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Bell & Ross Watch Vintage BR 123 Sport Heritage

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G_sus

Ive been hovering round one of these for a bit, but this im gonna chicken out if the crystal is gonna be an issue...

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Thommo82
1 hour ago, G_sus said:

Ive been hovering round one of these for a bit, but this im gonna chicken out if the crystal is gonna be an issue...

It’s one of my favourite watches. Yes my crystal pooped, have a plexi in it now. 

I think @NCRich had a solution for the exploding?

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cvp3

Replacing the crystal is the only solution. 

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Thommo82

@brang1 your B&R123 didn’t explode did it?

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brang1
2 hours ago, Thommo82 said:

@brang1 your B&R123 didn’t explode did it?

Nope

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mattboons

A beauty... I m waiting mine... 

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Noodle_oh

Was about to pick one of these up, and then found this thread. :( Is the one on special from TB the one with the issue? It's acrylic, there is another version he has that's sapphire. 

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PCJ

I got one of these last year and the glass exploded spontaneously whilst it was on the coffee table. 

 

Sent it back and eventually got it back and have been wearing it as a daily driver for the last few months with zero issues, including regularly flying with it. Love the design and it feels comfortable 

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Silvire
On 30/03/2018 at 21:03, NCRich said:

Those domed crystals have a high failure rate.  They look nice but they explode in the box.  Ask @Thommo82

Wait, what exactly do you mean? The crystals just explode on their own??

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NCRich
1 hour ago, Silvire said:

Wait, what exactly do you mean? The crystals just explode on their own??

Yeah, they go boom.

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tonyh7
19 minutes ago, NCRich said:

Yeah, they go boom.

They are described as domed crystal. This is a typo, should have been doomed crystals. 

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GenTLe
9 hours ago, Silvire said:

Wait, what exactly do you mean? The crystals just explode on their own??

There are 2 versions, the cheaper one with mineral glass that does "boom" and the expensive one which is exactly the same but with a sapphire glass. I've the latter and it's very fine.

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BadPickle
9 hours ago, Silvire said:

Wait, what exactly do you mean? The crystals just explode on their own??

you need safety glasses whilst wearing them, most TD's supply them together, you gotta ask first tho. 

 

 

good luck 

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PCJ
3 hours ago, GenTLe said:

There are 2 versions, the cheaper one with mineral glass that does "boom" and the expensive one which is exactly the same but with a sapphire glass. I've the latter and it's very fine.

I believe Sapphire glass (in general)  is actually more prone to exploding! I've got a replacement mineral glass (I think) and it's fine so far. 

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Jasonbaylee
you need safety glasses whilst wearing them, most TD's supply them together, you gotta ask first tho. 
 
 
good luck 



I received 2 pairs FOC


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Silvire

.................I'm not sure how much i'm getting bamboozled here...

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PCJ
On 05/04/2019 at 06:46, Silvire said:

.................I'm not sure how much i'm getting bamboozled here...

 

In all seriousness - my glass genuinely did 'explode'.. It left pieces of glass across the coffee table.

 

I've been wearing it since almost daily for work and it's held up fine.  I'm still super happy I got it

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Alhig72

Just got mine today and this thread has me worrying about my crystal exploding lol 68d93b2bfbd663bd0a2793a7ffe2a410.jpg3edafef619917c5a71111ee2651fb548.jpg

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

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deju
14 minutes ago, Alhig72 said:

Just got mine today and this thread has me worrying about my crystal exploding lol 68d93b2bfbd663bd0a2793a7ffe2a410.jpg3edafef619917c5a71111ee2651fb548.jpg

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Yeah you can see from that photo, not long for that one....

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aitcharGMT

Hey guys, I wish i had seen this thread before, although I think i bought the watch before this was created. Anywhoo, I had the exact same issue maybe a year after I bought it: watch sitting in a box, try to take it out one day but it must have gone boom during the night!  I think I wore it 3 or 4 times, so it was mostly sitting in my watch box for its life, and I only had taken it out one day before because someone wanted to buy it from me but was asking if the crystal was mineral or plexi... Now it's neither! :angry:

Anyways, does anyone know of a source for a plexiglass "crystal" or maybe a sapphire one?

BTW, did Toro fix it FOC? Mine is nowhere within warranty so want to explore my options before I send it to him. 

Cheers!

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GenTLe
10 hours ago, aitcharGMT said:

Hey guys, I wish i had seen this thread before, although I think i bought the watch before this was created. Anywhoo, I had the exact same issue maybe a year after I bought it: watch sitting in a box, try to take it out one day but it must have gone boom during the night!  I think I wore it 3 or 4 times, so it was mostly sitting in my watch box for its life, and I only had taken it out one day before because someone wanted to buy it from me but was asking if the crystal was mineral or plexi... Now it's neither! :angry:

Anyways, does anyone know of a source for a plexiglass "crystal" or maybe a sapphire one?

BTW, did Toro fix it FOC? Mine is nowhere within warranty so want to explore my options before I send it to him. 

Cheers!

Toro can't really do nothing about it... Luckily I've the sapphire version and it's well done (no problem of crystal there).

Finding a replacement isn't that easy: at least you need to measure the old crystal (impossible now) or the slot where it goes in, and in a very precise way. And from that you can start searching (i.e. on Cousins UK) it there is something suitable. Most probably the best way to put it back is to use hypo cement.

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NCRich
13 hours ago, aitcharGMT said:

Hey guys, I wish i had seen this thread before, although I think i bought the watch before this was created. Anywhoo, I had the exact same issue maybe a year after I bought it: watch sitting in a box, try to take it out one day but it must have gone boom during the night!  I think I wore it 3 or 4 times, so it was mostly sitting in my watch box for its life, and I only had taken it out one day before because someone wanted to buy it from me but was asking if the crystal was mineral or plexi... Now it's neither! :angry:

Anyways, does anyone know of a source for a plexiglass "crystal" or maybe a sapphire one?

BTW, did Toro fix it FOC? Mine is nowhere within warranty so want to explore my options before I send it to him. 

Cheers!

Measure the opening and order a plexi from CousinsUK.  I actually use UV cement rather than hypo cement.  Better all around I think.

I think I ordered a  HW Sternkreuz 33.0 and a HW Sternkreuz 32.8 but I can't remember which fit better.  Plexis are cheap.  In any event clean your rehaut very well and then measure with a digital caliper.

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aitcharGMT

Thank you so much guys, @GenTLe & @NCRich! Yeah that's a much better alternative than sending a crystal-less (and paying for it, of course) watch and run the usual risks. Re the UV cement, it's a great idea, I've been using it for some other stuff and the time flexibility before trying to get it set allows for great results.

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PCJ

 

On 26/03/2021 at 07:45, GenTLe said:

Toro can't really do nothing about it... Luckily I've the sapphire version and it's well done (no problem of crystal there).

Finding a replacement isn't that easy: at least you need to measure the old crystal (impossible now) or the slot where it goes in, and in a very precise way. And from that you can start searching (i.e. on Cousins UK) it there is something suitable. Most probably the best way to put it back is to use hypo cement.

Can any watch repair shop do this? Looks like I need to finally go plexi

20210323-150038.jpg

 

My one just 'exploded' again, for the 2nd time. To be fair, this time I've been daily wearing it almost exclusively for over a year, but it popped inside the watch case whilst I was away

Edited by JayA

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Rower

It say domed crystal but I'm thinking it's a typo. It should read DOOMED crystal!

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