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Accutron lubrication--some early thoughts and a bit NO

LittleWatchShop
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LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

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OK, I have recently services four Accutron 218s and disassembled another (my first) which is now a parts watch...lol.

Feeling really good about my results and my methodology.

Accutron recommends OL-207 for all but jewel settings.  OK, if these watches I have serviced were lubricated in this way...I am not a fan! 

It appears to dry and then flakes everywhere.   When confined (e.g., center wheel) it seems to gum up and freeze.

I determined not to use it--NO.  I am using Molykote for those lube points instead.

Shields up--prepared for incoming!

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TimelessTech New Member

TimelessTech

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Hi, I repair accutrons. I'm glad that more people are doing so. Never use the moly grease recommended in the manual... it's garbage. Only use it for the crown area because as you found out, it flakes off. Use HP 1300 grease for the center arbor and all non jeweled friction points. 

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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9 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Shields up--prepared for incoming!

shields up and haven't you built your fallout shelter yet? Nothing like a good fallout shelter.

I don't worry about the recommendation so I use 9504 modern and it works really well. Plus it does at that pesky really short shelf life to upset you in as a shelflife twice as long and then I'll just disregard that because it's synthetic it should last forever.

9 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

OK, if these watches I have serviced were lubricated in this way...I am not a fan! 

It appears to dry and then flakes everywhere.   When confined (e.g., center wheel) it seems to gum up and freeze.

then yes back in your center wheel discussion didn't I point out that you do not want to use the manufactures recommendation because their retirement plan was based on selling a lot center wheels when they get disintegrated due to poor lubrication choices.

 

 

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ManSkirtBrew Super WRT Addict

ManSkirtBrew

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10 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

I use 9504 modern and it works really well

I will second this. I also use 9504 in my Accutrons (and just bought 9020 for the pivots). I don't have nearly as much experience as @JohnR725, but I've serviced a few so far with excellent results.

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LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

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47 minutes ago, ManSkirtBrew said:

I will second this. I also use 9504 in my Accutrons (and just bought 9020 for the pivots). I don't have nearly as much experience as @JohnR725, but I've serviced a few so far with excellent results.

I use M56-b (AKA LGN) for pivots (surprise surprise!).  It has a lower viscosity than 9020.

Of course there is this craziness from the Accutron service manual.

image.png.6ec5b0234b67fb49f97327059cc15f14.png

I am taking a shine to servicing these things.  Each one gets easier.  Still a little tricky getting the index and pawl fingers just right.

My cleaning methodology is pretty refined now, using the ultrasonic for the clean and an L&R Master to spin dry between each step as well as dry in the last step.  Found the right jars for the job and printed a lifter to lift the basket out of the jars.

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ManSkirtBrew Super WRT Addict

ManSkirtBrew

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1 hour ago, LittleWatchShop said:

I am taking a shine to servicing these things.

Same here. I'm also a bit of an electronics nerd, so I very much enjoyed an excuse to buy a new micro soldering setup to replace the capacitors and resistors that seem to be common points of failure.

I'm gearing up to do my first 218 replacement this weekend.

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LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

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44 minutes ago, ManSkirtBrew said:

Same here. I'm also a bit of an electronics nerd, so I very much enjoyed an excuse to buy a new micro soldering setup to replace the capacitors and resistors that seem to be common points of failure.

I'm gearing up to do my first 218 replacement this weekend.

Did not know that these were typical points of failure.  Resistors are incredibly robust...capacitors not so much.  The transistors would be the most likely thing to fail apart from the coils themselves IMHO.  I am an EE, and a musician, so also attracted to the currents, voltages, and tuning fork!!

So you have been doing 214s?  I have a few but am going to finish all of the 218s before doing the 214s.

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ManSkirtBrew Super WRT Addict

ManSkirtBrew

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34 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

So you have been doing 214s?

Not yet. I mean, I have a Spaceview and a railroad-approved 214, but they're runners so just got a cleanup. I've done a 219, which has a conveniently separate circuit board, making the component replacement pretty easy.
 

And yeah, I also thought resistors would last basically forever, but on one 219 and the current 218 I'm working on, they're way out of their tolerance range.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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8 hours ago, ManSkirtBrew said:

railroad-approved 214

oh for servicing this when you get around to it would give you the sheet on setting up the hack for it. The railroad approved to Ford teams have a hacking mechanism and the only way you get the instructions would've been if you had purchased the hacking upgrade kit. Otherwise the specifications do not seem to exist anywhere in the universe fortunately I PDF that.

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ManSkirtBrew Super WRT Addict

ManSkirtBrew

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9 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

oh for servicing this when you get around to it would give you the sheet on setting up the hack for it

That is very kind of you! Now I'm very curious, so if you'd like to send it to me I would be very appreciative.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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51 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Me too. I would like to see it.

fortunately when I post things I usually put them in a particular folder so I can find them for uploading so conveniently they were together.  oh and yes you really would need the stem thing if you are installing this for the first time. If it's already in an existing watch it by theory should be much easier to do unless you change the back gasket. In other words on a 214 the location of the crown versus the back gaskets and the movement the back casket will of course move things around.

then while I was remembering this that's why I uploaded this to some other group somebody was having a running issue on a 214 with a hack although unless you disassemble you won't actually know if you have a hack or not sort of. So I uploaded to comment on if it has a hack it could be an issue in these would be the issues why.

In other words the crown is on the back if dirt gets under the crowd that changes spacing if the back gasket thickness should change. Which unfortunately will occur today as you may not really get original 214 gaskets and they have replacements and of the thickness is different it can be an issue.

Oh and then if you are installing this for the first time you'd need the thing on the stems because you would have to change those to get one of the right length. I very distinctly remember when I installed one of these I was a student in school which was quite a while ago and I do not remember being a pleasant experience. Because as you can see with the instructions you have to set everything up and put it all together and if not right then you have to yes they can be a fun experience. I don't think I've ever done a 214 after that that had a hack though

 

Accutron 214 hack.PDF Accutron 214 stems.PDF

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Jon Super WRT Addict

Jon

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I've got a couple of Accutrons tucked away somewhere, but I've never serviced or repaired one, so it's good to know there are some proficient servicers here that I might be asking for help in the near future.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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I suppose if you like the other PDF may be of like this one. it's not a complete PDF it only has 214 and 218 stuff. Bulova had parts kits a box with a large card that when in the lid and all the envelopes corresponding to the parts and I think they would add empty envelopes. So if you were servicing  these at one time it would be smart to have these although I'm pretty sure they were expensive. So somebody kindly scanned them into a nice PDF I had scanned a couple of the cards but this is much nicer it's all in one place. So then were missing all the other watches but typically the majority of the tuning fork of Bulova would be  214 and 218 and the others while popular not as much and I don't think every single other one had a parts kit that was probably at 230 kit and a 221 kit don't think there was a 219 kit may be.

Bulova Accutron Parts.pdf

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