Crown not turning hands

[TravisC]

Hello and i just bought a preowned Rolex Submariner and the crown isnt turning the hands to set the time and the second hand is working and watch is keeping time but just not set on the correct time. Im absolutely a nervous wreck over this!! What should i do and any help is greatly appreciated!!

[MILGAUSS88]

I see this is your first post.
First things first. Did you unscrew the crown, counter clockwise, before trying to set the watch?
Once unscrewed, did you pull the crown out?
If it did not move the hands did you try pushing the crown in and pulling it back out to set a few times?

[tamiya]

most latemodel movements will "hack" = the seconds hand stops moving when you're in the hand-setting crown position

So if the watch is still running, your crown hasn't reached the time setting position.

Might need adjustment or something broken might need repair, anything is possible.

[steviebeat]

The crown might be loose on the stem, turn it anti clockwise for a while and see if it comes off. If it does put a touch of green loctite on the thread in crown and wind it back on again in winding position not hand set, give it a good old wind.

[Andad]

Unless you really know what you are doing don't put any loctite near your Rolex crown threads.

As Willy said check that you have the stem in the hands set position as you may have to rotate the crown slightly as you pull it out to the second set position.

[tamiya]

Originally Posted by steviebeat

The crown might be loose on the stem, turn it anti clockwise for a while and see if it comes off. If it does put a touch of green loctite on the thread in crown and wind it back on again in winding position not hand set, give it a good old wind.

good lord NO!!! loctite would be worst possible choice of lubricant for rubber seals...

[1WatchDawg]

Should not be a problem, I have a 16610 and to get the watch into the time setting position(hacked) you need to give the crown a little extra nudge! If worried take it to an AD and let them show you how it's done.

[yannis]

Originally Posted by tamiya

good lord NO!!! loctite would be worst possible choice of lubricant for rubber seals...

Loctite is a recipe for disaster as willy points out. I would not lube either, just follow the advice other members provided here.

[tamiya]

Gotta admit, that trainwreck could be highly LOL-worthy, no?


Heck, we're playing with analogue mechanical timepieces.
All subs are OPerps, yes?

Even if some jokester has superglued your crown shut, wouldn't need an Ingineer to figure out just let it run down then set an alarm to remind you to wind it up again at the stopped time.

[steviebeat]

Originally Posted by tamiya

good lord NO!!! loctite would be worst possible choice of lubricant for rubber seals...

Eh? Loktite is put on the thread of the crown to keep the stem in. Not sure what you are on about..

edit : Ah ok I was not talking about the thread on the case that the crown winds on to, would have thought that was obvious though. Should have said thread on stem perhaps.

[tamiya]

Originally Posted by steviebeat

edit : Ah ok I was not talking about the thread on the case that the crown winds on to, would have thought that was obvious though. Should have said thread on stem perhaps.

heh, nah I knew what you meant.

But to our average punter, PROBABLY NOT

Have you actually managed to reattach a crown that's fallen off its stem simply by regluing it back on, no other surgery needed?

I'd have thought it would be best to shuck that oyster case, extract the stem before uncorking any Loctite. Do your gluing & let it cure before reinstalling stem into movement.

Otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd end up getting Loctite on 1 or all the seals along the way

(so says the geek owning at least 5 different flavours of threadlock )

[steviebeat]

Winding and hand setting both turn the crown tighter on the stem so unless you are hand setting anti clockwise for a weird amount of the time you could just wind the crown back on and the loktite would make it stay pretty firm if you used the green one.

Ideally you would open it and take the stem out but if someone wanted to fix this issue themselves they could do what I said, and if you put a touch of the sticky stuff on the inside of the crown thread where the stem goes with a needle or something it won't get anywhere near a seal.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by TravisC

Hello and i just bought a preowned Rolex Submariner and the crown isnt turning the hands to set the time and the second hand is working and watch is keeping time but just not set on the correct time. Im absolutely a nervous wreck over this!! What should i do and any help is greatly appreciated!!

You just have not pulled the crown out far enough. Sometimes it takes more effort than we would think.

[bobridley]

Originally Posted by Tools

You just have not pulled the crown out far enough. Sometimes it takes more effort than we would think.

As mentioned by Tools, an aged winding crown can have slack thus needing more tug for catch to occur.
Otherwise, there may be the need for a part replacement;whether it be the crown itself or another part within the setting mechanism.

Although this occurrence can be nerve racking, the solution should be minor. A competent watchmaker that understands this model can bring back your smile.

[Rikki]

The problem with the 3135 caliber movement from time to time if that is what's in your watch you didn't list model number is that the intermediate setting wheels of which there are 2, the one closest to the sliding pinion is moved towards the sliding pinion when adjusting the calendar and if the teeth are not properly lubed they won't mesh which keeps you from pulling the stem out into the setting position. So to help facilitate the meshing turn the crown slightly till it goes into calendar mode if it clicks in it should then go into setting mode. If it doesn't it's not fully engaged into slide pinion because the teeth are point to point or tooth to tooth. Try that if it still hangs up bring it somewhere or send it to someone who knows how to fix it, I may know someone lol let us know if it works Rik