Anybody here tried to replace a glass by pushing it in from the front?And is it possible to replace the missing lume dots?
Experiences?

 

If you want to destroy the dial, then go ahead. If you want it to be done professionally, find a watchmaker.

 

What he said... they are a press-fit so you need to have a good feel for what you can press and when you should stop because its about to crack, or to break the tension ring.

Best, go to a watchmaker!

 

The reason I asked was because these glasses normally are mounted from behind to front and I needed to know if it is possible to munt a glass without the outer flange and mount it from the front with good result.

 

The "glass" is called the crystal. It is definitely not advisable to do any work on your own watch unless you are a trained watchmaker, or the watch has no value. Your watch has value! Take the advice given by others above, and take it to a professional watchmaker who understands vintage watches. I would not touch the missing lume dots, or any part of that dial. Don't touch it! It is beautiful!

 

Do not attempt to relume the missing lume on dial, new lume has different colour tone comparing to those aged lume dot. Trust me, you won't like it.

As for the crystal, if you can "push" a crystal in with your bare hands, your crystal may be not the right size. Often this is done with a watch crystal press.

And FYI, if it's original plexi glass and tension ring, I'd suggest you to leave it alone. Because you have a very high chance of breaking it when removing the crystal because the tension ring is so freaking tight.

Original signed plexi is hard to find and expensive

 

I delivered the watch to a watchmaker but after one week, he mailed me back and said he wasn´t able to find the missing parts, but if I managed to find them, he could mount them for me. Are there any places I can buy a crystal to this watch?

 

I have ordered a crystal press from ebay, but my watchmaker said that a regular crystal without the edge wouldn´t be possible to mount on that watch. Is he right about that?

 

This crystal is installed from the top. You will want a watchmaker to do it if it is your first attempt at replacing a crystal. The watchmaker will remove the movement and clean up the junk around the edge of the bezel.


If you put a crystal on top of this, it will not be a proper mechanical fit and be quite unsightly.

Find a replacement crystal on line and take everything to a watchmaker. They will know what to do.

 

TBH, I don't think you need a new crystal, the crystal look good to me, just buy a Polywatch (crystal polisher) rub it circularly with micro fiber cloth for 10 to 15 minutes, your crystal will be good like new.

And your watchmaker is right, original signed crystal's design is unique and extremely hard to find. Just polish the crystal, it will save you from a lot of troubles.

Not that because you have a watch press, you would be successfully pressing in the crystal, it require skill and experience, a slightly misplace or unbalance will led to breaking your crystal

 

The watch hasn´t any crystal at all. You look stright into the dial. It´s not an ordinary watch press I´ve ordered but something like the picture here:

 

Have you purchased a crystal?

 

No I need to know where I can get one and which size. But if nobody here have inserted a crystal from the front and got a good result, I think I will try to get one with the same shape as the original, but I need to know where I can get one.

 

The Universal Geneve Polerouter website has a couple of sellers selling NOS crystals which are signed but they are fairly expensive. If okay with compatible but not signed crystals ebay is your best bet. I myself am looking for a NOS signed crystal at an affordable rate. I'm sure one will pop up if I'm patient.

 

Will it be illegal to engrave a custom made sign in a crystal?

 

Hi, it seems you are quite new to vintage watches.

It’s not illegal to engrave a crystal, but I think many here would not endorse that, and if you ever sell the watch you’d want to disclose that.. and to the buyer - likely a collector would be interested for this one - consider it a devalue and offer you less.

Curious how you came about to own this watch and why you’d want to make all these changes?

 

I will second that. If you care enough to look for NOS crystal, you wont want to devalue it by engraving it yourself. Given the missing lume plots etc, I would argue that you should just use a generic plexi that your watchmaker should be able to source and consider splurging on a NOS crystal if you obtain a pristine example one day.

 

No wonder it looked pretty see through, and get me wonder why you'd need a new crystal. Lol

Okay, for my polerouter, it needs 29.6mm crystal and a decent tension ring to keep the crystal intact and keep out the moisture.

Hope it helps and good luck trying

 

I was able to find a replacement Polerouter crystal with a date magnifier, last year on eBay from a seller in England. Pretty sure it was aftermarket, but it fit and improved the watch.

Sorry I can’t remember the seller, but it was a guy with a big selection of crystals and multiple listings.

 

The old crystal is removed because it was heavily scratched both inside and outside and it couldn be polished into a decent shape again.