Anyone know the best way to remove the hands from the dial/movement? I have a NOS 900911 movement coming to replace the working, but EXTREMELY fast 900231 movement, and I need to know how to best remove them, then re-install them.

TIA!

With the right tools (removers and setters) it's easy. Without, I wouldn't try it. And for a one off vs. the cost of the tools - have someone do it.

Additionally, if the new movement doesn't have a cannon pinion then you will need to remove and replace that which is an absolute nightmare without the right tool - very easy to damage.

Removing the hands without a dial protector is almost guaranteed to leave marks on the dial. So, you will need a dial protector, hand remover and hand setter. Does the replacement movement come with a dial, or do you need to swap the dial as well? That will require additional tools. I assume you have the case and springbar tools if you have gotten this far. If the replacement has a dial attached, you should make sure all the motion works operate prior to installing the hands. Otherwise, you might have to remove them if you need to remove the dial.

You will most certainly screw up the hands and probably the dial too, and you will probably bend a pinion in the process. This is going to be a very expensive watchmaking lesson.

So if anyone is curious how the Jupiter project went...here's a series of pics I took along the way...

The parts I started with, NOS 900911 movement on the right-


In order to remove the hands without marring the dial, I cut some plastic, and laid it over the dial-


Then using the hand removal tool, I popped the hands off, and removed the dial. This was actually VERY easy to do, and they came off with little effort. The dial was clipped in to little guide holes, and it came off with a twist of a flat driver-


Here the dial has been snapped back on to the NOS movement, and the hour hand has been placed back on with a hand setting tool-


Then the minute hand was placed over the hour hand at the straight up 12 position, then I installed the stem to check movement-


I then removed the stem, and installed the movement back in to the case-


Then I installed the battery-


It works!


I put the case back on, and tried to put the crown back on. Here's the one and only part I messed up on. In setting the time, I squeezed the stem a bit too much with the pliers, and now the crown won't go back on with the spring in place-

I also think I lost a small piece that retains the spring inside the crown. So I'll be looking for a new stem with a crown on it.

In the meantime, I put a strap on the watch, and set the current time, and GMT time in the window. It's perfectly wearable at this point, even though it is missing the crown...


So overall, this was a really cool project! I'm REALLY happy that I followed through with it, and go it done. And other than messing up the crown, it turned out great! The new movement is keeping perfect time! Thanks to sonyman for the movement!! Now to find a new stem and crown...hmm...anyone know???