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Caution regards heating a watch


TeeJay

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I noticed today that my 2531.80 had stopped, which did not make any sense, as I had not taken it off in a while. Fearing the worst, I opened the back, and discovered a rather amusing (If annoying) problem. The mechanism is held in place with a white plastic retainer (which I've heard also make good shock absorbers) but one side of the retainer had warped, and was preventing the movement's 'pendulum' (is that what they're called?) from rotating fully. It had obviously heated up and then sagged under gravity, when I last dried the watch under a very hot lamp. My sollution, was to re-heat the watch under the lamp, and I then jammed some folded up Post-It notes between the 'pendulum' and the retainer to create a suitable gap. I then chucked the watch in the freezer for a while. When I removed it, it had cooled, and, although the retainer had not returned to it's previous shape (it's a tad warped) it had enough clearance for the 'pendulum' to rotate freely.

Consider this a warning for anyone else who dries their watches under a hot lamp :black_eye::D

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I think you were dancing with the girls in your Avitar, and the heat lamp is just a cover up...

RG

:D I wish :D Depending on how things go when I get to swapping the parts round, I might have to send it to you for a re-lume, as when I last dried it, the lamp baked the dial lumes a murky orange color :black_eye: (yet the hand lumes were still unaffected) so depending on how it looks with the blue bezel, a re-lume might be in order :D

Speaking of............ doesn't one of those girls look like Miss Understood?

The girls in the avatar are, an exotic dancer who went under the stagename Melody Pantera, Cheryl Cole, and Christina Ricci. The girls in my signature strip are Kristanna Loken and Cheryl Cole.

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I'm looking forward to the upcoming "Caution regards using Post-It Notes in watch movement repair" thread :p (I'm teasing)

Imagine their faces if you took that to the AD?! Especially if they unfolded the Post-It Note and it is said "must remember: repair watch" :lol:

:lol:

It should be noted that the Post-It notes were only inserted between the 'pendulum' and retainer while the plastic cooled. They were then removed, and the pendulum had space to rotate :lol:

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I noticed today that my 2531.80 had stopped, which did not make any sense, as I had not taken it off in a while. Fearing the worst, I opened the back, and discovered a rather amusing (If annoying) problem. The mechanism is held in place with a white plastic retainer (which I've heard also make good shock absorbers) but one side of the retainer had warped, and was preventing the movement's 'pendulum' (is that what they're called?) from rotating fully. It had obviously heated up and then sagged under gravity, when I last dried the watch under a very hot lamp. My sollution, was to re-heat the watch under the lamp, and I then jammed some folded up Post-It notes between the 'pendulum' and the retainer to create a suitable gap. I then chucked the watch in the freezer for a while. When I removed it, it had cooled, and, although the retainer had not returned to it's previous shape (it's a tad warped) it had enough clearance for the 'pendulum' to rotate freely.

Consider this a warning for anyone else who dries their watches under a hot lamp :black_eye::D

Well, I tried the microwave a while back for 1 minute on high. It was too hot to hold for at least 5 minutes and had a weird smell too. The watch keeps excellent time. Funny thing is, is still has a strange odor.

Edited by Torques
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That does make sense!

That's far superior to the impression I had that you're walking around with a Post-It not jammed in your movement :lol:

FlipLock, you can stop taking notes now..... ;)

:lol:

The Post-Iit note was only to force a gap between the edge of the 'pendulum' and the retainer so when it cooled, it would have enough space for the 'pendulum' to rotate. It seemed to work, but today, the 'pendulum' is not rotating as freely, so I suspect the retainer has not taken the new shape... Not to worry, the watch I'm ordering as a donor for the hands and bezel will have a movement :thumbsupsmileyanim: Should be able to pull the retainer from that, or, then if the worst comes to the worst, and it won't come off, I'll just have to swap the entire movement over. :lol:

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