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Hampden 12s #603 "quickie"


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Okay here is my first, (virginal) walkthrough, I got this 17j Hampden for less than $30,  it's not uber rare scarce or anything uncommon, anyway upon arrival, I immediately noticed some rusty hands and lack of winding (AAAARRRGGH), fortunately it was just from cheap crystal, (I think) the seconds hand is almost gone!)

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Next off they came and things still looked pretty good.

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I don't like dust shields and read somewhere they are not recommended/necessary on Hampdens anyway.

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when I got under dial, the cannon pinion and hour wheel were pretty toasty, otherwise it was pretty clean.

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Next, off comes balance assm and out comes pallet bridge and fork. Just in case, I did try to let down mainspring, but that appeared to be part of problem.

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Then comes main barrel bridge, winding wheel, third and fourth wheels and bridge, note steel escape wheel and white/clear jewels on pallet fork.DSCF0388.JPG

Out comes barrel and arborDSCF0389.JPG

And just as suspected, mainspring is a goner! Note the serial number inside barrel, matches the rest of watchDSCF0390.JPG

Dial cleaned up pretty nice, lot's of hairline dirt removed. Still has some nibbles between the 10 and 11, that's what I call character!  

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New spring

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In goes the new spring, I did this by hand, (too cheap to invest in winder!) Just a pinch more to tighten up arbor and greased.

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Patiently awaiting their return after cleaning. The cannon and hour wheel were replaced, I got lots of parts, so no issues there.

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Now with everything tidy, back goes barrel and bridge

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Third and fourth wheel bridge, plus touching up pivots/jewels with oil as we go. This last part can be a bugger if you don't line everything up, I give it a "soft screw", pardon the expression, but I'd rather check everything before it gets tightened, (learned the hard way on that one)

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New Cannon Pinion, hour wheel and  dial washer on and dial ready for replacement. A few more touches of oil on dial side pivots. ( a bit heavy handed on the barrel, did clean that up a bit)

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I picked out new hands, pretty fancy scmancy and had to replace second hand too.

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Now I know I  didn't show all that boring stuff with the keyless works, set springs and winding wheels and mainplate cleaning, but it all had to be done, I just wanted to show how relatively simple these movements and others like them are to work on and hopefully get some others to try their hand. One quick vid,

she's running like a scalded cat!

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2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Nice work. What was the problem with the cannon pinion and hour wheel?

Thanks, there was a touch of rust on main wheel and cannon pinion, was able to get apart and clean up with some gentle persuasion. Once I looked closely at hour wheel it was worn and 'crimped' to that point where there wasn't any free travel between the two. So if I had gotten the hands back on straight, chances are it would have run slowly.

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7 hours ago, WileyDave said:

Thanks, there was a touch of rust on main wheel and cannon pinion, was able to get apart and clean up with some gentle persuasion. Once I looked closely at hour wheel it was worn and 'crimped' to that point where there wasn't any free travel between the two. So if I had gotten the hands back on straight, chances are it would have run slowly.

Lucky for you that you had parts, it could have caused the watch to stop.

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Great walk through and I think you found an amazing watch for the price! 

That is a beautiful movement too BTW.  The form of a high end American made pocket watch is hard to beat.  Look at that dameskeening and perlage.  Beautiful.  :thumbsu:

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    • I didn't think pulling to set position would work harden the spring, in that position it is stressed where the arm starts. By work hardening i meant rapid polishing at that point, a bit like polishing a pivot work hardens as it compresses the steel. I doubt polishing by hand would achieve much in that respect though. Its finished, arm polished up mostly at the join to the bridge's main body. I'm ok with it, the screw holes aren't great as i had to open them up by redrilling and positioning it was difficult, I'm not much use with a loupe, opening up with a file might be a better option for me or i could just use the correct drill size 😅. And the detent is way too deep, i had to guess that with the stem release out of position and sat on top, but i only took one measure and went for it, no slowly slowly catch your monkey 😅. First go I'm happy , well sort of, it works and thats a big thing for me, next one will have a bit more finesse.  Anyone thats interested, after filing, i used a 2000 grade home made diamond  micro file and then 20 micron film, the film is much better than wet and dry, more stable to use and doesn't shed cheap grade grit everywhere , then auto polish on a sponge pad.
    • I'm assuming that every time you set the watch you are work hardening the detent spring, maximum hardening is  where it meets the plate due to maximum deflection.   That's why it snaps there.  The Young's modulus may be the same but after it's reached its maximum yeid strength it breaks.  My mechanic engineering is very rusty, correct me if I'm wrong. 
    • Ah ok yes that makes sense to polish it where the arm starts to form from the body of the bridge, i thought you meant the underneath of all the arm.
    • this is something I've never quite understood about the some of the Swiss companies. In 1957 Omega was using 9010 for the keyless parts with epilam. there's been a slow migration towards using heavier lubrication's but still typically oils and epilam to keep them in place. When it seems like 9504 works so much better.  
    • OK, welcome in the world of alarm clocks... I guess the 4th wheel is dished because it is from another movement. If it was not dishet, then it would not mesh with the pinion of the escape wheel, am I right? The marks of wear on the 4th wheel pinion doesn't corespond to the 3th wheel table position, at list this is what i see on the picts. Calculating the rate is easy - there is a formula - BR = T2 x T3 x T4 x T5 x 2 /(P3 x P4 x P5) where T2 - T5 are the counts of the teeth of the wheels tables, and P3 - P5 are the counts of the pinion leaves. Vibrating the balance is easy - grasp for the hairspring where it should stay in the regulator with tweasers, let the balance hang on the hairspring while the downside staff tip rests on glass surface. Then make the balance oscillate and use timer to measure the time for let say 50 oscillations, or count the oscillations for let say 30 seconds. You must do the free oscillations test to check the balance staff tips and the cone cup bearings for wear. This kind of staffs wear and need resharpening to restore the normal function of the balance.
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