[Archer]

I've been wearing screw down crown watches daily for the last 40 years without incident, one Rolex, one Omega so IMO it doesn't seem that hard to perform that operation without stripping the threads. But, it also seems to me that unscrewing a crown and screwing it back in again is a common enough practice that the design should be such that the threads engage reliably every time without requiring any special technique to ensure they've engaged properly. In other words, unless the user is extremely careless it would seem to me that stripped threads are more indicative of a sub-optimum design, rather than user error, so I'd be upset if it wasn't covered by warranty.

No special technique is required. But nevertheless, people do damage threads, as I’ve repaired many of them. The brand doesn’t matter, it happens across all of them, so they are either all “sub-optimum” designs, or people make mistakes occasionally. I know which option I’d put my money on...

 

[Archer]

I have many watches for which I routinely set the time regularly, without problem of "cross-threading." I'm always careful when I do this. If they blame it on me, I will not be happy about it. I take care of my stuff

See what they say, but if the threads are damaged, I doubt they will cover it under warranty.

 

[dwalby]

No special technique is required. But nevertheless, people do damage threads, as I’ve repaired many of them. The brand doesn’t matter, it happens across all of them, so they are either all “sub-optimum” designs, or people make mistakes occasionally. I know which option I’d put my money on...

If the crown detached from the watch, and human error could cause it to be re-inserted crooked and result in cross threading, I'd agree with you. But in this case there are two objects with threads that are aligned by a common shaft in the middle to keep them aligned. In my mind, an optimum design would have tight enough tolerance so that alignment can't be screwed up, and the threads would always engage properly. I don't know what happens to cause the threads to be stripped, can you elaborate a bit?

 

[jimmer42]

I've recently had this as well. It started with difficulty screwing the crown back in and then eventually wouldn't engage / screw in at all. I returned the watch to the Southampton UK service centre and it was repaired under warranty.

However, on return of the watch, the service centre did send a note stating that this must have happened due to some act of misuse caused by myself and not as a result of a defect but that they had carried out the repair free of charge as an act of goodwill 'on this occasion'. As they did the repair free of charge, I left it at that but had they not fixed it I would have kicked off as it was absolutely not due to any misuse of damage 'inflicted by the user'

 

[Turpinr]

I replaced the case tube on my Tag Heuer Formula 1 a couple of months ago.
The threads were worn but not cross threaded.There isn't enough room for the crown to go between the 2 sides of the crown guard at the wrong angle.
The set up on the Tag is exactly the same as this Seamaster with the tube threads being internal and the crown, external.
I tried numerous methods of getting the tube out including easy out bits but in the end a tungsten drill bit did the trick.
As soon as the drill bit started to cut it turned the tube and out it came.

 

[Archer]

I've recently had this as well. It started with difficulty screwing the crown back in and then eventually wouldn't engage / screw in at all. I returned the watch to the Southampton UK service centre and it was repaired under warranty.

However, on return of the watch, the service centre did send a note stating that this must have happened due to some act of misuse caused by myself and not as a result of a defect but that they had carried out the repair free of charge as an act of goodwill 'on this occasion'. As they did the repair free of charge, I left it at that but had they not fixed it I would have kicked off as it was absolutely not due to any misuse of damage 'inflicted by the user'

That wasn't a warranty repair - it was a courtesy repair - very different thing.

 

[Archer]

If the crown detached from the watch, and human error could cause it to be re-inserted crooked and result in cross threading, I'd agree with you. But in this case there are two objects with threads that are aligned by a common shaft in the middle to keep them aligned. In my mind, an optimum design would have tight enough tolerance so that alignment can't be screwed up, and the threads would always engage properly. I don't know what happens to cause the threads to be stripped, can you elaborate a bit?

There is enough flexibility in the stem and seals that the crown can be misaligned. Look you can believe whatever you wish, but this is not an unusual thing - again it happens across all brands. People sometimes don't pay attention and the threads get damaged. The only watches where this can't happen are watches that don;t have screw down crowns.

 

[two4spooky]

I just came across this thread. I too had this issue with my SMP(ref.210.32.42.20.01.001) after about a year of wear. I only noticed the problem as the crown came to require less than one(1) turn to seat. Omega corrected the issue under warranty. I have more than a few watches, from quite affordable to more costly than the SMP, with more wrist time. This is the first time I have had an issue with the crown threads on any watch. Still love the SMP though. It is my current everyday watch and has been for the last year or so.

 

[drmdwebb]

Update: the AD sent it off to Omega for repair. No word yet on if they'll consider it under warranty. They quoted me just a couple of weeks to get it back, so anytime now ...

 

[drmdwebb]

UPDATE again:

I got the watch back from the AD yesterday. Omega covered it under warranty. I left it with them on 12/15 and it came back on 2/18 for a total of 9 weeks and 2 days in service (and transit). Looking and running great:

I still don't think I was doing anything wrong operating the stem before. But I'll be EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA careful with it this time around.

 

[FJR1971]

UPDATE again:

I got the watch back from the AD yesterday. Omega covered it under warranty. I left it with them on 12/15 and it came back on 2/18 for a total of 9 weeks and 2 days in service (and transit). Looking and running great:

View attachment 16448600

I still don't think I was doing anything wrong operating the stem before. But I'll be EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA careful with it this time around.

Nice to have it back!

 

[mitch57]

My Rolex watches screw in and lock precisely every time. Not so with my 3 Omega watches.

On all of my screw down crown watches I always push the crown in while applying continual pressure and rotate it counterclockwise until it I feel and hear a click. I then continue to apply pressure and rotate it clockwise and the crowns screw down smoothly. I do this for all all 18 of my watches that have screw down crowns with the exception of my Rolex watches.

If I don't do the above procedure I can sometimes feel the crown starting to cross thread so I resorted to the above method to eliminate or reduce the chance of cross threading. The above method seems to prevent this from happening.

I'm sure Archer will chime in and let us know if my method is flawed or not. He definitely knows more about this than I do. I just heard that this was one way to help eliminate cross threading the stem.