Hi everyone,

My old method was to prepare shivs from plastic materials like credit cards and use them to yank from inside under the bezel and remove the bezels (I say method but I only did it 2 times, lucked out maybe). This specific bezel was challenging and fused- I ended up removing it with 2 opposing caseback openers, one slimmed down to hopefully prevent inner damage and luckily it worked well

But I think using caseback openers is super risky, I want to be able to safely remove bezels

Is there a tool that will get inside the case and extend 4 yankers from inside? That could be a good way to approach this

With these cases the outer sides are flush, so approaching from the outer sides is I think a harder approach and will most likely scratch the case

Is there a correct way to do this?

Regards,
Kaan

 

Perhaps there are some helpful videos on YouTube that address how to do this safely? I know that Bergeron used to make a table mounted tool for bezel removal that looks kind of like a combination of a vice and a lathe. My watchmaker has one, but I imagine that it's quite expensive.

 

The tool typically used for this is a fixed bezel remover. They come in a few different forms, but this one is mine:







Here's a cheap version:

 

That’s exactly what I was referring to in my post. Thanks, Al.

 

I have the cheap Chinese version that I've used successfully with no problems. Probably not professional grade, but good enough for occasional use, in my experience.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, very curious about the Chinese version, if there was a tool that did this from inside it would be idea but I guess the use would be very limited

I've used opposing caseback openers on a couple of other discarded cases, didn't tarnish the cases or bezels, I'd suggest it as well - if the bezel is thin though, like on some GC cases, this Chinese tool could be better

 

Are these suitable for removing rotating bezels as well? I assume you are going to tell me it depends on the watch!

 

They are not really meant for those. There are specific tools for removing rotating bezels.

 

Gotcha. As a hobbyist, it's nice to find tools with multiple uses to save cost and space. Not this time!