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Hello guys I just serviced an older 2783 which I was going to use in one of the explorer cases and it has been running really well for q good 24 hours! Also very accurate. I noticed that when I shake it to wind the automatic, the movement stops after a couple of hours! I then opened it up to see what the issue was and noticed that balance wheel did not oscillate! I remove the balance bridge to reset it and presto it fired back upto the way it was running! At first I thought that I may not have tightened the balance bridge screw down enough making pallet bridge out from impulse ! It ran well for another 24 hours until I gave it a few gentle shakes to get it wound! This time it stopped some 6 hours later after having kept it in the same stationary position all that time! Again I had to reposition the balance to get it gin is this a new curve in my learning experience of watch repairs? Maybe out of my forte/ as an amateur. Please chime in with any suggestions, ideas, insults or whatever can get me to try to find out what is happening! My many many thanks!

If the mainspring is slipping, then most likely either the spring is slipping on the mainspring arbor, the click or click spring may be loose or defective, or the escape wheel is slipping past the pallets. If you left the pallets in cleaning fluid too long, it is possible they may have shifted out of position, which could result in the escape wheel slipping -- & intermittently unwinding the mainspring as this occurs. Unfortunately, I know of only 3 ways to verify this type of problem -- replace the pallets with a new (or known good) set, put the movement on a timer with recorder for 24 hours & watch for telltale signs of slippage in the readout (eg, a sudden & significant drop in an otherwise regular pattern), or sit & watch the movement until it slips & see if you can see where it is slipping. Since this is a 2783, I think the easiest avenue would be to replace the pallets since they are not expensive (here is a new 1 on ebay for $12).

Gentlemen, thank you for your input! I have purposely delayed my response to buy more time for further observations! The movement has been cleaned twice and the cap jewels have also been oiled with the right amount of oil for both top and bottom of the staff pivots! There is plenty of power in mainspring , Checked the pallet stones and pallet fork including the impulse jewel! All appears good! The pallet fork looks sharp and unscathed! The escape wheel freely spins with rest of gear train very nicely with pallet out! I even checked the roller table to make sure it wasn’t pressed in! The balance bridge is sitting flat and balance wheel is paralel to hairspring motion with no play or wobbles! . My original suspicion was the pallet stones as I had been worried that I may have left the pallet fork in cleaning fluid for too long , but it was engaging well and flush with the escape wheel teeth! it has been running nicely for a good 30 hours even after several severe shakes! However, what I did notice is that as soon as I have lightly shaken the watch to get as many winds as possible, you can hear a slip in mainspring, almost feeling as watch has unwound! It is a few hours after this that the impulse jewel falls outside the balance fork. Or presumably that is what it feels like, this is my real suspicion. Yes I have seen that post! I believe the OP was asking about swapping balance wheels on two different bridges of the same caliber where he wanted the good spring on the bridge with the incabloc instead of the bridge having the kif spring! I don’t think he ever got his question understood

Presuming the entire movement is clean/properly oiled/demagnetized -- it sounds like either the cap jewels are dirty/worn (remove/inspect/clean/oil), the balance cock/bridge is not properly seated or the hairspring is hanging-up on an adjacent component (ie when the movement is moved/shaken). If/when you eliminate the 1st 2 issues, I would remove the balance, remove the hairspring from the staff (use a small screwdriver to slide the hairspring collet off the staff) -- then re-attach the loose hairspring to the cock/bridge & allow it to sit on top of the cock/bridge. Inspect the hairspring's positioning for flatness/proper centering over the cock/bridge (if the collet does not naturally sit directly over the cap jewel holder in the cock/bridge, you will need to reshape the hairspring so that it does). There is a good guide on TZ that you may find helpful. Correct as needed or post a few macros of the hairspring (attached to & sitting on top of the cock/bridge) so I can see its condition/position.

I assume there's still power in the system once the movement stops as resetting the hairsping gets it going again. Therefore we can assume escape wheel back is healthy? I'd be inspecting the hairspring and pallet fork pivots along with their jewels. Also the pallet fork end that contacts the impulse jewel and banking pins. Most importantly when it is in fault state wiggle the hairspring and pallet fork it may give extrta clues what's going on. The shake is likely dislodging something in that area.

I know this thread is old but there's a big variation within these vintage Rolex 5500 Explorer dials. and as an owner of one of these watches, I've done a bit of research about them and I know that there are a few variants dials around. Their differences are really easy to spot. Within the PRECISION models, we can group them in 2 kids of dials: "SMALL GAP LOGO" and "BIG GAP LOGO". The first variant have a small gap between the ROLEX logo letters. Invariably, they show a visible bigger gap between the letters R and E in "PR ECISION". Sometimes they have rounded numerals, some times square. The < aligns left of the seconds markings. No difference in thickness of the EXPLORER type. **This variant is identical to YUKI's but I really believe many are genuine examples, like the ones bellow. On the second variant, the ROLEX logo shows a bigger gap between the letters, specially around the letter O, like in "R O LEX". Sometimes the numbers are square, sometimes puffy rounded. No difference in thickness of the EXPLORER type. The word "PRECISION" does not have a gap like the ones above. The < aligns left of the seconds markings. Id like to point out the example posted by freddy333 as "genuine" but it is the one which shows the most inconsistencies. The < is not aligned with seconds marking. The hour hand has a slightly smaller circle. Contrary to what freddy333 said, this watch could actually be the one using aftermarket dial and hands. It also shows a thiner EXPLORER type for the name, which is very weird. In my opinion: FAKE. That said, the dials by YUKI are pratically identical to the 1st variant. See images bellow, both posted by users saying they were using YUKI dials. Conclusion: want to buy a 5500 Explorer? Go for the "BIG GAP LOGO" variant as it's more likely to be a gen dial.