WS 25 Battery change on MechaQuartz IWC Caliber 631 R397 (SR726SW)

This is the picture after cleaning and by the way, I used a section of this picture for the movement shot earlier. I tried to place the tooth pick in the position marked with white but it would not stay. So I decided to indicate the optimal cleaning angle in white in the picture below. Like a snow plow, you will try to remove the crusts you are removing towards the outside of the watch case. Also hard residues sometimes fly away after some initial resistance. Make sure they fly away from the movement. Work your way around the watch and always clean the toothpick or replace it as soon as it starts splintering. You do not want to add a "timber log complication" to your watch!
In this case the Q-tip picked up only a bit of excess silicon grease and the O-ring (I had replaced it 2 years ago) looked so new, that I decided to leave it in. I know this is not the way one should do it, but I had lost so much time with the photographs, now I wanted to get the job done. Also I wanted so spend some time on that addictive watch forum. O-rings should be replaced after every battery change and I admit that I already regret having made that shortcut of five minutes for looking for a matching O-ring in my set.
Most watchmakers also use the magical RODICO (someone said once "What did they do before RODICO was invented?") to clean. Green Rodico is similar to "Blue Tac" but specifically made for watch making. It can pick up dust and oil and it even can be washed. You can use it to place parts groups that are difficult to assemble and for a variety of other things. If you are interested to see RODICO in action, see this page where the "magical watchmaker's play dough" helped to replace a shock protection cap jewel spring. I mention RODICO intentionally here because many watchmakers use it before closing the case back to remove eventual small bits and to make sure that nothing else then the new battery has been added during the replacement.

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