I wanted to confirm that my 50 years old ( redialed ) Seamaster - pictured in my avatar, would have had a glass crystal,. correct ? Could the glass crystal be removed without taking the watch apart .... just simply fall out ?

I am asking because I took my watch to get cleaned and adjusted and it was returned to me with a new plastic crystal - which I did NOT ask for, and the plastic crystal fell out !

Needless to say I am very upset
Thanks

 

Plastic crystals were standard back then on these watches. It's a shame yours fell out---it may not have been the correct size. Watchmaker should replace it for free.

 

I wish you could post a hi-res picture of it. It could have had a glass crystal but it could have had an acrylic glass. I have a 1972 Longines that has the original acrylic glass. I actually thought it's glued to the case (as they usually are) but in fact it's kind of "installed" inside the case between some sort of ditches and it stays there in place (if I was to press my thumb on it it might come off though...).
Omega glasses actually have a hologram (usually visible in certain light conditions and with a magnifier) in the center. Would have been nice if they gave you the old one...

 

Round acrylic crystals are almost never glued in place, unless there is a problem of some kind (with the watchmaker or the watch). There are a number of different moujnting styles, but the 2 general classifications are armoured crystals (that have straight outside walls and a tension ring inside) that are pressed straight into the case, or flanged styles (that have a lip larger than the opening in the case) and have to be compressed in order to be placed in the case.

So for an armoured crystal with a tension ring, like this Speedmaster Pro, here is how it's installed. Note that the black ring you can see in the crystal is the tension ring, and the side walls of the crystal are straight:



Lined up in the press:



Pressed in place:



Installed:



For the flanged type, here is what the crystal looks like - note it's flared at the bottom:



This is one type of device that is used to mount these - the crystal is placed upside down in the bottom die:



In this case the crystal mounts in the bezel, so the bezel is held over the crystal, and I use a foot pedal to bring the upper die down to compress the crystal:



The bezel then snaps over the compressed crystal, and I can release the foot pedal:



Done:



If you have a round acrylic crystal that's not being held in place firmly, then it's like the wrong crystal for the watch or something has happened to the watch itself to make the fit incorrect - they should be snug in place, and should definitely not fall out.

Note that some round glass crystals can also snap in place, like on old pocket watches. When plastic crystals are glued in place, they are usually not round. So when an odd shaped, or "fancy" shape crystal is installed, it's usually glued in if it's glass or plastic:



Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

 

This is the Longines I'm talking about and it's not glued in (but it does sit inside without ever falling).

 

So not round and not really related to the OP's issues then. For your situation, unless it uses a crystal gasket, it should be glued in place. I typically use UV curing cement for these.

 

I just need to say, having Archer around is better then Google!

 

Hi @Ravineman,
Pretty much the same thing happened to me when I got a 1976 quartz constellation from my godfather. And that was the beginning of my Omega collection by the way!
The only difference to your story is that it was an all original watch with original crystal and the watch was 100% original, bought first hand by my godfather.

To tell you the whole story:
I was really lucky to choose any watch from my godfather's watch collection as a wedding gift and I chose the mentioned one. Back in the days, I didn't have any clue about watches yet and I just chose a daily wearable watch instead of e.g. an original RAF watch from WWII... (I know, now I'm regretting my decision a bit, but at least that was the beginning of getting bit by the vintage bug....). Needless to say my godfather was a bit irritated about my choice and he even tried to convince me I should get an automatic one.
Anyway. I insisted and he gave the quartz watch to a watchmaker in order to find out wether it should be serviced before giving it to me or not, as he didn't wear the watch for about 30 years. The watchmaker told him that everything was in a good condition so he passed it on to me.
After a couple of days (i believe it wasn't even a week) I suddenly heard a strange noise. I then found the (signed & original) crystal on the floor - it just fell out without any force towards the watch!
As I live in Switzerland nearby the Omega HQ and I didn't have a clue about watches, i gave it to Omega, who made a service for about 550.- Swiss Francs (approx. 570 USD).
Even though I asked they never told me the reason why the crystal just fell out...

@Archer: thank you very much for all your explanations! I have learnt a lot from your very informative & competent posts and I really loved your thread about how to find problems in movements by just looking at the pictures!



Edit: thinking of it again, I'm not sure it was was a plastic crystal. It may very well also have been a saphire crystal, but I'm not at home at the moment so I can't double check it right now...

Pps: I just looked it up. It has a sapphire glass, ref number is: Jd 191.0032 (also edited the main text)

 

Archer strikes again, amazing post, great photos and explanation! Thank you.

 

Thanks everyone, This is very helpful !