Reply To: Stubborn Agassiz Winding Stem

[mrroundel]

Update: I took the watch over to a friend’s house yesterday to make some comparisons. He owns a few Agassiz movements from the same era (straight bridges) that should have similar setting mechanisms. My friend was able to get the hands to move a bit by holding the crown out firmly once he felt it click (rather weakly). So it looks like the problem is in the detent/setting lever interface. According to his parts list images, the lever has a little protrusion on the top that the detent should go past and lock in setting position. Somehow it’s not pulling out far enough to engage fully and move the detent over the top of the setting lever lock. It looks like I’ll at least be removing the dial (Oh so carefully) and getting a better look at what’s happening.
Step one: My friend told me that, since the dial is a snap-on type w/bezel, I should be able to back out the detent screw a little more than the two turns that I’ve done so far. This is due to the dial having more give if it’s pushed from behind from an over-loosened detent screw. I don’t want to crack this dial.
Bob, (or anyone else) have any idea how many turns of the detent screw it should take to get the stem to release? I may have mentioned in my original post, that I seem to remember 1 1/2 being the “magic number”. Thanks.