Replacing Shock Spring On Bulova

[noirrac1j]

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:

 

And the problem:

 

 

 

 

[jaycey]

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]

Thanks Jaycey. I'll give it a try.

 

JC

[anilv]

This is a Kif setting, I hate them.

[noirrac1j]

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 January 5, 2015 by noirrac1j

[rustycolt]

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

[noirrac1j]

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

really? OK!

 

JC

[Geo]

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]

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:

 

Elastor:

 

Satellor:

 

Ultraflex:

 

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

 

[clockboy]

rusycolt thanks for this really useful info. Another one to be filed in my watch info folder

[bobm12]

Ditto!

[noirrac1j]

OUTSTANDING!

 

JC