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Hey all, Here is my first Service Walkthrough for servicing the Favre-Leuba 253 movement. I found it easier to do this in a word processor and save it as a PDF rather than trying to make it into a giant post. I hope that's ok. I welcome any and all constructive criticism of the document. FL_253_Service.pdf

Once you get through the gold the brass/ base metal it gets eaten by sweat quite quickly. I have a few 60's Seiko Sportsmatics in similar condition, you just have to live with it. The deep scars tend to be on the back don't notice while wearing. I normally give the cases a good blast in the ultrasonic with detergent and a polish with a Selvyt gold cloth which tends to polish the base metal and blend it in with the gold. Close up: But gets less noticeable as you move out: Its always a problem with gold plated/ filled watches, that why I prefer stainless steel.

Just finished servicing one of these as part of a task set by my Horology tutor. Thought I wold give a quick walk through as it is an interesting and very good movement that can be had fairly cheaply. The Bidynator was the first Bi-Directional auto movement (Felsa 690) introduced I believe in the 1940's. This is the later 1560 calibre. Here is the rotor that is removed by moving the tiny spring loaded lever down and left to unlock it. This is indicated on the rotor by a small arrow. With the rotor removed the auto plate is revealed. You can also see it has Incabloc shock protection and the escape wheel has capped jewels. Auto plate removed revealing the bi-directional auto module. This movement has 2 clicks, the one on the auto module does not let the power down. The click to let down the power is located at the 2 o'clock position in this picture resting against the barrel ;) With the plate removed the gear train is exposed, notice the twin gears on the third wheel. The lower wheel is slightly offset to the top wheel. These engage with the (indirect drive) centre seconds pinion to prevent stutter I guess? I didn't photo inside the barrel when I took it apart but it has a conventional mainspring hooking, but there is a separate slipping bridle that runs around the inside rim of the barrel. The mainspring hooking, hooks on to this and this provides the slipping mainspring that is required for a automatic movement. The slipping bridle is removed during cleaning and braking grease apple to the barrel wall before re-assembly. NOTE: The mainspring winds in reverse to the more common mainsprings (ETA's etc) This caused a problem with my mainspring winder that can only wind in one direction (Bergeon..Hah!) So it was hand wound in which was quite straight forward. When the gear train has been removed there is a final bridge holding the centre wheel in place. Flipping over the movement reveals a straight forward motion works and keyless setup. Again you see the capped jewel escapement and look at that shock setting, this is a well made, good quality movement ;) Lubricants used were, Auto module and rotor 9010 Gear train D5 & 9010, 9415 on the pallets Mainspring wiped with D5, Barrel wall 8213 braking grease Keyless and motion works D5 & Molykote DX The movement is performing very well with a 48hr power reserve. I don't have a timegrapher at home so regulated it with a digital stopwatch as close as I could. It is still within a minute, 3 days later, being worn all day on the wrist...Impressive. Here's the completed watch.

Hi Just signed up and thought I'd say hello. Don't quite know how it has happened but I think I have the bug. I find I am spending lots of my time tinkering with watches, reading about people tinkering with watches, and then watching people like Mark who actually know what they are doing. I find it fascinating and have lots to learn. But, I have quite a bit of free time now as I was lucky enough to be able to retire quite early from my job as an hgv mechanic. I do miss the spanners (a bit) though and need something to pull apart and put back together. As I don't have the space to park an articulated tractor unit on the drive, somehow I became interested in the workings of watches and bought one or two to experiment with. And now I seem to be hooked and am rapidly running out of space as parcels containing one thing or another keep dropping throught the letterbox fairly frequently. The postie is now a family friend. Anyway I will be lurking around here now trying to absorb some of the wisdom and knowledge and am sure to have one or two questions some time or other. Many thanks in advance Dave

I finaly managed to get a Connie to complement my Omega collection, it is a Gold Cap model from 1966 with a 561 movement. I went against recommended practice of " get high definition pictures and ask to see the movement". The pictures were not at all good, and the seller said that he had no means of opening the back. I'm sure this put off a few folk, but luckily my offer was accepted and it turned out well. I did know that the crown was incorrect when I bought it. After a couple of small adjustments it is holding 0 to +2 seconds on the timegrapher. :) Here are some pictures I've just taken. A service should smooth out the graph a bit.

Thanks, Clockboy. You mean the two smallest holes in the anvil are blocked? After seeing SSTEEL's picture, I emailed the seller and requested that they pack mine securely. Not only did they do that, they marked each row of stakes separately so I could put them back exactly where they were. They also found 20 or 30 "bonus" parts that had been stuck behind the wood things that the stakes fit into and sent them along. Can't say enough good things about this seller.

Thanks-WillTry!

Hi Craig - good to see you here again! Steinhart are a decent make - and the good ol' Swiss 2824-2 is a solid, well-made movement.

No problem at all - I only mentioned it in case you thought your post went missing :) The specs on the watch are pretty decent - if you can get it for a good price then even better :)

I like lateral thinking, I do it myself all the time, but I would bet a large sum of money it wouldn't work. By the way, I hate being negative. I'm working on an Alpina bumper watch just now, and the train bridge went on in ten seconds flat and that was with four pinions to line up, not just three! It's all down to the far better design.

If you're looking for one, it's a bit of a mine field. Do a lot of research that way you're not as likely to get your fingers burnt. I sugest you start off by working your way through everything on this site, it's invaluable! :- http://omega-constellation-collectors.blogspot.co.uk/

Crackin' watch Geo - well done.

