Tag Heuer 2000 Series Automatic Chronograph

[Ricardo]

Hi Everyone. Quite new to all this so please bear with me!

Here I have a broken Tag Heuer 2000 Series Automatic Chronograph. 865.406

I opened up the back of the watch and it has the Lemania LWO 283 auto module coupled with an ETA 2892-2 movement.

It's been in a draw for a more than a decade after it fell off the bedside cabinet onto the ceramic tile floor.

As a result of the fall, it would not wind up automatically and  the crown and stem would not pull out to allow the date / hands to be adjusted. I foolishly applied excessive force pulling it and the crown and stem came away from the watch.

As this point I put it away in the draw and forgot about it. It caught my eye the other day and decided it was time to try and get it working again, at which point I found and studied Marks 4 part vid on the eta 2892 movement.

Here she is:

The inner side of the strap has corroded. Tag do a very nice brown leather strap for these, I will probably buy one.

Also the back cover and the body need a good polish, I wonder if that is something I can do myself?

 

 

 

[Ricardo]

I have started to strip her down, I removed the movement from the body of the watch and then removed the LWO 283 auto mechanism from the movement. The auto seems to be in ok condition, no play in the big bearing in the middle, all gears are responding to input from moving the balance weight.

I also removed the balance, the train wheels and the barrel bridge.

I've then flipped it over to try and get at the setting lever mechanism which is where I suspect problems are. I was able to remove the "minute train bridge" but the screw shown in the pic below will not budge.

Can I ask is this screw a regular right hand thread? I have ordered some smaller screw drivers as I think the 1mm I was using was not getting much purchase.

[Tmuir]

Is this your first watch you have serviced?

If it is you may be over reaching a bit.

I would suggest keeping it safe and buy a few 'ebay specials' and try your hand at them first, this is quiet a complicated watch and I still wouldnt touch it even though I have been studying watch repair for the last 2 1/2 years

[jdm]

Since it appears that you never worked on watches before, I absolutely recommend that you will not try to repair your valuable watch by yourself. There are really too many chances to do even more serious damage than what it has already. 

[ecodec]

Hi Ricardo, I wish that you had taken the advice of jdm. Well, it is your watch so go carefully with plenty of mechanical sympathy. Best fix some cheap watches at first to get the practice and know how. good wishes, Mike.

[Ricardo]

30 minutes ago, ecodec said:

go carefully with plenty of mechanical sympathy.

I have an engineering / technical background, precision machinist and electronics. I watched plenty of Marks vids and thought I can have a crack at that. Worse case scenario is that my broken watch becomes more broken and then I pay somebody to fix it

[jdm]

2 hours ago, Ricardo said:

I have an engineering / technical background, precision machinist and electronics. I watched plenty of Marks vids and thought I can have a crack at that.

Be reassured than plenty of people here have the same or better background, still have found the hard way that mov.t repair and service has a steep learning curve, and they break and lose a lot of parts before getting it right. Not to mention the absolute need to have the right tools and materials, and working environment.

In Mark's videos everything appears easy because that's exactly his objective. And not only he's very good at what he does,  he also shoots professional video with heavy post-production.

Each one is entitled to do what he wants with his property, but for an absolute beginner starting with a sophisticated and expensive mov.t is objectively a big mistake, and you should listen to what people is telling you here. That being said I know that these words have often the opposite effect on Western males, stimulating pride, challenge and high self-esteem instincts. We have plenty of threads here started by guys with your same attitude, guess what, none had a positive follow-up or follow-up at all.

 

[Ricardo]

2 hours ago, jdm said:

In Mark's videos everything appears easy

No. No it doesn't. Not by any stretch of the imagination would any non mechanically minded person consider anything he does in those videos easy. Not once you can see the actual size of the parts involved. That said lots of it doesn't look impossible either.

But I get what you're saying, this one needs to go to a pro. Actually I just looked at some of the asking prices for similar working models and I hadn't realized these had retained such value. i was thinking it was worth £50 or something

[Tmuir]

As a side note just to buy all the oils and greases you would need to service this watch will set you back around £150.

It definitely a hobby worth sticking at, but go pick up a few manual wind watches and strip down and service those ones first, it doesn't hurt as much when you trash a $20 watch, and trust me you will as I'm sure most of us will agree when first starting out we all trashed a few watches, whether by breaking pivots, sending click springs into orbit or damaging main springs when fitting them back into barrels.

Or even just making nasty scratches on screws and bridges as we got used to manipulating them with tweezers.

[clockboy]

If it is just the keyless side that is faulty and that is all you alter and you don't snap any screws with the correct screwdrivers you could repair. However the working movement side is far more difficult and one slip and the watch could be dust.

[jdm]

6 hours ago, clockboy said:

If it is just the keyless side that is faulty and that is all you alter and you don't snap any screws with the correct screwdrivers you could repair.

Clockboy, the watch had stopped due to impact even before the OP used brute force on the stem. Fortunately Ricardo is now willing to have it repaired professionally and I hope he'll update here when done showing it in the hot Thai nights and days.

[anilv]

The 2892 automatic chrono is something that most watchmakers shy away from . It seems that its not really serviceable, I've heard that Omega just replaces the chrono module with a fresh one after servicing the base movement.

If you have to take it apart, take note that the chrono needs to be in the running position before dismantling (ie button pressed in as if the chrono was started). This relieves tension on some of the parts so that they dont fly off in every direction.

Good luck!

Anilv

[jdm]

52 minutes ago, anilv said:

The 2892 automatic chrono is something that most watchmakers shy away from . It seems that its not really serviceable, I've heard that Omega just replaces the chrono module with a fresh one after servicing the base movement.

From the OP looks like the issue is with the base mov.t not running, and the damage to the keyless. Nothing was mentioned  about the chrono module.

[anilv]

While it may be possible to reseat the set-lever back into the winding pinion groove by removing the barrel bridge working on it from that side,  It seems to me that this watch has more issues and a full stripdown is warranted. 

Anilv