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I have been collecting and restoring these machines since 1970. david

so i finally got around to playing around on the lathe (that i purchased over a year ago) i needed to try and create a hand setting stem that was missing for a pocket watch - knowing what it looked like i measured what was needed and had a go.. this obviously is not a balance staff but it was my real first attempt at an actual repair using a watchmakers lathe... im happy with how it has turned out and look forward to learning more on the lathe when i get a chance.. obviously this post is useless without pics sooo... Start off with a bit of blued steel Turn the steel down to the size required to go through the watch yep.. you can see the it poking through filed down the end to size and checked the friction fit of the the wheel using the indexes on the late i worked out the 4 positions required to get a perfect square and started filing on each side. progressing onto the next side.. keep on measuring until it was the correct size for the watches key once happy i cut off the part from the remaining stock requires a bit of polishing to get the edges crisp the finished part with the attached wheel on it Video attached showing the function.. VID_20160910_190857.mp4

Hot water and a bit of dish soap works good for me- the hotter the water the better. If there is any exposed brass I'll add a small amount of vinegar to just to shine it up.

It looks like something from the AS family e.g. an AS 1211 (albeit with some minor differences). No clues under the balance wheel? A Schild were usually pretty good at identifying their movements.

In my time I always used washing up liquid for watch cases and bracelets, really dirty bracelets I would leave over night in petrol.

Washing up liquid is ok to use but I don't find it the most effective on really caked up cases and bracelets. I actually use Morrisons own brand "Savers" all purpose cleaner diluted 1:1 with water. It's really cheap and very effective, and just requires a rinse in hot water. I don't know if there is anything specially made for watch cases but I doubt that it would be much more effective, and can guarantee that it would be a lot more expensive. Needless to say this is just for cases and bracelets, movement parts go through L&R chemistry in an Elma cleaner.

I'm trying to recall how the 170 movement goes together (I'm not at the workbench right now)- I think there's a friction fit pinion on the second wheel (dial side) that needs to be removed before the wheel will come out, it can be leveraged off with a set of hand pullers. Since you've already removed the the plate I would suggest taking out the third, fourth, and escape wheel, then remounting the plate before removing the pinion. This will ensure that the second wheel is held secure and straight when you remove the pinion. It's important that the pinion is lifted straight off the post- if it comes off at an angle the post may bend or break necessitating a replacement second wheel. Sometimes when you think you've let down the mainspring entirely you'll discover there's still a little juice left in it. I think best practice (and I'm an amateur so I may be wrong) is to remove the balance and pallet fork after letting down the mainspring. That way the gear train is free to move and release any energy that might be left. You'll need to inspect the gears and pinions before reassembly to ensure there's no damage. Look for bent or missing teeth and bent pivots. Hopefully all is well.

Well you've worked your way down to the base movement and unfortunately there isn't a service guide that I'm aware of for the base movement- but it's pretty much identical for most manual wind watches. I would suggest watching a few of @Mark's videos as they'll give you a good view of how the gear train, keyless works, and mainspring barrel are typically serviced. You'll need a few different lubricants during reassembly. If I don't have a service guide or technical sheet that details which lubricants to use then I usually default to the Moebius chart:

Hello Tmuir, Keep the D5 use very light in the keyless works. You really need a grease in the keyless works to prevent spreading into unwanted areas, which D5 will do if its applied too heavily. J

The rest went pretty fast and well. I didn't take a picture of each assembly step, since I documented the disassembly well. The result was a success! When I got the watch, the movement stopped from time to time. At one point prior to service she did not run at all. This was what the seller described. After cleaning and proper lubrication (I use Moebius D5, 9010, 941 (pallets), 8212 (mainspring), and 9501) the movement behaves quite well for it's age between 40 and 50 years, maybe even older. This is what I saw on the timegrapher after minimal regulation. Note: the beat error cannot be corrected easily since the stud is fixed on this movement. I did not dare to fiddle around with the balance. Here are the results (° = amplitude, s = accuracy, ms = bear error): Dial up: +1s, 285°, 1.5ms Dial down: +20s, 306°, 1.1ms Crown down:+1s, 243°, 1.4ms Crown right (6 up): -5s, 250°, 1.7ms I am especially pleased by the amplitude of the fully wound movement. This tells me the lubrication went well. Next steps will be cleaning the watch as good as possible. I will clean the dial only very carefully, using no solvents whatsoever. I will just remove the dirt carefully with a pegwood. Any ideas highly welcome. Cheers Alexander

Wonderful pictures- keep them coming! The movement looks nice and clean, I don't see much rust at all. The blued hands are in quite good shape too and the dial will look fine under a new crystal I think. If you're intent is to make this watch your own, I would highly suggest having the case, bezel, and pushers replated by RePlateIt- they do fantastic work. Volume 2 of the Esembl-o-graf covers the assembly of the Venus 170 chronograph mechanism. You used to be able to find it at this link although it's failing for me tonight. A Google search will probably bring up a PDF though. The tech sheet will help you if you need to find replacement parts also.