Leaderboard

Hi everyone. I'm proud to share with you my new tabletop workbench and desktop organizer. I have it made by a friend who is a carpenter by using design of Ofrei's product.

Very nice work & tidy work bench, but the problem with this game you just end up messy.............

It has always been low on amplitude and I had assumed the need for more cleaning and oiling or replacement of mainspring (this last I have done twice). But my suspicions were aroused when I made a video of the balance swing and could fairly clearly see that the amplitude was larger than that reported by Timegrapher. Now Watch-O-Scope has confirmed this.

Today I have today been really impressed by Watch-O-Scope v1.1. I connected my Chronografic mike via a Kemo preamp with only x100 amplification. Amplifier power was from a LI-ion battery. The whole lot was floating on the PC earth. The signal to noise was fair, and after applying the Watch-O-Scope broad band filter it was excellent. Here is a sample measurement made on a home-built watch with an ETA 2824 movement. The PC clock was calibrated following the instructions in the user manual. And here is the same watch, dial up, in my Timegrapher 1000. A good agreement for timing but proving my suspicion that the Timegrapher, although accurate for timing, is low on amplitude measurement.

Hi I've just joined the forum so by way of an introduction and where I am in this hobby, I'm posting this build of a 6498. It's not a full walkthrough but this forum seems the best place for it. I usually work on older watches but have been meaning to have a go at one of these for some time and received a 20% discount offer from PayPal so I picked up an ETA6498-1, dial and hands on eBay. The case came from elsewhere. There are loads of people selling these as kits to build your own watch. This is just about the most basic movement you can buy, with no complications. There are two calibres in the family, the 6497 has the sub second counter opposite the crown so at 9 O’clock and the 6498 sub seconds is at 6 O’clock which I prefer but, the two calibres are very similar with many shared parts. Servicing one of these simple ETAs is probably not a bad way to start. I didn’t do that but, thought it might be nice to work with a new movement for a change and play with the Etachron system. To the best of my knowledge, these movements come in four grades: Standard; Elabore; Top and Chronometer. The lower two grades are easy to buy so that's what I have. The top two are not so readily available. It’s big at 36.6 mm diameter so, minimum case size must be 41-42 mm diameter as that’s a case wall of 2 mm only. People use these in cases much bigger than that but, I chose a 42 mm case as my wrist is only 6.75”. Here’s the spec for my grade and a bare movement picture (in its plastic case) next to a very dirty Omega 565 spares movement which is 28 mm diameter. Manual wind, 46 hour reserve 17 jewel and Incabloc shock protection with Etachron system. 18000 A/h (2.5 Hz) frequency It’s possible to buy these in a foil sealed pack (I think packed with an inert gas) and use straight from that pack but most, like mine, are sold ‘loose packed’ so should be serviced before use. I will do that and also see if I can improve a little on the way it runs straight out of the box. ETA publish a set of service instructions for this calibre with types of oils and an assembly sequence and the pdf is readily available. I more or less follow that assembly sequence. For the performance, to set a datum, I wound the movement, let it run for a day and then tested the 24H and 0H conditions. The CH, 6H and 9H are the only specified test positions for this calibre but, I tested over all six positions. Results as follows: Amplitude: max 290 degrees at 0H and min of 220 degrees at 24H. Six position delta: at both 0H and 24H of 18 seconds. Beat error under 0.4 milliseconds. These are pretty good and almost chronometer spec so I will try and get within that, being delta of 12 seconds at 0H and 15 seconds at 24H. On the older Omega movements such as the 5xx series, some are chronometer rated (e.g. 561) and some are not (e.g. 565). I remember looking at the parts commonality between these some time ago and I’m pretty sure that there were no differences in the critical parts so, those usually will come close to that spec. On this 6498, the balance and balance spring seem to be the major differences to guarantee chronometer spec for the better movements. Well, I have the cheaper one so, we’ll see. First is to line up all the big screwdrivers as these started as pocket watch calibres so, all the screws are big for me. Stripped and cleaned, the parts are these and this shows this is a simple movement. The parts are in seven groups working from the right. This is not a blow by blow account but I took some pictures to show how it goes together. These are all the pieces. 1. Plate with balance still mounted. 2. Incablocs and second wheel/cannon pinion. 3. Mainspring, barrel, ratchet wheel, crown wheel, click and barrel bridge. 4. Keyless works. 5. Train wheels and bridge. 6. Pallet fork and bridge. 7. Case clamp screws and hour wheel. First to go on are the Incablocs. I don’t know what reflection is being picked up on the machined parts of the plate but there is no discolouration at all in reality. For those in the know, I have the curb pins wide open as I am adjusting concentricity and centering of the hairspring between them. Really, for me to improve this movement performance, I can adjust the wheel shakes and try for the best configuration of the hairspring so, I spent a little time here. No poising of the balance at this time. Nice to have an adjustable stud carrier to set the beat error. This Etachron system is quite clever and it’s pretty new for me. It certainly reduces the amount of hairspring work which is not my favourite. I know it's not universally liked but it seems pretty neat to me. I end up with a very slight turn on the stud holder after some playing and am happy so, close up the curb pins again for final tweaking when it’s on the timing machine. Second wheel and cannon pinion fitted. Mainspring mounted in barrel and the complete barrel and barrel bridge mounted with its three screws, not forgetting to fit the setting lever screw first (!) which must go in before the bridge. Ratchet wheel, click and crown wheel fitted. It’s quite an attractive finish and the blued screws are a nice contrast. Turning over and the keyless works are fitted. I was a little generous with the grease here. This side of the plate is not so well finished but will be hidden under the dial so not so critical. Nice that there are holes in the minute wheel to allow the train oiling later. Here the rest of the train is shown, third, fourth and escape wheels. And now the train bridge mounted with its two screws. A little bit of wheel shake checking here but, it’s very good. Then the fork and bridge are fitted. That bridge is not the most attractive but it’s usually obscured by the balance. Checked the fork locking and so on here and no adjustment needed. Finally, the balance goes back in and the movement lives again. I let it run for 15 minutes and then removed the balance to oil the pallet jewels with 9415 (out of interest, I'm only using Fixodrop on the escape wheel and pallet jewels). This is an easy job on such a big movement but trickier for me on a very small ladies calibre. I have an Omega 684 in my wife's watch which is about 2/3 of the 565 size. After running for 24 hours again, I made some tweaks to the curb pins to equalize the horizontal and vertical running a bit better. Now, the six position delta is 10 seconds at both 0H and 24H so, I’m very happy with that. This really is a terrific movement for the money in my opinion. Bit more to follow later with (huge) case, dial etc. Hope some of this is of interest. Cheers, Chris

