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6 hours ago, JohnD said:

 

I found out, again by trial and error, that a non Dynabeat watch will 'run' with a Dynabeat balance, but of course it runs much faster as the balance is running at 28,000bph and the movement is geared for 21,600bph. I suppose swapping the 'seconds' wheel might 'cure' this?

 

yep, the parts all look alike but of course are not. None have numbers on them and that just makes it all the more a task.  Pick up a can of CRC QD ( quick dry) electric spray or something similar.  This helps to clean the battery terminals and the balance contact wire. Follow up with lube to train and cross your fingers.  As you already found out a very common issue is the coil on the balance has opened or is shorted.  

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  • 2 months later...

I have become pretty fond of my old Timex lately, especially after working on it. The Mrs is also from Dundee in Scotland and it turns out that a few of her family members worked in the Timex factory there before it shut down in the 90's, I believe. Next time I am up there, I will be looking around a bit more to see if I can find some in the second hand shops.    

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The much maligned TIMEX  a humble watch with no pretence of grandeur which served many a man and boy, tough as old boots and were given a hard life but still worked, worth the interest of many. More power to the likes of JerseyMo and others for keeping the legacy alive.  I remember the factory in Dundee as most of my relations came from there or Carnoustie and Monifieth,  There was recently a documentary on TV about the demise of the factory very sad to see. It was the problem that killed it off that killed off the Motor industry and shipbuilding.   Off the soap box now.

 

 

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Ok, if by chance you do get the opportunity to speak to a former worker their is one question that was often discussed on the old Timex Forum.  "How exactly did they put together the movements".  many had the thought  the use of some type of jig to help hold the parts in place while the plates were screwed down.  I personally think it was just a talent of the line workers having repeated the process day in and day out.

 

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timex2.jpg-e1440681516194.jpg

This image from the Dundee based Evening Telegraph, of an assembly worker at the Timex plant suggests that it is probably a bit of both. Skill and custom tooling I suspect there was a knack to the various tasks, and specialists in each task. Furthermore there were probably teams performing each task, to keep things flowing along, rather than one individual performing multiple assembly tasks. 

So you would have a bunch of machinists on multiple similar machines producing batches of parts, another team producing the plates, another team of assemblers, another team doing the casing, a team lathe turning screws, others still machining the cases,  fitting crystals, pins, straps and so forth.

The trick with this kind of work, is to keep things flowing as smoothly and as quickly as possible. Any major bottle necks and potentially the whole plant grinds to a halt, and that costs money.

I once got called out to the Schweppes plant (now called Coca-Cola European Partners or some such) in East Kilbride, to a failed custom branded industrial PC computer. Their maintenance team couldn't fix it so they called round all of the local computer companies until they found someone that said "aye, nae bother, we can fix anything", so I was duly dispatched to fix the thing with a bunch of random spares and a completely different PC.

An entire bottling plant line was controlled by one PC (this was a long time back when computers were expensive), and therefore the whole place had ground to a halt. No pressure. I replaced the motherboard with my random spare, and off it went. As soon as it started back up the first task was to dump all of the contents of the various huge vats of ingredients into a skip as they had been sitting longer than their food hygiene policy permitted.

Several thousand pounds worth of sugar syrup, tomato paste, vinegar, flavourings, spices and other consumable went straight into the waste bins, and the whole thing got scrubbed down and off it went, back to bottling thousands of bottles per hour.  I can't remember the exact figure they quoted for the cost of the place sitting idle per hour, but it was of the order of tens of thousands of pounds. A few thousands worth of ingredients was small beer compared with the down time cost.

The "Aye we can fix anything" attitude has stuck. You can fix anything, well almost anything if you are prepared to throw enough skilled people and enough money at the problem. Sadly the demise of Timex Dundee was not down to the failings of the skilled workforce, but rather the short sited attitudes of managers and politicians. Ever was it thus.

Edited by AndyHull
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17 hours ago, JerseyMo said:

Ok, if by chance you do get the opportunity to speak to a former worker their is one question that was often discussed on the old Timex Forum.  "How exactly did they put together the movements".  many had the thought  the use of some type of jig to help hold the parts in place while the plates were screwed down.  I personally think it was just a talent of the line workers having repeated the process day in and day out.

 

The Mrs has asked around the people she knows who worked there and the answers we got back suggest that it was all done on a jig of some description. The movement was put in the centre of the jig and small metal arms would fit into place and screw the plates down, the arms would then retract and the process would start again. 

I hope this helps to answer the question, I might have some better info as the day goes on as the Mrs has asked quite a few people that worked on the lines in the Harrison Rd Plant. 

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5 hours ago, Dave84 said:

 

The Mrs has asked around the people she knows who worked there and the answers we got back suggest that it was all done on a jig of some description. The movement was put in the centre of the jig and small metal arms would fit into place and screw the plates down, the arms would then retract and the process would start again. 

I hope this helps to answer the question, I might have some better info as the day goes on as the Mrs has asked quite a few people that worked on the lines in the Harrison Rd Plant. 

This is great to get first hand information.  Thank you very much.

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15 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

I have a question about Timex electric watches. How do we adjust the beat error?

I suspect you need to tackle this by manipulating the hairspring, but if there are any experts who have done this, maybe they can elaborate.

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  • 5 months later...
On 6/7/2017 at 10:49 PM, JerseyMo said:

I know it is a very common thought that Timex produced watches for a short duration of service.  But after having handle thousands of them over some 8 years now, I an more apt to think they were more focused on cost savings.  After all they designed their movements to be what would latter be called upwardly compatible in computer jargon.

For example they take the #24 movement modify it some and now it is the #25 with date ring. take that same base 24 add a rotor and you have an automatic.  Plus the metal used was a benefit of having manufactured for the US military.  Light weight and durable plus an over sized balance staff that can stand up for who knows how long.

And even though the watch cases were base metal they stood up for years even as an everyday working man's watch.

Good day,

Is it correct assumption that M31 movement could be used as the replacement for M107 if you transfer the dial plate from your existing M107 onto new M31? It appears that both movements belong to the same family, but have different dial plates and mounting arrangements for the dial plate attachments. I can't locate any NOS M107, but there some M31 are available. Thanks.

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31 minutes ago, Poljot said:

Good day,

Is it correct assumption that M31 movement could be used as the replacement for M107 if you transfer the dial plate from your existing M107 onto new M31? It appears that both movements belong to the same family, but have different dial plates and mounting arrangements for the dial plate attachments. I can't locate any NOS M107, but there some M31 are available. Thanks.

I would not suggest to proceed with converting am M31 to M107.  I should have an NOS M107. Where are you located?

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1 hour ago, JerseyMo said:

reply email sent 

Purchased! Thank you! A quick question: which oil would you recommend for the balance pivots? Will Moebius 8000 or perhaps 8030 do it? This is 13''' watch no jewels M107 i am asking about. Thanks!

 

Edited by Poljot
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