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Not sure the following will help you @signcarverbut I made the following note in my book where I record my experiences and thoughts in watch repair. Replacing the arbor. Insert the arbor so that the arbor hook goes in where the innermost coil has its widest section (between the innermost and second innermost coil) to facilitate getting the arbor inside the innermost coil. Then, using brass tweezers, rotate the arbor so that the arbor hook goes into the eye of the innermost coil. I also made the following "ugly" illustration. With some movements, it's a very tight fit, for example, Vostok movements. Hope it helps!

Yes, I think that could possibly be an excellent machine even for an enthusiast like myself. Sure, quite a bit of money, and there are many other tools and consumables we need to service watches that add up, but if we take it seriously and are no strangers to spending $2500 on a luxury watch, on some car accessory, some furniture, or something else that we don't really need, then I think we should invest in this cleaning machine instead. If I didn't have my old ELMA, I would probably pull the trigger on it. Cleaning to a clinical state is absolutely crucial (and was gravely underestimated by myself when I was a beginner) if we want our movements to run as well as they can. Unfortunately, cleaning is, in my opinion, a pretty boring task, so any help we can get is definitely worth the money as long as it is within reach. I feel inspired to pull the trigger on that Elma Solvex SE and sell my old ELMA Yes, the parts restrictions put in place by the Swiss manufacturers are nothing but pure evil. Let the consumers decide who to trust their precious watches too. Sure, some watch owners are going to be cheated and disappointed, but most will get a service that is at least as good or better at a lower price. From my own experience, I don't trust branded workshops (much) when it comes to my car. Instead, I buy spare parts myself and let my Kurdish mechanic do the work. He has done that for me perfectly for the last 10 years. I see no reason why this couldn't also work for watches.

OK, you need to determine the end game. Are you training on this watch? Is this an heirloom? Does this belong to your best friend for life? These are important questions for an amateur watchmaker--which I am. If this is a learner watch. Go for all the possible methods and see what work for the next REAL repair. If this is an heirloom. Let the screw remain in place and move on. If this is for your friend (and you are doing this as a favor with no compensation), leave the screw alone. If someone is paying you $1000 to service this watch, well, yeah...first buy a donor, and then get cleaver to see what works--but the end of the day...leave it alone! Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.

Good day everyone So, after practicing reassembly on a non working Seiko 7S26A with a dial foot lodged in the centre wheel, including rewinding (and breaking) a kinked mainspring, losing diafix cap jewels, and reinstalling a balance complete, I obtained two working movements from speedtimerkollektion., both 7S26A. The first was advertised as "the movement runs and stops." Turns out the hands were bent downwards and the second hand was blocked by a dial index. Once that was popped off, the balance wheel swung back into life. I put it on my newly acquired timegrapher: Found the readings varied somewhat depending on gain setting. Compared it with the app WatchTuner so decided to settle on this reading. Decided to attempt my first ever service. The parts were in worse shape than the previous non working 7S26 with crud and rusted areas. Cleaned the parts with rodico, pegwood, and pithwood before ultrasonic cleaning in jars with Petroleum Ether, Propanol, and 2nd rinse Propanol (3 min each). Cleaned the pallet fork and balance by soaking in a jar of Hexane. My little 1L 55W cleaner struggles to remove all the gunk and rust. Placed a few parts in white vinegar for a few hours to remove the worst of the rust. Definitely have to work on my cleaning technique given what I'm seeing under the microscope. Some screws are still discoloured. Reassembled and oiled using 9010, 9104, 9415 and 9504. Used S-4 on the first reduction wheel and pawl lever. Used notched pegwood to reinstall the diafix springs and a balance taper pin to oil the assembled diafix setting from the other side. My Chinese automatic oiler arrived with a bent needle that promptly broke so I am awaiting a new needle. I left the mainspring barrel well alone since it was winding and unwinding normally (unlike the previous practice movement). So this is the result without any regulation (which I have yet to delve into). I've got the second working 7S26A to practice on then a complete Seiko 5 7S26A watch I picked up on Yahoo Japan auctions. Will work on these before any of my own 7S26 or 6R15 watches. So after the Chinese ST36 (6497 clone) (a true victim) and two 7S26As, I wanted to try my hand at hairspring manipulation, balance staff replacement, jewel adjustment etc. Turns out Seiko Ladies tiny form movements are not popular with collectors. I obtained two working 1104A watches on Yahoo Japan Auction (for just 639 yen each) and nine non working 1104A movements from speedtimerkollektion (for about 1.50 to 2.50 USD each). Got some NOS spare parts so have some good practice material to work with. This is the first one I've started to disassemble. About the size of an American dime and older than I am.

Let us know how it goes, i have a few smiths inc. Empires to get through, TY 10.5 "'. They were pretty cheap at the time, they've done well to get this old. The Cheltenham factory models 12"' were far better quality and very different in design. Astral, Imperial, De-luxe, National, Everest.

