What the hell am I doing wrong

[Nibbler]

I have worked on a bunch of Seiko's, mostly 7009s and I have not seen one roller jewel issue. All of the ones I received were basket cases for learning repair.

[Paul80]

The Curse has struck again.

This time I had a 7009A that needed a new Balance, (Its spring was damaged). I bought a brand new Balance which arrived this morning and a quick inspection prior to fitting it revealed the impulse jewel is missing, this is a brand new sealed in its packet item.  Think someone is trying to tell me something

I think I will give up with the 7009A movement now.

[mikepilk]

15 minutes ago, Paul80 said:

The Curse has struck again.

This time I had a 7009A that needed a new Balance, (Its spring was damaged). I bought a brand new Balance which arrived this morning and a quick inspection prior to fitting it revealed the impulse jewel is missing, this is a brand new sealed in its packet item.  Think someone is trying to tell me something

I think I will give up with the 7009A movement now.

Never had a problem with Seiko parts. Is there any sign of shellac/glue ?

Where did you buy the part ?

For second hand Seiko parts, a useful source is https://speedtimerkollektion.com/ , they have complete balance+cock for about 6 euro.

[Paul80]

The ones speedtimerkollektion sells for 6 are actually broken, his good ones are about 17 and up. Which was why I tried a brand new one from Cousins also at 17.

[Paul80]

Ii have spotted one odd thing with speedtimer, his working balance is about 17 but he sells a complete movement with A good balance for 10 ?.

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, Paul80 said:

The ones speedtimerkollektion sells for 6 are actually broken, his good ones are about 17 and up. Which was why I tried a brand new one from Cousins also at 17.

Report it as a fault to Cousins. You may get a refund. 

[VWatchie]

On 10/1/2021 at 11:11 PM, Paul80 said:

the 7009A, out of the 5 I got working The same thing has happened to 4 of them and that is after working fine for 4 to 6 weeks they suddenly just stop and when I check they have all stopped for the same reason and that is the impulse jewel has fallen out of the balance.

 

On 10/1/2021 at 11:11 PM, Paul80 said:

Today's one I did manage to find the jewel and under the microscope managed to get the jewel back in with drop of shellac to hold it in place

This is a fairly modern calibre from the 1970s. When I started out servicing/repairing I was under the impression that all impulse jewels (just like pallet jewels) were always fixated with shellac. That is until @nickelsilver mentioned that the impulse jewel on most (all?) modern calibres is friction fitted (if I recollect correctly?). What makes you think that the impulse jewel is fixated with shellac on the 7009A (except for the fact that they're falling out)?

Don't think my reflection will shed any new light on the problem, but I'm curious...

[Paul80]

I have found a low cost solution to fixing my problem with these Balance's

I found a couple of sellers on Aliexpress with Balances for the 7009 and at only £2.50 it was worth a punt to see if they were any good or even if they fitted.

First batch arrived and I have fitted a couple of them and sofar everything is working well, so for now the problem is resolved, unless they also loose their impulse jewel in a few weeks like the old seiko ones did. still £2.50 is much better than £17.99 that Seiko ones cost.

Will update the post in a few months if they are still working or have also failed but looking good sofar.

Paul

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, Paul80 said:

I have found a low cost solution to fixing my problem with these Balance's

I found a couple of sellers on Aliexpress with Balances for the 7009 and at only £2.50 it was worth a punt to see if they were any good or even if they fitted.

First batch arrived and I have fitted a couple of them and sofar everything is working well, so for now the problem is resolved, unless they also loose their impulse jewel in a few weeks like the old seiko ones did. still £2.50 is much better than £17.99 that Seiko ones cost.

Will update the post in a few months if they are still working or have also failed but looking good sofar.

Paul

I'd never thought of looking on Aliexpress for balances, they're amazingly cheap. How do they look for quality close up?

Do you have a timegrapher - be interesting to see how it performs in different positions.

Edited March 9, 2022 by mikepilk

[jdm]

1 hour ago, mikepilk said:

I'd never thought of looking on Aliexpress for balances, they're amazingly cheap. How do they look for quality close up?

These have been mentioned in previously, hard to find topic. The person reporting said some didn't even really work, like hit and miss.