Breitling Center Seconds Hand Glued Solid...repair Scheme.

[RWG Technical]

Breitling with a “Glue” problem…”

Got this is a while back, the owner had problems with the slipping center seconds hand during reset, so he took it to a local watchmaker (Note Local watchmaker, not a Watchmaker from this forum...)

It was a real mess, as you can see here…

Not only did the center seconds hand turn with the hour and minute hand the dial was full of dirt and the hands were not lined up properly…

This is what I started with, not a pretty sight, and on such a nice coloured dial…

I don’t think this watchmaker did well on the hand installation part of his training…

Got the seconds hand off, and look at the mess I have to clean up…

Looks like the tube is full of glue.

Bit of an alignment issue with the hands here…

Minute hand removed

Still glue on the hole for the minute tube…

After spending 20 minutes trying to pry the glue out from the hole, I had to disassemble part of the movement to try and to push the glue out from the back side…

After trying every tool I had to push the glue out, I finally had success with a broaching tool…

There is the little bastard of a piece of glue that was driving me crazy…out you come…

Hole is now clean as it should be, hands were polished, and reassembled and it looks great…

Anyone who would call themselves a watchmaker and do such a poor job, is not qualified to work on watches...terrible workmanship, no attention to detail, and filling the hole with glue...obviously this person is no more than a battery changer...

Thanks for reading.

RG

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@ The Zigmeister

You are getting some serious stuff.

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