Eta 2895-2 Help

[chscott616]

Good Day Everyone,

 

I am a new member to Watch Repair Talk and a new horological hobbyist tackling my own personal repairs as needed.  I have been tinkering with watches for a few years on my free time starting with non-function pieces I picked up from swap meets, garage sales, estate sales, etc. with successes or understanding of complications and how they work together.  Recently one of my personal time pieces (a prized possession of mine) was due for service, an Omega 1164 (ETA7750i) Calibre Seamaster Professional.  After seeing the costs for servicing from various places, I subscribed to Mark's YouTube Channel and decided to tackle the task myself spending the equal money for a repair on "proper" tools and lubricants to complete the task and I DID IT (Thank you Mark for your amazing videos, I couldn't do it with you!)!  After much pride and bragging among family and friends that cared to listen I kind of became the go to for battery replacements on quartz movements and band replacements.  Recently a very good friend of mine came to me with a damaged timepiece that was more a user error issue and asked me if I would be willing to take on the task, and like a junkie or addict I jumped to the opportunity. 

 

The piece in question is a Bell & Ross Military Type 123 (ETA 2895-2). The time piece had a run in with a door jam and had the crown and stem pulled from the timepiece with such force that it firmly pulled the screw down attachment for the crown from the case (please forgive me if I am not using the appropriate terminology).  My first thought was with that much force there must be damage within the movement, so I began the disassembly.  I manged to get it apart and cleaned and started the assembly but immediately ran in to a problem.  The gear train assembly is jamming when I put the movement together.  I worked to gently tease the pinions in place and have had them seated in their bridge but they bind up?  I have seen the videos for ETA 2892 that Mark has posted and understand the care of working with the second wheel, third wheel, and escapement. the trouble I am having is the moment I place the escapement pinion in place under the bridge the second and third wheel seize up.  The second and third wheel will rotate freely but then they both stop when the escapement is in position.  The movement itself is strange to me with the elongated pinion on the escapement that passes through the main plate to a jewel on the underside floating above the plate?  

 

I hope that this question makes sense to the more experienced and that they may be able to shine some light on my problem, I have checked the wheels and all of the pinions appear to be in tact. Thank you everyone for your feedback and support.  I worked 2 days after work on it for a total of about 4 hours which is crazy for 3 gears and a small bridge...I am at a loss.

[anilv]

Hi Scott, Are you working with a bare main-plate, train wheels and bridge? This is the best way to ensure the train is in order as you can view it from all sides to ensure that the pivots are not bent (which may be the case if the watch has had a hard knock).

 

Everything else should be off the watch, calendar stuff, keyless works etc... just the main bridge, escapement and the bridges to hold them in place.

 

Anil

[chscott616]

Hi Anil,

I do have everything removed from the main plate. The only thing assembled was the barrel and the barrel bridge. I didn't think to remove the 2 and see if there is bind there. Strange thing was the timepiece was running when brought to me and I had to wait for the power to run out since the stem was removed. My next attempt will be to remove the barrel and barrel bridge and check that. Thank you so much for the response.

[Geo]

Welcome to the forum Chscott, and thank you for an informative introduction.

You have done exceedingly well so far in your horological journey, servicing the 7750 is no mean achievement. Regarding your current issue, that is excellent advice from Anil. it is never a good Idea to just partially service a watch, you should always completely strip it then you are starting with a clean slate and it is easier to locate problems by checking as each part is assembled.

When you have the complete train assembled, less click and balance, you should be able to drive the train by using your blower to puff air on the perimeter of the escape wheel. If this doesn't drive the train, there is something binding.