Servicing a PAM 005 (pic heavy)

[Irishcain]

I love PAM’s and I’m actually on the lookout for a PAM 312, so I was excited when I was sent a 005 for service. They have beautiful movements, clean lines and classic details.

 

 

So, first things first, I put it on the timegrapher to test its current state.

 

The best reading I got was +10/day, the worst was +61/day

 

Now we get to the heart of the matter, beginning with de-casing

 

A sticky ball comes in handy here unless you want to spend the hundreds of dollars for the right case back openers. Take careful notice of the case fasteners. If you ever get them new, you’re going to have to file/cut them down to size. Better to just keep these safe if/when you remove them.

 

 

Now we remove the hands and dial. A nice trick is to cover the hands with a piece of plastic (freezer bag cut open works) to keep them from flying.

 

When you expose the keyless, make damn sure to pay attention to the spring. It will go flying. Get in the habit of using peg wood in your off hand to press it down until you can grab it with the tweezers.

 

Keyless undone

 

Now we turn it over and let down the power by releasing the click and SLOWLY letting the barrel unwind. Do this slowly or you risk damaging the spring. Again, pay attention to the click spring. If this goes, it’s possible that it’ll send the click flying as well.

 

 

Remove the barrel bridge and train bridge

 

 

Remove the balance, pallet bridge and pallet fork

 

 

Now the train and the barrel

 

Disassemble the barrel for cleaning and to check the mainspring.

 

 

Everything that can go into the machine does, and the rest gets a good hand scrubbing. After the machine, all the jewels get pegged out.  Once they’re done, and everything that needs to be replaced has been, you now reassemble. It should be noted that at this point, oil is both your friend and your enemy. It’s far better to have too little oil than too much. I suggest that, when you get your oiler, you run the tip over a sharpening stone to square it off. The oil will stay at the tip of the oiler rather than creeping up the side making it easier to judge the amount of oil you've used.

 

Once the movement has been reassembled, it’s time to test for accuracy.  This is done in 6 positions and can be tedious work. Once you’ve placed a position, you should leave it ideally for 3-5 minutes, which means the whole process can take half an hour or more. If you feel you need to make an adjustment in any one position, you need to go back and recheck all the other positions.

 

Of the six I did for this beauty, here’s the best

 

And the worst

 

All in all, I love working on this movement. It’s bullet proof in most respects and can even be adjusted to be within COSC standards . A few words of caution. The center pinion and wheel are press fitted together. Don’t try to pull them apart and separate them from the watch unless you have both the correct tools to take it apart and to reassemble. Also, the bridges on this movement are heavy (as compared to other movements). When you’re replacing them, don’t use much pressure at all until you’re 100% certain that all wheels and pinions are in proper position. And as a final word, please remember that all the details on the movement are printed on and not laser etched, so be careful, otherwise you’ll have a blank movement when you’re done.

[Rolexman]

Cool write up. According to your Timegrapher pics your movement performs worse after service....

[Irishcain]

If you're talking about the low amplitude, I'd noticed the same thing when I'd taken them to show the timing. I actually didn't realise my daughter had left one of her toys on my bench causing it to be magnetized. Once I moved it, the amplitude jumped significantly.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Irishcain

[Irishcain]

If you look at the difference between pics 1 and 2, pic 1 was before I found the toy, pic 2 was after I removed it. Once I ran it by the de-magnetizer, the amplitude jumped to over 300