How to tighten a loose Crown Guard
Author: Thanks to Watchman for this shared tutorial
This is what you will need:
* a screw driver to loosen the crown screws
* a pin removal tool or small drill to remove the pin
* a small hammer
* a Hot Glue gun
Step one: Fire up the glue gun.
Step two: Detach crown guard from your pam and safely store the screws away.
Step three:
Put the crownguard bottom up on a piece of soft wood. Use the pin removal tool or small drill to dislodge the pin from the crown guard. Be careful not to loose it once you pushed it out.
The result should look like this. Here you can see clearly that the pin is much smaller than the hole in the lever. That is why it is so loose in the first place.
Step four: Place the lever on a table. The hole for the pin needs to be vertical. Then place the tip of the glue pistol on top of the lever without (do not dispense any glue yet). Now the lever is slowly heated up by the metal tip of the glue gun.
Step five: Once the lever is really hot apply glue to the pin hole in the lever until it comes out on the opposite side of the lever. Then let the lever cool for 5 minutes or rinse under cold water.
Step six: Remove excess glue, your fingernails should do the trick.
Step seven: Place the lever back in the crown guard and reinsert the pin just a tiny bit (1mm).
Step eight: Put the glue pistol on top of the pin and wait until it picks up the heat. After a while, it will just sink into the crownguard until it is all the way through the lever.
Stop pushing when the pin is still sticking out 2mm.
Step nine (optional): If you want the pin to sit flush with the surface of the crownguard, now is a good moment to file or sand the top of the pin to a smooth flat finish.
Flat surface after filing and sanding. You can also leave the pin sticking out just a hint and wetsand the top of the whole crown guard complete with the pin. This way you will get a perfect surface of crown guard and pin. I would have a look a the gen first, to decide which way to go.
Step ten: Place the tip of the glue pistol over the pin and heat up both pin and crownguard. This takes a minute or two.
Step eleven: Gently push the pin down. If you want it to sit flush with the surface a hard piece of wood will do. If the pin is supposed to be sunken, the pin removal tool or small drill will do.
Step twelve: Again remove excess glue with your fingernails or with some solvent.
Step thirteen: Re-attach the crown guard to the watch and enjoy the firm and tight lever.
The best thing for last. Should the lever ever become loose again (though I expect the glue to outlast any silicone), just use the glue pistol again to reheat the lever. You don’t need to disassemble the crown guard this time around. Just press the pistol on the crown-guard for 2 minutes. The glue will melt again and settle tightly around the pin. Once it has cooled off, it will be as good as the first time around. You can repeat this indefinitely, one application should last the lifetime of the watch.