Poljot 3133 Sturmanskie Chronograph Restoration Project

[GeorgeClarkson]

I left it working this morning at 3 and it seemed precise, today at 10 it had gained 5 minutes.

[Vich]

5 mins over 7 hours is probably not wearable it will probably need a bit more fiddling.  Trouble with me and fine tuning is I always take it too far and it is not unknown for me to knack something up when really it had passed the line for acceptable, though not quite reached the line for spot on - such is life.  

Cheers,

Vic

[GeorgeClarkson]

@Vich, I sometimes do the same...

As per the Sturmanskise, a bit more fiddling got it down to a couple of minutes per day. I left it fully wound in the office before leaving tonight and will leave it there until Monday. It should still be working when I go back in the office Monday morning and I will check the accuracy. Will update with the data then.

[GeorgeClarkson]

Here I am, some days after my last post ( and a couple more Poljot chronographs under my belt) to report the status on this Sturmanskie... And thing do not look good actually. It keeps loosing minutes per day without apparent reason, so I decided to reopen it, tear it down again and go through every single part to check any kind of issue I might have overseen. One thing is strange, though: I noticed that sometimes the fourth wheel does not move at all, eve if the balance wheel (me new one I got) still ticks happily. Could the wheel be damaged so that the leaves rotate normally but the toothed gear does not and thus no power is transferred? This could mean only that the whole wheel either needs to be replaced, or the gear itself refitted on its shaft/pivot staff.

[Vich]

If you are tearing it down anyway magnification of the teeth and the mesh between the fourth wheel and escape wheel may provide an answer. Also when you have noticed this is it always in a horizontal plane.

Cheers,

Vic

[GeorgeClarkson]

All seems to be perfectly fine...

 

Edited January 31, 2017 by GeorgeClarkson

[GeorgeClarkson]

I was not really sure, at this point, that the culprit was one of the wheels, (third or fourth) so I flipped the movement and inspected the date mechanism. I made a small video to show what I found, which honestly I cannot really understand.

Apparently even if the mainspring barrel turns, making all the wheels turn with it (like it should) the hour wheel sometimes stops, and then restarts. Any suggestion why this happens?

[Geo]

Looks like a slack canon pinion to me George.

[GeorgeClarkson]

Só the canon pinion is slipping. I held it with my tweezers and i van actually stop it, whilst the barrel turning together with the wheels. How van i solve this? Replacingthe canon pinion?

[Marc]

Do a forum search on tightening the canon pinion. There are a variety of ways to go about it including using a staking set, nail clippers, modified wire strippers, and dedicated cp tightening tools. Also worth Goodling.

[GeorgeClarkson]

I have encountered the same problem on a Seiko 860 Champion I remembered right after reading your comment so thanks for that. At the time I used a small plier to press a bit the shaft of the canon pinion right at the center, and it worked wonderfully. The watch is still alive and ticking strong.

But with this poljot, I didn't want to go all "brutal" and fetch the plied again, and instead decided to use the spare movement I got a few days ago.

After an easy swap, seems that the canon pinion issue is fixed now. I will rebuild the watch and leave it running for the night and check if it is still loosing time.

[GeorgeClarkson]

And the watch has been working fine since the swap.

[GeorgeClarkson]

Adn as I posted in the other section (ops...) The Sturmanskie is finally working fine. I only need to fine-tune it, and polish the glass, and this project can be called "FINISHED!" 

[GeorgeClarkson]

And here it is, happily ticking on my wrist today...

[Vich]

Outstanding bit of tenacious work, I have really enjoyed following your progress
Cheers,
Vic

[RyMoeller]

Excellent work.  As always, thanks for sharing! 

[GeorgeClarkson]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it a lot coming from you all. The watch is still ticking strong, showing correct time.