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Today im wearing my new Gruen that arrived yesterday. I find it amazing how a few minutes with a good polishing compound can make an old watch look nearly new. I love the Art Deco vibe of this watch.

No mater what the problem is and it could be many, take it back and tell them to fix it free of charge.

It could be many different things, but if you had this serviced professionally it should be up to the watchmaker to figure it out and make it right, that's for certain. But to echo Nucejoe, it could be a problem with a jewel, a balance pivot, hairspring touching somewhere; it could be that the escapement is poorly adjusted and the guard pin is rubbing the safety roller, or, it could be it was very poorly serviced and there is still gunk in there or way too much oil or no oil. Does it run in both flat positions (dial facing up and dial facing down)?

I had time to kill before an appointment today so I popped into a local thrift store and asked if they had any watches, The lady rummaged under the counter and brought out a box of random quartzs and, under a bunch of Genevas and "Frozen" watches, I saw this: Made in 1911, grade 336, 18s, 17 jewels... I said, "Yes, I think I'll have this one, please". It will run nicely sitting on its crystal but the balance wheel catches on the underside of the balance cock when turned on its back. There seems to be a substantial bend in the hairspring that may be the cause. I think I'll hold on to this one for a while.

I would first look at the tips of the balance staff with strong magnification. I would not be surprised if one of the balance pivots it snapped off. If not then the lower jewel setting will have to be moved in a touch. However without a jeweling tool or a staking tool with micro adjustment attachment then adjustment will be problematic to say the least. The tiniest of movements make a big difference.

I suspect you are more likely to make your money back by selling the crystals individually, but you will still need to figure out what they fit, and for that Ofreil, or even just a good old fashioned pair of calipers would be best. Measure the diameter (or shape), thickness, profile etc. I suspect that there may not be much interest, unless they fit particularly popular models. Personally, I would hang on to them, and use them as the first potential source when you are looking for a new crystal for any future watch purchases. I have a fairly large collection (several hundreds of various crystals, all bought in similar job lots of maybe 50 or so at a time), to the one you describe, and all picked up for not much more than the cost of a couple of good crystals of known profile. It is surprising how often the stash yields the correct type.

Broken balance pivot is what I was thinking as well. I can't see entirely but isn't that a breguet overcoil hairspring ?

I have an Elgin pocket watch that I have had recently serviced because it would not run. Since I have received back from service the watch will only run when it is laying flat. If I carry the watch it stops. Any ideas of what the problem may be? Elgin Serial#1140270 Grade 64; 7j; Size 8S; Model 1; Made ~1883 [email protected]

Awww that's a shame, as I have shovel sized hands ! But I still rather fancy one for my collection.

Very nice. I really like the case! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I know a guy who does, he does really high end restoration and custom fabrication though. He uses an eye dropper to dose the bushings, probably uses more in Fixodrop value that what most normal clock services would cost!

the "repair tech." should brake into a cold sweat when you walk in the door. try to find proper watch repairman. good luck. vin

Thank you for your replies. I have not tested it dial face down but I will. I will again return it to the repair technician. Thank you again.

If nothing else, at least this might encourage the "Vintage Fortis" creators of Mumbia to up their game a bit.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I take it the watch was ok before the stem was removed and re inserted, For what reason was that done ? . The fault seems as that it is self inflicted in as much that the stem/keyless work are missaligned or damaged. I would desist from continuing to wind the watch and to investigate what's gone wrong. the likelyhood is that the crown and or castle wheels are or have been displaced. The only answer is to remove the dial and hands and observe the keyless work alignment as regards to the stem fitting and engagement with the ratchet wheel(great wheel) only then when its working ok proceed to do the maintenance. I Have attached the tech sheets for both calibres hope they will provide some guidence. Wostok 2409.pdf Wostok 2414.pdf

Welcome to the forum. Jewel assembly should be checked or balance rubbing, even possible broken pivot.

I hope you asked them for a discount! Such old junk nobody wants it!

The basis of your watch is an ETA 2893-1 or -2 which Hamilton adds extra features to (the rotating bezels you mention) via two supplementary crowns. The technical sheet for the 2893 can be found here ... https://www.cousinsuk.com/PDF/categories/15_ETA2893-1,2,3.pdf ... but this won't include the Hamilton additions. A normal watch has a single crown and that screws onto a threaded stem and it is the stem which interfaces with what are called the 'keyless works' to allow different setting positions for changing the time, quicksetting the date etc. However we're dealing with a Hamilton supplementary crown in your case and what looks a little odd is that your crown seems to have nothing to screw onto a stem. It is usually the stem itself which is the weak spot and some remnant of where it screws onto the crown would be apparent; your crown looks hollow (and there is no remaining stem in the watch itself by the looks of it either). But this is a Hamilton special part and because I assume it simply rotates a reference bezel then it is not a normal crown/stem situation and Hamilton provide a special all-in-one-part (my guess). And herein lies the rub ... how easy is it to get hold of one of these? I suspect it's not going to be the $10 you assume! Even if you're confident about working on a mechanical watch I wouldn't go fiddling inside until you're sure you can get the part!

the hair spring can be reshaped with "rounding plyers". i'll post a photo. vin

Hairspring looks good to me, much more likely broken balance pivot or jewel or pivots or jewels, don't mess up the hairspring! Could just be solidified oil and everything is fine. Just don't muck up the hs!

The reverser wheels MUST be treated with " Epilame" if not after a while the auto stops functioning correctly. I speak from experience. PS I used HP500 for the reverser parts with no issues the watch has not been off my wrist (apart from bath time) for 4 years now.

one hour old.