Jump to content

ETA 980.163 Order of Assembly?

Tracy

By Tracy
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

 Share

Recommended Posts

Tracy Member

Tracy

Posted
Posted

I have dissembled, cleaned and reassembled my first movement—an ETA 980.163. With my lack of experience it took me about a month working off and on. It’s hard to appreciate just how small the parts are until one has to try to handle them and place them in the movement. Anyway, I assembled the watch and it runs (for now) I tried to be careful about keeping everything clean but I may have introduced more dirt than I cleaned out of the components/movement.

I had a question about the order of reassembly. I used the ETA Technical Communication guide to assist me in remembering where the components went as well as the order of how to assemble them. When assembling the train wheels I followed the “order of assembly” and discovered that assembly of two of the train wheels seems to be out of the correct order. I have pictures and screen shots from the guide for reference (I used an ETA 980.153 because I found pictures of the movement online—it’s basically the same as the 980.163. Here is the link to the ETA 980.153 guide.

The order of assembly calls for the second wheel (19) then the third wheel (20) followed by the intermediate wheel (21) in that order. If this order is followed 20 is placed between 21 and 19. This causes two problems: 1) the small gear on 21 will not engage wheel 19 because it’s too high, and 2) the pivot on 21 is too high when trying to place the train bridge. The image shows the correct assembly and is as follows: the rotor (12) drives 21 which drives 19 (via the small gear not visible--under 21) then 19 drives 20. 

The assembly drawing clearly shows the wrong order for these wheels to engage correctly. I struggled for weeks trying to assemble it according to the ETA guide. Once I stopped doing that and actually looked at how the wheels engage I saw that the correct order of assembly is 19 – then 21 and finally 20. If I’m an idiot, or my lack of experience was causing my problem please tell me. The bottom line is that the movement runs (all the hands are going round and round as expected). Watch has been running for about 2 months now.

For Reference
19 second wheel
20 third wheel
21 intermediate wheel
12 rotor

908.153 wheel views.png

980.153 Wheels.png

Assembly.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rogart63 Distinguished Member

rogart63

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not easy to follow that guide? With all those lines? I usually take a picture or lots of pictures when i take a movement apart? And i can go back and look how the wheels sit? If i forget to take a picture i could probably figure it out anyway? There is usually only one way which the wheels can be assembled? Good work :) As you probably did it right? Otherwise it wouldn't have worked? 

Or google the net? Pictures like this could help a lot? Even if i don't speak italiano :) http://www.orologiko.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=6525

Edited by rogart63
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tracy Member

Tracy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I thought with the Swiss having their trains run precisely on time, and manufacturing watches for over 250 years, that they would have the instructions for one of their movements as the ultimate guide for assembly. So much for assumptions!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Neverenoughwatches
      Commando special

      By Neverenoughwatches · Posted

      Looks that way, if it had any amount of significant jewel count it would say so on the dial.    Looks that way, if it had any amount of significant jewel count it would say so on the dial.  Same answer as Mike regarding the dial, its often just a slapped on name of a retailer but i thought you were way above this understanding Pete ?
    • Neverenoughwatches
      Gamblin Gamsol for cleaning?

      By Neverenoughwatches · Posted

      Light naptha is what you need to be looking for. The carbon to hydrogen ratio is high with heavy naptha, it doesn't evaporate as well as light naptha and is prone to leaving more residue. Try tom's suggestion of the mirror test.
    • Neverenoughwatches
      I'm going to be setting up a decent little workshop here at home.

      By Neverenoughwatches · Posted

      Its a big item Michael and a lot that could go wrong with the process of getting it to its new location. I once helped install one of these units into a conservatory that i had built. It was big and bloody heavy and took six of us to get it in safely. If you have sliding doors and you need to remove the whole frame then that may or may not go well. But i would advise getting a professional in if you have little knowledge on the installation of them. The glazing of the doors could well be 6mm laminated glass which again will be heavy very heavy if the glazing units are big. The glass would also need to be set up and packed correctly to open the doors properly more so if they are unframed and the sliders are upvc. Seems a shame but if no one is biting and that may be due to having no warranty i guess the only takers might be someone that installs them for a living and knows how to repair. If its fibreglass just be careful, i sometimes have to cut fibreglass baths out and they are nasty to work with . Thick gloves are definitely recommended,  not fun picking out fibreglass spells two days later that have started to go septic. Good luck with it all matey.
    • tomh207
      Gamblin Gamsol for cleaning?

      By tomh207 · Posted

      I don’t know anything about this product, however assuming you have it if you put a drop on a mirror or piece of glass lying flat on a table and leave it to evaporate if it leaves any sort of residue it is not really suitable for watch part cleaning.   Tom
    • Michael1962
      I'm going to be setting up a decent little workshop here at home.

      By Michael1962 · Posted

      Well I put the spa on Gumtree (selling service) to try and sell it as it only needs a recirc pump to get it going. However, it weighs circa 250kg, so there's 4 fairly strong guys, and I would have to remove the sliding door in the room completely to be able to get it out, as well as clearing out a multitude of potted plants and the Alfresco outdoor setting to be able to get it out. Then move nearly everything in the back of the garage to be able to push it through to the front of the house. I would also need to hire furniture skates to be able to shift it around as carrying it is out of the question. Then someone would need a trailer to get it to their place as you won't get it on the back of a ute. So, the only answer is, out with the reciprocating saw and cut it all up into manageable pieces. Crying shame as it is in really good nick. I was only asking $1,500 and only got two bites, but it would only take something to go wrong with removing the sliding door etc that everything I make on the sale could go out the door on repairs etc. It would have been nice to be able to turn it into tools etc, but que sera sera. I don't know about the rest of the world, but there just seems to be very little interest from people wanting to buy things secondhand.  
×
×
  • Create New...