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Shockresist Disassembly And Cleaning.


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Back in march I requested information regarding the old style anit-shock protection in a Rolex that i was having slight issues with.  This system dated from the 1940’s and is called Shockresist.  I had hoped to get a detailed explanation of how to disassemble, clean and lubricate the device, but unfortunately nobody came up with specifics that I was after.

 

I did a bit of research to find out how the system worked and bought an old movement fitted with the Shockresist, so that I could dismantle it to see how it is put together.

 

I removed the balance and cock in the normal way having first slackening the screw that holds the hairspring stud.  The next thing was to release the curb that regulates the hairspring, then gently remove the balance and spring from the cock.

 

 As I suspected, there are two little screws under the balance cock that holds cap jewel and adjustment lever in place.  I removed these tiny screws and as predicted, the regulator components and cap jewel came apart.

 

I now turned my attentions to the balance jewel and retainer which was in the forum of a “C” clip.  For safety, I partially covered the clip with Rodico before dislodging it with the point of a Stanley blade.  To hold the cock securely during this process, I pinned it to a piece of cork with a screwdriver.  The turned out that the jewel and shock resisting spring were now very firmly held in place so I decided to clean them in situ.  I could have pressed them out, but thought it unnecessary.

 

The only parts of the watch that I cleaned and lubricated were the Shockresist components. But to my surprise, the watch sprang into life on assembly, and given the filthy state of the rest of the movement, gave a reasonable reading on my timegrapher.  All I have to do is pull the old Rolex apart now!

 

Here are some pictures I took of the disassembly.

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    • I think we've talked about this before, using a new mainspring to initially overcome the effects of more movement friction than there should be. The aim is to reduce all going friction not to push through the friction with more torque, that in the long run will create more wear.
    • Sensible precautions @rjenkinsgb. I remember as a lad, my mate's dad ran a garage. I can clearly remember watching him change break pads. He used an airline to blow the dust out, (when pads used asbestos), and  we used to practically bathe in "carbon tet". But then he did smoke about 40 cigs a day. Makes me shudder to think about it.
    • OK, a little bit more from today's lecture about the main springs. Generally, the spring in the barrel is limited and can't  unwind fully. With the blue line is shown the reserve/torque relation when spring unwinding is limited by the barrel. The green line represents the same when the spring is free to unwind fully And the red line shows the minimum torque that is needed for the movement to keep running. The yelow graph shows how the torque changes (from the blue) when the spring gets weaker (set) after 100 years of work. The purple line represents thinner and longer spring in the same barrel. As You can see, using thinner and longer spring will increase the power reserve. The 'set' spring will have the same reserve as a new one with the same sizes, only the amplitude will be just a little smaller.  Of course, this is true only when the movement othervice is in good health ( the red line is lo enough)
    • As long as you don't grind the stuff up and blow it around, you should be fine. Use a dust mask if in doubt.   The things I'm very careful of are: Radium lume - even the stuff that is visually completely dead and inert is still highly radioactive; it's the fluorescent part that decays, not the radium. A single speck inhaled or ingested can cause cancer, so store parts in zip bags and wear a dust mask & wipe your work area down after handling anything that uses it. A proper geiger counter is a good investment if you plan on working with vintage watches, so you can check for it & take appropriate precautions.   "One dip" & equivalents - the original type & the generic PERC dry cleaning fluid (Tetrachloroethylene / perchloroethylene) which is what the original one dip was mostly made of. That's toxic, a known carcinogen. Use in very good ventilation only & keep it sealed whenever possible.   The newer B-Dip is presumably a safer replacement.  
    • Only 137% !  sounds like you're not putting enough effort in 😆.  I would think of it like cogs on pushbike.  Fastest speed to the spindle would be largest pulley wheel on the drive and smallest pulley wheel on the driven. If the motor was into a sliding bed you would have 3x4 ? Speeds.
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