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One of my occasional forays into Chinese-made watches, this 34.65mm 1970s BaoXuan with a Zhongshan SN-2 movement which came with various jewel counts, ranging from nine to this “up-graded” one with 17. Bit of fun, being quite sparkly with its red and gold accents, and even in their day I believe these watches weren’t aimed at anything like the top end of the home market. Produced by the Jie Yang Watch Factory and absolutely not the world’s prettiest movement but described as “robust” and “reliable”. Equally unattractive is the cheapo bracelet which accompanied it, soon to be changed for a decent leather job. Regards.

That's half the fun of this game. Saving them from ending up as landfill is actually very rewarding. I'm typing this while wearing the Snoopy from the other day, 'cos I took off the one above. It is still going great, but one of the strap pins is the wrong size, and I didn't want the strap to come off while I'm strolling about. I'll fix that later. I've taken a bit of a shine to Snoopy. Great fun, and surprisingly accurate considering its unknown service history. I've got much "posher" and dressier watches (not all of my stuff is from the 404 club), but the tennis playing beagle is turning in to a bit of a favorite.

Ok, I need technician help. I assembled the movement and there are two small problems:First: when I stop the chrono the minute chrono counter still works. Where I should find cause of it? I think that the lever I marked on the photo is the minute brake and maybe there is too much cleareance beetwen it and minute wheel? Am I right?Second: When chrono works balance amplitude is ok but if I stop the chrono, balance amplitude is fallen. I thinh there is too much friction somewhere. Maybe I must oil the plate which I marked on the photo above? This plate drag the clutch down and maybe too it's stops the balance ? Update:I was thinking all night long and couldn't sleep well. I analyzed what could cause problems I had described above. Disassembled the chrono bridge one more time and I found that blocking lever for minute recording wheel was slighty bented. With my heart on my mouth I have started to straighten the lever and voila success. I take a look of the second's chrono wheel and clutch. Small amount of oil goes in the place I suppose have to much friction. And as result is good working movement, zeroing and stoping chrono. Now it's time for tests before dial and hands go on their place. One more thing - there is no screw on the pawl winding wheel. I found screw but it's head was too small. I made small washer from the razor blade. Maybe it;s don't look great but it's work well. If you someone have this screw please let me know. VID_20190809_170740_Trim.mp4 Balance amplitude looks very well I hope the end of project is soon...

Ronsonol lighter fluid is way better then One Dip. I just got better results. The lighter fluid is so friendly to watch parts. You can leave the parts to be cleaned in it for days, just make sure you have a screw on lid for the jar as it evaporates very quick. After cleaning I would take out the part place it on clean tissue, hold with tweezers and use my blower to remove any residue.

Hello All, this is my first contribution to this thread. I have been doing the lessons for sometime and thought that it is time I meet some of you! 1972 Heuer "Viceroy" Autavia fitted with a NOS Corfam band vintage Heuer buckle.

Hallo everyone, I am a student from Germany and totally new to watch-related topics. Because I got fascinated by horology, I can´t wait to put some unique watches on my wrist. I´m hopping to gain a lot of knowledge and knew input from this community. Also I am looking for some advice and help from some experienced watch enthusiasts. I bought a vintage German quartz watch. Because it was extremely cheap I took the risk and bought it although it was not running, hoping that the reason for it is a dead battery. That´s why I want to exchange it by myself. I managed to open the screw-down caseback but I´m not sure witch screws I need to remove in order to change the battery. I just know that it is a miyota movement. I have attached a picture of the movement. Any research I have done on that particular watch model didn´t help me. Can somebody tell me the steps I need to take in order to change the battery successfully? Also are there any things I must consider while exchanging a watch battery in general? I am thankful for any piece of advice. Cheers, Daniel

Old piece, general wear out.

cheers weasol and andy. Finally 10 weeks and 11 watches later i have finally removed and refitted the balance cock. And it works. Small steps i know. but means a lot to me. thanks everyone who has answered my some times simple questions. cheers gary

I have totaly missed this post but lets give it a go. Your escape wheel looks dirty but it isn't causing the pattern you see on your timegraph, except from the beat error the pattern looks much like a "sticky hairspring" the phenoma can come from oil or magnetization of the hairspring or a bad end curve on the hairspring. A bad pinion on the escape wheel should show a more slalom like pattern with almost equal up and down humps since it is oscillating. Here you can see a similar but in beat pattern and a quick fix since this time it was caused by old oil. Hope this takes you a bit further.

You cannot wind an auto fully up.

