A Eterna Movement To Remember

[noirrac1j]

Hello,

I received an eterna that I hoped would be restorable. The dial looked good....and it seemed a good candidate. Once I  opened it and removed the dial I immediately noticed an EXTREME excess of oil that smelled like 3-in-1 or something. It is everywhere.

 

When I finally got to the core of the movement I could not believe what I discovered. It looked like it had been at the bottom of a swamp....

 

The pallet, jewels, and Balance are OK, and none of the drive wheels are affected. The rotor looks like it might be unsalvageable and many screws are rusted. My question to all of you knowledgeable in this area: Is it worth trying to save this watch? Can I soak the parts in tea and hope that when I put them together they will still fit with all the rust off? What can I do short of replacing every rusted part on this thing? Its a nice looking watch and it only cost me $30.00. I don't know what to do. This is my first experience with a watch in this bad a condition! Thanks in advance for any input.

 

JC

Edited October 12, 2014 by noirrac1j

[Daniel]

Wow that thing is in bad shape!

[noirrac1j]

It sure is. I'm soaking as many rusted parts as I can in tea right now. The ball bearings of the rotor look like barely solid pellets of rust.

[Don]

Have you seen Mark's repair of the rusty Breitling? Your watch seems to be in worse shape, but there may be some useful information for you.

Service and repair of a rusty valjoux 7750 based …: http://youtu.be/BesSK67Mzms

[noirrac1j]

Yes I saw the video and it was helpful in the sense that it gave me hope that rust can be remedied in SOME cases...alas, I think the Eterna may be just beyond that. I do have the pieces soaking in tea and it is removing a large amount of rust which of course of the metal that is no longer there. We'll see how it turns out.

JC

[WillFly]

A good general soak sounds sensible to me - then you'll know exactly what you've got to deal with when the parts have had a basic clean.

[PadraicB]

When in doubt, pour the oil on? :) I think is what happened before the more learned Mark's videos era of watchmaking!

 

It does look really bad at the moment, hopefully the tea soak will enough metal behind to be salvageable.

[autowind]

I think most any watch,  unless it's gone under a road roller,  could be repaired,  the question is,  at what cost?  Your Eternamatic is a nice watch and well worth cleaning and oiling etc.  If it's going to need more extensive work and parts, then cost becomes a factor,  sometimes it's best to draw a line under it and find something that needs less spending on it.

[Geo]

It might even be an Etarna movement to forget!

Seriously though, this one's going to be a big challenge for you. I hope you manage to get all the screws out OK, as they often get rusted solid. I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to hearing how you get on.

[bobm12]

Hi JC,

 

As an active member of the Watchcoholics Anonymous Incorporated, I recommend a rust brush, those that come in fiberglass. I have no doubt that all parts will come out OK from the tea (we use coffee in this part of the world -- NOT, just kidding!) But in the end it will be a thorough 20x inspection and :"scratch" with the brush, lots of rodico and of course a good ultrasonic and pegging of the jewels. Not in that order necessarily and sometimes repeat as needed.

 

After a good inventory of good parts vs. bad parts you may have an option to find a donor watch or check for availability of what is needed, but I think you already have this planned. In the end, as everyone had said it will be a matter of cost and parts availability. My main concern here is the screws that could be "welded" with rust to the bridges or any other essential part and the cost of the said screw replacements - along with the parts in question. Those little critters can add a substantial amount to the total cost!

 

I particularly like to order parts rather than use a donor watch. I can't never shake the feeling I could have repaired BOTH!!!

 

In any case, I join the gang in wishing you the best of luck with that one and to please post pictures of the outcome and/or any relevant issue you encounter so we can all share your experience. I thank you in advance for it.

 

Cheers

 

Bob

Edited October 12, 2014 by bobm12

[Blacklab]

I think this is worth a look: http://watchguy.co.uk/restoration-jardur-chronograph-valjoux-71/

[noirrac1j]

Hi JC,

 

As an active member of the Watchcoholics Anonymous Incorporated, I recommend a rust brush, those that come in fiberglass. I have no doubt that all parts will come out OK from the tea (we use coffee in this part of the world -- NOT, just kidding!) But in the end it will be a thorough 20x inspection and :"scratch" with the brush, lots of rodico and of course a good ultrasonic and pegging of the jewels. Not in that order necessarily and sometimes repeat as needed.