Just for an idea to measure the length, a bit time consuming and fiddly but i would think reasonably accurate. Place a sheet of perspex or glass over the spring, then use a piece of fine string ( maybe cotton )to follow the shape. Cut or mark the string when finished laying it out, pull the string out and measure .

Is an unfortunate classic problem of bonsai's mainsprings and what we find in the barrel. It's also why I said this sometimes they will shove very inappropriate things in the barrel it might still set I had a watch that was hopelessly the width was way too narrow but they shall did in because they managed to get the hook on the protruding in that shouldn't have been there in the first place which ultimately got ground off and it proper T spring of the right type was fitted after a very very long search. I didn't see that as I saw all the references to doing calculations. I usually find for length you can grab the spring and just wretched out and be really careful not to let go because that can be painful. Then definitely a micrometer is better than of the near caliper. Then of course variations between the different Metals Can cause problems with amplitude not just variations in the thickness.

Heeelllo POLY

Well, I fixed the wobbley tool rest be removing the pin and inserting a brass washer that I filed down to about 300 microns.

Thank you @VWatchie ! Great drawing. A picture is worth 1000 words. I didn't do exactly that, but i was able to manipulate the coil on the mainspring with a second pair of tweezers. Next time i will try your method.

After a bit of the Parrot Sketch with Cousins website the GS recommended 1.60 x 0.135 x 660 x 14.5 size appears in my shopping cart. I figured Cousins of all should have parts for these Smiths and of course they have many of them once I found where to look... Three days to the US, then assembly. I shall update the results...

John's eyesight is usually better than mine. You might not need to remove the balance & cock assembly, as its the outer coil that seems to be sticking, if so use a clean needle or oiler to seperate the two sticking coils, plenty of space there right after the bend of terminal curve for the needle. Good luck

Doesn't your machine spin-dry in the jar before going to the heater, like Elmas do?

Hi The essential thing is to get the parts dry safely and without loss. A dedicated drier (as Shown) is just an expensive piece of kit with a few bells/whistles and flashing lights. The common hair dryer can do the same job with no fuss. Either keep the parts in the basket or decant them to a mesh container and gently blow dry with the dryer and save £350 for somthing you really do need.

Hi Looking at the Video and the fact that the outer coils are not moving, definitley a balance spring problem, coils in the center stuck either magnetised or gummed up. I have attached a tech sheet/Guide of the 7s26 to give you an idea of its anatomy and a guide, hope you find it useful. cheers 917_seiko 7s26c, 7s36c.pdf

Normally in fields other than watch repair people like to practice on something disposable first. Or something bigger like a 6497 clone relatively cheap off eBay. But how hard could watch repair be? Yes others have noticed that the videos make watch repair looks so the simple or so fast. Somebody recommended a video for me to watch to evaluate so I won't say what and it just so fun and fast and so the person skipped over a whole bunch of steps. But the person had a huge following whole bunch a likes on the video and was probably making money. The videos are not necessarily a true representation and as an added bonus just because you do a YouTube video doesn't mean you actually know what you're doing. Oh and it's not just YouTube videos on watch repair. I've seen YouTube product reviews like a CNC milling machine I purchased where the one that was reviewed versus the one that I got was a little bit different but you always expect that with Chinese stuff. But the person reviewing it made everything like to watch repair videos looks so a simple the first time you did something it worked. As why like some of the YouTube tells I watch for the show the bloopers of whatever were at least I'll tell you took them 10 tries to get this right versus everything looks perfect. I've even tried to convince somebody with YouTube channel to show a video of these of the watches I can't fix but they won't because that doesn't look fun and exciting. So yes watches are really tiny and it takes practice to do things and unfortunately practicing on live patients doesn't always have the desired outcome but who knows we won't know until you try just be careful when you take the balance wheel out not the stretcher break the hairspring anymore than it already is. You also want to look in preferably with a loop carefully between the balance wheel hairspring and see what you seek is angle for your video isn't right you might see something that I can't to the video.

Thats an amazing machine but eye watering price. Best stick with the old machine VWatchie less chance of going bankrupt or getting a divorce.

Yes it's definitely an interesting machine but hard to justify unless well unless you are service center. Or you trying to get a Rolex parts account or some other parts account like a Swatch group account. Then you have to buy all kinds of exotic stuff like this cleaning machine the two timing machines One specifically for quartz watches although it will do mechanical watches. But another words very expensive witschi timing machines. Various waterproof testing equipment and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff all to show your worthy of Swiss parts. Now he didn't get the Rolex parts account and yes at the time when I knew he was doing this I knew it wasn't that I get it because nobody gets Rolex parts accounts almost nobody can in order to sell you have to spend way more money than this. I think basically Rolex no longer has any more at least in this country independent service providers if they exist it's only because they already existed otherwise they want you to be out watchmaker in a jewelry store so you'd end up having to have a boutique watches really expensive to make. Did you notice on the cousins website how many cleaning machines for watches they have? A lot of them of all been discontinued although here's one it's a bargain price https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/elma-solvex-se Then yes the price of these machines are only justified to someone that's in a production shop. I don't even see how a single watchmaker working by themselves could ever pay for it unless they had a huge volume of watches. But somebody must build afford them because there's still making them.

