Is there any advice on how to remove the old gasket from a vintage "Narrow Flat Feet" crown?

I would like to replace it.
I did it on two of my other watches' crowns where the gaskets were already falling apart when I mechanically removed it step by step with fine tools. But this one's gasket is really tough and it doesn't work.

Can I bath the crown in any chemical to get it dissolve? Any hint or recommendation would be appreciated.
Thank you!

 

When you say "vintage", what reference of Speedmaster are you referring to. From your question, I'm assuming your not a professional watchmaker??? If that is the case, would it not be better give it to an expert? I think you would get plenty of helpful recommendations, from members here. I certainly did.

Good luck with it.

 

I have found different gaskets failing in different ways, is this one gone brittle? goop? something else?

I have found soaking in acetone for a while sometimes softens up the solid ones, and also had luck with ultrasonic cleaning loosening up a stuck gasket.
This can also sometimes loosen the peened in washer that holds the gasket in too, which aids in helping cleaning, but is its own headache to put back cleanly.

Good luck!

 

Thank you for your responses! It's a 105.012-65 and the crown is the period correct vintage one from the 60s. I'm not a professional watchmaker, just an enthuastic collector with general skills.
The gasket seems to be solid, not flexible, but I'm not able to break out little parts as I did with other ones of that kind.

I think there are brass parts with the vintage crown. Acetone might react with brass?

 

I’ve never tried it but my understanding was although gaskets can be replaced on other vintage crowns, it’s extremely hard to replace the gasket on a vintage Speedmaster crown due to the design.

 

acetone will do nothing to brass.

you are correct that these gaskets are not designed to be replaced, instead the entire crown is to be replaced.

This is why you won't find a professional watchmaker doing this as no one would want to warranty work if they had to swap the gasket this way. HOWEVER, as vintage enthusiasts its understandable to want to keep the old crown and at least try to put a bit of water resistance back in, or at least some dust resistance.

 

I might try acetone with another sorted out crown to see how it works, just in case I mess it up.
Thank you!

 

https://omegaforums.net/threads/my-first-crown-restoration-and-o-ring-insertion.156289/#post-2138282

 

Oh wow ... that's a completely new approach. Thank you for the link!
I guess all goes along with a certain amount of risk to make it worse.

 

I have read that putting your crown in a ziplock bag and spraying it with WD40 can help soften up a hard gasket. Can't say I've ever tried it though.

 

This will also help you understand the reason an actual watchmaker won't do it most of the time:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/spe...-the-crown-is-pulled-out.155549/#post-2123745

 

I see.
Actually, it seems like that I was lucky being able to remove the old gaskets on two of my other vintage crowns from the 70s.

Looking at the video from your thread makes it very likely that this gasket is hardened and I won't succeed in carving it out. Unless I can do something with solvents.

And I don't think that I would try to remove the washer/spacer. I have a bad feeling on that technique.

I'll update you if I succeed in this little task.

 

I've dug hard gaskets out of a couple of crowns and replaced them. It can take hours and I would never do it for a watch where water resistance was required. Mostly it's been where the crown is very hard find so replacement isn't possible. I can see why a watchmaker wouldn't do it - a lot of work that you may not be able to fully recover the cost of and then there's the uncertainty about WR.

 

There is hope!

 

I've definitely done it too, though my preference is still for a new crown, even if the new service replacements are no longer the same shape.

I just don't want to feel scared every time i wash my hands or it rains.

 

Being a vintage guy could be a real pain.

 

I did some tests using Acetone with some other old gaskets, but even after bathing the parts a few days in the solvent had no helpful effect. So I decided to go ahead and give it another try to get the gasket out mechanically. And I succeeded.

I could even do some measuring. The gasket in the old Narrow Flat Feet crown is a single zylindric one. Compared, the new crowns come along with two staked round donut gaskets. The inner diameter of 2.1mm seems to be identical. And also the width of 0.8mm. But the height differs. Whereas 2x staked donut gaskets have a total height of 1.6mm, the zylindric one has around 1.2mm. And the 1.2mm is approximately actually the available space in the crown.

I couldn't find a zylindric gasket. So I have to decide if I want to give it a try with two staked donut gaskets that are usually used for the new crowns. I'm not sure if the two gaskets could be compressed by around 0.4mm in height.

Anyhow, here are some photos as reference for the community:



And this is the "donut style" gasket that I've used on the newer crowns. Two of these staked:

 

Great post, and effort.

Could you remove some material from one or both to get them to fit correctly?

 

You mean to remove a bit of one of the gaskets? I thought about it, but it's so tiny. I don't think that I could sand it or cut it. I thought about heating and try to melt a tiny bit, but that might change the stability of the gasket material and would have impact to the decay process.

 

Yes; I was thinking minute amounts of material could be removed by using various super-fine grit papers.