Quartz coil repair tips .....

[Endeavor]

Hello All;

I bought several non-working Citizen 3510 & 3530 vintage quartz chronograph watches, just to see how they stick together and to learn. As it turns out, all electronic modules are working and the "non-working" part was down to mechanical issues. Read: never been serviced.

Due to the movement construction and my "clumsiness", I'm "proud " to say that I managed to damage two coils. One of them I "repaired" using a soldering technique, ending up with a 650 Ω coil, instead of the original 1100 - 1200 Ω.

This afternoon I manage to scratch its very replacement, severing two or three wires just in the middle at the surface of the coil

I'm not planning on spending a lot of money on these "learning"-movement, but if there are nifty ways to (attempt) repairing these coils, I'm all ears ...

Has anybody some smart ideas / solutions?

Hope to hear .........

 

 

Edited April 5 by Endeavor

[rjenkinsgb]

If the wire is not broken, just insulate it with a small drop of lacquer or nail polish etc. to prevent tarnish.

If it's broken, you would need to unwind the ends that are still connected by a turn each, to give enough wire to re-join; then insulate as above.

It's probably easier to get a scrap witch with the same movement in that case, though.

 

[Endeavor]

25 minutes ago, rjenkinsgb said:

If it's broken, you would need to unwind the ends that are still connected by a turn each, to give enough wire to re-join; then insulate as above.

Thanks, I think I will give that idea try, as soldering was, in my eyes, not an ideal way. Probably it's going to be a "fiddly" job, but worth a try

I've seen new coils on eBay, not too expensive, but as said, I prefer not to spend more money on these movement, but instead to learn as much as possible ...... this may be another leaning opportunity

Thanks

 

 

Edited April 5 by Endeavor

[nevenbekriev]

All You going to learn is that nothing can be done for a broken coil. Sorry.

[Endeavor]

57 minutes ago, nevenbekriev said:

All You going to learn is that nothing can be done for a broken coil

Well, at least I learned something

The coil had about 3/4 no lacquer around its circumferences, but the other 1/4 had thick lacquer, causing the very thin wire, when trying to unwind a lap, just to break. It got from bad to total ruin.

Anyway, at least I tried, spent some time in front of the microscope instead of the TV and learned what can, and can't be done.

Thanks all for your help

[nevenbekriev]

Actually, there is a solution: to remove all the wire and wind new one. But this is not so simple, and finding such thin wire is problematic.

[Endeavor]

37 minutes ago, nevenbekriev said:

finding such thin wire is problematic

never mind winding it. That's what I've learned too

[Nucejoe]

Super thin wire specific to the coil you have is available for shop use.

https://www.ultrafinecopperwire.com/sale-13985158-polyurethane-0-012mm-class-155-super-thin-copper-winding-wire-for-quartz-watch-coils.html

Winding can be done with 3 volt electric motor .

Obviously more than one needs. 

A second option is a new or rewired ones to be found in watch repair man estate. here 

https://esam.ir/item/27261634

Price aprox $1 each.

The problem you will have is ungodly internationl shipping rate , a news that can be good, shipping cost is by weight ,  same shipping cost for up to one kilogram .

So either way, you save only buying in bulk.

 

 

[xyzzy]

I found most suppliers of the proper gauge of wire (about 0.015 mm / 54 AWG), and there are very few, would only sell in industrial sized quantities.  But Tianjin Ruiyuan, linked above and also on Alibaba, has MOQ down to 1 kg.  Which is still enough to wind a thousand watch coils, but does not cost all that much.  Not a cost effective way to get one coil fixed, but it makes rewinding a viable project that does not cost $10k.  Larger wire, down to .05 mm / AWG 44, is readily available for guitar pickup winding.

To wind one coil, the cheapest way to get the wire is to buy a very cheap replacement quartz movement and unwind its coil.  This ends up being cheaper than just a replacement coil unless you find a pile of old coils for a good price.

I found where someone had scatter wound replacement coils, and while ugly, they did work.  This is where the wire is only loosely directed to try to fill coil evenly as it spins, which probably leaves a bulge in the middle and wire coiling somewhat randomly.  It does not pack as tightly the original coil.

Better winding is done with a machine that has a moving guide that directs the wire back and forth at the right rate to make one layer with no gaps at a time.  A stepper motor to spin the coil and another with a lead screw can be synchronized to do this.