Pulsar Crystal Removal

[coconutman351]

Finally replaced my P3 GF crystal. I acquired this watch about 2 years ago on ebay. Case and band was in great shape and the module was fully operational. Only issue was the crystal Pulsar logo was missing. In negotiating a good price with the seller he offered to include a new crystal with the Pulsar Logo (the silkscreen version) for a higher price. I declined. I did end up purchasing an additional SS P2 Date II from his collection and being an excellent ebay seller, he surprised me by including the new crystal with the watch.

Since I didn't have a paint removal heat gun like Bruce, I opted to use retroleds method of using a toaster oven set at about 325. It was surprisingly easy.

1) I first removed the rubber gasket from the watch case. (any ideas where we can get spares to replace it? some are rock hard and pretty much useless)
2) I placed the watch case face down away from any heating elements
3) I wound up the timer to about 12 minutes starting from a cold oven.
4) Around 9 minutes into the heating process I applied pressure to the crystal with a long wooden chopstick
5) Wholla the crystal just popped out.

While still hot I tried as best as possible to remove the old adhesive before it got hard, but it was still a challenge to get all that gunk out.
Before gluing the new crystal it is important to "test" the placement of the new crystal and to ensure that it is seated properly. It's good to check from the side view at all angles that the crystal is evenly placed. I initially noticed one side of the crystal was higher than the other and when I applied slightly more pressure it snapped in nicely.

in the end everything went well.

Thanks to the expert members of the DWF forum who post their experiences and ideas I was able to change out my crystal.

I'll post an image of the finished product tomorrow.

[coconutman351]

As promised, the finished product. The original crystal was missing the Pulsar Gold Logo.

[retroleds]

Coconutman,
I have new(not new old stock, actual new) gaskets for all the Pulsars, Omegas and Hamiltons. I sell them on my site www.retroleds.com

The heat removal method - I will concede that after needing to use an alternative method, I like Bruce's heat gun method. I actually us the family hot-air popcorn popper(the watches are thoroughly cleaned FIRST, no need to cook on crude). I slip something thru the band, hang the face down in the blast of hot air for maybe one minute, grab with a rag and push from the inside. I do disagree with BRuce on one aspect - he feels the glue becomes harder if it cools(I agree). But epoxy is not known for heat-resistance, especially the old stuff or the 5 minute stuff I use for remounting, so......I hang the watch back in the blast or oven for another 10 minutes and let it cool thoroughly. I feel this degrades the epoxy nicely and makes it very scrape-able. I'm thinking the choice is - work on it hot and some of it will harden while you are working. OR cook it a little further and let it thoroughly cool and degrade and pull away from the case. I prefer the later. YMMV.

[coconutman351]

Thanks retroleds for the gasket source. Look out for my order soon. One step I forgot to mention in the steps to remove the crystal is the removal of the watch band. I felt it was much easier to work w/o the band on and it was easier to apply pressure to the crystal back while it was in the oven. Ether way though the key is what works best for you with what you've got. Sharing your recommendations, ideas and experiences have been instrumental helping me accomplish this project. I'm proudly wearing my P3GF watch today and I have yet to see another person (in Honolulu, Hawaii) with a Pulsar watch. I frequently have people asking me about my watch, especially at the Rolex high-end watch stores. I've always wanted to own a Pulsar since I was a kid but never could afford it. I ended up with a Sears "demo" LED watch, of which I still have in my collection as my first LED watch. thanks again retroleds!

[767Geoff]

On the flight deck it is 24 Z and then the first second after 24 Z is 00:00:01. Listen to WWV, at midnight Zulu change over.

By the way, if you get to boulder Colorado check out the UTC cesium clock. I recommend the tour!

Geoff

P.s. I use a hair dryer for crystal removal, hasn't failed yet. That way I don't melt the red plastic film underlying the pulsar calcs and the longines dual display.

[coconutman351]

Thanks Geoff for the additional tip. Actually I was thinking of using the hair drier to locally heat up the epoxy area to clean up the excess residue.