Where did this part come from??

[Robbie010]

I started my first watch repair project today, a half skeleton Dreyfuss 1925 automatic. 

The watch functions well, I can set the time, change the date and wind the mechanism. It seems to be keeping good time, however, none of the chronograph functions work and the watch hasn’t been well looked after in general.

Having stripped the watch down, the first thing that I found was a small metal part loose within the watch face. 

I can see that the part is identical to the small brackets that hold the face / movement in the case. However, there were 2 of these brackets screwed in situ when I stripped it down and it doesn’t appear as though there was a third one missing, so I have no idea where this piece came from?

[Pedro]

Hi, maybe somebody was replacing the brackets and lost that bracket into the movement and couldn't get it out and then used another bracket to replace the lost one. They may not have noticed that the bracket had fallen into the movement and thought it had fallen to the floor.

[jdm]

Normally called case clamps, or tabs.

[Pedro]

15 minutes ago, jdm said:

Normally called case clamps, or tabs.

Or brackets

[Poljot]

2 hours ago, Robbie010 said:

I I found was a small metal part loose within the watch face. 

I can see that the part is identical to the small brackets that hold the face / movement in the case. However, there were 2 of these brackets screwed in situ when I stripped it down and it doesn’t appear as though there was a third one missing, so I have no idea where this piece came from?

 

Just reading between lines here: 2 of these brackets screwed... And now a small bracket appears out of nowhere? Can we call it a baby-bracket?

[Poljot]

2 hours ago, Robbie010 said:

 I have no idea where this piece came from?

Thanks for providing the photo. It would appear that whoever worked on this watch before you, lost the clamp and did not bother to search for it. Instead, he (or she) pulled another clamp out of spares and installed it. Out of curiosity, do all three clamps look identical, or one is different?

[Robbie010]

10 hours ago, Poljot said:

Thanks for providing the photo. It would appear that whoever worked on this watch before you, lost the clamp and did not bother to search for it. Instead, he (or she) pulled another clamp out of spares and installed it. Out of curiosity, do all three clamps look identical, or one is different?

Thanks all for the replies. 

I have double checked this morning, the loose part is identical to the case clamps so I can only assume your suggestions are right. The watch didn’t appear to have been opened for some time so that piece has been in there a while. 

Is anyone familiar with this watch / movement?

The chronograph parts seem to be located towards the front of the movement, is there easy way of getting to the chronograph section to check for damaged parts or is it just a case of carefully deconstructing the movement?