Swiss movement wristwatches assembled in Canada

Transcription

1 Swiss movement wristwatches assembled in Canada

2 Servicing of Vintage Tradition The Tradition brand was the house brand of the Sears and Roebuck Company. Case - Stainless steel case with acrylic crystal Movement - ETA 2391 base movement modified to 23 jewels - Hours, minutes and seconds on primary dial - 18,000 beats per hour - Approx. 36 hour power reserve - Manual winding - 23 jewels - Incabloc shock protection Here is the watch as received:

3 I first remove the case back, and you can see the movement inside, which looks to be in good shape: The movement is out and I prepare to remove the hands. Plastic is used to protect the dial during this procedure:

4 Here the hands have been removed: Here I remove the winding/setting mechanism:

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6 Now I start on the train side:

7 Here the ratchet and crown wheels have been removed: Here the barrel bridge has been removed:

8 Here you can see there is a plate on top of the wheel train bridge that is fitted with cap jewels for all the wheels an interesting design not seen often: Here the wheel train bridge has been removed:

9 Now just the pallet fork remains:

10 Here the balance assembly (without the jewels) is placed back on the main plate to protect it while in the cleaning machine: Here I have opened the barrel and the old mainspring can be seen:

11 Here everything has been disassembled and the parts are sorted in trays by their function: Now the parts are placed into fine mesh baskets and loaded into the cleaning machine. Here the baskets are mounted in the cleaning machine ready to cycle:

12 I use peg wood and pivot broaches to clean out all the jewel holes, to ensure that no dried oils are left behind: Before I begin assembling the movement, I take a few minutes to treat some parts with epilame. This substance forms a layer on the parts that helps keep the oils from creeping away from where they are applied. Here I place the escape wheel in a plastic basket:

13 The basket is placed in a special bottle and inverted to treat the wheel: Here I treat the pallet stones with epilame by pushing the fork into soft pith wood I only want the treatment on the stones. I use a dropper to apply the solution:

14 Now I insert the new mainspring into the barrel. Here is the new spring: Here the barrel has been assembled

15 Now I can start the assembly of the watch I lubricate the parts as I assemble them, as shown in the next series of photos: Train wheels are set in place and the bridges are installed:

16 Now I assemble the winding/setting mechanism:

17 Here the pallet fork is installed:

18 Next I mount the balance, and let the watch run without lubrication on the pallet stones - I want some of the epilame on the stones and escape wheel to wear off, creating a channel where I will place my oil. Then the balance is been removed, and I oil the exit stone. Since this process is difficult to photograph, I have included a document on the disk that shows it in detail for another watch. Next the watch is ready for timing checks, and here it is in the microphone stand of the timing machine: Here I have run the movement through positional checks in 6 positions:

19 Here is a closer look at the results. The average rate is around +10, and the delta, which is the difference between the fastest and slowest positions is about 31 seconds which is good for a watch of this age: I now take a break from the movement to look at the case I replace the old crystal with a new one:

20 Here the dial is back on after light cleaning: I install the hands using my hand press:

21 Here all the hands are installed: Here the movement has been installed into the case, and the case ring has been installed to secure the movement:

22 Looks much better: The watch is then subjected to extended timing checks. These involve placing the watch in various positions for periods of 24 hours, and noting the gain or loss in each position. This includes putting the watch on the final test winder for 24 hours, which simulates wearing the watch watch is lower right on the winder:

23 Adjustments were made then a new strap was installed: I hope you enjoy this watch Dickson. If you have any additional questions, please contact me. Al Jenskey February 21, 2011