stem information...they are correct that the stem is designed in 2 parts. With Omega the crown side usually has the female end of the stem, that looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    The movement side usually has the male end, that looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    The stem is designed to pop apart, but should take some force to do that. There are various reasons why the stem may come apart when it should not, and it varies a bit by the case type. One common reason is that the tines of the female end have sprung, so they don't grip the male end as tightly as they should - solution is to replace the female end. The male end can also get worn or chewed up, so again replacement is the solution.

    But the watchmaker should also look to be sure that the movement is properly aligned and secured in the case. If it can move at all (say if an incorrect crystal is installed) then the chances of the two halves of the split stem sliding apart when using the crown are much higher. In some models (like the Dynamics) there is a small spacer that is added between the movement and the case to ensure that the two parts of the stem don't come apart, but not all split stem watches use this.

    In the end it is completely repairable if the watchmaker knows what they are doing.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers, Al
     
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  4. Bond360 Mar 13, 2018

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    Lucas and Al, both your responses are fantastic. Also the speed in the reponse is to be commended! Thank you both so much. Will keep you posted with how I go.
     
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