I broke the mainplate jewel on my Tavannes....

[doober]

Hi everyone! I have been into watchrepair as a hobby for the last 8 months and I love it. I have slowly cleaned and relubricated about 6 watches (maily gruen) using watchrepairtalk as a guide and it has been great (addictive, lol) experience. I finally got the courage to clean and relubricate my grandfathers old tavannes. 1940-1950s not sure of the exact model, photos will follow shortly, 1103664 patented is printed on one of the bridges. I was succesful and had the watch running with a gain of about 3s per day and a beat error of 4.0!!!! Not perfect I know, but I have been wearing it for the last 3 weeks!!! Yesterday I dropped it while putting it on :(:(:(:(. Devastated. The balance wheel jewel on the bottom plate cracked. I do not have the tools nor the training to change it. Does anyone know where/if I could get this done for me/recommendations on the best next step....I live in LA, USA.

 

Thanks!!!!!!

[Lotus]

Hey there, that's a pretty nice watch with a very cool movement! I'm going to assume that by bottom balance jewel you mean the cap jewel, the one that sits on top of the balance jewel setup. If so, then it is an easy fix by going to Ebay and browsing their stock. Now I could not find a name or number for this movement, but I could still find two listings on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144963167495

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334492709187?hash=item4de151b143:g:67AAAOSw4Dtiwh7P

All you have to do is to transfer the cap jewel and cover from one movement to the other, and you should be set. But if the jewel the balance staff sits in is broken, then that's a much bigger discussion involving watchmaking morals and values.

Hope this helps!

[Knebo]

That's a bummer, very sorry to hear that.

If it's indeed (and only) the CAP JEWEL that is broken (that should be integrated in the small, round metal plate, screwed onto the mainplate), then you are lucky that @Lotus has found some spectacularly cheap eBay options for you.

It's also good that both sellers mention that the balance swings freely: that means that the cap jewel should be ok. And ALSO, it should mean that the balance and especially the BALANCE STAFF are ok. Why is the latter important? Well, the jewels are much harder that the balance staff pivots.... so if your jewel cracked, there's a good chance that your balance staff is also damaged. Getting these replacement movements, should therefore help you in both cases. 

 

1 hour ago, Lotus said:

much bigger discussion involving watchmaking morals and values

Hahahaha 

[doober]

Thank you lotus and knebo!!!! sorry for my delay in response. Unfortunately, the watches on the ebay listings are slightly too small. Unfortunately (double) the jewel is broken, and the jewel cap seems to be fine.  The balance staff seems to be ok on visual inspection. it does wiggle when placed in the movement, but I think that is due to the cracked jewel.

 

   I have been searching and studying the history of Tavannes movements, and I have discovered the following. The movement is a cyma 032b !!!! long story short, cyma and tavannes were manufactured together for a certain time period and my watch has a cyma movement - 032b. I found one ebay seller, but they are currently out of stock on the mainplate  .  I also reached out to a seller in India, oldsisswatches.com, hoping for a response. Does anyone have, know where I could get an old cyma 032b movement?

 

 

Thank you all again!!!

 too many unhappy faces, lol! Thanks again!!!!

 

[Knebo]

Oh dear. 

Be careful/warned: during that time, manufacturing tolerances where larger and part from one movement may not fit another of the same calibre. 

I had that case with an AS574 from thr 1930s. I bought a broken spare movement, primarily to get the balance spring and staff. That worked as hoped, but I found it interesting that the balance cock as a whole would not fit on the other movement (the studs and screw hole were not aligned properly). 

You might be lucky, but manage your expectations 

[doober]

Thanks Knebo! Yeah, at this point I am just hoping to come across the movement. Is there any other way to measure, look up in a database,  get a replacement,for the broken jewel?