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Finally got one.

Just a quick update on my T17. I just finished the service and, boy, was this nerve-wrecking.... I bent the hairspring a few times. Stupid accidents. Once it was beyond repair and I had to get a donor movement. The replacement hairspring turned out to be a few millimeters shorter and therefore the watch was running 6min too fast even when the regulator was set to the slowest position. So I needed to get timing washers (see another post here: https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/25505-30t2-adjustment-of-timing-washers/?do=findComment&comment=248100). After all, I'm now, getting a 310° amplitude (fully wound, dial up, lift angle 54°). About 250 in vertical positions. Quite a drop, but apparently not too abnormal for a 90-year-old watch with a slow beat rate (18000bph) and rather heavy balance wheel. After 24h I still get 280 (horizontal) and 220 (vertical). And now the highlight: 66h of power reserve! You may remember that I posted that I used a slightly weaker, but also slightly longer mainspring than prescribed. See my comments above. I used GR 3937 (instead of GR 3632). So I recommend this mainspring and ticker oils (9020 on escape wheel and HP1300 on the rest of the train). Some random pictures..

So for the group your watch is a failure. As the amplitude is unacceptably too low. But as far as Omega is concerned they would be very happy.

These are all American movements (with the exception of the "Rubis"), and are all almost certainly "negative set" which means the stem is part of the case. So it's normal that they are all missing- they are with their cases. You will need male square bench keys to wind/disarm them. Vintagewatchstraps has a great writeup on the different systems. But basically, any American "x" size movement will fit any case for that size, possibly with some adjusting of the stem position. With Swiss movements, there is some interchangeability between calibers, usually within the same maker's range, but not really overall- there are thousands of different stems out there.

Nice work. In the last year, I have been servicing Accutron 218s. I have the official Accutron hoder that provides electrical contact to the movement. It is a pretty clever design. There is a cut in the ring of the holder (shaped like a "C"). When in relaxed state, the holder is slightly smaller than the watch movement. You spread the cut slightly and drop the movement in and release. Very clean. I have made 3D versions of this setup. Have not explored using it generally for other movements.

Double Oooooo Removal tool? Dreamed of one of these. However, Kalle on Chronoglide showed everyone my system with the pegwood. Worked a treat. Felt so chuffed to be mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTFrXjiyGKc 46:40 for the wheel removal. Mentions me at 50:00 and does the removal with the pegwood. Felt like my 15 minutes of fame.

Hi guys, I wrote a set of five lessons for my second year students regarding the Landeron 248 chronograph watch, which incidentally we are meeting tonight. They are going to be polishing pivots and pinion leaves of their 248s, before putting the movements through the cleaning machines. This is number one of five. I posted number two of five the other day HERE There are seven eccentric studs on this movement, so understanding what the studs do, how to set them, their actions and interactions with other parts of the chronograph mechanism is vitally important. I found there is very little out there on the internet to help understand the principles of these eccentric studs, especially video content to show various faults and alleviations, so I put together quite detailed walkthroughs of various complicated movements usually consisting of 15 to 18 hours of learning/servicing in the workshop per movement/module With any watchmaking, especially with complicated work, only make one adjustment and measure the results, if any. Be methodical in your approach. The lesson was originally in PowerPoint and I had to convert it to PDF to post here, so a lot of the video content won't play, but the PowerPoint version is in my cloud storage here. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10KJJ58P0v2BglKZSilIv9o69xBsbrQPI/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107902587627140904870&rtpof=true&sd=true You'll need quite a newer version of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint) so the video content will play, otherwise it won't. I hope you find this lesson useful and begin to get a better understanding of how to set eccentric studs. Sometimes you'll come across a stud that is too loose, or even too tight. Usually if one is problematic it will be because it is loose. This can't be left, as the stud will turn whilst the chronograph is stopped, started and reset, throwing the chrono mechanism setting off which could lead to the movement grinding to a halt. Don't fool yourself in thinking it will hold. Either a replacement stud is fabricated to suit the enlarged hole, or the hole can be closed up. In turning and setting the eccentric studs prior to disassembly of the movement, we are able to set the chronograph mechanism, especially the minute register mechanism correctly and test for any faults, such as a bent wheel over fourth arbor, or incorrect depth of the dart tooth with the sliding gear, or a mis-set minute runner jumper spring, to name a few possible faults and mis-settings. Also in turning these eccentric studs we can gain a 'feel' for how tight they are in the mainplate or bridge. The more they are turned the more the chance of the stud becoming looser increases. So once set correctly prior to cleaning, the less chance they will need setting once the chrono mechanism is assembled, only if a stud isn't tight enough in its setting in the first place. This is for setting Landeron 248 eccentric studs, but once an understanding of their uses and actions is gained through theoretical aspects together with practical application, then this skill and knowledge can be used in most vintage chronographs to set their eccentric studs and even in modern timepieces where you'll find very few eccentric studs, such as an Omega Speedmaster or Tag Heuer Calibre 01 chronographs Enjoy! Lesson 22. Landeron 248 Chronograph.pdf