Yes the machine does a fantastic job of cleaning. When you're on the page reading about that there is a video definitely watch the video. Currently I'm laughing at the video because were not using their cleaning products were using L&R products. One cleaning bath two separate rinses and isopropyl alcohol because the rinse won't dry without alcohol. Apparently that was recommended by the manufacture. Then I'm having a laugh? Okay so what am I finding so funny initially they show you how to fill up the containers notice how at a rather high distance up they pour it and it effortlessly goes into a container and not one drop spills on the floor or my shoes. Every time I've tried to get fluid into the machine I end up with fluid getting some place undesirable typically on the floor or my shoes. Never have that problem at home when I'm pouring stuff but usually I'm pouring it into a jar and it's really close it something about the way those containers are shaped and and trying to get the gallon container near it to etc. What makes the machine interesting which it does show that the fluid was up into the chamber by way of a vacuum. So when it's running and cleaning with two different ultrasonic frequencies it's under a vacuum so there are no bubbles that get trapped anywhere like with End stones on pocket watches for instance. So typically all hell most never have to take jewels apart and everything comes out clean and shiny it's never a problem. Or basically I get really spoiled because this thing doesn't really really nice job of cleaning but at its price better do something. Now the video is not as nice as it could be had really be nice if it would actually show the machine running. Best because it makes us sound like Darth Vader breathing as such the fluid up in the machine in a swirling around making ultrasonic and then the fluid is pumped back out it makes a really interesting super loud but it's a rather interesting sound of thing makes. So yes it's definitely on your list of the cleaning machine you should have but I saw the price for it and that was several years ago I think it was around give or take a little bit $16,000. Then there is maintenance like we had the change the activated carbon filter one time in the past and a bunch of little filters and somewhere in there in the manual is a reference to every hundred thousand miles I don't read the actual hours the entire machine has to go somewhere and have a whole bunch of stuff changed on it. I don't know what were going to do when that happens. But if you want a fantastically good cleaning this is the machine to guess it's just that you have to be doing serious production the make this thing worthwhile. https://www.elma-ultrasonic.com/en/products/watch-cleaning/elmasolvex-va#tabs|p1123:downloads

I wish that were true normally watches that have not been running that have lubrication on them need cleaning and new lubrication as lubrication can really go bad and get sticky.

Your 1978 watches basically 44 years old. Did you know that the lubrication can go bad and get sticky very sticky and that would be a reason the watch need servicing? In other words stepping more quartz watches need to be serviced just like any other mechanical watch. Then just in case everyone else isn't familiar with the watch I'm attaching the tech sheet. Then it looks like from the tech sheet they're only using two lubricants which would be basically 9010 I'm guessing the other ones a grease. Personally I like the quartz oil on the quartz watch. You want to be careful with using any heavy lubricants on the gear train part of the watch this is not like a mechanical watch where you start with a really heavy oil near the mainspring barrel and go lighter and lighter. The problem is quartz watches have extremely little drive capacity and you don't want any heavy lubricants on the gear train itself whether it's a metal bearing or jeweled bearing it has to build a move very very freely. This is also where test equipment like the ability to measure the current consumption is helpful because of ego too heavy on the lubricant you will see an increase in power consumption of the watch. seiko 7546A.pdf

Well, you can try the Marshall Handy Manual and see if you can identify exactly which staff you need. A Helbros 70 can be either an A. Schild or a Font movement. For instance, if this is an A. Schild 976, notice that there are several variations. Different sizes for the collet. The Bestfit books show the same situation, so you may actually have to measure what you've got to get the right replacement. If you can narrow it down to a single Marshall or BestFit number, then the usual material house suspects may be able to help you. Good Luck!

Likely a magnetised or oily sticky hairspring. Post a close up picture of the hairspring matey.

Right , running fast is a hairspring issue, wrong or too short hairspring, coil fouling itself, sticking so on. In case your not sure the balance is a 7s26a, show us a close up of the oscilator . Good luck.

I received the pin vise and tried using that to hold the arbor. I could hold the arbor successfully but i couldn't see the arbor or spring because they were obscured by the pin vise. I eventually used two pair of tweezers to manipulate the arbor and the mainspring and got the barrel arbor installed. Thank you all for your help and suggestions! Steve

I have now pinned the thread

Levin will sell me the screw for $125 plus shipping.