Today will be my Omega 2254.50 300 Chronometer, fitted on a Perlon strap for the summer.

Thank you for your help. It gave me the confidence to try it. This was literally the easiest date wheel to remove, i just slide the notch by the number 4 as you suggested and it popped out, pulled it out again to drop it back in. I'm wondering when i'll have the confidence to just do this myself without asking....

Abit more info on KIF shock systems that may help. antichoc_lower.pdf antichoc_upper.pdf

I took some minutes to look at what spring might fit in your barrel. Looks like the 582 has the same spring as the 584 and then you according to BestFit can use the same spring as the ETA 2820 . As a curiousity the same spring is also used in: ALPINA 584 ETA 2820 ETA 2820R ETA 2822R ETA 2823 ETA 2823R ETA 2828 ETA 2828R ETA 2829 ETA 2829R ETA 2834 ETA 2834R Maybe this information can get you into the right track..

Perhaps the inner coil is too large and it's not hooking on the arbor, or it's in backwards. A photo of the barrel with cap off will help.

This movement is a bumper automatic. The main spring is supposed to slip, some are attached to a break spring, the break spring should slip with the mainspring. Old autos are sometimes fitted with an extra short piece of spring which is much stronger than the normal spring that fits inside the barrel, that acts as a break, the normal auto spring is attached to that. You shouldn’t be able to wind up an automatic. Here is a photo of a modern auto mainspring.

Its a 1977 Timex Mercury two hander today, with one of those classic Timex high contrast dials with the wobbly font you can read from 100 yards. This was gummed up when it arrived. It got a good clean, but still tended to stop randomly, and had poor amplitude around 140. The issue, which I spent a good half hour chasing was a tiny spot of gunk on the edge of the escape wheel. Once removed the amplitude shot up and remained rock steady within a couple of degrees around 252 on a partial wind, and the thing is now going great.

The only thing securing the date ring there appears to be the two points arrowed which I assume are part of the date change mechanism. Given that the spring mentioned is locked under a cover plate it shouldn't be at risk of coming out. I'd suggest relieving the tension on each peg in turn and lifting the date ring gently, the new one should locate back in the same way.

Thanks, I'm boring when it comes to leather straps and only like black and brown but this one I'd actually consider a dark blue one as the face is dark blue, hard to tell in this pic though. This is the replacement strap it came with and it's well padded and comfy and I love the pattern.

I never cleaned the balance in the cleaning machine. Always cleaned it in Ronsonol lighter fluid. One Dip is not needed. The lighter fluid is way better and it won't harm pallets or impulse pins that are held with shellac.

Hi, Re our PM's, I have attached a pic of the sizes for KIF springs which I have been using. The smaller sizes you mention relate to the jewel chaton I think, hence the confusion. I was unable to send pic by PM so have put it here. It may also help others. Kif-Springs.pdf

Well... It may be true that the variations may be within tolerance for most horological applications, but it depends heavily on what device you're using and how it allocates processing time. There IS an undeniable fluctuation, even if it's by a fraction of a millisecond on a good device. At least at the time I researched this and compared a dedicated timing machine and PC based software to an app on a phone, it gave conflicting results and the general consensus was that the technology was a decent indicator, but not precise enough to beat the other options. I mentioned it mainly as a trivial addition to the knowledge base since it may come in handy sometime. I didn't do it to rain on anyone's picnic.

I too, suspect the roller and guard pin rubing, since excess side shake reduces the distance between the two in dial up position.

Hello guys, Maybe a stupid question, still have to start my 3 year corse in September, but a question that is in my mind for a long time... How do you recognize a movement brand. Automatic or Quartz, Watch brands call it a like RR257-7 but it's for example a ETA... How can you tell what's inside so you can start finding parts? Thanks for not laughing with me, and answer my question that is playing in my head. ;-) Koen

Thanks guys, I’ll check after putting it back. I’m waiting on some supplies before I do. I’ll keep you posted!

Hi The staight answer is no, The flat point wants re-curving , bearing in mind the position where it lies in the regulator pins, In the quiet state the spring should be in the centre between the pins so a when the spring oscillates it touches the outer and the inner pins, effectivly shortening of lenghtning the spring depending on which way the regulator is moved. Therefore slowing down, lenthening or speeding up shortening the spring.

Yes, the new MS is a lot longer and thicker, which means that will be wound more tightly, excessively stressed and consequently it broke. As a rule of thumb the mainspring should take no more than one third of the barrel. You could probably use 3.00 x .195 x 600 x 18 (GR7194) but check for damage done by breakage.