There was no help on the watch forums, so maybe you all can help. I want to
remove the little magnifier lens over the date window on my cheap Seiko
wrist watch. It appears to be glued on the crystal. I tried MEK as a
solvent with no effect as it evaporated too quickly. The lens is right at
the edge of the crystal and it is difficult to prevent a liquid from going
over the edge of the crystal into the sealed joint with the bezel. If I
can't find a solvent, there is always a cold chisel.....G. Failing that,
I think I can get a new plain crystal installed, but I was hoping there is
some way to remove it in the shop. Thanks.

Randy

Randal O'Brian squeezed out:

There was no help on the watch forums, so maybe you all can help. I
want to remove the little magnifier lens over the date window on my
cheap Seiko
wrist watch. It appears to be glued on the crystal. I tried MEK as a
solvent with no effect as it evaporated too quickly. The lens is right
at the edge of the crystal and it is difficult to prevent a liquid
from going
over the edge of the crystal into the sealed joint with the bezel. If
I
can't find a solvent, there is always a cold chisel.....G. Failing
that, I think I can get a new plain crystal installed, but I was
hoping there is
some way to remove it in the shop. Thanks.

Randy

Randy.
I don't think it comes off.. but I could be wrong. It it was applied
to the top of the crystal the material below would interfere with the
magnification no?
Why do you want it removed? Is it flush with the top of the crystal?
If so you could just file it off and buff it afterward to polish it up
some. Worst comes to worst you could always have a new crystal
installed.
Cheers! Ian.

--
Please remove "whacked" in my email address to reach me.

Randal O'Brian wrote:

There was no help on the watch forums, so maybe you all can help. I want to
remove the little magnifier lens over the date window on my cheap Seiko
wrist watch. It appears to be glued on the crystal. I tried MEK as a
solvent with no effect as it evaporated too quickly. The lens is right at
the edge of the crystal and it is difficult to prevent a liquid from going
over the edge of the crystal into the sealed joint with the bezel. If I
can't find a solvent, there is always a cold chisel.....G. Failing that,
I think I can get a new plain crystal installed, but I was hoping there is
some way to remove it in the shop. Thanks.

You can definitely get a new crystal installed. $35 at my shop.
The magnifier is probably on with a UV-setting cement. I'm unaware of a solvent for the stuff.

As a _last_ resort, I'd try crushing the magnifier by gripping it with a vicegrip or end-cutters and giving it a squeeze. Then scrape the remains away with a single-edge razorblade.


--
Carl West http://carl.west.home.comcast.net

change the 'DOT' to '.' to email me

If I had six hours to chop down a tree,
I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe.
- Abraham Lincoln

Ian Timshel wrote:

Randal O'Brian squeezed out:

...I
want to remove the little magnifier lens over the date window on my
cheap Seiko wrist watch....

I don't think it comes off.. but I could be wrong. It it was applied
to the top of the crystal the material below would interfere with the
magnification no?
Why do you want it removed? Is it flush with the top of the crystal?
If so you could just file it off and buff it afterward to polish it up
some.

The magnifiers are usually on the outside, and they often get very scratched up because of it.

Trying to file/grind, sand and buff a piece of mineral glass back to transparency is a serious lapidary project.

--
Carl West http://carl.west.home.comcast.net

change the 'DOT' to '.' to email me

If I had six hours to chop down a tree,
I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe.
- Abraham Lincoln

You can definitely get a new crystal installed. $35 at my shop.
The magnifier is probably on with a UV-setting cement. I'm unaware of a
solvent for the stuff.

We used to remove sapphire bonded to glass with heat. Set the crystal on a hot
plate and slowly increase the temperature while checking the bonding. If the
crystal is sealed to the watch works, you probably don't want to do this.

Earle Rich
Mont Vernon, NH

If it is indeed glued on, it could either be Methylene Chloride to dissolve
the glue but that needs to be done in a sealed bottle as it takes a while to
make an effect.
Your best place for optical cements and so forth really is someplace like
SCI.OPTICS where they deal with glass and so forth regularly.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works evevery time it is tried!

Should you want to try different potential solvents, you can avoid their
evaporation by building a small dam around the target area with
modeling clay, caulk or some other removable sealant that you have
experimentally
determined will not be attacked. Cover the damn with a lid of the same
sealant while applying
it to any joint you don't want infiltrated.

A less advisable alternative would be to place a saturated wad of paper on
the spot and try
to seal it off from the atmosphere with stretch wrap or something similar.

One potential jeopardy might be that the solvent partially
dissolves your lens attachment, seeping through to the watch innards with
unsavory results.

If no one can offer an identification of the likely glue so you can call the
manufacturer
on solvent selection, you might try talking to dentists since they use a
variety of such
adhesives in their practices. They should be able to refer you to dealers,
dental schools
or manufacturers for further investigation. Rec.crafts.glass people and ,of
course, Seiko
could possibly offer pointers.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

In article . net, Edward
Hennessey says...

Should you want to try different potential solvents, you can avoid their
evaporation by building a small dam around the target area with
modeling clay, caulk or some other removable sealant

I know from experience that one good way of trapping a
small volume of solvent on a surface like that is by
simply laying a small O-ring over the item you want
to soak off. The surface tension will actually
keep the solvent inside the ring - only a tiny
amount will weep out from underneath. Periodically
drip a bit in to keep up with evaporation.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Taking into account several suggestions that you guys made, I grabbed the
edges of the lens with vise-grips and crushed it. That removed about 30% of
it completely and left the remainder as a thin slab of glass still bonded to
the crystal. Attacking the edges of the slab with a sharp wood chisel was
not effective as there was just not enough thickness to get good purchase.
Application of a hot soldering gun tip to the slab softened the adhesive and
allowed me to scrape it off with the chisel. It was all over in 10 min. and
with nary a scratch on the crystal. I don't know what kind of adhesive they
used, but it was incredibly tenacious on a polished glass surface. Many
thanks to all.

Randy


"Randal O'Brian" wrote in message
...
There was no help on the watch forums, so maybe you all can help. I want
to
remove the little magnifier lens over the date window on my cheap Seiko
wrist watch. It appears to be glued on the crystal. I tried MEK as a
solvent with no effect as it evaporated too quickly. The lens is right at
the edge of the crystal and it is difficult to prevent a liquid from going
over the edge of the crystal into the sealed joint with the bezel. If I
can't find a solvent, there is always a cold chisel.....G. Failing
that,
I think I can get a new plain crystal installed, but I was hoping there is
some way to remove it in the shop. Thanks.

Randy

Application of a hot soldering gun tip to the slab softened the adhesive and
allowed me to scrape it off with the chisel. It was all over in 10 min. and
with nary a scratch on the crystal. I don't know what kind of adhesive they
used, but it was incredibly tenacious on a polished glass surface.

Sure sounds like UV cure cement. Application of heat to begin with would have
taken it off without the physical trauma.

Earle Rich
Mont Vernon, NH