How to Remove Watch Hands

The procedure for removing watch hands is going to be the same for the majority of watches. This article will walk through the basics of watch hand removal. Some of the most common reasons for needing to remove watch hands are broken or damaged hands, changing the color or style of the hands and replacing the watch movement. As always when working on watches make sure you have the right tools for the job and are comfortable completing each step of the process.

Tools Needed:

• hand puller
• pithwood
• dial protector
• Replacement hands (optional)

Step 1

Open the watch case (For help with this see our How to Open a Watch Back article)

Step 2

Remove the watch movement from the case (For help with this see our How to Replace a Watch Movement Article)

Step 3

Using a piece of pithwood, place the movement on top of the pithwood.

Step 4

Put a dial protector under the hands to protect the dial.

Step 5

Using a hand puller place over the hands.

Step 6

Gently squeeze the hand puller and pull the hands off of the movement.

Note: If the movement has a sweep/second hand this should be removed first. Once this is removed the hour and minute hand can be removed together.

Visit Esslinger.com’s Learning Center for more watch repair guides.