Omega 562 train gear problem.

[Danzman]

I have this old seamaster that was in rough shape. Sorta ran. I took it all apart, cleaned it, and put it back together. Ran great, but I noticed the mainspring was still gritty so I took it all back apart and replaced it. Now, for the life of me, I cannot get the train assembled. The escape wheel will not seat in the train and just falls out. The other wheels line up great and spin freely with the bridge in place.

these are the things I’ve tried.

put the entire train in a different mainplate 

Used two different train bridges.

ised two different escape wheels (both do the exact same thing.

All the jewels are clean.

this has got to be something stupid that I’m missing.

 

My next guess is to get another escape wheel.

 

any thoughts?

[watchweasol]

Hi  once you have it dissassembled  check every wheel for the fact the pivots are intact and not damaged.  If it welt together the first time ok it should do so again,  if all pivots are ok just try assembllng the gear train on its own with its own bridge.

[Neverenoughwatches]

15 hours ago, Danzman said:

I have this old seamaster that was in rough shape. Sorta ran. I took it all apart, cleaned it, and put it back together. Ran great, but I noticed the mainspring was still gritty so I took it all back apart and replaced it. Now, for the life of me, I cannot get the train assembled. The escape wheel will not seat in the train and just falls out. The other wheels line up great and spin freely with the bridge in place.

these are the things I’ve tried.

put the entire train in a different mainplate 

Used two different train bridges.

ised two different escape wheels (both do the exact same thing.

All the jewels are clean.

this has got to be something stupid that I’m missing.

 

My next guess is to get another escape wheel.

 

any thoughts?

The first thing  to check would be the  pivots on both the escape wheels that you have tried. They are very easily bent or broken. Next is there anything stopping the train bridge from seating correctly. Less likely would be escape wheel jewel movement.

[Shane]

You only have two variables, parts or procedure.  One will not fix the other but faulty procedure can produce bad parts.

Dose the escape wheel turn freely by itself?

Good luck.

Shane 

[Danzman]

As a follow up. I measured two escape wheels that I had for a similar movement and found them both to be almost exactly the same size. However, I purchased another one and it was significantly longer. In retrospect, I think I probably crushed the pivots when I was putting it together. My method was to assemble the train, place the bridge on top, insert and start the two screws. Then, try to align the pivots and the jewels as I threaded the screws. I think I was probably threading the screws against the pivots of the escape (as that was always the last gear I tried to align). Today I did the same but without the screws. Works great! Thanks for the advice.

[JohnR725]

1 hour ago, Danzman said:

I measured two escape wheels that I had for a similar movement

Their websites out there that will cross reference parts for you. You don't want to do a visual mixing and matching if that's what I'm interpreting you do because there could be subtle differences that you may or may not see.

1 hour ago, Danzman said:

I probably crushed the pivots

Crushed probably isn't quite the right word broke off would be better. Or in the process of crushing they broke off that your pivots are definitely  missing

1 hour ago, Danzman said:

nsert and start the two screws. Then, try to align the pivots and the jewels as I threaded the screws. I think I was probably threading the screws against the pivots of the escape (as that was always the last gear I tried to align).

Because of the way the watches laid out it's usually very difficult to start on one side and slowly put the pivots in one at a time as you tighten screws. Usually end up almost having to put all the pivots in that the same time or at some sort of random order of whatever goes in goes in until they're all in. Sometimes it's literally as simple as putting the plate on top other times you can struggle for quite some time it just depends on the watch.

[Danzman]

57 minutes ago, JohnR725 said:

I used a micrometer to measure them, but had already tried to install both of them, so probably had already broken the pivots off as you said. The new one was significantly longer but I don’t remember the actual numbers. I couldn’t find any reference to the actual dimensions but that would be helpful.

 

[anilv]

You live and you learn. We've all broken pivots at one time or another.

I also start two screws and then manipulate the wheels to get them in the jewels. One thing to watch out for is not to lift your finger off the bridge without first screwing the screws home... reason being your finger (even with cots) may lift the bridge away slightly as you move them and dislodge the pivots from their holes. If you need to remove your finger, use a pegwood to hold the bridge down.

Anilv

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, anilv said:

You live and you learn. We've all broken pivots at one time or another.

I also start two screws and then manipulate the wheels to get them in the jewels. One thing to watch out for is not to lift your finger off the bridge without first screwing the screws home... reason being your finger (even with cots) may lift the bridge away slightly as you move them and dislodge the pivots from their holes. If you need to remove your finger, use a pegwood to hold the bridge down.

Anilv

 

Same here. If the pivots dont fall into place within a minute or so i start to put a couple of screws in. I use pegwood to lightly hold the bridge in place. If the pivots are still resisting i do closedown one screw very very lightly after i have one pivot in position. The screw closest to that pivot and then gently position the pivots in place one at a time working away from the screw and closing it down just a touch at a time until all the pivots are in the jewels. Then test free running of the train before the last nip up of the screw.  I only do this if i am having real trouble locating the pivots and i also stress that the screw closed down is done a fraction at a time. I do have an extremely light touch which helps. My missus says i have anyway