Please explain these "oiling" symbols from watch datasheet

[LittleWatchShop]

I could guess...but the experts here know.

One circle, two circles, and dashed symbol with one circle.

I am trying to get this right!

[JohnR725]

15 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

I could guess...but the experts here know.

Your drawing house a interesting problem to symbols in one location? The ghost the image probably means I ghost the quantity of oil minimalistic.

I never really paid attention as to whether they had exact meaning are not as usually anytime M assemble in the documentation it will tell you what oil you should be using. For the fun of it I went through a variety of eta documents and snipped out the lubrication symbol meanings. It does look like there is a pattern here.

Then it occurred to me that I never paid attention to it we really need a lubrication guide This one from Omega. Sure enough they have symbols lots of symbols and they tell you what they mean sort of. Notice it isn't an exact science and no matter what it would never be an exact science because lubrication changes with time. So if you look at the Omega document and all the images they came out of a variety of eta documents you kinda get a pattern. Light oil is one symbol a little bit heavier is another but it still doesn't look like an exact science to me you really need the full document that you're looking at where it tells you what they think it is and then we translated in something modern.

Omega 8645_WI_40_rules for lubrication cousins uk.pdf

[LittleWatchShop]

38 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

Your drawing house a interesting problem to symbols in one location? The ghost the image probably means I ghost the quantity of oil minimalistic.

I never really paid attention as to whether they had exact meaning are not as usually anytime M assemble in the documentation it will tell you what oil you should be using. For the fun of it I went through a variety of eta documents and snipped out the lubrication symbol meanings. It does look like there is a pattern here.

Then it occurred to me that I never paid attention to it we really need a lubrication guide This one from Omega. Sure enough they have symbols lots of symbols and they tell you what they mean sort of. Notice it isn't an exact science and no matter what it would never be an exact science because lubrication changes with time. So if you look at the Omega document and all the images they came out of a variety of eta documents you kinda get a pattern. Light oil is one symbol a little bit heavier is another but it still doesn't look like an exact science to me you really need the full document that you're looking at where it tells you what they think it is and then we translated in something modern.

Omega 8645_WI_40_rules for lubrication cousins uk.pdf 1.28 MB · 0 downloads

This is helpful!!

[xyzzy]

In Seiko guides they'll use these to indicate how much oil.  Wedge with one ball is normal, wedge without ball is minimal, and with two balls is generous.  Hollow, solid, or angular will indicate different lubricants.

[Klassiker]

The symbols are not standardised, so without the key for the document in question, you are guessing. The lubrication plan is still useful though. It prompts you to put "something" in a particular spot (and nothing anywhere else). You can make an educated guess about what that "something" is, and how much to apply. You might decide to deviate from the exact recommendations of the plan in any case, depending on how up to date it is, and what you have in stock.

[JohnR725]

8 hours ago, xyzzy said:

In Seiko guides they'll use these to indicate how much oil.

As Seiko's been mentioned here I snipped out a few more images. Something that Rolex has and two separate ones from Seiko plus Seiko's OEM branch time module.

 

7 hours ago, Klassiker said:

The symbols are not standardised,

Not entirely correct? The actual symbols do seem to follow a standard in other words these are the symbols of lubrication. But beyond that any sort of meaning of what each symbol represents to each manufacturer at any given time appears to not resemble a standard at all. So basically you need to have the chart that goes with the symbol that you're looking at to understand what it is they think is going in that location.

[Klassiker]

A guess, but the dashed symbol could mean same as the solid symbol, but on the reverse side.

 

 

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, Klassiker said:

A guess, but the dashed symbol could mean same as the solid symbol, but on the reverse side.

 

 

Correct.  I found the cheat codes and it says 'underneath the part'

[xyzzy]

I like the "normal" vs "sufficient" indication.  Is sufficient more than normal or less?  Should points not marked sufficient have insufficient oil?

Perhaps more detail could be added, with different arrows for "typical", "standard" and "correct" oil amounts.

[JohnR725]

9 minutes ago, xyzzy said:

I like the "normal" vs "sufficient" indication.

Was reading to replies here this reminded me of something? The time factor of what's normal versus what is not probably doesn't have any effect? If you look at current lubrication practices versus past practices interesting things happen. Like currently if you look at a pivot sticking out of the jewel and you can see the top of the pivot that's the maximum out of oil if your oil goes over the top that's too much. If you can't see the oil that's too little and somewhere in between is typical. But if you look at historical data or went to school in the late 70s that would be totally unacceptable. Acceptable was if you could not see the oil that had been applied. Super minimalistic was the normal which is now considered not enough. But you I think any of those specialized symbols for minimalistic are parts that would still require minimalistic.

I suspect what's happened is now that the Swiss have slowly terminated a lot of people repairing watches because we were not doing it properly and there are actually looking at their watches that have been in the field they discovered that super minimalistic just didn't cut it so now they require more lubrication.

Then when you're looking at symbols there is that other strange symbol? Wasn't always in the ETA documentation. It almost never see it in the past it was referenced in the manufacturing information sheet set watchmakers typically don't look at. You would see the reference to epilame On the balance staff the escape wheel the pallet stones. Just not in the tech sheet where the watchmaker needed it.

Or companies like Omega had separate documentation even in the 50s they talked about epilame For basically almost everything in the watch conveniently never mentioned it all on the normal tech sheets.

The unfortunate mysteries of lubrication where we never quite get the whole picture. But they are getting a little better about it at least is now mentioned in some of the tech sheets.