DTI Glass replacement

Does anyone know of an establishment/ business , in or around the Birmingham area , where I can get the broken glass in one of my DTI’s replaced .

There is no other issue with the piece , just broken glass , and I can’t figure out how to remove the glass retaining bezel.

I have replaced several, never found a glass one they have all been plastic. Just buy a welding mask protector screen for pennies off eBay. Turn a shallow dome in some scrap material, heat up the plastic screen until it goes soft then pull it over the dome to make a dish of it then trim it to your required diameter.

A few years ago, in Grantham, I had two or three of mine replaced for reasonable cost by a local watchmaker and jeweller.

Walsh watch materials have a place in Birmingham

I have a Mercer Type 212-1 where the "crystal" is missing. It seems to be retained by a snap ring..

The "crystal" cannot be replaced by a flat piece of acrylic since that would foul the pointer, so it must be domed to clear.

Gaugetech Ltd seem to be the Mercer spares and repair people.

Must find out how much a replacement crystal will cost.

Howard

Check out doubleboost youtube channel he's had his mate 'Bob' showing how he repair DTI and makes new crystals etc

H

Search ebay for pocket watch glass. All sizes up to about 50mm at about £3.

Thanks H , and others for interest shown , I will give the doubleboost line a try .

Often the crystal is a flat disc that is pressed into place using a domed mandrel. The disc edge snaps into a groove in the bezel, or is retained by the snap ring etc, maintaining its domed shape under tension. Can be done in the lathe by holding the bezel in a suitable collar in the chuck and making a domed mandrel that fits in the tailstock chuck. Screwing the tailstock handle provides the press action. Sometimes a slight bevel around the OD of the disc is required to make it locate in the bezel properly.

Some good info on it here **LINK**

and they provide a mail order repair service. Probably cheaper to go to your local watch repair shop though.

I've done this too. Turned a flat disc and pressed it in to a dome shape. You need to get the OD of the blank just the right diameter and I had several tried to get one right. It's far easier to form a shallow dome and turn the OD on the lathe.