 

After a good inventory of good parts vs. bad parts you may have an option to find a donor watch or check for availability of what is needed, but I think you already have this planned. In the end, as everyone had said it will be a matter of cost and parts availability. My main concern here is the screws that could be "welded" with rust to the bridges or any other essential part and the cost of the said screw replacements - along with the parts in question. Those little critters can add a substantial amount to the total cost!

 

I particularly like to order parts rather than use a donor watch. I can't never shake the feeling I could have repaired BOTH!!!

 

In any case, I join the gang in wishing you the best of luck with that one and to please post pictures of the outcome and/or any relevant issue you encounter so we can all share your experience. I thank you in advance for it.

 

Cheers

 

Bob

Hello Bob,

Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate it! It is hard to believe but I have the  movement working! It is running strong even as I write this! The autowinding is shot so there will be no "Matic" in this Eterna...unless I find a donor or something. I have pictures along the entire way, but I'l post them tomorrow. I actually had to Rodico the entire dial and now I have to do the hands as well because of all the oil. I think someone poured 3-in-1 right into the movement in the hopes that it would get the watch to work--I've never seen anything like it. The rust was partially removed by soaking the parts in tea and replacing about three times. The last soak was overnight. Can't wait to post he pictures but there is still work to do.  

JC

[noirrac1j]

It might even be an Etarna movement to forget!

Seriously though, this one's going to be a big challenge for you. I hope you manage to get all the screws out OK, as they often get rusted solid. I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to hearing how you get on.

Geo your post is the funniest! I have the movement running rather strong but still have some work to do....I'll post pictures soon and look forward what you think about it.

 

JC

[noirrac1j]

When in doubt, pour the oil on? :) I think is what happened before the more learned Mark's videos era of watchmaking!

 

It does look really bad at the moment, hopefully the tea soak will enough metal behind to be salvageable.

It was SUPER bad Padriac. Never have I encountered something so terrifying. The good news is that I have the movement running, albeit without  autowinding...Still have some work to do before putting pictures up!

 

JC

[anilv]

the eterna is a nice watch but if you go down the road with a donor movement, unless that is also an 'eterna' then the value of the watch will be low if you decide to resell.

 

what you have is an ETA 1258. Since your dial side looks ok you'll probably be ok with an ETA1256 for a donor as they're more common. The big and small reversor wheel are a good guide to identifying this movement. Crotons are a good source for these movements but they dont usually have the ball-bearing rotor...just tapered bushes.

 

If you want to do this as an 'exercise in restoration' then by all means source for a donor movement. The dial looks good and so do the hands. Hard to guage the case but the lugs look sharp so probably ok. Date wheel has all the numbers and thats a good thing.. normally when you see so much oil the date wheel gets spoilt by the oil.

 

Anil

[bobm12]

good to see you around again Anil!!

[noirrac1j]

the eterna is a nice watch but if you go down the road with a donor movement, unless that is also an 'eterna' then the value of the watch will be low if you decide to resell.

 

what you have is an ETA 1258. Since your dial side looks ok you'll probably be ok with an ETA1256 for a donor as they're more common. The big and small reversor wheel are a good guide to identifying this movement. Crotons are a good source for these movements but they dont usually have the ball-bearing rotor...just tapered bushes.

 

If you want to do this as an 'exercise in restoration' then by all means source for a donor movement. The dial looks good and so do the hands. Hard to guage the case but the lugs look sharp so probably ok. Date wheel has all the numbers and thats a good thing.. normally when you see so much oil the date wheel gets spoilt by the oil.

 

Anil

Thanks Anil. I've just posted the results of the teardown and rebuild. The auto wind fucntion did not survive, but the watch is running very well! Thanks for your suggestions.

 

JC