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Temperamental Omega Constellation

Tomas

By Tomas
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Tomas New Member

Tomas

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 Hello all!

   A vintage Omega Constellation came into my hands recently.  All appears to be well with it as it is clean and undamaged and functioning as it should, however.... it will gain several seconds a day when warm and will lose several seconds a day when in a cooler environment. What is going on here?

    Thanks.

       T.

 

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Tomas New Member

Tomas

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1960's (?) vintage automatic wind Pie pan face, no date feature.   Temperature is from room temp (21C) to 36C ( in hot box). The movement has allegedly been serviced and lubed in the recent past.. so this is what i was told. Again, the movement is clean, bright and without any visible issues. Errors are  +- 90 seconds in a 24hr period.

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rodabod Distinguished Member

rodabod

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How odd. Oil viscosity should only effect amplitude.

So, could the balance be at fault? Is it a smooth-rimmed glycudur balance or a screw-rimmed type with temperature compensation? 

I would also make sure the tests are made with "all else being equal" and make a repeat of the tests. 

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Tomas New Member

Tomas

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It is a smooth rimmed balance. I was thinking this as well...if oil viscosity( wrong oil used in the wrong place) could be the culprit. The errors are practically nill if the test temperature remains constant.

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Watchfixr Member

Watchfixr

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Can you check the amplitude at both temperatures? Also, you might check the end shake of the balance. If it's tight at the low temperature, it could free up some at the warmer temp. Lots of other things to check, but I would start there.

Marty

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Tomas New Member

Tomas

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I have not serviced the watch other than to attempt to adjust the rate. The story was that it had been serviced and likely cleaned by the good condition it is in.  Under the microscope, there IS evidence of oil throughout, including the pallet pivots. As per a previous suggestion, I I did check for end shake on the balance and found it to be noticeable. It would seem, given this, that there are compound problems at play to cause the rate with temperature variance. I do not yet have the means to measure amplitude.

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Watchfixr Member

Watchfixr

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You mean more oil is not better?

If there is oil on the pallet fork pivots, I would probably do a full service on this one and test it again. I do not oil the pallet fork pivots unless there is a cap jewel, and then only a tiny bit on the cap jewel and not the pivot jewels. And, I only put a minuscule amount of pallet stone oil on the stones by putting a small amount on the entrance stone and letting the motion of the escape wheel distribute the oil. We all have our preferences and there is more than one way to oil a movement, but some seem to work better than others.

 This one has captured my interest. Please post what you find the cause of the problem to be when you find it.

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rogart63 Distinguished Member

rogart63

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59 minutes ago, Watchfixr said:

You mean more oil is not better?

If there is oil on the pallet fork pivots, I would probably do a full service on this one and test it again. I do not oil the pallet fork pivots unless there is a cap jewel, and then only a tiny bit on the cap jewel and not the pivot jewels. And, I only put a minuscule amount of pallet stone oil on the stones by putting a small amount on the entrance stone and letting the motion of the escape wheel distribute the oil. We all have our preferences and there is more than one way to oil a movement, but some seem to work better than others.

 This one has captured my interest. Please post what you find the cause of the problem to be when you find it.

To much oil is not good no. My thought was is someone had just put some more oil in without doing a proper service before. Seen that so often i have started to forget how many i have seen. it.  Seller says it's serviced recently . Ya right :) 

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