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All these replacement parts - do you keep a wide variety on hand? I can only imagine that there is a huge assortment of springs, gears, cogs etc.
__________________ Do Not Put Aftershave on Your Balls. -604CEFIRO Looks like I'm gonna have some hot sex again tonight...OOPS i got the 6 pack. that wont last me the night, I better go back and get the 24 pack! -Turbo E kinda off topic but obama is a dilf - miss_crayon Honest to fucking Christ the easiest way to get a married woman in the mood is clean the house and do the laundry.....I've been with the same girl almost 17 years, ask me how I know. - quasi
All these replacement parts - do you keep a wide variety on hand? I can only imagine that there is a huge assortment of springs, gears, cogs etc.
I don't have anything other than the movements I've worked on since starting this thread. But it's easy to get parts for common movements like Seiko and the more common Swiss movements, even older parts like this. With the newer ones you often have the choice of getting original parts or replicas
That new wheel will cost about $1 plus another $1 for shipping
I can't remember if I shared this, but one of the first things that happened to the first Seagull ST3600 I bought, is that the balance wheel simply fell off during reassembly! I assumed I must have been too rough with it, but as it turned out, there was insufficient adhesive on the stud to keep the hairspring in place.
So into a box it went, as I continued to work on its replacement. In the back of my mind, I wanted to come back to it once my skills (and magnification) were up to the task. So I took a stab at it today, with some UV glue, and a working balance for reference.
Here's the balance cock with balance removed (well it fell out). No trace of glue on the stud:
Regulator pin is closed on the end, so the hairspring will need to be slotted in from the side:
Hairspring is threaded through the regulator. I used a working balance to aim the roller jewel in the right direction, with the intention of fine tuning later:
I used UV glue, applied by a red oiler:
My improvised UV curing setup
Initial timings look promising! I got it to 1.1 just by eyeballing it
My only goal was to get it within spec roughly in one position. I'll look at the rest later
I guess the main thing I learned during this time is that using a microscope has completely changed what I can do, in every task related to watch repair it can be applied to. I feel like I have really good control over the smallest parts, as long as I can see it clearly. I was struggling quite a bit using loupes.
Installed some new parts into 68's watch. These are not all original Seiko parts
The mainspring was toast. You can see at least two major kinks in it, and there were little kinks all along the spring. This means it was totally fatigued and needed to be replaced.
You can see the big kink better here:
As I showed earlier, the second reduction wheel was gone, with a lot of the teeth shredded over 50 years of use. Here's the new one
Also the cracked center wheel was swapped out. This one looks different but it's the same part number:
I wanted to replace the pawl lever with an upgraded jeweled one, but unfortunately the new one didn't fit right. It would slip under the wheel when working a specific direction. So the original went back in. It wasn't in too bad shape, and works fine:
Also changed the movement washer
Watch is currently running again, and initial readings look really good, with great amplitude in the 260-270 range. Will update when beat error and regulation is complete!
Incredible work, that main spring is fascinating, I wouldn't know the first thing to do with it, I know it's magnified a tremendous amount but thinking of how to curl that all up inside the watch is an instant nope for me lol
Incredible work, that main spring is fascinating, I wouldn't know the first thing to do with it, I know it's magnified a tremendous amount but thinking of how to curl that all up inside the watch is an instant nope for me lol
In the top picture you can see the mainspring winder I use. It winds up into that tool:
Then gets pushed into the barrel while it is wound up:
That tool was like 10 RMB ($1.40 USD) and works great!. The Swiss ones are about $70 for each size. If I did a lot more work I'd use those. The Chinese ones come in specific sizes for popular movements, rather than just various sizes that fit. Kind of dumb because they don't make one for the most popular movement that people start out on.
