Croton automatic AS2066 auto wind mechanism

[FLwatchguy73]

In the midst of tearing down and servicing a Croton Aquamatic. Learned a very valuable lesson with the auto wind mechanism. Whoever designed it for A. Schild should be beaten to death with his mechanism! I know it won't hurt much and will take a really long time, but I swear, this mechanism in the fiddliest one I've ever encountered! The two hair thin springs ping off with your own breath. As soon as you put any tension on the large gear, it flips out. The click won't stay in it's pivot hole when under tension and the  small intermediate wheel also likes to flop out onto the workbench randomly. Add to that the fact the auto wind base plate sits on two very shallow alignment pins that barely keep the plate in place all add up to madness!i spent 3 hours wrestling with it before I finally figured out a way to align everything. The click needs to be placed in it's bottom pivot hole, but overlapping the large gear. While applying pressure to the top plate, almost everything will properly line up. If you gently slide the click clockwise it will drop into place and never slip out of its pivot hole. I was able to place all the screws and tighten them down. Speaking of which, all 3 screws are different sizes and could only go in one specific order for future reference, if anyone encounters one of these movements, avoid disassembling the auto wind. This is possible because the middle screw only goes into the auto wind baseplate, not into the train bridge like the other 2 do. This should hold everything together enough to gently remove it from the rest. As long as you're careful with it you may be able to clean it a bit and lubricate the pinion as long as it's not filthy, which mine wasn't.

[Nucejoe]

But have you ever seen one with a rotor reluctant to wind?

[FLwatchguy73]

No as this is my first watch with this movement. That said, I can see where the rotor/oscillator arbor would require fresh lubrication to spin more freely. It is a one direction rotor as well, so it only winds in one direction, counterclockwise. I lubed my rotor arbor with a touch of grease and it seems to spin nicely. Assembling the date mechanism is my next task. Once again, it's overly complicated. There are no less than 31 pieces for the keyless and day/date mechanisms.

Edited May 15, 2020 by FLwatchguy73

[HSL]

I think this autowinder has been up here a couple of times, here you can see one thread and some shots I took of how to assemble it again. as you can see your click spring is not corretly assembled.

 

[FLwatchguy73]

The closeup picture I shared with all the written details and arrows is exactly as the factory or last person had it assembled. I took the photo during disassembly. As you can see the spring for the click lifted up and away but the click arm is indeed in the correct orientation. I reassembled it back the same way with the spring in the correct position. Both match your "correct" photo. Thank you for the link, too bad dummy me didn't search for it, lol

[HSL]

Yes I see now the spring just lifted up, as you see Rodico is da shit when working with this type of winders

[FLwatchguy73]

 

2 minutes ago, HSL said:

Yes I see now the spring just lifted up, as you see Rodico is da shit when working with this type of winders

I definitely had a "DOH!" moment when I saw your photos. Hopefully you have photos of the day/date assembly, I fear I may need them!

[Lc130]

Yup.  I did battle with this one for a while too.  I may be confusing this suggestion with another movement, however, I recall that there are three screws in that autowind.  Two hold it to the movement and one holds the two plates of the autowind together.  I believe the intent was to assemble and screw those plates together first and then attached it to the movement.  Less fiddley that way.

[FLwatchguy73]

On 5/16/2020 at 6:47 AM, Lc130 said:

Yup.  I did battle with this one for a while too.  I may be confusing this suggestion with another movement, however, I recall that there are three screws in that autowind.  Two hold it to the movement and one holds the two plates of the autowind together.  I believe the intent was to assemble and screw those plates together first and then attached it to the movement.  Less fiddley that way.

I did notice this fact and mentioned it in my first comment. I'm glad you reaffirmed my observation, thank you.

On 5/15/2020 at 8:35 AM, FLwatchguy73 said:

 for future reference, if anyone encounters one of these movements, avoid disassembling the auto wind. This is possible because the middle screw only goes into the auto wind baseplate, not into the train bridge like the other 2 do. This should hold everything together enough to gently remove it from the rest. As long as you're careful with it you may be able to clean it a bit and lubricate the pinion as long as it's not filthy, which mine wasn't.