Overwound?

[Plato]

I just received a pocket watch which I was hoping had a Unitas 6498 movement, it did 

The watch was described as being 'overwound', I think the main problem is all the 3 in 1 poured over the balance which has seeped through the entire movement!!

I'm going to stick the complete movement in the wash before disassembly and take it from there.

[KarlvonKoln]

Yuck.  I think you're probably right about the extra oil, of the not-watch-friendly kind.  As many others on this forum will likely agree, the term "overwound" gets used way too much, particular by laymen in the sales advertisements for non-running watches.  Any watch that is wound all the way would happily unwind *unless* something prevented it.  The thing that prevents a watch unwinding is the thing we must fix.
And sometimes that condition is as simple as just a bunch of filth that needs cleaning out.  Here's hoping yours is that simple, and that once she is clean, the movement takes off running like new and will await her fresh oil and regulating!  I think I will check in on this thread later; I like old pocket watches.

[Plato]

I got the oil off the movement after two washes. The watch started running although very poorly.

Nothing wrong with the mainspring but the balance spring was out of flat and round, bug*er! All near the stud so not too bad.

I've corrected the hairspring but it's way off centre, I'll adjust the collet tommorow. Just noticed in the first picture more marks on the balance wheel other than my black mark. Also, in the last picture, one of the banking pins has been adjusted too. ... someone's been mucking about with this watch before me.

On the positive side of things, it's all good practice.

 

 

[LittleWatchShop]

5 hours ago, KarlvonKoln said:

overwound

Well, for 60 years I have scoffed at the "overwound" claim until recently I overwound my GMT chronograph with a Valjoux 726. I learned later that this is not uncommon. I think it is a broken crown or ratchet wheel. Next year I will get the guts to fix it.

[KarlvonKoln]

5 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Well, for 60 years I have scoffed at the "overwound" claim until recently I overwound my GMT chronograph with a Valjoux 726. I learned later that this is not uncommon. I think it is a broken crown or ratchet wheel. Next year I will get the guts to fix it.

Well, there I can agree: "overwound" -  in the context of having cranked  a watch so far that something broke could indeed be termed "overwound".  I suppose I'm only scoffing when I hear it used by sellers or lay-people to refer to a watch that does not run no matter how far they wound it, yet is mechanically complete, so they have no clue what's the matter with it.  It's too often used as a catch-all phrase.
Sorry to hear about the Valjoux 726.  I guess they can be a tad fragile then?  I hope it will be an easy fix for you.

[LittleWatchShop]

2 minutes ago, KarlvonKoln said:

I hope it will be an easy fix for you.

I am quite anxious about it frankly. It will be my moat complex repair to date.

It is my understanding that this is a common problem with this movement. I have the suspected replacement wheel and the teeth are pretty dainty. More so than anything I have seen before.

I agree with on the general overwound comment

[LittleWatchShop]

 

[Plato]

Doh! Just realised that the stud support can be rotated so (probably) no need to to rotate the spring on the collet.

[Plato]

Looking OK, I'll let the oils bed in before making any further adjustments. What amplitude should I expect from a 6498?

[TimpanogosSlim]

I am still skeptical that "overwound" is a valid diagnosis. Blue steel mainsprings don't break because you did something wrong they break because the metallurgy is vulnerable that way after many cycles of use and that is why we have modern alloy mainsprings. If you effed up your keyless works that is probably because of a design defect with your keyless works or because, like my ST36 watch, the stem is a hair too short. 

But it looks like it is running fine now, to me.