Do New Quartz Movements Need Lubrication?

[HectorLooi]

I have replaced several quartz movements over the years and always wondered if the movements come prelubricated from the factory.

I've asked my mentor before and his  answer was, "If it looks dry, then lubricate it".

And that even confuses me more. Aren't we supposed to clean and degrease before adding more oil?

[grsnovi]

I recently read (somewhere) that Seagull mechanical movements ship from the factory dry and require lubrication.

I don't know about quartz movements. I suspect that it depends on the manufacturer of the movement.

It seems that your mentor's advice is sound. Assuming your "new-from-the-factory" movement has been lubricated, there is no reason not to clean it and lubricate.

[JohnR725]

let's look at this another way? Obviously were not the buyer of the movements originally in other words were not buying from the factory. If we were casing up watches then obviously we want the watch lubricated because that would be bad if they were dry. So is there a situation where you would sell dry watch movements? You can't really use them for casing up because there dry.

okay suppose they were no lubrication sealed up in little dry packets they would last forever conceivably. But it basically have to disassemble the entire watch to lubricated. In other words you can't just put oil even on a quartz watch. Yes there is visible pivots but if you have a calendar is pivots under the calendar disc. What about the keyless mechanism in its under a calendar you not to get to that. Mechanical watch what about the breaking grease of its dry for the barrel arbor.

I suspect all the movements were lubricated a lot of it would be how old they are and how they were packaged. The Swiss with their individual move packets they would be fine but if their bulk packed and not a lot of demand for that movements how long has it been sitting wherever it was sitting.

Then as far as the Chinese go quality control I think is still an issue for a lot of their stuff. Even if it's supposed to be lubricated it may or may not be lubricated.

 

[Shane]

Not knowing what movement you are talking about or having the ability to know what materials that manufacturer has chosen to make a particular movement or part out of.  It's really hard to say whether or not it really needs to be lubricated.  Some materials are self lubricating and will run dry quite happily for quite a long time.  Those types of materials are fairly expensive but the quantity required per movement would be quite small.  Cheep quartz watchs should probably be lubricated.  Higher end jeweled watches should probably also be lubricated because of traditional manufacturing and servicing philosophies.  Middle of the road quartz watchs may use exotic materials for production and servicing concerns.  It's very hard to say without actually knowing or reviewing the service literature of each and every watch movement.

Oil is cheep, the time to apply it properly is not.  Right or wrong, I have oiled every quartz watch that I have reassembled.

Best of luck.

Shane 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Shane

[clockboy]

IMO it depends on the quality of the quartz movement you are fitting. Some quartz movements have jewels and are the same as mechanical movements but are powered by a circuit board and a battery. These certainly need lubrication.But the cheap Chinese style movements such as produced by Miyota then No.. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by clockboy

[HectorLooi]

1 hour ago, clockboy said:

But the cheap Chinese style movements such as produced by Miyota then No.. 

I'm aware of this. I'm talking about jewelled movements like ETA 955  ETA 976, EBEL 157....

Are these movements already prelubed? It doesn't make sense to have to take apart a brand new movement to lubricate it and run the risk of damaging something. 

[watchweasol]

I think it is how they are bought.  Some I have had come with a PS tag, pre sealed and an extra cost (reputably) factory lubricated and sealed. Then others come without the PS tag and are in a small plastic box and are some times quite a bit cheaper than the PS type, these will require lubrication as they are stored un sealed.