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My First Watch Disassembly


redwatch

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So I am super excited. I just took apart my first watch! I bought this a couple of weeks ago and I guess due to the nature of shipping and the quality of the watch, one of the small hands fell off. I was going to try and find a rep friendly watch smith and then I decided to just try it myself. Thanks to the member who helped me start this off (you know who you are!).

Once I get it fixed and assembled I will post more pics.

IMG_0746.jpg

IMG_0748.jpg

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Looks like you are well on your way, but what is the thumb tack for? :unsure:

It was the only thing small enough to release the crown and stem assembly. I have more tools on the way, but in the meantime, that will have to do! Definitely not ideal, but it worked out ok so far. I wouldn't use that on a more expensive watch though, that's for sure.

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It was the only thing small enough to release the crown and stem assembly. I have more tools on the way, but in the meantime, that will have to do! Definitely not ideal, but it worked out ok so far. I wouldn't use that on a more expensive watch though, that's for sure.

Better quality gear than I use :lol: Congrats on the work thus far :):good:

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Guest Carl

You are now hooked, the addiction has it's grip.

And I predict a long and highly successful addiction!

It looks very good from here and I wish all success.

Carl

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Glad to see you taking up the challenge.

I am guessing you bought this used from another member, the hands are full of finger prints and the hand at 6 had not fallen off, it's broken off. Looks like someone has been in there before you were and didn't know what they were doing and left finger prints everywhere and broke the post off the 12 hour counter. The type of damage is not from shipping, it's from poor workmanship.

The only way to fix this is to teardown the movement and replace the gear with a new one, and I suspect that the remainder of the post is stuck in the hand, and this is going to be a real problem trying to remove and reuse the hand.

RG

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Glad to see you taking up the challenge.

I am guessing you bought this used from another member, the hands are full of finger prints and the hand at 6 had not fallen off, it's broken off. Looks like someone has been in there before you were and didn't know what they were doing and left finger prints everywhere and broke the post off the 12 hour counter. The type of damage is not from shipping, it's from poor workmanship.

The only way to fix this is to teardown the movement and replace the gear with a new one, and I suspect that the remainder of the post is stuck in the hand, and this is going to be a real problem trying to remove and reuse the hand.

RG

Not sure if it was my photo or not, but it seems as though, under magnification that the post is there and in tact. I have managed to replace the hand as well as remove and re-straighten the hand at 12 o'clock.

Now I seem to have a much bigger problem. The stem push lever to remove the crown/stem assembly does not seem to work. Under magnification, I don't even see a lever in there anymore. Is is possible that I broke it using the thumb tack? I don't remember using that much force, but for the life of me, I cannot get the stem to come out so I can put the movement back into the case.

FYI, this watch has a quartz Miyota OS10 movement (from what I can read on the back).

Anyone have any helpful suggestions? Have I killed my first watch? Is there any hope of rebuilding this?

Also, is there a special tool anyone can recommend to use to push down the stem release?

Thanks for all your help guys! It definitely makes me love coming to this place more and more each day!

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I was going to mention to be careful & not press too firmly on that stem release. A common mistake, especially when you are just starting out, is to press the release too hard, which dislodges the lever. The movement is not dead, but you will need to remove the movement from the case, remove the hands & dial & then remove the set lever, straighten (or replace) it if it is bent (most likely not) & then reassemble. This level of work may be beyond your tools & comfort level, so you might want to have a local (rep-friendly) watchmaker do the work for you.

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This level of work may be beyond your tools & comfort level, so you might want to have a local (rep-friendly) watchmaker do the work for you.

Not too much is beyond my comfort level. And tools can be purchased :D I just need to figure out which ones. I have been looking at screwdriver sets and as much as I would love to pick up a Bergeon set, that may be a little hard to justify $$.

But I am game to keep going with this watch. I am thrilled to hear that I most likely didn't kill it. I found a brand new Miyota OS10 movement on the bay for $27 so worst case scenario I will learn how to replace an entire movement. :clapping:

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One more of probably several questions to come: on a quartz movement like the OS10, how do I remove the dial? I don't see any dial screws on this, so am I to assume that the dial is glued on? If that is the case, then are the hand stems the only thing I have to use for the re-alignment of the dial when I put it back on? I just want to make sure that when I put this one back together (or put the dial on a new movement) that I do it right. The last thing I want to do is get that wrong and then just sit there staring at it and cursing at myself for not thinking about that before hand!

Also, if it is glued on, then what sort of glue should I use to re-attach the dial later on?

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Ok, so I found another post online that helped out. I got the dial off and now I am looking at the date wheel. There are three, very small screws holding down the SS thrust plate. I am going to guess that I need to remove these in order to get the date wheel off?

I have been taking pictures along the way but unfortunately I do not have my cable to get the pictures off of the camera. I will post pics soon.

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Here are some more pictures of the disassembly in progress. I have placed an order with ofrei to get more tools so I can continue to disassemble. I need some smaller screwdrivers so I can removed the date wheel.

Here is the movement with hands removed:

IMG_0754.jpg

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Here is the watch dial, movement and hands removed:

IMG_0761.jpg

Here is a close up of the stem in tact at the 6 o'clock position

IMG_0760_2.jpg

Any further suggestions anyone can offer up would be greatly appreciated.

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Just for general interest, I was looking for some sort of container I could use to store the movement and dial while I await my new tools. I found that the little plastic containers you get when you buy fuses works perfectly! Also, thank you to Birdman for the wonderful green Anti-Static mat. It is a perfect work surface and great price too!

IMG_0762.jpg

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So I got my new tools from ofrei today so I have continued with the disassembly. Here are some more progress photos:

IMG_0764.jpg

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IMG_0766.jpg

After all this, I repaired the stem release, and started re-assembling the movement. The date wheel spring and gear mechanism have proven to be quite finicky and I am having a hard time getting everything to stay in place in order to attach the thrust plate.

IMG_0767.jpg

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I thought I would just add this little bit as well. For a $27 watch movement (and that is my cost, which means they are even cheaper) this movement is insanely complex. Now I know I haven't even begun to look at the automatic movements but WOW, this is pretty cool!!! :D

Check out the gear mechanism:

IMG_0771.jpg

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RW,

You have now reached the point where the repair becomes an excercise in learning.

The common approach to this is a "heart replacement"

Much easier, quicker, cheaper, to throw in a new movement, than continue with a repair.

But from a learning POV....by all means continue to learn, and then understand why almost no quartz are ever repaired...just replaced.

I think this is a great example for us all, and do hope you continue the repair...for the experience!

(See my siggy)

Offshore.

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Offshore,

I agree completely. Obviously a full replacement would have been easier, cheaper (labor wise - if I was paying myself!) and faster. However, since this is such a cheap movement, this is a perfect starting point to learn how to handle the tools and parts. I am a technician and have been for many, many years. I work with very small component parts (soldering, testing, repairing, etc...) but I have not had much experience with such small parts and craftsmanship. Things like removing hands, finding the right size screwdriver (its amazing how much of a difference there is between an 0.80mm screwdriver and a 1.0mm screwdriver!), and manipulating parts using tweezers and a magnifying headband.

I am loving this project and I fully plan to finish this repair and get it up and running. Buying a replacement to me would feel like giving up!

Thanks for the advice and support from everyone so far!!! :drinks:

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