New hobbyist with lots of questions

[Drifter26]

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to mechanical watches.  Growing up, I always had Timex digital watches.  They served their purpose and never gave me problems except the occasional dead battery.  As an adult, I've had a couple of nicer quartz watches, but I didn't really know anything about mechanical watches other than the need to wind them every day.  It seemed like too much of a hassle to me at the time.  However, several years ago, I began learning about automatic watches and really appreciated the complexity of these small machines.  I love the idea that they need no batteries, firmware updates, etc.  They just tick away.  I bought an Orient Mako II as my first automatic watch.  It's been a decent watch, but I did have to send it in for service within the first year because it wasn't holding its power reserve.  Since then, it's been running well.  When I was researching new watches, I came across some watch repair videos on YouTube.  I really got hooked.  Within a few weeks, I ordered up all of the necessary tools to get started and bought a Tissot PR100 on eBay for a great price because it was advertised as "non running."  However, it started right up when I wound it, so I figured it wasn't too far gone.  I'm in the disassembly stage with that watch.  So far, I haven't found any obvious problems such as missing or broken pieces with the exception of one dial foot, which was broken off but still captured in the movement.  After a lot of research (and seeing Mark's recent video on the subject), I decided to solder a piece of copper wire to a very thin piece of brass flashing to make a foot pad.  I then used crystal glue to adhere the foot to the dial.  I wasn't confident in my soldering abilities and didn't want to risk damaging the dial face.  The dial now fits onto the movement, but the true test will be when I go to reassemble the watch.  I'm hoping the day/date window won't be misaligned.  While working on this project, I found a little Banner manual-wind watch on eBay for practically nothing.  It has an AS 984 movement, and I'm assuming it dates back to the 1940s.  There's very little information online about this watch, and I haven't even seen another picture of one.  I'm attaching a shot of it in case someone here might know more about it.  Anyway, I've disassembled that watch and cleaned it.  I'm just waiting on an order of lubricants to start putting it back together.  However, with the pandemic, I could be waiting a while.  Thank you for a providing a forum for beginners like me.  I hope to learn a lot here.  Take care!

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[Nucejoe]

Welcome to the forum.

What info you need? 

[Drifter26]

I was curious about the "waterproof" label on the Banner watch pictured above.  The watch had no gaskets when I received it, and it doesn't have a screw-down crown.  I know they were pretty liberal with the term "waterproof" back then.  Is it possible this watch never had gaskets and was labelled "waterproof" anyway?  

[watchweasol]

Its quite likely with its vintage, Waterproof as mentioned means probably ok in a shower of rain but dont go diving or swimming in it. No back gasket and no screw down crown, dont even wear it in the shower either.

[Poljot]

20 hours ago, Drifter26 said:

I was curious about the "waterproof" label on the Banner watch pictured above.  The watch had no gaskets when I received it, and it doesn't have a screw-down crown.  I know they were pretty liberal with the term "waterproof" back then.  Is it possible this watch never had gaskets and was labelled "waterproof" anyway?  

Is there a groove for he gasket? Take a photo - will be easier to answer your question.

Also, it's not just about back cover gasket only. Do you see any O-rings around the Crown area?

[Drifter26]

Hi!  Here is a shot of the caseback and the back of the watch.  There is no groove for a gasket.  Also, there are no O-rings in the crown or on the stem.  The caseback is a screw-down style that I opened carefully with an adjustable wrench.  Forget about waterproof, I'm guessing this watch wasn't even splashproof.  Any thoughts?

[watchweasol]

On the back its self round the circumference above the thread is usually where the gasket fits. I would be surprised if there was not a flat gasket fitted at one time,  can you show a side on pic of the case back with the tread.   Being a bit pedantic I know but it may help      thanks

[Drifter26]

Sure - here's a shot.  

[Nucejoe]

It originally had been waterproof, I think I see remains of a copper gasket or some easily deformable metal and should be renewed everytime you open the back  it get crushed as you screw the back tight forming a water tight gasket.

A rubber o- ring is seated in the crown which keeps it water tight, it too should be replaced at every service. 

I'd be surprised if you could find the copper gasket now.

[Drifter26]

Thank you for your help!  I'll see what I can find.  

[Drifter26]

So, I just tried putting the watch back together as a "dry fit" before lubricating.  I'm still waiting for the lubricants to arrive in the mail, and I wanted to practice assembling the watch.  I encountered an interesting problem.  It appears that the ratchet wheel screw is opposite threaded (similar to the crown wheel) because it only tightens when turned counterclockwise.  The problem is that when I try to loosen it, the whole barrel turns with it, and the screw doesn't unscrew because there is no resistance.  I did service the mainspring, but I'm fairly confident that I reinstalled it in the same orientation.  I took before and after photos to confirm.  However, is the inability to loosen the ratchet wheel screw caused by a problem with the mainspring, or is there something else that I'm missing?  Thanks again!

[Poljot]

14 minutes ago, Drifter26 said:

  However, is the inability to loosen the ratchet wheel screw caused by a problem with the mainspring, or is there something else that I'm missing?  Thanks again!

Use pegwood stick to hold the ratchet wheel why trying to loosen up the screw.

[Drifter26]

Thank you for the tip!  It worked.

 

[Drifter26]

I'm slowly starting to make progress on the reassembly.  I have a situation with the train wheel bridge where I cannot separate the two wheels in the attached photo.  I don't want to risk damaging them by prying them apart.  Can they be separated easily or should I leave them alone?  It's very difficult to try to reinstall the bridge with them in place.  Thanks again!