Pocket watch service "Chronometre IAXA"

[AlexanderB]

I got this old movement quite cheap over ebay. The stem is broken and needs replacement. The watch is barely running when fully wound. There is a lot friction in the system.

The dial sais "CHRONOMETRE IAXA". There are no markings on the movement besides "Déposé" which seems to mean something like "patent pending". Not sure who made this movement. There are so many movements out on the market that it is very difficult to identify the caliber. It is not important anyway. This is just for practice.

 

[AlexanderB]

Disassembly went quite well. 

[AlexanderB]

Unfortunately one part of the keyless work broke. It is a "spring" at the very left on the picture. Let's see if I get this fixed.

 

[oldhippy]

Depose is a French meaning word.

[anilv]

Nice finishing on the wheels...

Anil

[AlexanderB]

Went on with the assembly. I did not have a fitting winding stem, so I installed the broken stem again. 

[AlexanderB]

This time I wanted to disassemble the mainspring, clean it, lubricate it and assemble it. This went pretty well. I used Moebius 8212, the only one I have.

 

[AlexanderB]

Next was the barrel bridge. I already mounted the barrel bridge but forgot to put the center wheel in place first. 

 

On the last picture you can clearly see the wear of the crown wheel teeth tips.

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by AlexanderB

[AlexanderB]

Next: wheel train. Pretty straight forward. To align the axles with the jewels proved to be a challenge.

 

[AlexanderB]

Next: escape wheel. Here too it proved to be a challenge to mount the escape wheel bridge. I found this to be more difficult compared to fine swiss watch movements, like the ETA 2472 or others I was working on. The bridge is too heavy to allow it to be placed gently. It took several approaches to get this job done.

 

Finally got it done including the pallet lever with its bridge.

[AlexanderB]

Now I wound the movement and lubricated the pallets and escape wheel. 

Next: installing the balance and see if the movement starts working.

 

[AlexanderB]

I then finished the dial side.

 

The movement is running quite well. It develops huge differences depending on the position. But the beat error is below 1ms. Amplitude is well above 220°.

I consider this a success. Too bad the stem is broken (got the movement like this).

 

[szbalogh]

17 hours ago, AlexanderB said:

Next was the barrel bridge. I already mounted the barrel bridge but forgot to put the center wheel in place first. 

 

Those marks on the edge of the barrel are telling me that the arbor is not or was not upright. It can happen by worn out bushings or if the barrel bridge is not placed back correctly. The edge of the barrel was sticking to the bridge cousing winding hard. This also explaining the marks on the crown wheel teeth and the broken stem. 

Excellent pictures and presentation 

Edited November 20, 2016 by szbalogh

[Tmuir]

Thanks for pointing this out I completely missed that when I first looked at the photos, but once pointed out its very obvious.

Its tips like this on things to look out for that are very helpful for someone like me just starting out.

[AlexanderB]

Thank you @szbalogh! That makes absolutely sense to me. I totally overlooked this important sign. This is why it makes sense to publish this on this forum. It would not have occurred to me. I'll keep that in mind.

I am now finished with it. Here is what the timegrapher told me

BEFORE (Dial down)
Beat error 0.7ms
Angle 135°
+320s/d

AFTER (Dial down)
Beat error 0.5ms
Angle 270°
+100s/d

Here are a few more pictures. Some of them are merely for the sake of taking the pictures. I love crawling inside the movement with my huge DSLR

 

[vinn3]

nice job