Its crazy how much cleaner it looks too... like under a microscope I'm sure you can still see some scratches etc but seeing it sitting there out of zoom it look newer than new
I performed all these diagnostics, checking the battery, checking the coil, checked the solar panel, the capacitor, etc. I thought I was stumped until I looked at the technical document and saw there was one screw missing from the battery guard. I knew you'd mentioned it, but being new to working on watches, it didn't occur to me that it was a particularly important screw that was used to ground the main connection. (I should have noticed that there was a "(-)" marking right beside it however) So I moved a screw from the train bridge to the battery guard, and it worked
I'll see if I can find a screw that fits for the train bridge. You won't want to operate the watch for very long without that. (I took it out right away)
Hahaha see man geez I lost that tiniest of tiny screw when I was replacing the battery and I was working over a shag rug, I even took the table and chairs off the rug and turned it upside down to shake it out I could never find the damn thing no matter how long I spend on my hands and knees with a flash light
I guess the main thing I learned during this time is that using a microscope has completely changed what I can do, in every task related to watch repair it can be applied to. I feel like I have really good control over the smallest parts, as long as I can see it clearly. I was struggling quite a bit using loupes.
We have these eyepiece -less microscopes at work. They're kinda pricey but so much less strain to use.
Maybe it would be fine with a bracelet, but I think 36mm is too small for me either way.. The zoomed in view of typical wrist shots make watches look WAY bigger than they are, including this one! My wrists are just under 8"
The rubber strap does make it look extra stupid though
Watch is running nicely so far! I am pretty proud of the results. I put a new gasket in too (there was none before) but it's definitely not waterproof! Keep that in mind when you get it back
The old Seiko arrived from Japan! It is in quite good condition - the dial looks great, the case and crystal need a polish. The strap is falling apart but I don't know if it was original
The movement looks great. The watch is not running, but importantly the balance is in good condition. It appears to be overbanked, but the pivots are not broken. This is why the watch was like $45. In good condition they for for around $250 on ebay.
Can't wait to dive into it tomorrow
Edit: Yup the mainspring is broken, just need to replace it. These are not meant to be serviced, so it's tricky to get into them. I saw somewhere that you can use compressed air to pop them open, and that sounds like the best idea. Razor blades can work, but there is a 0% chance to not leave a mark. I used one on 68's because it looks like it had been opened up that way on several occasions over the years
Based on the condition of all the screws, etc, I don't think this watch had ever been worked on before. It definitely got worn, but I'm pretty sure this is its first service ever!
I bought this for its parts for the watch above (it cost as much as buying the mainspring itself - about $15 USD) but it smelled so bad that it stunk up my workshop when I uncased the movement. So I figured I would finish off this jar of cleaner that was nearly done, and yeah.. it's DONE.
The case actually cleaned up real nice, but the dial is pretty bad
Watching Skinnypupp work on these watches reminds me of ant man in the quantum realm
__________________ Do Not Put Aftershave on Your Balls. -604CEFIRO Looks like I'm gonna have some hot sex again tonight...OOPS i got the 6 pack. that wont last me the night, I better go back and get the 24 pack! -Turbo E kinda off topic but obama is a dilf - miss_crayon Honest to fucking Christ the easiest way to get a married woman in the mood is clean the house and do the laundry.....I've been with the same girl almost 17 years, ask me how I know. - quasi
Watching Skinnypupp work on these watches reminds me of ant man in the quantum realm
This will not help with that feeling!
I got this tool, for pressing jewels into place:
This thing weighs 570g and feels amazing to use. If you're a tool nerd, you'll know what I mean. The micrometer is really smooth, and there's no side shake whatsoever. Also got a set of pushers and anvils for it, and they have beautiful mirror polish, and also no slop in the pusher part (I can post videos later). I haven't determined the hardness of the steel used
Like anything made in China, you can get the cheapest crap, or actual well made equipment. I went for the latter, so the set was about 1900 RMB for the tool and set, or about $280 USD. When most people buy Chinese tools, they are looking to spend $30-50, and end up with basically toys. Unfortunately that's all anyone really talks about, so everything becomes one category "Chinese crap".
To compare, the genuine Horia version from Switzerland, which is probably about the same quality for the tool but the pushers do look to be finished better based on videos I've seen, and may use better steel (not sure) would be about $800 USD for the tool itself, and $1200 for the pushers and anvils.
Even if I was a professional, I wonder if there would ever be a circumstance where it would be worth getting the Swiss set?
Anyway the thing looks huge right? it's a few inches tall:
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