The control stem device for a watch includes a first stem rotating about its longitudinal axis and provided with means for securing it to a manual control crown on the exterior of the watch, and a second stem, substantially parallel and shifted in relation to said first stem and secured to an axially mobile sliding pinion for selectively driving in rotation a mechanism for a first function and a mechanism for a second function, the first and second stems being connected in rotation by a transmission device. The first stem is mounted to be axially mobile at least between an operating position associated with said first function and an operating position associated with said second function, so as to activate, by sliding between said positions, a pull-out mechanism which cooperates with saidsliding pinion to make said pinion pass from one axial position to another, said sliding pinion being meshed with the mechanism for the first function in one of its positions and with the mechanism for the second function in the other position. The first stem slides in the first pinion of the gear and can be removed. This device allows the control crown to be placed half way up the watchcase, inparticular in the case of a watch with complications having a very thick movement.