My First Repair/Overhaul

[kkrankall]

Hello all. I tore down a spare Valjoux 77 a few weeks ago. I ran it trough my cheepo ultrasonic cleaner with Ronsonol and it did a great job loosening all of the excess oil from past years.

I then cleaned out all of the jewel holes and put some 8200 and D-5 where is is needed. I didn't do anything with the main spring as this go around was mostly to see if I could get the movement back together and working. 

It's back together and running somewhat okay.

i notice that the balance wheel so only rotting ~360 deg where as the one on my Heuer rotates ~540 deg. It's noticeable to the eye but i used slow motion video to captures it better. What could be causing this? I am planing to replace the main spring on the next go around but not sure if that will resolve the issue or not.

Here is a video of the balance wheel in slow motion.  https://youtu.be/rdKr5vr41fM

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

 

[rodabod]

Your movement shows less amplitude than the a heuer, but it's not necessarily "bad". You really need to pop it on a timegrapher to see what the actual amplitude measures. Factors which affect it are the power from the mainspring, plus the friction in the entire train. 

[kkrankall]

Thank you. I'll post the numbers I get from the timegrapher.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kkrankall]

It's still running from yesterday so that's good. 

 

I am showing 171-174 for amplitude. I used the lift angle of 52 as I'm not sure what the Valjoux 77 is.

 

I'm going to rip it down again and reclean it as I have touched a few parts without finger cots. I will then install a new main spring. And see if it helps things out.

 

I am open to any recommendations or advise.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Kevin

[vinn3]

if you don't  have "acid hands"  why use finger cots?  watch  cleaning solution is usually  used after compleate disassembly,   note,  some  parts should not be washed in solvent.

[kkrankall]

1 hour ago, vinn3 said:

if you don't  have "acid hands"  why use finger cots?  watch  cleaning solution is usually  used after compleate disassembly,   note,  some  parts should not be washed in solvent.

Thank you for responding. Still learning.

I want to run through the process again.

I have completely disassembled the movement. I but left the balance wheel attached to the lower plate. I ran pretty much all of the wheels, bridges and plates through the wash. I made sure i didn't put the escape wheel and pallet fork through and cleaned carefully with Ridico. I also didn't put any screws or springs through is I have a method of keeping track to where each one goes.

Is there anything I did wrong?

[HorologicalHobby]

Also make sure you dip the balance assembly in hairspring cleaner (benzine/tricholoroethelene) or even lighter fluid, to remove residue. Then unpower it and check endshake. You may want to disassemble it to check the jewels and pivots under a strong loupe to see if there is any remaining dried oils.

[ftwizard]

Have you disassembled the balance jewels to clean and oil them. Also, you only mentioned 8200 and D5 as lubricants. You may need to use 9010 as well. D5 may be too heavy for the train wheels.

[kkrankall]

2 minutes ago, ftwizard said:

Have you disassembled the balance jewels to clean and oil them. Also, you only mentioned 8200 and D5 as lubricants. You may need to use 9010 as well. D5 may be too heavy for the train wheels.

There isn't much to do with the balance jewels as this movement is not an incabloc. I did clean the jewel with peg wood.

Sorry I have 4 lubricants (8200, D5, 9010 and 9415) I believe I used the 9010 somewhere but I was following Mark's How to service a Chronograph watch. Part X of 6. Breitling. Venus 175. Watch repair tutorials and following his lubrication methods more or less. I figured it's pretty closely related movement.

[kkrankall]

49 minutes ago, HorologicalHobby said:

Also make sure you dip the balance assembly in hairspring cleaner (benzine/tricholoroethelene) or even lighter fluid, to remove residue. Then unpower it and check endshake. You may want to disassemble it to check the jewels and pivots under a strong loupe to see if there is any remaining dried oils.

I will check that out more closely this time. I now have a 10x loupe to really get in there.

[kkrankall]

I just removed the main spring. It's the first one I have done but it feels very loose. And it's odd that it's a complete spiral as most images of the main springs will look like a S. 

Going to re-clean and put the new main spring back in. 

[kkrankall]

2 hours ago, kkrankall said:

There isn't much to do with the balance jewels as this movement is not an incabloc. I did clean the jewel with peg wood.

Correction. I did remove the capstones from the balance wheel. Didn't notice that the first go around. One side had some gunk in there.

[HorologicalHobby]

6 hours ago, kkrankall said:

I just removed the main spring. It's the first one I have done but it feels very loose. And it's odd that it's a complete spiral as most images of the main springs will look like a S. 

Going to re-clean and put the new main spring back in. 

 

5 hours ago, kkrankall said:

Correction. I did remove the capstones from the balance wheel. Didn't notice that the first go around. One side had some gunk in there.

So most watches of that time had a S shaped mainspring, which helps add more power. That mainspring looks "set" where it's lost some elasticity. Though I could be wrong, if that's a new mainspring, then I probably am wrong, otherwise a new mainspring may help.

That gunk will definitely lower the amplitude, good catch!