My First Proper Watch Mod / Removing A Cyclops How Will It Go?  

a soldering iron is my prefered weapon to slay cyclopses :)

Get the flamethrower, Hans!

I held my breath the entire time once I saw the size of that torch. Glad your first mod went well!

Good job 🙂 I’ve been trying common lighters, soldering irons, razors... to no avail... til I got that blue flame little torch. Couple of touches and you hear the ‘clink’. I had the movement out of case... just in case 😆

I am a bit split about cyclopses. They can be a feast for the eyes but the often gather a bit of dust around them. A few months ago I had the cyclops removed from my San Martin Subby homage. Their higly praised QC control had failed on this one, the cyclops was heavily misaligned, it was applied way to high. I was scared to do it myself, so I had a watchmaker do it for me. Now I'm happy with the watch. Cheers!

You are a master, if I would do that something would burn for sure. Thanks for showing 🚒

Looks much better. These are my favorite videos! I'm modding watches myself. Keep up the good work!

Looks much better mate! Now I've seen you do that I may well have a go at one on a pagani. 😁

Oh my - got one on the way that'll need doing. 1st video i've seen of it being done.... All I kept seeing was frozen windscreens cracking when boiling water tipped in them!! 😱😱😱 - well done that man 👍🙈

You're a braver man than me! Well done - great job

Great one! I although hate date watches, the Addiesdive have a cheap and decent quartz in this style (~40-45bucks about), and I wanna remove the cyclops as it very annoying when the hands are under that.

"watch me with watches" recommends to remove the bezel, as the high temperature can damage the bezel insert. Guess it can lead to discolouration and cracks. Now, as you have the tools, i am waiting for a "how to make creme brulee" clip. Perfect for Christmas dinner. Way to surprise the partner and family with the good things and added value that come with our hobby.

Ha! brilliant, thanks. I never knew these could be removed, just assumed it was part of the crystal. I’ve rejected watches in the past because of them. In fact I don’t really like dates on watches, particularly automatic watches, due to the need to reset them all the time if you rotate what you wear….

Looks better, well done mate

A little condensation inside... I do this operation with a soldering iron. I keep a hot soldering iron pressed against the cyclops for around 9 minutes then remove the cyclops with a razer blade knife. The cyclops breaks, but the watch has no damage, so i prefer this method.

I just ordered the SD1953 in black. Will definitely remove the cyclops when it arrives in 4 or 5 weeks. Cheers!

very brave dude!! i wanted to get the king turtle and do the same but not confident i will do it without screwing up the watch LOL

I cracked the glass on my Invicta trying this. My new Steeldive arrived yesterday!!

I just tried it prior to watching your video. You made it seem so easy. I have a Seiko King Turtle with a cyclops over the day date. I took the movement out and the bezel. The torch I had was a four and three flame cigar torch. The only thing I was able to do was to chip the cyclops. I gave up. I’ll try and buy a single flame torch lighter and try again. Update: soldering iron didn’t work. So I said to hell with it I’ll use my 4 burner torch lighter again. I applied so much heat that the case got extremely hot to the touch and the cyclops still wouldn’t come off. So I got pissed off and used a hammer with the scalpel knife and I knocked that mother f… off.

Just a word of advice, buy a roll of metal hvac tape and cover your bezel to reflect the heat. Ive seen people burn their bezel pretty bad with those butane lighters.

Good job mate , I need to do this with my PD that i got last week , cyclops is so bad you can't actually see the date lol , didn't look too difficult

Thanks for this! Just did this on a few of my watches. I really don’t like Cyclopes.

Thank you!!I just did it with same tool. How easy was that… the cyclops being gone has renewed my love for this particular watch!!!

Very well done 😊👍

Just took mine off my Steeldive today using this same method. What did you use to remove the adhesive?

I just removed the cyclops from my watch after watching this, it took a little longer for me but I'm guessing that's just because it's the first time I've done it, the cyclops flew off I applied that much pressure and the residue that was still on the glass I removed with wet and dry sandpaper 2000, looks perfect now 👍

Holy smokes it worked and looks good

Very tempted to try this on a mod I'm planning soon. How did you clean off the glue/marks on the sapphire?

I'm not the best modder myself, but for the next time you may want to remove the bezel! That's easy as well, but you won't damage this insert 😁 Anyway, great video buddy!

