If you have one of those
Ebay Marina Militare watches that comes with those flimsy glassbacks, you might one day encounter the same problem as I did. Basically these glass windows are just glued to the glassback's metal frame and very often, they were poorly done. There's no real form of sealing at all. Even those higher quality glassbacks from the custom Pamhom makers will eventually deteriorate, as my friend Chris Moy had experienced with his Pamhom watch.
Water got into the watch via the gap between the glass and the glassback's metal frame, take a look at these pictures of my old Ebay Marina Militare.
My problem came really fast because the glassback came with uneven gluing and you can see bubbles within the silicon. Water got into the watch during hand washing within just a few days of wear. As you would had knew, moisture would wreck havoc in any watch.
I decided to fix it myself and solved the problem, and was better than it was new after the operation. There are no more bubbles within the silicone and it looked perfect.
Anyway here's how I fixed the problem. Don't worry, its an easy fix. You will need the following:
1. Hot glue stick.
2. Lighter or some form of heater.
3. Cooking stove in your kitchen.
4. Old metal plate or baking tray which you no longer use.
5. Razor blade.
6. Pliers to grip the heated metal glassback frame (I use my Leatherman multitool).
7. Gloves to protect your hands, do not use materials that will melt with heat, eg: rubber.
8. About 20 minutes.
Here are the steps:
1. Remove the piece of glass from the glassback metal frame, just peel it off.
2. Remove the old glue residues from the frame, make sure it's clean.
3. Heat the glue stick and gingerly apply it to the metal frame at the location where the glass will eventually sit and let it dry. Ensure you cover the whole perimeter with hot glue. Do not apply excessively but it is perfectly alright to be messy because you can never make it look neat, which bring us to the next step.
4. Place the glassback metal frame on the baking tray bottom up (with the screw threads down).
5. Place the baking tray on your stove and turn on the fire. The baking tray will prevent the glassback metal frame from blackening, we just want the heat to transfer there so as to melt the hotglue.
6. Heat it till you see the hot glue melt into liquid form. Here's where the hot glue will even out smoothly and that is why its alright to be messy in step 3.
7. Turn off the stove and remove the metal frame from the tray with your pliers (unless you wanna burn your fingers)
8. Place it bottom up (with the screw threads down) on a flat surface (not your expensive tabletop, but some surface which heat will not cause damage).
9. Now place the glass into its original position on the metal frame and press it down, some hot glue will ooze out and that is fine. Protect your fingers from the hot metal frame by wearing gloves.
10. Allow it to cool down naturally.
11. Using the razor blade, carefully trim off the excess hot glue and it's done!
I really hope I can provide some pictures of the process for this tutorial instead of just words. But I already sold my old Marina Militare and I don't want to use my brand new Davidsen glassback for it since it never gave me problems, yet.
Disclaimer: Try this at your own risk, I am not responsible if you mess up your watch, injure yourself or damage your properties. It worked for me and I hope it will work for you too. :D
Nav B's flatter, MM's thicker.
The MM's a pseudo vintage diver watch, while the Nav B's a pseudo vintage pilot watch.
Many guys had concerns if these watches would be too big for their wrists. I have puny 6.5"-6.75" wrists and I don't care and wear them. Yes it might seems like I am wearing alarm clocks on my wrist but I think it just takes getting used to. Ultimately all that matters is that I enjoy my watches. :)
My problem came really fast because the glassback came with uneven gluing and you can see bubbles within the silicon. Water got into the watch during hand washing within just a few days of wear. As you would had knew, moisture would wreck havoc in any watch.
I decided to fix it myself and solved the problem, and was better than it was new after the operation. There are no more bubbles within the silicone and it looked perfect.
This project watch was a response to my dissatisfaction over my previous bad experiences with those Ebay Marina Militares, which should be considered expensive for the low quality they offered. They looked good on pictures, (see pic to the left and right below), but I was actually spending money buying pain.
