Re: Finished my first movement

Anthony Fremont wrote:
<paulmr_ca@xxxxxxxx> wrote

An A. Schild AS970
Hand wind
17 Jewels
8 3/4'''

That's a pretty small calibre for the first one.

Yeah, I figured if I can handle these smaller lignes, then when I get
to work on my 18 size pw's, I'll have my technique much improved.
Although the full plate movements present their own set of problems.


Here's the album:

http://paulspicsontario.tripod.com/as970/

The pics aren't brilliant. I plan on building a light-box for future
picture taking.

Yeah, it's kinda hard to take good pictures of movements.

I suppose I should have taken many more pics. But as I was going
along, it just slipped my mind. I'll have many more pics with the
ST96
I'm working on.

I tend to get too engrossed in the moment to rember to take pictures.

Kodak moments are the last thing on our minds when we get into the zone
8^)


Getting the jewel holes clean was tough. I couldn't get my peg wood
thin enough to fit. I ended up using a needle.

Oddly, replacing the hands gave me the most difficulty. But after a
few trys, they slipped right into position.

IMO, hand installation tools are worth the investment.

Could you suggest one? I have two hand removers right now.


All in all, a very satisfying challenge. The watch was seized up and
would not wind, set, or run. But now, over the last 36 hours, it has
run, gaining about 30 seconds.

Took the movement apart, cleaned it, replaced the ms, oiled and
reassembled it.

How did you clean it? Did you use a water based cleaner or some kind of
solvent?

First brushed off the movement with a natural hair bristle brush and
blew out the entire movement with a blower.

Then soaked each part with it's corresponding screws in Ronson lighter
fluid, (naptha) brushing with a NHBB again, (I find the tin handle
brushes used by welders to apply flux are good--made of horse hair and
soft, yet sturdy and cheap enough to throw out when finished).

After a few minutes of soaking and careful brushing, I wash the parts
in alcohol, brushuing with a clean NHBB and place the parts on
newsprint paper, blowing the excess liquids off with a blower and
allowing them to dry.

Replace them into a platic compartmented tray with a lid to keep dust
off the parts and keep them from running off with the socks that
escaped from my clothes dryer.

I use small glass jars with the naptha and alcohol and replace them
after each cleaning. I'm planning to buy a bottle of L&R cleaner and
rinse, but right now I'm happy with the cheaper alternatives above.

A pre-soak in a mixture of 1 part amonia and 4 parts clean water
couldn't hurt either.


At first the watch would not run. Then I realized the escape wheel
pinion was not in the jewel hole. A slight nudge and the watch took
off running.

Be very careful when tightening down bridge screws, it's easy to break
pivots and jewels. I try to make sure the wheels keep turning freely
while I tighten the screws. If they sieze, I immediately stop
tightening and back off a little to allow for moving the misaligned
pivot into place. I'm no expert, but this seems to work.

I was expecting the same problem. But oddly, the train gears fell
right into place with no effort. Just the escape wheel gave me a bit
of work. Were it only true of all watches, indeed.


So far, I find that each movement is it's own unique set of problems.
Some are hard to get the pivots in place, others will have one or two
flat springs that almost refuse to stay in place while you wrestle with
the bridge. My Bulova Duo-Wind comes to mind now.....what a nightmare.
Even the real watchmaker before me had smashed part of a click spring
between the plates of the autowind mechanism. After much futzing
around, I got it together right. It was then that I realized that the
factory had placed a little hole in the cover for me to reach in with
sharp tweezers and position the click spring against the click _after_
putting the cover plate on. That would have been allot easier.

I have a watch now that I'm tinkering with that has a BFG 844. It has
one bridge/plate that encompasses everything from the barrel to the pin
pallet lever. Pretty sadistic design if you ask me, but it runs great
now. I'm guessing the factory had a jig of some kind.

That's one of the reasons I'm holding off on starting any of my 18 size
pw's.


Also the setting bridge, the center arm doesn't meet with the setting
lever stud; visible in pic #6. However, the watch sets and winds
correctly and quite smoothly, even though I forgot to spread some PLM
grease on these parts.

You'll probably want to go back in and put something in there. It
prevents wear of course, but it also helps keep water/moisture at bay.
If nothing else, pull the stem out, coat it with grease and stick it
back in.

It's not the prettiest movement; I wasn't able to get all the rust off
the stem threads and the ratchet wheel is stained and the dial still
has a stain on along the four and five which I couldn't get rid off
without damaging the dial further, but I'm quite satisfied with my
first attempt 8^)

You made it run when it didn't, that's success. ;-) Yes, the prior
owner of this watch wasn't too careful about keeping water away. I'd
even believe salt water was to blame for that amount of rust.

Salt water hadn't accured to me. That would explain that amout of
rusting. Good eye.


Any input would be greatly appreciated. Such as critiques of the
finish, or the final result of my dismantling and reassembling of the
movement.

The movement had a few scratches on it already, but I also put a few
on
myself. Any opinions on finishing a movement to remove all the
unwanted scratches?

On plated movements, I don't think you'll have much success at easily
removing scratches since the sharp screwdriver blades tend to cut
deeply. I think it's just a matter of being as careful as possible,
sort of a "measure twice cut once" philosophy. I've probably done about
ten or twelve movements, so far the biggest thing I've learned is that
I've got allot more to learn about being careful.

Good one.


It only takes a moment to mame or even kill a movement, don't work on
anything valuable for a while yet.

I know it's probably silly, showing off ONE finished watch to people
who have a combined 110 years of experience approximately, but I'm
pretty pleased with myself and respect you all enough to seek out your
thoughts.

I don't think it's silly at all, I think it's great.

Thank you, Anthony.


You've all been a great deal of help and you've helped me give the
idea
of doing this full time some serious thought.

Thanks all, Paul.


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