Jewelry Displays & BoxesJewelrySupply Friction Ball Watch Case Opener

I purchased a Mil- Spec Luminox, their very hard to get, and their very well made for the the price point. This simple ball was used to ensure the 46mm watch back plate was tight, aligned perfectly, could be opened, and it worked great. If you have any difficulty, change your hands, ensuring you have a solid grasp on the watch case, apply the ball to the center of the backplate with the opposing hand, and turn to open or close. It's firm and consistent pressure. And works great!

I'm in the habit of regulating all of my automatic watches using a timegrapher, since over time and/or apart from luxury brands, they can drift in accuracy and require slight adjustments to remain accurate.I had a couple of Breitling casebacks, however, of different sizes, that can't be opened with a standard caseback tool, and the die for each size runs over $100 to open, not to mention the tool on which to mount the die so that it can be used.This little tool worked perfectly, straight out of the bag, to open them both. A little force is required. Be gentle and be patient. Repeated press-and-twist motions (say, 10-15 of them) are easier and safer to apply than trying to get it all in one go, and the back does come loose. Once loose, you can use the ball to simply gently press against and rotate the caseback all the way off in moments.It's far safer than a metal die or a standard caseback tool because if you slip, no harm is done (so long as you hold on to the actual watch case firmly and don't drop it or something).You can also use it to confidently re-tighten. Here's the secret to doing that. Press only lightly to screw the back in the first time and the tightening rotation will stop at some point and the ball will continue to rotate (becuase you're only pressing lightly). Check that it's at max "hand tighten" at that point.Then, give a *very firm* press with the ball and slowly rotate farther. You'll find that you get another 1/3rd to 1/4th turn with this higher pressure and that afterward you reach a "hard" rather than a "soft" turning limit. Your caseback is secure!This tool represents a net savings of hundreds of dollars to me. I'm very satisfied!One thing—the surface of the tool is a pristine rubbery surface. Over time, it gets coated with dust and microfibres . Of course, environmental debris between the rubber and the caseback will also contribute to micro-scratches on your casebacks, which you don't want. So keep this ball in the plastic ziploc bag that it comes in.It probably won't last forever—you'll ultimately still get dust and debris on it over time—but if you keep it in the bag apart from moments actually opening, and you dust your casebacks well with a blower before using this tool, I imagine you'll get a lot of use after it.In my case, it's become my go-to caseback opener—less fiddly than all the other tools, with less chance of damage.And at this price, when it wears out I can simply buy another without feeling much pain.Great buy, glad I gave it a shot!

While this didn't remove the back off of the one Bulova that I tried it on, it definitely has great grip. I like it and will try it on the other watches with a screw on/off thread and update the rating at a later time.

Seems to work on most screw back style watch backs with no damage to backs.. Big thing to remember, is that it ships partially deflated, so you have to put air into it before using, otherwise it doesnt work as well..

Well.... I didn't have the results I was hoping for. Fortunately it worked to semi secure a case back on a watch I was building, it required a special tool similar to what a Rolex or Tudor would need. The case back was already off and it served it purpose but it was unable to remove any case back on any of my watches that were tightened down by the factory. I would assume if you have a watch that doesn't have the case back on very tight it would be fine. But other that that it is useless.

First off, I bought this item. This is an honest review from an Amazon purchaser. I was in need of a tool that would not scratch my watch and would be easy to use. I was skeptical of this with some of the reviews here. It became pretty clear that the issues were probably user error so I decided to try. This thing works 100%!Mine came with a slip of paper explaining how to inflate the ball. YOU NEED TO INFLATE THE BALL. It is deflated some, probably for shipping? Gas law? Who knows, but you need to inflate it more. Fair enough some people may not have understood this after purchasing, but it's a pretty easy problem to fix. Straight out of the box/envelope it will be useless. Take a standard athletic ball pump and needle and pump it up some. It took me about 20 pumps with a little hand pump to see success.It works! It works! It works! My watch case easily twists open with little effort. I've tried it on a few other watches that have a screw type back. All with success. Great tool and nice to have. Buy it.

I've read so many mixed reviews about these balls that I had to give it a shot myself. The directions included say the ball needs to be inflated to a certain size, which it was, and that you simply press it against and turn to open the watch.No luck.I tried this on 10 different watches, including ones that were not on terribly tight in the first place. No luck.The ball also has a nasty oil/grease all over it. The instructions came smeared and the ball leaves a bad smell on your hands.

Good tool and did what I wanted it to. I purchased a 1959 Rolex oyster and wanted to take a peek at the movement. With a little pressure this seemingly ordinary rubber ball spun my caseback right off. To be fair this case had been opened and serviced regularly throughout its life, so it's caseback likely was not torqued to factory specs. I read that certain watch brands(especially watches with impressive water resistance) have certain factory specifications for how tight the cases are screwed down. I have a modern seiko diver that has never been opened since new and this ball would NOT open its case. I'm sure once the watch is opened and re-closed then the ball would work. For non dive watches or vintage pieces or really anything that screws down with a reasonable amount of strength, I'm 100% certain this ball will suit your needs. It opened my vintage Rolex, and my girlfriends newer Michael Kors no problem. Overall I'm glad I bought it 5 stars