A Goood Day

[FxrAndy]

Yesterday was a good day not because i was feeling shitty because i had i cold, or the fact it was cold out side but because i was bored, you see i have a 1969 seamaster that had always suffered from a slipping second hand,

at first it kept perfect time but the seconds would stick at different times, i took it to my local guy who sead he could not find the problem but the hand is firm on the post. So it sat in the box being unloved untill i thought i would bite the bullet and take it to the AD, their prgnosis was that it could only be fixed with a new movement, and as new 552s are not available i declined to put another wors in it. Now i am not mechanicaly inept, i can and do rebuild harley engines in my spare time and had in the past repaired the keyless works in an old pocket watch i had, done a movement swap in a panerai. So out come the tools and we open it up, at this point i new it was not running at all infact since it came back from the AD IT HAD NOT RUN AT ALL! So i opened it up and see that ther ballence would not move it was jammed on some thing, also the outo winder was jamming as well, yes on a movement clamp that had no screw on it, so now we have a good idea what is jamming the balence as well. So with much caution i remove the auto winder and give the watch a tap and out pops the screw from the clamp and the balence swings away freely!

Now to find out why the second hand slips?

with the auto winder remover you can see the seconds drive gear (1) and the seconds post(2)

the drive gear (1) was slightly buckled and was passing ove the top of the gear on the post (2) for 23 seconds of its 7min 33 seconds rotation so i adusted it a little so it was running flat and there you go it runs sweet as a nut.

I was so enthused with this sucsess that i went on to fix 2 noew of my vintage collection

A 1940 Invicta with a Seeland bumper works that had sticking hands

and a 1960s West end watch Co with sticking ratchet gears in the auto winder on an ETA 2848

It just goes to show what can be achived with a bit of patiece and boredom now wheres that grand complication gone to?

[ryaku]

Congrats Andy!! I wouldn't be so crazy to try such repairings but you're much more proficient than me.

My favourite one is the seamaster, beautiful indeed.

[FxrAndy]

Thanks Ryaku, but the boredom made me do it i would not say i was proficant at all. I like the seamster but it is small only 36mm with out crown here is a wrist shot

I dont have masive wrists either but it looks better on the Nato that i have it on now, i think a blue one or James Bond would look better. By the way you should see the lume on this baby, i dont know if it is the original radiom or if it was redone before i got it but it is like a torch.

[ryaku]

It's a bit tiny but beautiful..also i'm not a big fan of huge watches