I like calibre dedicated holders, i have a strong interest in the Smiths brand and I have just joined a men in sheds group at the end of my road, i am sure my waffle helped me to jump the queue as initially he said there was a waiting list of around 50, should i feel guilty ?They have two 3d printers so that is going to be another learning curve for me.

Only someone on this forum would ever understand the Oooooo I just did

One of the things that I've been bothered with lately is timekeeping? For instance a 90-year-old pocket watch what so to timekeeping was it supposed to keep? They publish railroad timekeeping but I don't know how well normal non-railroad watches were supposed to keep time. The reason why the question comes up for me is I spend a lot of time at work adjusting watches to keep really really good time because I have to please my boss where as when the watch was made I have to wonder what kind timekeeping would've been acceptable. After all they typically didn't have timing machines 100 years ago and they were timing and six positions certainly not for the non-railroad grade watch. On the other hand I do get paid by the hour so maybe I shouldn't be concerned of how much time I Spend trying to make everything keep chronometer timekeeping almost. Citing a Delta of 40 seconds for a 90-year-old watch is quite outstanding.

I experienced that different types of shellac and their ages are affected differently by IPA. Sometimes the shellac dissolves in a few seconds and sometimes several minutes are required. Nowadays I never let shellac come into contact with IPA. It's a hotly debated topic here on WRT if you search. Like John, I don't think you need to worry about the weight of the shellac, but instead that it might start rubbing against something. When I learned how to adjust pallet stones, I tried documenting my experiences in this thread. Hopefully, it can help you. I personally don't believe in the idea of abrading the epilame before oiling so I don't think you need to think or worry about it. The only time I've heard anyone mention this is Alex on the YouTube channel Watch Repair Tutorials but actually no one else. I'm not saying it's "wrong" just that I don't think it's necessary or adds anything.

Well, I got an email for your reply so I think that fixed it for me.

That endshake of the barrel arbor is huge! That needs closing up. I'm assuming the barrel cover has been bent in a convex way to create that excessive shake. Put the barrel cover on a staking block and check how flat it is then bend it to suit a better endshake

Funny enough, I'm working on an Omega pocket watch which has an amplitude of over 300 and I'm planning to use 9415 to bring it down. So far, my experience with this "wonder-grease" 9415 has been rather poor, especially on older movements. When changed the oil on the pallet jewels / escape-wheel to Dr.Tillwich 1-3, which would be about the equivalent of Moebius 9010, the amplitude gain is remarkable. Try that ..... And as JohnR725 asked, what is the amplitude after 24hrs? My 50-years old Omega 861 runs 250-255 at best when fully wound, around 215-220 after 24hrs. It gains every day 1 second, day after day, week in, week out. Perhaps not an amplitude "high-flyer", but It's the best time-keeper I ever had!

It's actually quite amazing how much amplitude you can lose if you walk is too much like yours is in the picture. Technically the pallet fork should be light as possible to move really fast. But shellac isn't overly heavy. I would be more concerned if you had too much shellac and it was rubbing on something. The problem with rules are there so many of them and it also depends upon the construction of the watch. Then we have other rules like this The problem with your image is if you measure carefully it looks like your lock is about 50% which is much greater than it's supposed to be. How does it compare to the other side? Then out of curiosity how did you lubricate the escapement?