Jump to content

Replacing Shock Spring On Bulova

noirrac1j

By noirrac1j
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

 Share

Recommended Posts

noirrac1j Distinguished Member

noirrac1j

Posted
Posted

Hello,


Hope everyone had a great holiday. I was working on a Bulova Oceanographer auto-winding day/date (11ANACB) watch and lost the setting lever. That was only the beginning because after I continued with the overhaul I broke one of the shock spring legs from the dial-side. when I went to replace the jewel the spring jumped out and is lost. I have a Bulova  11 BLC that I took the shock spring out of but I cannot get it to stay in the oceanographer movement. Does anyone have experience with this? I was thinking I'll probably have to get a whole new working Bulova 11 ANACB just to get the setting lever and just as importantly the shock spring for the lower plate. Dashto watchparts has the setting lever and its also on Ebay, but I can't find the shock spring anywhere. So...I wanted to get some feed back before I go ahead and buy a not-so-cheap Bulova Oceanographer just to harvest it for twio parts--especially if the skill set for replacing a shock spring surpasses that of a neurosurgeon. Maybe I'm better off just replacing the whiole bottom plate shock system and all? Please weight in on this one!


 


Here is the watch itself:


post-328-0-18266700-1420490543_thumb.jpg


 


And the problem:


post-328-0-35153500-1420490626_thumb.jpg


 


post-328-0-19106800-1420490631_thumb.jpg


 


 


 


jaycey WRT Addict

jaycey

Posted
Posted

Put one side of the hinge into it's locating groove. Cover movement with clingfilm.

Then get a piece of sharpened pegwood to hold it in place while you press the other side into it's locating groove with another piece of sharpened pegwood.

 

Or step 1 above then place a small amount of rodico over the spring leaving the hinge exposed while you press it in with your pegwood.

 

Good luck.

noirrac1j Distinguished Member

noirrac1j

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I haven't worked on them enough to hate them, but in my limited experience, I find Bulova's difficult to work on. This particular model also has the "lifetime mainspring" that  even has written on it "DO NOT OPEN". I think that the spring I was trying to use is not the right size because I managed to put it back into the donor watch with no problem--Looks like I'll have to buy a donor watch (not that cheap)....Now THAT I hate.

 

JC

Edited by noirrac1j
Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

Posted
Posted

Hold tight on that donor buy - I may have a line on a replacement for you...

This is what I love about this forum!

rustycolt Watch Enthusiast

rustycolt

Posted
Posted

PM sent, new shock spring forthcoming. 

 

For those who may have found this thread by searching for a similar problem, here is a very basic KIF primer, they are actually quite sensible and logical:

KIF shock springs come in several incarnations, first thing is to determine which style you need.

 

Trior:

post-456-0-04687000-1420555700.jpeg

 

Elastor:

post-456-0-42250300-1420555745.jpeg

 

Satellor:

post-456-0-30676400-1420555763.jpeg

 

Ultraflex:

post-456-0-22145000-1420555793.jpeg

 

They can look a bit similar if you haven't dealt with them a lot (and if you are reading this, that is likely the case), so try to find a reference for your specific movement if possible. If not, you will need to measure the old spring. 

Replacements are ordered with the style prefix, (1=Trior, 3=Elastor, 4=Satellor, 6=Ultraflex); followed by a size reference (1=1.30, 2=1.60, 3=1.90, 4=2.10, 6=2.30) My observation is that sizes 1 to 3 increase by increments of 0.3, and 4+ increase by 0.2

The complete part number will be style-size e.g.: 3-2 will be a 1.60mm Elastor

 

Which is the part we need in this case. 

The Bulova-KIF reference material I was able to find did not include either the OP's 11ANACB or the 11AOACB that I was seeking originally. By checking Bulova service manuals, I was able to determine that these two used the same lower setting (112) as the 11ANACD which is listed in this reference, and uses the 3-2 KIF spring.

 

KIF_Bulova.pdf

 

  • Like 1
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • donutdan
      Parts sourcing for FHF 180 movement

      By donutdan · Posted

      Hi Watchrepairtalk, I have some questions about part sourcing I was hoping someone here might be able to help with. I'm working on an FHF 180 movement with a broken balance staff, broken regulator pins, and damaged cap jewels (both top and bottom). Some Googling says that this is similar to other FHF calibers like 150s, 160s, 180s and so on but I can't figure out what the functional difference is between these movements.  Is there any reason I wouldn't be able to acquire a donor FHF 150 or similar (with no shock protection) and use parts from that or would it be smarter to source replacements individually? Also are there any sources someone could recommend to get bulk cap jewels like this? Thank you for the help!
    • Nucejoe
      Greetings from Whidbey Island.

      By Nucejoe · Posted

      Hello and welcome to the WRT forum.
    • JohnR725
      A lathe with indexing that won't break the bank?

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      interesting video nice to see the machine what it can do now I wonder what it costs and I'm sure it's not in my budget. Plus the video brought up questions but the website below answers the questions? What was bothering me was the size of his machine 4 mm because I thought it was bigger than that? But then it occurred to me that maybe they had variations it looks like four, seven and 10. With the seven and 10 being the best because way more tool positions in way more rotating tools. Although I bet you all the rotating tools are probably separate cost https://www.tornos.com/en/content/swissnano   Then as we been talking about Sherline. Just so that everyone's aware of this they have another division their industrial division where you can buy bits and pieces. I have a link below that shows that just in case you don't want to have the entire machine you just need bits and pieces. https://www.sherline.com/product-category/industrial-products-division/   Let's see what we can do with the concept I explained up above and bits and pieces. For one thing you can make a really tiny gear very tiny like perhaps you're going to make a watch. Then another version the center part is not separate it is all machined from one piece. Then fills gear cutting machines have gone through multiple of evolutions. A lot of it based on what he wanted to make like he was going to make a watch unfortunately eyesight issues have prevented that. Another reason why you should start projects like this much sooner when your eyesight is really good or perhaps start on watches first and then move the clocks then local we have from the industrial division? Looks like two separate motors and heads. Then it's hard to see but this entire thing is built on top of a much larger milling machine as a larger milling machine gave a very solid platform to build everything.   Then like everything else that had multiple generations are versions the indexing went through of course variations like above is one version and the one below was the last version. Now the version below I mentioned that previously and somewhere in the beginning to discussion and somebody else had one in their picture. As it is a really nice precision indexing. Then I wasn't sure if I had a the watch photos here is his unfinished watch. No he wasn't going to make a simple watch like none of his clocks were simply either what would be the challenge and that.    
    • Titanium
      Lab Coats

      By Titanium · Posted

      Use a Portwest Howie lab coat. They are the biological type so they have tapped cuffs so you don't end up getting the loose cuffs of normal lab coats catching everything. 
    • Titanium
      Chinese tools debate

      By Titanium · Posted

      Some of the Chinese tools ae great and can be purchased at a fraction of the price of Swiss ones, some are complete garbage and some I'm convinced are coming out the same factory as the branded ones.
×
×
  • Create New...