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My lovely wife gave me a Breitling SO auto for xmas

. She did get from ebay :roll:

I'm trying to determine authenticity. All seems to check out, but just not sure. Help!

also- how do i change the time? I cant budge the "winder".

It must be stuck. I'm not able to unscrew by hand. I hate the thought of using a tool, pliers, to loosen it.

the crown must have been overtightened. I was able to unscrew with very little help from pliers and a protective cloth.

I will try to get pictures posted. I have to say that you all are very helpful and I'm glad to have the resource.

I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned.

aleister wrote:

I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! :wink:

Driver8 wrote:

aleister wrote:

I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! :wink:

Or more likely you tighten yours just right!

Driver8 wrote:

aleister wrote:

I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! :wink:

Or more likely you tighten yours just right!

Author:	toadfarm [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:03 am ]
Post subject:	Newbie help
My lovely wife gave me a Breitling SO auto for xmas . She did get from ebay I'm trying to determine authenticity. All seems to check out, but just not sure. Help! also- how do i change the time? I cant budge the "winder".

Author:	Roffensian [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:31 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
toadfarm wrote: My lovely wife gave me a Breitling SO auto for xmas . She did get from ebay I'm trying to determine authenticity. All seems to check out, but just not sure. Help! also- how do i change the time? I cant budge the "winder". Post photos in the replcia section and we'll soon be able to validate it. The SuperOcean has a screw down crown, you'll need to turn it backwards to unscrew it and it will then pop out to the winding position. Pull it out one stop to get to the quickset date and two to set the time. Do not use the quickset date or wind time backwards between an indicated time of 8pm and 3am

Author:	toadfarm [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:49 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
It must be stuck. I'm not able to unscrew by hand. I hate the thought of using a tool, pliers, to loosen it.

Author:	Driver8 [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:38 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
toadfarm wrote: It must be stuck. I'm not able to unscrew by hand. I hate the thought of using a tool, pliers, to loosen it. As Roff suggested, post us up some pictures and we'll let you know if it's authentic or not. The crown should always be able to be unscrewed by hand, so there is definitely some kind of problem either way.

Author:	toadfarm [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
the crown must have been overtightened. I was able to unscrew with very little help from pliers and a protective cloth. I will try to get pictures posted. I have to say that you all are very helpful and I'm glad to have the resource.

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Author:	andrew692003 [ Mon Dec 28, 2009 3:11 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
toadfarm wrote: the crown must have been overtightened. I was able to unscrew with very little help from pliers and a protective cloth. I will try to get pictures posted. I have to say that you all are very helpful and I'm glad to have the resource. Pliers = Nightmare! Good luck.

Author:	Driver8 [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:42 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
toadfarm wrote: the crown must have been overtightened. I was able to unscrew with very little help from pliers and a protective cloth. I will try to get pictures posted. I have to say that you all are very helpful and I'm glad to have the resource. Jeez I dread to think how much force the previous owner must've used to tighten the crown to the extent that you need pliers to loosen it! I'd suggest getting a watchmaker to give it a quick once over, just to make sure the winding tube isn't damaged. Additionally the o-rings that provide water resistance may also have been damaged by overtightening to that extent, so again it's worth getting it looked at.

Author:	aleister [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:58 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned.

Author:	Driver8 [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 3:34 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
aleister wrote: I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned. I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough!

Author:	Roffensian [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:20 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
Driver8 wrote: aleister wrote: I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned. I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! Or more likely you tighten yours just right!

Author:	Driver8 [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:12 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
Roffensian wrote: Driver8 wrote: aleister wrote: I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned. I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! Or more likely you tighten yours just right! That was my thought!

Author:	toadfarm [ Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:10 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
I did chat with the previous owner. He is a deep sea fisherman and liked to tighten it a little extra to "keep the water out".

Author:	Alan M [ Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:45 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
Doing that would damage it and let the water in.... SAs generally act as a diving aid I've found..

Author:	ravenloff [ Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:40 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
Roffensian wrote: Driver8 wrote: aleister wrote: I can somewhat understand your situation. The crown on my SA sometimes get very hard to unscrew. I never overtighten it, just screw it in normally. Then it seems to self-tighten sometimes, making it difficult to unscrew. Almost so that it's not enough friction in your fingers (and no, my fingers aren't greasy...) and I need to take help from a cloth or glove to unscrew it. I have no idea why this happens, but since the rest of the watch is working as a clock I'm not too concerned. I've never come across that issue with my SA at all. Maybe I don't tighten mine up enough! Or more likely you tighten yours just right! Actually I had a similar issue, but I also couldn't wind it or tighten it either most of the time... I took your advice and sent it in for service. Just got it back works fine now. I was thinking of trading it in, but then came back to my senses. Like Aleister said everything else on the watch performed fine including date change and time keeping.

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Author:	onewatchnut [ Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Newbie help
The same trick I use on hard to remove screw type watch case bezels and backs should also work here. Cut a small piece of double sided carpet tape that is slightly larger than the diameter of the crown. Place it on the crown so it will overlap onto the body of the crown when you grasp it between your thumb and finger. The extra friction should be enough to unscrew the crown. Then remove the tape. No chance of damaging the surface of the crown with this method. Pliers, on the other hand, are reservoirs of scratches and other damage looking for a place to unleash carnage.