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EtherJunky

By EtherJunky
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EtherJunky New Member

EtherJunky

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Few years ago I needed to fix a Cornavin my granny gave me (believe the mainspring broke). I couldn't find a watchmaker. There's a keycutting chain in the UK called Timpsons who said they could post it off somewhere and it'd be £250. I wondered around town for a bit and realised that watches are made by people (duh), I'm people, so I can probably give it a go. I did a bit of research, bought a little tool kit, and proceeded to break bits (shock absorbers, naturally). I then put all the parts in a bag for safe keeping. 

Since then I've developed a healthy fascination with the subject (not an obsession, just a healthy - think about it everyday now - kind of fascination), and amassed a good bit of literature and some cheapy tools. I still haven't fixed the Cornavin (it's a 2614.2H movement, same as a Poljot and I have enough spare parts now) but it'll be the one after my next project.

Currently assembling a Raketa 2603 for the practise. I took out the little shock absorbers, struggled to put them back in, walked away for a cuppa and searched the internet for any tips. Then I found this forum, been here before actually, figured I'd join.

I feel like I've developed a smidge more book knowledge than practical skill, so that's a point I need to work on. I'm having doubts the Raketa will work once I'm done, but it was cheap enough not to matter and worth the practise.

So here we are.
Hello

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EtherJunky New Member

EtherJunky

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24 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hello and welcome to the forum added the racketa 2603 sheet incase you don’t have it.

4328_Raketa 2603.pdf 1.2 MB · 0 downloads

Oh that is lovely, thank you. I also just cracked the crystal and lost one of the shock absorbers, so its gone in the separate baggy of 'maybe-one-day' 😄 I did learn the valuable lesson of not disassembling the shock absorbers.

My next one is a Zaria 1509B. I think this one I'll take a bit more time with cause I'll need to source a couple of bits. It's also scary teeny.

EtherJunky New Member

EtherJunky

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3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Welcome to WRT @EtherJunky.

Sorry about all your accidents but it's not advisable to sniff ether while watchmaking. 🤣

I was banking on the more mature members of this community to misinterpret that as 'Ether-NET', like I'm addicted to the internet. I see I've found my people 😄 

MariusJacob Member

MariusJacob

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Wellcome to the forum @EtherJunky.

I mainly repair soviet watches, I just love them. Also they are great to learn since you can find really cheap donors. Ten years ago they were embarrassingly cheap. 

I hope we can help you if you have any doubt.

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EtherJunky New Member

EtherJunky

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3 hours ago, MariusJacob said:

Wellcome to the forum @EtherJunky.

I mainly repair soviet watches, I just love them. Also they are great to learn since you can find really cheap donors. Ten years ago they were embarrassingly cheap. 

I hope we can help you if you have any doubt.

I remember hearing that if you want to get into horology then your best bet is to start with pocket watches because they're bigger. And I always thought that soviet watches, at least for me, are a much safer bet. They're super cheap, well made and reliable, and there's a plethora of interesting ones. 


My next one is a Zaria 1509B. 

I stopped myself after taking it out of the case and taking the hands off. I don't think I was in the most fung-shui state of mind after cocking up the 2603 one. This one was missing the crown, so I'm betting that the stem would need some attention too. I find this to be a bit more intimidating because of the teeny-weeny-ness of it, but it's also a bit more important than a practise run (like the Raketa was). This one belonged to my mum, and given to her by my other granny. Part of the story is that the dial was painted up by some soldiers or something. The inside of the crystal also has teeny-weeny birds painted on too, so at most I'd polish up the outside.

Currently I'm waiting for a new stem to be delivered from fleabay, a decent movement holder from cousins and some slightly larger finger cots because my current ones are cutting off the circulation. Oh, and a *5 loupe from cousins too.

There's a 1509B.1 movement out there, I think that's from the early 80s. The 1509B might be worth looking for on Russian search engines, my guesstimate is that it's from c.60s-70s.

 

I'm kind of going off on a tangent here, but if you have any info or tips then I would very much appreciate it.

Thank you kindly, have a lovely day.

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HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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4 hours ago, EtherJunky said:

And I always thought that soviet watches, at least for me, are a much safer bet. They're super cheap, well made and reliable, and there's a plethora of interesting ones. 

The only problem with Soviet watches is the mainspring. The manual ones have a T end, which is a real pain to get it back into the barrel.

Poljot Super WRT Addict

Poljot

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12 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

The only problem with Soviet watches is the mainspring. The manual ones have a T end, which is a real pain to get it back into the barrel.

Not sure how you came to this conclusion. The mainsprings on Soviet made watches are just as good or bad as any other mainsprings, including those found in Swiss-made watches. The so called T-end mainsprings are fitted in many-many-many-many (sorry for sticky keyboard keys) other watches also. And huge amount of Soviet / Russian built watches are equipped with regular Swiss-hook type mainsprings (Vostok 2409 & 2414 for example).

And also, T-end mainsprings are super easy to get installed back into the barrel. You just need to get more experience.

HectorLooi Distinguished Member

HectorLooi

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5 minutes ago, Poljot said:

And also, T-end mainsprings are super easy to get installed back into the barrel. You just need to get more experience.

I wouldn't say it's super easy. A correct size mainspring winder is needed and leaving the T end out of the winder is the trick to get it in.

Not the easiest thing for a newbie.

Poljot Super WRT Addict

Poljot

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Nothing would be easy for a newbie, including getting several different size mainspring winders. Therefore, a newbie should learn how to use hands, tweezers, 1.4-1.6mm flat screwdriver, a flat punch to manually install T-end mainspring into a barrel. And Yes - Safety First (safety for mainsprings) - use finger cots to keep the spring clean during installation.

This subject was discussed in the past more than once:

 

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