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Newest addition: Wittnauer Transistorized ESA9150


MrRoundel

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Oops, I did it again. I'm really trying to stop buying watches for a bit, but stumbled on what I thought was a very cool-looking watch from the late sixties/early seventies. I dug the "atomic transistor" logo, and it looked super clean. Being that it was in a monocoque case, and that I bought a crystal vise to deal with them, I decided to take the gamble. It just looked really clean.

The insides were just as clean as the outside, and the battery checked out to 0 volts, so I knew one thing. Since this ESA Dynatron movement takes a rather odd battery, 344/1136, I had to wait to get one delivered. It came today and I put it in the watch. At first it wouldn't get going. Then I remembered that it has a hacking mechanism and the stem was in winding position. I popped into "wind" position and gave her a little twist and off she went. It seems to run pretty well but if the stem is pulled out and the watch stopped, it takes a twist to get it running again. I don't know if it's designed that way or the watch is somehow out of electronic beat?

Anyway, I'm stoked on the watch. It's very cool to watch the hybrid mechanism that has a balance wheel that is impulsed electronically. I hope the video I took with my phone shows up. If not, you can take my word that it's running. :biggrin:

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  • 2 weeks later...

My ESA 9150 just guaranteed that I'll make good use of the service manual. It stopped running after I advanced the date to adjust for February's short month. The movement incorporates a rather convenient method of advancing the date. You bring the hour hand back and forth between 10 and 2, and it will advance 24 hours worth on the date. I suspect that it has something to do with the hacking mechanism hanging up. We'll see.

I'm a bit bummed, but figured that I'd have to get into it over the next year anyway.  Cheers.

 

 

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The ESA9150 is now torn down and ready to be cleaned, etc. I don't see anything obvious that would have stopped it from running, so it might just have been dirty. Maybe a piece of dust entered the movement when I had it out to replace the battery a couple of weeks back. Regardless, it's apart now. The technical guide has been invaluable for disassembling.

A couple of questions came up while doing it though. 1st, the instructions say to remove the balance from the cock. However, it has a Swiss style regulator pin setup that is rather hard to safely access in order to spin the retainer and release the spring. After considering it, I decided to leave the balance on the cock. I'll just clean the Incabloc jewels, and maybe hit the pivots with Rodico before reinstalling jewels. 2nd, it's interesting that the instructions call for oiling the pallet-fork (They call the "click"?) at the pivots. This is verified by the oiling diagram as well as in the verbiage.

Basically, it doesn't look much different than any other watch, aside from not having a mainspring and winding wheels. I just hope it runs when I'm through. Time will tell.

 

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Moving right along. There's no way that I could have done the job without having the technical manual.  There are sequences that must be followed, or else. A couple of things to note though:

1.) When you're ready to fit the date-setting spring, don't install the bridge that is over it first, as specified in the manual. You need a little bit of room to compress the spring so that it fits into its recess, which is partially under the minute-wheel bridge. You can put in one screw first, and swing the bridge over and away from the spring boss, fit the spring in carefully, then swing the bridge back over its rear end, replace other screw and tighten both screws.

2.) There's a point where you need to move the thin spring arms that are installed on the lower side of the train bridge once it's installed. I filed the end of a brass tapered-pin down very thin, and used that, held in a pin-vise, to get in to manipulate those little suckers into their friction wheels. Those will be the plastic wheels that are on the center-wheel arbor, as well as the third-wheel(?). At any rate, they are the two plastic pulley-like wheels that sit parallel to the wheel itself. The little spring just add a touch of tension to the wheels. Interesting setup.

3.) There's a stop-works like setup for the date mechanism. Once you install it, be ready to check it for freedom. The first time I did it, it was only free to a point, but then locked up between the finger under the minute wheel and the maltese-cross piece below it. There's a channel in the top of the maltese that it seems you want the finger lined up with. After I redid it, it seemed to work fine.

4.) It does seem that the #344 battery, at 1.55v, packs a bit to much power for the watch, which was designed for a 1.35v battery.  With that battery no longer being available, there's an expensive Accutron-dedicated battery that works well, but is expensive. With the 344, the watch does run fast. I'm going to try to regulate it by slowing it down at the balance. Trial and error is tough though, as it's a monocoque case that's a pain to open and close.

