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Kuppatea

By Kuppatea
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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Good evening all.

I've been a long time admirer of watches and all things mechanical, however never really had a chance to really tinker with anything. Until now that is!

A rather tatty Roamer Popular has found its way into my possession and has rather kindly volunteered itself as a willing restoration guinea pig. There is an audible clicking noise when winding but unfortunately it appears as though it doesn't 'tick' over. One positive however is that the hour & minutes hands do turn manually.

Whilst I'm waiting for some tools to arrive to open it up, I'm hoping there will be some kind souls on this forum who are willing to point me in the right direction when it comes to taking it to bits, finding spare parts and having a go at putting it all back together again.

It's not working at the moment, so anything will be an improvement! What is there to lose?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Stu

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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Welcome to the forum.

This should house a MST movement, produced in-house, its caliber is needed to get the relenvent datasheet.

Shake the watch see if the seconds hand moves forward or rock back& forth in place or not move at all.

Try to fully wind it, to see if it takes a full wind, or keeps dischanging power at some point.

MST movements are fun to work on. Your watch will get fixed.

Regards

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Morning all.

Thanks for the kind advice and warm welcome.

@Nucejoe I've tried to give the watch a shake and the second hand remains in the same place (just before the 45 second mark).

It's had a full wind and it certainly feels like it's not holding any power. We'll have to see what it looks like when I can get the back off it.

I'll let you know what movement is inside so I can take a look at the datasheet and get cracking!

Bring on the postman!

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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Clean MST401 and not holding power indicate either a broken mainspring or power discharge at barrel arbour.

A tooth pick or pegwood is suitable to turn the center wheel with, to turn attack the spokes and not the gear teeth, the oscillator should start oscillating.

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Thanks @Nucejoe I've had a little bit of success turning the centre wheel. I've managed to move it on a whole 40 seconds. It does seem to depend on how nicely I ask it to move, it doesn't seem to do it all the time... A rather temperamental old chap it's turning out to be!

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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It will be more cooperative if you turn the barrel, just lift the movement retaining ring and some barrel teeth will get exposed.

Looks like the mainspring is broke.You might get by with a quick fix, that is replacing what is broke and faulty or give the movement an overhaul. 

Regards.

 

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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The screw on the crown wheel doesn't look central to the wheel, this normally indicates  worn crown wheel bearing, if so crown wheel doesn't properly mesh with ratchet wheel and slips. 

Crown wheel screws are commonly reverse threaded, that is; you are to turn the screw in clockwise direction to unscrew it. To check for this I try to keep ratchet wheel from turning  by placing my thumb on it as I wind through the crown, if faulty the crown wheel should slip and the slipage is not hard to notice, or you might remove the crown wheel and show all thats there.

Regards

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Thanks for the steer @Nucejoe. I'll be certain to give it a try tomorrow. Unfortunately my cheap and cheerful toolkit is proving to be just that... It's looking like I'm going to have to purchase some much smaller screwdrivers to properly get stuck in!

At least I managed to get the back off! Every day is a school day!

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Well I'm back in the game. The screwdriver set has arrived and I've been able to get the movement out of the case.

The markings show it to be an MST400 - is there an easy to find repository to grab the datasheet from? I'm going to be taking plenty of pictures as I go along but every last scrap of information will help!

This evening will consist of trying to work out how to get to the mainspring to take a look and commandeering the wife's ultrasonic jewellery cleaner to give the parts a good scrub.

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Well, I've managed to take the watch back to its component parts and there's two things which need fixing. As expected, the mainspring was snapped in two and the top of the screw holding the crown wheel was sheared off leaving the thread of the screw firmly lodged in the barrel bridge.

I've done some research and it looks like alum powder and patience is the best way to get the screw out of the bridge - I'm open to any other suggestions which may provide better results.

So as it stands my new shopping list is as follows:

  • Crown wheel screw
  • Mainspring
  • Replacement watch crystal
  • Alum powder

Is there anywhere or anyone particularly suited for replacement parts? Or is it just a case of extensive Googling and hoping for the best.

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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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5 minutes ago, Kuppatea said:

.I've done some research and it looks like alum powder and patience is the best way to get the screw out of the bridge 

You should try going at it with a small screwdriver first, as it normally happens it was sheared by someone using force counterclockwise. It can be quite lose in the post.

Mainsprings can be bought on Cousins UK, and the crystal looks like it can be perfectly polished.

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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I put some penterating oil on the broken screw , let soak over night and go at it with a needle or screwdriver, if it doesn't want to come out to a point the bridge is getting scratched then I try alum, apply alum only to what you want disolved.  

While gears are easily accessible form both sides of the gears bridge , I check end and side shake on all gears and the fork.

Good luck.

 

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Kuppatea Member

Kuppatea

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Thanks for the advice chaps.

@jdm I wish the crystal could be simply polished. Unfortunately the pictures don't seem to show the extent of the damage. It looks like it's been exposed to heat and cracked inside, the top and bottom feel rather smooth but it has the appearance of crazy paving. I'll see if I can get a better picture of it now that it's out of the housing.

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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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Thanks for the advice chaps.
[mention=1542]jdm[/mention] I wish the crystal could be simply polished. Unfortunately the pictures don't seem to show the extent of the damage. It looks like it's been exposed to heat and cracked inside, the top and bottom feel rather smooth but it has the appearance of crazy paving. I'll see if I can get a better picture of it now that it's out of the housing.
You seem maybe more concerned with with the aesthetics is quite different from reality?
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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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1 hour ago, Kuppatea said:

I'm all for something showing its age and to have a patina, everything has a story to tell - but the crystal is too far gone.

Definitely. Measure it, you may find a high dome glass crystals on AliX to make the watch more solid and contemporary.

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