Little project (many pics)

[Andy3536]

Thought i'd share my little project with you. Have just finished level 1 of this - http://www.timezonewatchschool.com/WatchSchool
Basicly stripping down and re-building a basic mechanical watch movement. Then at the end casing it up.

I would like to point out, i don't really know what i'm doing. I'm just an enthusiastic amature learning as i took this apart


The course is either a PDF or web based, reletivly easy to follow. (mostly anyway) The biggest stumbling block being that the lessons are on an eta 2801 movement, which is difficult to get hold of, So the movement supplied is an ETA 2750. Very similar although the 2801 has a date wheel option.


So the movement.





Time to take it apart











If you wanna see it going back together you can scroll up ;-)
This is oddly enough where i started to have trouble.
I used a soft cloth to wipe away dust from a dial only for the gloss finish to get fine scrathes. I was a bit annoyed, but there were at least 2 other dials in the pack you get. Both of which say "timezone online watch school"
But there was a problem with those aswell, when the dial pushes into the movement there's 2 locating feet. These were in the wrong place. And i was only willing to use them as they were easy. The stem position for them both was at about 16 minutes, which means they would go into the case wonky.



Normally in this case you just take off the locating pins on the dial and use dial dots (double sided sticky tape...but small) But as i didn't really want those dials at this point i ordered another dial from Hong Kong. Designed for a Seiko movement but the double sided tape was gonna get used anyway.

Here's how it ended up.

[Butuz]

That's really cool! I'd love to give this a go. I have an old 70s Tissot Seastar that doesn't keep time properly and I've repeatedly thought to myself I really need to have a go at it!

Any advice what tools to get? I bought a watch tool kit from ebay and it was utter tripe.

[Andy3536]

That's really cool! I'd love to give this a go. I have an old 70s Tissot Seastar that doesn't keep time properly and I've repeatedly thought to myself I really need to have a go at it!

Any advice what tools to get? I bought a watch tool kit from ebay and it was utter tripe.

A good set of watch screwdrivers, tweezers, case opener and a dust blower would be a good start.

Depending on how much your willing to spend/how likely you are to do it again depends on how far you should go with tools.
But other worth considering.
Movement holder
Rodico putty (usfull for removing grease and dust etc)
Dust cover
eye loupe
hand removers/setters

The tools in the kit i got were largly Bergeon, these are good quality but pricey. I didn't mind so much though as i'll be destroying... i mean fiddling with another watch anyway.

If your watch is in need of a service though it's going to need a good clean and re-oiled and greased. This is going to be a very involved process and require sonic cleaners etc, i've not gone that far yet. Although i might do in the future.
If the watch isn't too far off you might get away with regulating it, you'll see a + & - on the watch movement. A little adjustment on one of the arms will adjust the watches time a small fraction. There's lots of vids on youtube that talk you through regulating.
But i suspect if your watch is from the 70s it might well have been a while since it's had a service (if at all??) this might be what's required. And being a good make it's defenatly worth looking after ;-)

[Andy3536]

Making another addition to the project. Time to bore you with more pics :-)

The level 2 of this course is done with an automatic movement with a date complication.
In this case the ETA 2824-2















This defenatly wasn't as easy, i lost a shock jewel that's in the carpet still somewhere and a replacement had to be ordered, the mainspring was a real pain to put back in. And despite the dial saying it was for this movement the locating feet didn't quite line up so the date was just slightly off through the window. So i had to chop them off and stick it down anyway.

This is what i ended up with.

[Butuz]

2824-2 is a great workhorse. Had one on my wrist for 3 years solid.

Keep up the good work!!