ETA 2836-2 stopped

[spa]

Hi guys,

My friend's noobmariner ETA 2836-2 Swiss stopped working...

He has no tools so he asked me to open up his watch caseback and

see if there is some obvious damage.

I explained to him that the only things i'm capable to check for are: 1)

if the hands are stuck (which are not) and 2) if something is blocking the

balance wheel from swinging back and forth.

I opened the caseback, removed the rotor and, i can't see any obvious damage like

a broken gear or something. But, as i was suspecting, the balance wheel does not

swing (although the watch is wound). I can't see anything blocking it though.

When i give it a move with a toothpick it swings freely for a couple rounds and then stops.

Any ideas?

P.S. i realize that the movement may have a damage that needs a watch-smith to fix it. I just

post here in case there is a common issue with the 2836-2 stop working that i could handle

with my very limited movements knowledge.

[kbh]

I think you've gone as far as you can go without a watch smith. Having it fully serviced is going to be money well spent in the long run, especially if your friend intends on keeping the watch.

[Toadtorrent]

That's a drag. The ETA movements are supposed to make reliability a little better than the cheap Asians...but these stories always pop up making those with long-running Asian's laugh to the bank.

The good news is, any watch repair person who can work on a basic ETA movement can look at and fix the problem. These watchmakers are generally plentiful. The ones that can work on mechanical chronos are rarer...and ones who can work on Asian mechanical chronos rarer still.