Replacement Stem?

Pinch Flat

Stem slipped out of my watch at the weekend - was loose for a while. So it's missing now.

it's a Rudy Project Kuadra, won it as a prize a few years back so no great value, just as a a day to day watch it was handy and gave my 'good' watch a rest.

From my brief scour of t'interweb, it's just a matter of sourcing a stem that matches the movement - it might be a seiko or miyoto - need to pop the back and get the movement reference / model. Also on crowns - from what I see, the stems come without these, is is something that can be fitted easily, or just buy a stem with a crown already fitted? Realise I mightn't match the old one too easily.

CarltonBrowne

The stem will need to be trimmed as part of the fitting process and then the crown fitted - I've done this once on a BHI course and it's fiddly, though not completely impossible, as a DIY project. A watchmaker will do this for you more quickly and cheaply once you've factored in the tools purchase and the small quantity of stems you'll go through (not to mention the repair bill for whatever needs to be put right afterwards ).

Winterlong

You would need to be fairly motivated to do this, but it is not actually hard. Easiest thing to do is bring it to a watch repairer..

But otherwise...

You would need to buy a stem and a crown. The right stem for the movement and a crown that will fit and match the watch.
Once they get delivered you then pop the back off the watch. Normally there is either a screw or release pin near the stem exit point that you depress and insert the stem. On some mechanical movments it is a screw and if you over loosen it then release some componenet on the front side of the movement which can be a whole world of trouble if you do not know what you are doing.
This is then the finickity bit - getting it measure correctly.
With the stem in, and crown screwed on you need to measure precisely how much needs to be trimmed off the stem.
Then remove from movement. Remove crown.
I use a nail clippers to shorten the stem. You shorten it by 1 or 2 mm less than you estimated.
Go thru the above process again and see if you are still 1 or 2 mm too long. If so then remove, trim again and retry.

In my opinion the hardest part is sourcing a stem and crown that match the movement and suit the watch.

Pinch Flat

Thanks for the feedback, the watch is not worth much - it's a battery operated quartz one.

Any idea how much a new stem & crown repair would cost in a watch shop?

CarltonBrowne

I've never had it done in isolation, always as part of a service, but I'd hope we're talking in the realms of twenty quid.