Leaderboard

I recently bought a watch cleaning machine from a retired watchmaker, when I collected the machine the jars already contained solution, the watchmaker told me the rinse jars contained isopropanol. I did ask him what effect on the shellac holding the pallet jewels would the isopropanol have, saying I would be worried that it would dissolve. He said he had used it since Benzine had been unavailable to use, and as long as I rinsed for no more than 15min in each wash there would not be a problem. He also said it was very quick to evaporate in the drying stage and left no residue. I have ordered new cleaning solution and rinse solution from Quadralene and intend to use these. I have though cleaned 4 watches last week in the solutions in the machine and have not had a problem. Today I decided to test and see how long it took to actually dissolve the shellac, The image above shows 3 Russian and one Swiss set of pallets and the shellac can clearly be seen. I have been using the solution for 15min each rinse and have not had a problem so I put the pallets in a isopropanol rinse for 1hr to see what effect it had On the Russian pallets it has greatly degraded the shellac and almost totally washed it away on one, but on the Swiss pallets it has not even touched the shellac on those. I will not use isopropanol again in a cleaning machine and intend to try a similar test with the Quadralene rinse to see how shellac friendly that is because the data sheet doesn't specify what ingredients are in it, but quadralene did tell me they have many watchmakers who buy their rinse and have not had any problems.

Hello Warrior Is it possible to have a look at the workings of this watch and the back. It may be that this watch is actually Quartz and not an Accutron type which means we are into a different fix. It looks a tad like the 98B xxx series style. Either way you need to open it up as there are loads of different models of this sort of watch. If it is a tuning fork watch Georges fix may well work providing the right battery has been inserted. More info needed though. Cheers, Vic

****UPDATE**** Today I took the time to take the movement out of the case and work on it. It took me a couple of tries, but I finally got the balance wheel in the right position and the old Seiko is working again. It may not seem like much, but I am very happy I was able to get this done and it has built my confidence in tackling other jobs. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

I don't now if you seen this before? Lot of service go through . Saved in my computer . Found a citizen 5210 short after i finished my 5240 .Could have been a great help . http://thewatchbloke.co.uk/

Hi Anil, that's pretty much it indeed. Put it working in a drawer, and no function at all a week or so later. And the second hand doesn't move at all. First I figured that maybe the watch wasn't winding, but when I opened the watch I was able to confirm that the winding weight (don't know what it's actually called) does turn around, and it does connect properly to the other gears for as far as I can see without disassembling the watch. I'm guessing the best thing for me to do at this moment (since I'm not willing to have it professionally serviced because that would cost more than the watch is worth) is to disassemble and reassemble the whole watch, for which purpose I've found this youtube vid - never done this before. I hope that will fix it!

Had a tissot recently that had been soaked in wd40 it had gone everywhere

Bl#*dy predictive text, it should have been battery. It's now corrected. :)

The last one, the Omega James Bond Seamaster with the 1120 calibre that I received in bits! This is the worst I have serviced, but nothing to do with oil.

Hi Rodralph, Do this. 1. Shake it so the main spring gets wound.. I'm talking a minute of holding the watch in your hand and to/fro motion...2 minutes would be better , in fact 3minutes.. well you get the idea.! 2. Put the watch in your front jeans pocket in the morning and forget about it until you take off you pants at night. 50/50 chance the watch will be running. On these older Seikos, not being able to wind them by hand is a pain. The problem may simply be a unwound mainspring compounded by old oil gumming up the works. By shaking the watch, you are giving the watch a good head of power. Putting the watch in your pocket warms the oils and is usually enough to get the watch ticking. Once it starts you may find the watch to be wearable on a daily basis but if you find it needs a lot of persuasion to get started then a service is in order. Marc's suggestion has merit, as it is possible for the balance to get out of its groove but it would need to have been dropped ..interrogate ask your son nicely what exactly happened.. Also look out for any sign of water..even spotting could could develop into bigger problems. Hope this helps Anil