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Wittnauer Automatic

Razz
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Razz WRT Addict

Razz

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I just had a roller coaster on this Wittnauer with an AS 1585N movement. Got it a few months ago and it was running strangely with a hesitation in the seconds hand every few seconds. Almost went backwards for 1 tick...so stripped it down tonight and think it was likely the mainspring / barrel. So got it back together and everything running nice with decent amplitude and low rate delta up versus down dial and low beat error. The kicker was that I tried to let the power out with the rachett wheel screw and the driver slipped and absolutely made a mess of the wheel finish...OMG don't let the children see this...it is awful. Going to see if I can source another wheel. On the bright side the dial is spectacular and it is running nice.DSCN56012.thumb.JPG.ccfe537aa76fcd9dfb83465512d1fd75.JPGDSCN56002.thumb.JPG.3075e1a290a4974cc93e4d7126af7a21.JPG20231127_2143132.thumb.jpg.cef6048d92837220d3eb9a5e30f8a74e.jpgDSCN56042.thumb.JPG.2878fa49e6cfb84369dd1e16d7d17a19.JPGDSCN56052.thumb.JPG.ba144fba7d8d2ef964949f1d80fe74ef.JPG

And the carnage shot...DSCN56062.thumb.JPG.69e34d7969d0295ef782b2fbd782a988.JPG

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Waggy Distinguished Member

Waggy

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I feel you pain, I was almost finished with an accurist a week or two ago and had to let down the wind (can't exactly remember why now) and used a screwdriver to wind it down as I held back the click. I had a similar result as you did when the screwdriver slipped and made a horrible spiral mess of the ratchet wheel, to add insult to injury the screwdriver carried on and mashed up the center wheel - not my greatest moment! fortunately I had a donor I could steal from, but more by good luck than good planning.

I always wondered why the guys on the YouTube channels went to all the trouble of reinstalling the winder to let down the power, as using a screwdriver is so much easier...guess I had to learn that lesson the hard way!

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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3 hours ago, Waggy said:

I always wondered why the guys on the YouTube channels went to all the trouble of reinstalling the winder to let down the power, as using a screwdriver is so much easier...guess I had to learn that lesson the hard way!

When I was in school we always installed the stem and the keyless first. From memory it's because it gives you something to hold onto you now have a stem to grab. But the reality is also you can use it to let the power down or wind the watch up. As I typically work on pocket watches I have a morbid fear of even using the screwdriver do anything with a pocket watch as there's so much force their so much chance of bad things happening.

As far as winding goes like Seiko where there is no key lesson a lot of the early ones then they expect you to use the screwdriver to wind it up. But letting the power off that can always be a challenge because that's a two-handed operation one to release the click and the other to somehow left the screwdriver spin slowly releasing the power well there's a reason why there's a stem on the watch and it's very handy for letting the power off.

Oh don't worry we all make interesting mistakes from time to time. It's how we learn or at least how are supposed to learn sometimes you forget the silly little things you shouldn't be doing and then you get a reminder.

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