I found Mark's video I was referring to. How to reset a Seiko perpetual calendar and fit a new battery. Watch repair tutorials. 8F32

Thanks Geo and Clockwatcher for the warm welcome! I have been in the hobby for about a year and a half. It all started when I decided to take an inherited Illinois Pocket watch to a gold buying show. I was shocked at how little they would give for such a beautiful work of art. I was also ashamed of the nasty thought I had to salvage it. I have always been mechanically inclined as my Father was an inventor and I had always tinkered with old cars and model R/C airplanes, so when they told me their offer, I took it home and decided I would find out how much it would cost to get it running again. When the professional watch repairman spit the estimate out to repair it, his estimate far exceeded the value of the watch. Then the watch professional suggested maybe I could acquire used parts online to save some costs. Shazzam, it hit me!!! Maybe I could get it running myself! Although I wouldn't recommend tackling your first project with an heirloom I managed to get it running with borrowed parts from another watch I acquired from E-bay. I'm still in the process of acquiring the right parts to restore it properly. But in the process I have acquired over 50 old used wristwatches from second hand stores and then resell them as good running watches. I have thouroughly enjoyed this journey. Checking out books from the library, watching every kind of video available to satisfy this insatiable appetite, and now finding such a great site!

At last I have an Astral, model T351 from 1959/60. Condition as bought: Open her up and we have a 17 jewel calibre 400 made in Cheltenham: Running very well apart from a slight beat error. So leave the movement service for the time being, clean case, dial & hands, replace cracked crystal, dab of silicone on the very supple case & crown gaskets, new tan strap & this is what we've got: Meet the wife: A model U303 with a 15 jewel calibre 300 movement made between 1960-5. All she required was a good clean & new black lizard strap.

Interesting subject. I've seen watches that have rusted cases and sometimes I can't even figure how the heck it rusted in such a pattern. I guess it is just how people wear them. Nothing much to do there. @anil. Good information Anil, thanks for sharing! Cheers, Bob

Any oil/grease is best kept in a sealed container, in the dark and at cool temp. Kept this way shelf life is normally about 5 years for mineral oils and 7-10 years for synthetics, but the manufacturers will probably err on 2-3 years. Moebius normaly comes in a small bottle in a metal can with foam liner, which means they can be kept in dark. If you don't use a lot, then for watches etc I would go for synthetics every time (ie Moebius 9000 series). More expensive but will keep longer and perform better.

Hi Zenon, No real way out of this one.. I assume the front is OK? In that case I would just use it as it is...not so much a daily wearer but more of an 'evening out' watch. You can replate a watch but the resulting finish is no way comparable to how a 'gold-filled' or 'rolled gold' (same thing) looks almost like the real thing! As for the movement... it could be a) from a different factory or b)from a different period. The Russian were not too bothered about copyright and they production was based on capacity. In your example with the extra word/numbers.. the figures inside the Pentagram would be for the 1st Moscow Watch factory. The ones from Minsk had a more rounded cartouche. Since there is no cartouche it could be from either factory (or even a totally different one!). This movement was made for around 20 years so anything goes! One thought.. since they used the word 'jewel' instead of the Cyrillic equivalent could it have been an export model? The example with the russian wording also has bevelled edges on the bridges whereas yours has a stepped edge. The bevelled edge is cosmetically nicer but this should not affect the running of the watch. The 2209 movement is one of the nicer movements from the former USSR, most of them come in gold filled cases and I believe they were at the top of the food-chain back in the day! It was originally made in the 1st Moscow Watch Factory at Kirova. Production was later transferred to the Minsk, Belarus. Personally I love this watch, especially how silky smooth it winds!..Only two things bug me, firstly I wish it had a Breguet overcoil..most Russian one have these, even the cheap ones, but I believe it was left out here in the pursuit of slimness. Secondly, on most of the watches I've seen, the second hand is too short! I believe this was due to the low dome crystal originally fitted but it doesn't look 'right'. Anil

Hi George, Your link appears to refer to a bundle...and it is not what I would buy right off. I'd rather hand pick what I need since oils expire and if you don't use them you will lose the money. All that said, I would get D5, 9010 and some other essentials for the barrel and pallets...there are options, the bundle doesn't have them. Just an opinion though. Cheers, Bob

Hi George, welcome to the forum. I've purchased many items from Elisabeth and all the oils are genuine top quality. I've also purchase from j Borel hee in the U.S. and Elisabeth is cheaper even with shipping from France--as long as you can order so that she ships in one shot. JC

It doesn't look bad and you're buying a brand. Shipping is expensive though... I buy my oils from this offer : 151144554717

Hallo everyone, I just want to say Wow! You people are super. I also em an avid subscriber of Mark's YT channel. A few (promise ) words about me. I'm 38, recently got into watches, and as I like to tinker with things and quite handy( if I can say so myselph) I wanted to make some modiffications to the watches I bought and try to also regulate them. Problem is that I always start confident with no matter what, but with some things, after finishing I seem to be left with some screws or washers, and worst of all, things seem to still function ... This is enough for starters. Here's my first project: a cheep Vostok Amphibia with new basel and new seconds hand and minute and hour hand relumed.The seconds was a pain as I tried 5 different shades of red untill I was finally satisfied It is nice to be here. Radu