The watch runs approximately +45 seconds per day with this battery. Would it be possible to slow it down enough at the balance? If so, how much should I move the regulator? I don't have a timing machine, so it's all trial-and-error, unless someone can help with some good info. Thanks ahead of time. Cheers.

MAH00269.MP4

Edited by MrRoundel
Correct Typo
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13 minutes ago, MrRoundel said:

It does seem that the #344 battery, at 1.55v, packs a bit to much power for the watch, which was designed for a 1.35v battery.  With that battery no longer being available, there's an expensive Accutron-dedicated battery that works well, but is expensive.

Are you referring to this http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_accucell1.htm ?

Each one can judge if £7.85 (per year ?) is too much to run a vintage watch. I would recommend avoiding running it with the wrong battery, no matter the amount of adjustment you're willing to attempt.

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Before I bought a couple of 344's, I had seen that they were the battery of choice for this watch. Even the website you provided says they are a replacement for the 1.35v #343 of yesteryear. However, the better voltage match of the Accutron-type would be nice. I might end up going for it and buying the the "Accucell" for it. If the watch was the later model that had the battery hatch it would all be so much easier. Every time I the battery is changed you have to "blow the hatch" and risk ruining the crystal with the vise during reassembly. Still, I like the watch enough to consider investing $11.00 per year. We'll see.

BTW: It looks like in order to use the Accucell in the ESA9150, I have to do some sort of modification or something. This is noted on the website you posted, if one has a movement where the positive side faces up, i.e. the back of of the watch. They don't say what to do, just that they have a solution.

Edited by MrRoundel
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Yes, jdm, it does have an arm that engages with a pin on the balance that stops its motion. Good thought to pull the crown. Thanks.

In this particular instance, the watch stopped running after being fine, albeit fast, for a couple of weeks. It was probably the first time it had been run so much in many years. The battery that was in it was a 1030SW, which is a 344 equivalent. Of course it wasn't running when I got it...I'm still not sure why that is, but it surely hadn't been cleaned in many years. I put a lot of time into doing it right, so I hope it runs for many more years with "just" battery changes. Cheers.

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8 hours ago, MrRoundel said:

Yes, jdm, it does have an arm that engages with a pin on the balance that stops its motion.

That mechanical-style hacking may leave load on the battery, so it may even do worse in term of drawn, not sure. It can be measured with a high sensitivity multimeter (µA scale). Instead, quartz watches saves battery by cutting contact.
Maybe you can reuse the adapter that come with the Accucell.

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1 hour ago, Marc said:

Pulling the crown on an ESA9154 also breaks the circuit isolating the battery. I suspect that the 9150 is the same.

The manual does say to ensure that the hack-lever is not touching metal anywhere it's not designed to when disengaged with the balance. It even has a  jewel at the top that insulates it from contact with the metal spring. I guess this has something to do with interrupting, or not, the current flow?

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6 hours ago, MrRoundel said:

The manual does say to ensure that the hack-lever is not touching metal anywhere it's not designed to when disengaged with the balance. It even has a  jewel at the top that insulates it from contact with the metal spring. I guess this has something to do with interrupting, or not, the current flow?

That's a subtle, but interesting subject. Cutting power is enough to stop the watch, so why they have mechanical hacking? Perhaps because of capacitors the watch would have continued running for 2 or 3 seconds, upsetting the  owner that wants  to reset time at 0 secs exactly. Just guessing here.

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These movements are interesting in that the power transmission is in the reverse direction to what you would expect compared to spring powered mechanicals. In a conventional set up the spring provides power through the train to the escape wheel which transfers it to the balance through the pallet fork.

With these movements the power from the battery directly drives the balance wheel (via electro magnetic pulses) which transfers power through the pallet fork to the escape wheel and thence into the train to move the hands.

If you cut the power to the balance it will continue to oscillate but with gradually reducing amplitude until it eventually stops, all the time providing torque to the train. This can take up to 10 or more seconds which means that the hands are still moving for that amount of time after the crown has been pulled making it very difficult to precisely sync the watch. By adding a physical hack lever the balance can be stopped and started with much better precision.

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excellent thread! i have about 20 of these electro-mechanical watches in various brands. i love them. the best thing is that they are still relatively cheap on ebay - compared to accutrons and f300s. 

i am interested to see what the servicing and cleaning brings. is it still a runner?

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/18/2018 at 8:00 PM, ramrod said:

 

i am interested to see what the servicing and cleaning brings. is it still a runner?

