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Roamer Mst372 Movement.

Geo

By Geo
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Yesterday I serviced a vintage Roamer that is fitted with an MST372 movement. 

 

 

It is really quite a simple movement and comes apart really quickly, but be warned, it doesn't go back so quickly unless you get lucky.  I noticed a lot of little scratches on the train bridge on first inspection, and thought why on earth was it marked so badly................I soon found the reason!  The excessive height of the pinions and layout of the train make locating the pinions a real challenge.  It took me over an hour to get them all locted and running freely. 

 

The marks on the bridge have been caused by years of frustrated watchmakers trying to fit it.  I use pegwood to gently press on bridges and cocks to prevent marking them.  My advice to begginers to this game is, DONT CHOOSE THIS AS YOUR FIRST MOVEMENT, it will put you off for horology life!

 

For your interest here are a few photos of the watch and the movement.

 

post-124-0-45474200-1429001155_thumb.jpg

 

post-124-0-15328100-1429001200_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

post-124-0-52076000-1429001221_thumb.jpg

post-124-0-12342900-1429001234_thumb.jpg

post-124-0-71877900-1429001251_thumb.jpg

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WillFly Distinguished Member

WillFly

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My Roamer specialist friend, Derek from Southampton, loves doing these movements - but he's been servicing them for years and years!

 

Ranfft gives the height of the 372 as 4.9mm, which is quite deep for a movement of 25.55mm.

 

They're lovely movements, though. The  movements after about Cal. 402 (late 1960s) are also good, but not quite as well made, which is why I rarely go for the Searock range and later models.

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Hi Will, it certainly is a nice wee movement and is holding very good time indeed. The funny thing was when I first saw it I thought of you. It belongs to a friend who inherited it from his father. The good thing is, he's a painter, so guess what I have him doing in return! :)

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clockwatcher WRT Addict

clockwatcher

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I'll hold off on the Roamers then Geo! :)

 

A thought crossed my mind regarding getting these pinions lined up and steady. Why not use a blob of Rodico to stabilise the wheels in roughly the right place and when you make a little adjustment it'll stay where it's put.

 

Or maybe I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs! ^_^

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Why not use a blob of Rodico to stabilise the wheels in roughly the right place and when you make a little adjustment it'll stay where it's put.

I like lateral thinking, I do it myself all the time, but I would bet a large sum of money it wouldn't work. By the way, I hate being negative.

I'm working on an Alpina bumper watch just now, and the train bridge went on in ten seconds flat and that was with four pinions to line up, not just three! It's all down to the far better design.

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Would you believe it, the last thing I say to my pal is.............IT'S NOT SHOCK RESISTANT, well you know what's coming next. He had it sitting on top of my stone fireplace, and down it went and broke the balance staff. It lasted all of fifteen hours!

luckily I found a spares or repair runner on Ebay this morning and it does have a shock resist balance, so it will be back to the fiddly pivots again next week. ARRRRRGH!

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canthus Super WRT Addict

canthus

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I have used the rodico trick on a Seiko 6139B for a tricky pinion on the chrono bridge.  The bridge incorporates a spring which makes sitting it down tricky with a wheel that has a long lower pinion shaft, so tends to tip over.  I used very small pieces of rodico to hold th edges of the wheel to the bridge.  Care needed to ensure that all rodico is removed afterwards!

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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That's it back up and running. I managed to make one good movement out of two, and it now has a Shock Resist balance in it. These pesky opinions that took forever the last time went together in 3 mins flat this time (I timed it). It's currently holding about +4 sec/day.......result! :)

PS it was impossible to use Rodico due to lack of access. What made the difference was the bridge dowels were not so tight!

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Maurice WRT Addict

Maurice

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I just got in after a long days work and thought I'd check out what you guys have been up to and clicked on this thread! Well the other night I was rooting through one of my boxes of bits and remembered seeing this.

post-89-0-31321100-1429754198_thumb.jpgpost-89-0-35886300-1429754242_thumb.jpg

So I just dug it out. Balance seems fine its wound up but not running no stem but pretty sure it just needs a good clean and oiling. If you want it Geo pm me your address and i'll post it on to you as i have no use for it.

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nad WRT Addict

nad

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Hi Maurice.

I think that Geo managed to repair his using parts from another spare movement. (Geo please correct me if I'm wrong here.)

If your MST 372 is still available could you pm me please as I've a supershock with a broken pivot that I'm planning to repair.

Thanks.

Nigel

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Welcome to the forum Nigel, I hope you join in with horolological fun here.

You are correct regarding the Roamer, I managed to get another movement with a Shock Resist balance wheel assembly and used the complete movement in the watch after a full service. I did substitute a couple of parts from the original movement to make it perfect.

Maurice, many thanks for your kind offer regarding the MST 372, it really is appreciated. I would indeed have taken you up on your offer, because it would have kept the watch absolutely original spec.

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Maurice WRT Addict

Maurice

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Hello Nigel and a warm welcome, I see you are from the same part of the country as me.

My offer to Geo still stands as since I have been a member I have enjoyed his posts and shared experiences and as a more junior member am duty bound to bestow him with gifts to feed his watchitis. However you may be interested in this.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MST-10-cal-371-372-shock-resistant-balance-staff-watch-movement-part-/271831156451?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f4a6646e3

:thumbsu:

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nad WRT Addict

nad

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Thanks Maurice.

Haven't the skill and knowledge at the moment to be honest to replace a wheel pivot but certainly something to aim for.

The broken pivot on the watch that I bought is on the wheel that drives the centre second hand. My intention was to find a replacement wheel with a good pivot.

NAD

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