Watch of Today

[Tradgntlmn]

1 hour ago, m1ks said:

Uncase it and have a go, the pin pallet movements, as well as agricultural are pretty robust too, no fragile jewelled bearings and there's something strangely enchanting about the clunky tick once running. The only bits that have a tendancy to get damaged are the click/spring.

Your's looks pretty clean and unmolested also.

Cool. Any resources here for how to go about doing that? I’m mechanical, but never touched a watch. But I’m game. Also, do you know what number movement I have here? M24? Thanks so much. 

[AndyHull]

2 hours ago, m1ks said:

Uncase it and have a go, the pin pallet movements, as well as agricultural are pretty robust too, no fragile jewelled bearings and there's something strangely enchanting about the clunky tick once running. The only bits that have a tendancy to get damaged are the click/spring.

Your's looks pretty clean and unmolested also.

They are not that difficult to service. You can completely disassemble and re-assemble, but that isn't generally necessary with the old Timex mechanical watches.

Roughly speaking, here is a brief run down of the  "ghetto" "Dunk-an Slunge"  no date complication Timex service.

Tools required.

1. Suitable small screwdriver(s)

2. Suitable tweezers

3. Lighter fluid or watch cleaning fluid.

4. A small polythene bag

5. A small jar with a lid (the little glass single serving jam pots that are popular in coffee shops perhaps).

6. Watch oil. You could use sewing machine oil I suppose. This is a Timex after all, not a Rolex.

7. Suitable magnification and good light.

Un-case the movement. To do this,  back off the screw that holds the winder catch by a couple of turns, then pop out the winder. If you remove this screw entirely, it doesn't really matter, but you can usually get away with leaving it in.

Pop the hands off. I usually do this with a polythene bag over the hands, and gentle pressure to carefully remove them, either with hand removal levers, or two jewelers screwdrivers, or even with a small pair of tweezers.

Remove the dial. This is held on with four metal tags, a bit like an old tinplate toy. Treat these with care, as they are easy to snap. Bend them very carefully back, just enough to remove the dial. Take care when re-fitting too. Gentle pressure, not full two hundred pound gorilla.

The service manual suggests you also remove the balance, but this is generally not necessary, and you risk mangling the hairspring, loosing the pin, and re-assembling woefully out of beat.

Pop the movement in the small jar of lighter fluid/watch cleaning flid, and leave it there for an hour or so, (longer if it is particularly grubby). Swirling occasionally helps to loosen the dirt. 

Remove from the jar  and allow to dry for 20 minutes or so in a warm dry location, for example on a sunny window ledge or on top of a radiator, but bear in mind that lighter fluid is obviously a fire risk, so avoid sparks and naked flames.

Oil all of the pivot ends with a tiny drop of oil placed there from the end of a pin. Also oil the winder stem, and add a couple of drops to the spring. Add a tiny drop of oil on the balance pivots too, but don't get any on the hairspring.

Re-assembly is the reverse of disassembly. Don't forget to screw down the stem catch again, when you fit the stem, or you will find that the winder annoyingly pops out when you pull it to change the hands.

Wind, set, enjoy the loud ticking of success, but take care, if this works, you could be on the slippery slope towards watch repair addiction.

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by AndyHull

[m1ks]

^This pretty much covers it and more eloquently than I could have. I second not removing the balance if you've not had a few practise attempts. They're the fiddliest bit and I've still damaged hairsprings from my own cackhanded ness despite repeated removals and replacements.

[JerseyMo]

or just have a look here

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Budget_Watch_Collecting/Budget_Watch_Repair,_restoration_and_maintenance

[JerseyMo]

I use a three step process and some even a 4 step.  Do not remove the balance unless there is an issue with it.

Cleaning fluids - clear ammonia 15 minutes - water to rinse  - lighter fluid 15 minutes - denatured alcohol to rinse (optional IMO)

 - plastic ketchup cups used at fast food joints (  --- shhh don't let them know! ) work great for not only the fluids but also holding the small bits and parts

Is this it?  Nope - but it will get you started   

 

 

 

 

 

[AndyHull]

I've still not finished with the various bits of building maintenance round here, so not much in the way of actual watch repairs going on, but I gave another of the freebie junk lot generic quartzes a quick polish and a new battery.

I'm not fan of fabric nato straps, but this was what it came with, so it got a clean too. It has no brand name, but is reasonably well constructed, all be it with a pot metal body. Mineral glass and a two hander Chinese movement, and not much else to report.

[ro63rto]

One I restored for a lume-rot. I will be reluming it at some point to mount in this restored model as my eyes can't easily make out the hands on the gold dial.

[Nucejoe]

Seiko chrono.

[Nucejoe]

Nino selfwimd, powered by AS2066, Indirectly driven min.

[ricardopalamino]

1 hour ago, Nucejoe said:

Nino selfwimd, powered by AS2066, Indirectly driven min.

That looks like the Seiko 5 emblem above 6 O'clock , but being an ASxxx movement , I assume your watch is Swiss Made .