Best practice is first to remove the crystal from the case otherwise you will risk the plastic crystal gasket & rubber caseback gasket integrity. Also the movement.

Such a great watch. Wish it came without date.

Did this for multiple of my steel dive subs. Looks 10x better. Only down fall is that my watches are no longer water proof. Wondering if I take it apart and seal the sapphire with silicone glue/epoxy….

Had me on pins and needles till it came off. All I could think about was burning the dial or the bezel and when the cyclops came off I just started laughing in relief. lol.

I just tried it AND IT WORKED! My pro tip: i "soaked" my Seiko Monster in hot water for a few minutes, applying direct heat on an already warm crystal lowers the risk of it cracking from the termic shock.

Watched to see if you'd set something on fire...maybe next time 🤷‍♂️

Excellent looks much better

my steeldive has exactly the same problem but with my DIY skills ill burn the house down well done)

You no longer a mod virgin.Well done,keep on modding😁

Ya big girl, I did it in one with a jet lighter not a flamethrower. 😁

Looks Good!

Just me or at 3:42 you can see some condensation under the glass on the lower half of the dial? Maybe the butane?

what did you use to clean up the crystal???

I managed to crack the glass on my first attempt at this mod - fortunately it was only a £10 Tevise, so not too many tears shed and a lesson learned. Agree that removing the Cyclops really improves the look of divers.

Damn that blue bezel n dial looks amazing. I saw pics on aliexpress n the dial looked almost purple. Does it look like the video in real life?

I will try it!! What solvent did you use to remove the residues!?

Nice I didn't know you could do that. Might actually buy a submariner homage now and just take off the cyclops (i hate the look of them)

Seems like removing the bezel and the movement would not be a bad idea. But, man, that was a simple way to do that.

Thanks for watching . I see what you did there

I'm a little late to the party here but thought I'd add my two cents. About 2 weeks ago I did this (almost) exact technique on my Invicta diver. I was persuaded by the notion that if you can directly heat the cyclops, and no other part of the watch, the adhesive underneath can't get any hotter than it's melting temperature *. For more safety, I wrapped the entire watch with aluminum foil, exposing only the cyclops, plus maybe 2mm around it. Reasoning: the foil will deflect any heat not hitting the cyclops. Worked like a charm, took maybe 3 seconds, and the crystal hardly got warmer. In fact, no part of the watch warmed much. If I did it again, especially on a more expensive watch, I'd put some kind of insulation between the watch and foil. * within reason - you can't blast it for an extended time.

Much better!

How did the bezel insert not get damaged with all the heat? Also how about a video on re-adding a cyclops (correctly positioned obviously) back to the watch?

I tried this on my GMT pagani. End up taking Cyclops off. But also the glass came out. Think it overheated the watch too much!! Live and learn.

I think if I ever try this I would use a painters heat gun and cut a piece of thin timber with a hole in it as a cover template so I only applied heat to the cyclops. I hate the look of a cyclops on a watch. But maybe on some watches they look acceptable.

Am I imagining things or are there water droplets inside the case in the final part of video?

The erratic jabbing with the screw driver filled me with anxiety! When I removed the one on my pagani I just carefully used the blow torch until it popped off.

What are other plans for this watch? White ceramic bezel mod to make it a yatchmaster type watch?

Needs a date frame now lol 😂

You absolutely will melt the plastic ring (ask me how I know) and probably the the lube.

Wow, that burner is a beast. I did the same thing on my mini-turtle. You were much more sensible in your approach. Perfect result in both cases however. Congrats.

They sold you _that_ as a cigar lighter? A table lighter maybe, but it looks more like something you'd use to finish a creme brulee.

I was wondering,did you or do you have a model building channel ? I'm sure I recognize your voice from somewhere else 😂👍

Not a fan of cyclops, might have to try that myself....⌚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⌚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

You cooked it, you ruddy cooked it 😢

hello my friend

Use a soldering iron if you are being lazy. Easier to target the heat.

Looks better. Not really a fan of those things.

Great job getting rid of that stupid cyclops thingy (mostly unnecessary and ruins most dial designs IMHO). And since you tapped your feet slightly into the eternal rabbit hole here, we hopefully might be looking forward to some more cool modding videos..? (Welcome to the REAL dark side my dear son, muahhuahuahuah..!!)

jesus dude... use a soldering iron to take that off.

Not the best way. Be glad its a cheap watch. Use wood or plastic and a hammer. One hit and its off.