Progress to date on homemade watch parts, The movement is an Avia I bought off ebay for a few pounds. I will buy the glass and strap in the future (hopefully if things get that far).The plan is the rest of the parts will be DIY Case fabricated in 3 parts Raw material for case ).

Looking really futuristic . Love the hands . If you sell them wouldn't you make so much money on them that you could do a new project . Many out there that do watches and sell in small series. Micro brands .

Love it, and its just what I would love to own too. Is your carpenter friend open to new commissions?

Hi everyone here is another one of my collection it a breitling special edition black bird Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

Absolutely stunning, I'd love one in rose gold. Great job Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

An all in one switchbox would be better as its going in the kitchen. less mess.Used to have one similar to this, except it had both scart and composite. If only it existed with output to VGA monitor.

Escape wheel tooth....hopefully you've found the problem! Anil

Hi, Parts so far haven't been very difficult. The watch came with a balance complete and bridge. They were inside a sealed packet inside a tin, good thing as the price of replacement parts looked to be around $600. There were also some broken parts in another container, a bent hairspring and one and a half stems. I have already ordered what I know I need except for the crown. When I picked up the watch It had the balance removed but was otherwise intact. When I held up the watch to look at it the weight of the second hand caused it to move forward about 15 seconds. That's when I knew that either the sweep pinion or pallet fork was broken. I'm still wondering if gravity and the weight of the second hand is enough to cause the drive train to move unless something else is broken however when you hold up the watch and look all the wheels move a bit as long as the pallet fork is unlocked. A puff of air on the escapement wheel will also move things along easily. I agree with clockboy in that I think someone has tried to repair this watch and ran into some trouble. If you notice there are some pretty ugly scratches on the ratchet wheel and along the edge of it as well, also the case screw you see that is removed was not positioned properly in the slot of the case. I'm also wondering if someone was attempting to turn it into a two-tone model. It has a jubilee band and I thought this model always had the oyster. Anyway I was looking for a project and it seems I found one.

Pending the production of a suitable preamp I have found this quick way to test out Watch-O-Scope. The Greiner Micromat audio output is filtered and then fed into the PC mike input. The results are excellent: A pro version is ordered.

Hey everyone how is everyone here is one of my watches in my collection Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

I'm off for a '70s disco night tonight and wanted to wear something retro. Found this citizen digital watch in my box - never wore it until now. Had it since the early '90s :D Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk