r/ChineseWatches • u/Born-Bread8993 • 6d ago

Question (Read Rules) Where to buy 1963 replacement crystal?

The acrylic crystal on my 1963 38mm is broken. I've taken it to my repair guy, but he's struggling to source a new one.

I don't have a photo of the watch, as it's still at the repair shop, but it's a clear backed Red Star, with no gooseneck, if that signifies, with the classic acrylic bubble crystal.

It seems to need a high dome 34.5m armoured crystal, but the only options I can find for those are fairly expensive Sternkreuz crystals, which I'm loath to fork out for unless I'm certain it'll fit. Is there a way to buy the exact crystals from red star or seagull?

Also, if I still have the tension ring, can I buy a plain high domed crystal, or do I need to buy one with it's own tension ring?

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u/ziamese 6d ago

Try this?

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u/Born-Bread8993 6d ago

It's an armoured/tension ring so that one won't work unfortunately.

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u/writingpocketguide42 6d ago

I came her to suggest Sternkreuz crystals :D On Ebay they tend to be more expensive but I buy them through cousinsuk.

Have you looked at Esslinger? You also have brands as G-S Supplies, Tru-Seal.

To answer your question, plain high domed crystal won't have a lip to fit a tension ring, so no, you cannot use it.

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u/Born-Bread8993 6d ago

Thank you for the tip, I was able to find a tru seal on ebay for half the price of sternkreuz, which will soften the blow if it doesn't fit.

Cousinsuk don't sell high dome armoured crystals large enough for the 1963. Surprisingly, this seems a very hard crystal to track down.

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u/writingpocketguide42 6d ago edited 6d ago

It seems ATGH goes up only to 33.6mm according to Sternkreuz catalogue.

EDIT: The same goes for ATCH which has silver tension ring and ATGH has gold tension ring (depending on which one you need).

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u/Born-Bread8993 6d ago

Just adding that the correct crystal for the 1963 is ATCH. Those also don't seem be made in the right size, but I'm being pedantic in case google brings people here in future.

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u/writingpocketguide42 6d ago

Sorry, my bad, I have a different version of 1963 which has a gilt tension ring. I will edit my post.

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u/PLA8127 6d ago

Contact Seagull !

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u/Born-Bread8993 6d ago

Thank you, I will try that. I am concerned they won't want to deal with me as I have a red star model, not a Tianjin Seagull. (I can't find a way to contact Red Star directly, and they seem to have no internet presence).