[jdm]

57 minutes ago, ricardopalamino said:

That looks like the Seiko 5 emblem above 6 O'clock , but being an ASxxx movement , I assume your watch is Swiss Made .

I'd say that India is more likely. BTW Seiko is one of the few that used to make day wheels in Farsi.

Edited April 20, 2019 by jdm

[Nucejoe]

1 hour ago, jdm said:

I'd say that India is more likely. BTW Seiko is one of the few that used to make day wheels in Farsi.

Just checked, the case is poorly chromed base metal. Quadruple signed not including what is inside. Bracelet is better than seiko 5 used. If these info help? So am I a proud owner of mumbay something or what. Poopch I got more of diferent models too.

[Nucejoe]

Hi , As far as day wheel in farsi, I have got swiss pieces with farsi wheel made before seiko was heard of in Iran, brands like Damas, Tiel, Oris, Invicta and countless names using EB movements. Regards

[jdm]

1 hour ago, Nucejoe said:

I have got swiss pieces with farsi wheel made before seiko was heard of in Iran, brands like Damas, Tiel, Oris, Invicta and countless names using EB movements. 

That's why I wrote, "one of the few"

[Nucejoe]

2 hours ago, jdm said:

That's why I wrote, "one of the few"

You may be right, the case is very poorly chromed base metal, perhaps AS2066 cased in India.   Regards

[JerseyMo]

My recent restore of a 1984 Timex Diver style.  Problem was that moisture had gotten in because someone had glued in the wrong size crystal.  After several attempt to revive the movement I moved on to a swap which was also in bad shape but did comeback quite well.

I added the band was to give it a full Timex look.

 

[TexasDon]

Another nice one Mo. Personally, I think it would look better on my wrist but that's just an opinion. 

[Nucejoe]

Agon powered by EB8800.

[Nucejoe]

West end watch, said to be powered by ST96, cased in Hong Kong.

Originally marketted as pocket watch.

[m1ks]

After 2 weeks of Vostok Komandirskie testing on the wrist back to a vintage watch. (Very consistent and gaining pretty much in line with timegrapher so I'll regulate it a smidge).

Omax automatic winding with AS2066 movement. This one has been fun, received and tested and it seemed to be running erratically. Checked on timegrapher and the beat error was all over the place.

On opening I discovered the stud lever was not correctly attached to the balance cock, so auto work off. Balance off, wheel and hairspring removed and quite a bit of fiddling with a couple of pairs of tweezers ensued to get stud lever, regulating lever and cock to fit together. Then reassemble. Set beat. Regulate, reassemble automatic work. Re case, test, timegrapher was picking up the correct rate but seemed to be only picking up alternate ticks, removed, removed automatic works, re tested, same, removed checked and reinstalled balance cock, same. Set and left it for the night and this morning checked and it's keeping decent time, then I thought, I'll just try adjusting the stud lever again because it was niggling me that it was almost at the furthest point of travel to the cock. Suddenly I've got a tick and a tock again and unlike before no movement necessary to get the balance to spin, in fact it's nigh on impossible to get it to stop now that it's correctly in beat.

The moral of this? Technology is great but it isn't infallible and won't help you being a dumbass and not physically checking the impulse pin alignment!

After that, I have to say I really like this watch. It's in the 'to clean and lubricate' pile.

Edited April 21, 2019 by m1ks

[JerseyMo]

For Easter Sunday - 1961 \ 1962 "21 Jewels" - The 21 series was the follow up to the 400 series that had either a Hatori or Laco movement inside.  You will find many transition piece such as this one that have 400 as the case back.  There are even 400 series with 21 jewel movements.  

[jdm]

38 minutes ago, m1ks said:

ASet and left it for the night and this morning checked and it's keeping decent time

Very well done. Watches are so strange sometime, yesterday I worked on a 7S26 which was ready to go until I decided that I couldn't honestly sell it with 30 s/d DU/DD difference. Started taking it apart and a sequence of strange mall problems ensued. At the end it was almost good on the timegrapher except for a reduced amplitude and periods of crazy beat skipping every minute or so. I was accepting that I would have had to go at it again, let it running and today at noon is was the below, no more skipping or anything. I can only suppose it managed to munch some tiny fiber or the like.

 

[m1ks]

I was kind of hoping the hairspring fairy might tweak mine during the night.

Such an oddity. The thing that really threw me was that it set and regulated before I re cased it then after that it wouldn't. It was only because I really struggled getting the balance in and swinging second go round that made me think I'll retry setting it in beat.

Good to hear your hairspring fairy visited and it's going well now. 

[AndyHull]

Speaking of testing... This is today's "Watch of Today", a 1972 Timex sprite.

I don't think I've actually worn a watch this size since I was in short trousers, although the watch in question probably looked a lot like this but without the date. It may in fact have been the same vintage, as this one started life in 1972, and as I recall my childhood watch had a dark blue or black dial and a dark green strap.

 

This one seems to have survived the day keeping reasonable pace with the Swatch, so I think we will call that a success.

[Nucejoe]

Sicura