One of the most common repairs that I do every month is to replace a Rolex Crystal. It seems like when a customer drops their watch, it never lands on the soft carpet, but always manages to hit the hardwood floor! In this blog post I will show the steps that I go through to replace a Plastic and a Sapphire crystal.

The Rolex sapphire crystal is a complex part. The crystal has a groove cut in the bottom that makes room for the plastic gasket. The gasket makes the seal around the case lip that makes the water tight seal that rolex is famous for.

Picture shows the groove on underside of crystal
Crystal and plastic crystal gasket
Gasket installed on crystal


case showing ledge that crystal fits on


Crystal and gasket installed on case. The crystal needs to be installed with the movement in the case. That is the only way to accurately align the crystal magnifier over the date window.
I always add epoxy abound the underside of the crystal before it is pressed in place. This helps make the watertight seal
Bezel installed. You can see it is not down all the way. Now we press it down to make the seal
Crystal is now pressed in place

Plastic Crystal

The plastic crystal is a bit easier since it is molded on one place. Same basic process as with sapphire.

front bezel ready for crystal

Plastic crystal installed and ready for the movement.

I hope that this gives you a better idea of what goes into replacing a Rolex Crystal. It is not that hard but needs to be done properly to make sure the watch does not leak.

Mark Sirianni Watch repair

25 Fraley St.

Kane, PA. 16735

1-814-837-9435

1-814-558-4818 cell

[email protected]