Well, I engaged the hack-stop on the watch while it sits in a shared case with a few others. I like the idea of saving the battery, especially with a one-piece/monocoque case that is a bit more hassle to open and close. Mine has no battery hatch. :-(

I checked it the other day by pressing the crown back in and it took off running, so it's still qualifying as a runner. Cheers.

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  • 3 months later...

Hi,

First post and I'm sorry to raise an old thread, but I've recently inherited my late father's Rotary watch, which I now know has an ESA 9150 movement.  It was a retirement gift to him in 1969 (engraved on the back) and has been sat in a box since he died in 1972.  My mother recently died and we found the watch stored away so I decided to try and get it going again.  It doesn't have much monetary value, but it does have great sentimental value to me, so I want to get it running as well as I can.

I unscrewed the back and was amazed to find that the old battery hadn't really corroded much, so I removed it, cleaned the area around the battery contacts and the crud off the insulator beneath, fitted a new 344 battery and was astounded to find that, after a shaky start, the watch ran OK.

For the first day or two it would sometimes stop, but after a while it seemed to free up and started to run reliably.  However, it was running very slow, losing around 10 minutes per day, so clearly all was not well.  I downloaded the pdf with the manual and after reading it carefully started off by doing the balance wheel run down test.  This gave a result of under 10 seconds, indicating that the watch needed a service (not surprising, it's been packed away in a box since 1972 and has never, ever been serviced, as far as I know). 

I put off servicing it for a few weeks, then decided yesterday to strip, clean and lubricate it.  Internally it seems in near-perfect condition, although the grease had gone hard and there were signs of dried oil in the bearings, visible through a microscope.

I carefully cleaned the movement and then had real fun and games reassembling it.  Aren't those friction springs that rest in the small nylon pulleys real fun to fit back in place?  I think it must have taken me a dozen goes to get then in the grooves, and even now I'm not 100% sure they are sitting as they should be, as the instructions in the manual don't seem to me to be that clear.

Now to get to my problem.  The movement is back together but still fails the balance wheel run down time test.  What's worse, the balance wheel fails to drive the "click wheel" (their name for what would normally be the escapement).  It looks like there is a tiny bit of backlash now, enough to cause the clicker wheel to not quite stay moved around the next time the click lever pawl jewels try to rotate it one step, so it just rocks back and forth.

I'm sure the electronics are working OK, as they will drive the balance wheel even in this state.  I also tried an experiment by reassembling the watch without the click lever, and the balance wheel runs under battery power with a very healthy amplitude indeed.

I'm sure that it's something I've screwed up when reassembling the watch that is causing the problem, as at least it was running before I started messing about with it, but for the life of me I can't think what, with the exception of those two friction springs, as they were a royal PITA to get into what I think is the correct location.  I'm wondering if they are there to take any backlash out of the initial drive train gears, so holding the click wheel very slightly so it cannot rotate back through the gear backlash.

Right now, looking end-on at those tiny hair springs, both are sitting in the nylon pulleys and both are positioned so that they are central, i.e. with the movement face down, and looking at the springs end on, the left spring is resting on the right side of the click wheel nylon pulley, the right spring is resting on the left side of the larger nylon pulley (the one where the spring has to be pre-positioned on the assembly pin and then pushed into position with a fine oiler).

I'd be incredibly grateful if anyone here with knowledge of these movements could offer some advice, especially if someone knows exactly how those friction springs are supposed to sit, or if anyone can think of another reason why the movement just sits there rocking backwards and forwards.

Best regards,

Jeremy

 

 

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  • 5 months later...

Better late than never?

Regarding those tension springs, I do remember that they weren't fun to deal with, but if you do as instructed in the manual, it should turn out OK. They are supposed to sit inside their respective plastic pulleys that are under the wheels. I think I used a brass tapered pin in a pin-vise to get them into position. But you do have to situate them in the ready position before you put the bridge back on.

One thing I do want to add to this thread is that it MIGHT NOT be a good idea to keep these watches in setting position to save battery power. I did that and I have a suspicion that the tension spring at the top of the stop lever, near the stem, may have become a bit fatigued, taking away some required tension. I'm just guessing based on the fact that the watch was doing fine when I put it away almost a year ago, but has problems that appear to be related to that section of the watch. That spring is compressed when the stem is in set position. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it here. Cheers all.

 

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