Bezels, Inserts, and Pain

[JohnBaker3]

Hey Guys:

I have talked about this before, but some of the original Rolex inserts, and most of the after-markets, can be a real pain to "re-insert" after they come apart from the bezel.

I had 2 sets of inserts/bezels sitting on my bench; I spent over an hour screwing around with them trying to get them back together. I re-read Jocke's thread, but still nothing but sore thumbs.

I have a little engineering in my background and decided to re-think the whole idea behind this piece of watchmaking. Basically, the bezel and insert are "force fits"; that is they both have almost identical dimensions where they meet. The only way to mate them at the factory (in an efficient manner) would be to have a "Precision Mini Press" setup.....

So....I took my desktop case-back press and found a set of nylon pieces that were close to, but bigger than my bezel and insert (Pepsi GMT 16750).

Then I borrowed a friend's mini-lathe to do the machine work needed. I wanted the bottom piece to hold the bezel firmly in place during the press....I cut it down to 35.95 mm. Perfect; the bottom lip of the bezel slipped onto the disk and hardly moved.

Next, I machined the top piece (it had a beveled edge already) down to 37.40 mm. That dimension was just smaller than the top of the bezel lip and rested on the outer edge of the insert.

I assembled everthing on the press and squeezed gently. They went together so smoothly, they didn't even click! When I looked at the unit under magnification, the insert was flush with the bottom of the bezel lip.

I couldn't believe that it worked so well; 10 seconds of alignment and a little pressure did what I couldn't do in an hour of frustrating work!! The top disk was left a little loose on the screw; this allowed for "self-leveling" as it came into contact with the insert. And, because the disks are nylon, they didn't scatch any of the parts in the process....

OK...so I checked the new press parts with my 16610 and it worked on that set too. I'm sure that the 5512/5513 will be another round at the lathe, but at least I know what has to be done now....

Bottom Line: Here are the pics if you want to attempt this yourself. If you have a problem set and don't want to screw with it, private message me. I would be more than happy to get yours back together (no charge) !