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Pocket watch movement removal mystery

ivanUK
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ivanUK New Member

ivanUK

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Hi all,

I am just getting into watch repair as a hobby so please bear with me…

I bought this nice DF&C pocket watch on eBay as a first practice. It was already running OK and I recall reading some advice which said to try disassembling a working watch to see if you could reassemble it and still have it work as a test!

Anyway, unfortunately I can’t for the life of me figure out how to remove the stem so that I can remove the movement. I already have some experience of this with modding Seikos and removing the movement from a couple of other pocket watches. There is no little screw nor lever to release the stem. The front of the pocket watch can’t open, only the back. Maybe it is a two piece stem? From what I can see the stem beyond the movement is a little corroded which could maybe make it a bit stiff? I’ve done a lot of Googling and also removed the case screws + part disassembled the movement inside the case to see if anything obvious would present itself but nope. I didn’t want to force anything either in case I broke something.

Any help much appreciated, thank you!!

Here are pictures with the movement in place (just crown and ratchet wheel off) and also one with all the bridges removed to reveal some of the keyless works. Please let me know if any other pictures would be helpful. Thank you!

72684CB4-ED02-428D-919E-36FB9F545F5B.jpeg

847880A3-8D86-4516-9BFC-C314D18B4E4A.jpeg

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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2 hours ago, ivanUK said:

pocket watch on eBay as a first practice.

while it's true we recommend starting with something bigger the problem with pocket watches are is a lot of variations of how things work including how to take the watch of the case.

how about we pretend this is an American pocket watch? I don't have the best picture it's a little bit confusing. In pocket watches a lot of them if there is no screw to release the stem the stem probably stays in the case. So the stem that's in the case the square part goes into what I have in the image below there's a square opening at the end.

so on American pocket watches and a lot a European watches you would remove the case screws removed the front of the case make sure the watches in setting position and then just push the movement out starting at the opposite side of where the stem goes in and the movement should just come out.

 

pocket watch no stem.JPG

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  • 1 month later...
ivanUK New Member

ivanUK

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Hello! Thank you so much for this help and apologies for not responding sooner. Personal circumstances prevented me from re-engaging with the hobby for a while. But good news: it took me a while to convince myself that the front of the pocket watch could be prised off, but I managed in the end and this method worked a charm! I look forward to working on the movement properly now 🙂 many thanks again

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