Re: how to put the stem back in ?

On 15/07/11 18:41, Frank Adam wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:24:23 +1000, dAz<daz@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I find it easier to attack the clutch wheel from the train side rather
than pulling the hands, dial and calendar off again, specially if you
just spent time placing the dial and hands on neatly and dust free, and
lessens the chance of marking the dial or hands, I have been assembling
new watches for a friend, these have black dials in divers cases, black
dials are a pain in the A. for dust or marks, so if don't have to pull
the hands and dial off again so much the better.

Of course, when you get a black dial with one of these types of jumpy yokes,
and it all goes together perfect, you already know that there must be a fluff
or speck that you've missed under the glass.
That's when the glass claws come off the shelf.. ;-)

hmmm the good old days when most watches had plexis, putting these new divers together for my friend I got into a bit of a routine, put the dial on, fit the hands, check all over for dust, thoroughly clean the inside of the case, use compressed air to blow the case out, lightly dust the dial with compressed air, place the movement on a block and drop the case on, with a strong light check for dust, yep a speck near the 3 mark, lift the case off, remove speck, dust again, place back on movement, check again, hmmm slight blemish on the seconds hand where the tweezers touched it, I know the customer won't see it but I can so repeat as above and eventually, the dial is dust and mark free, turn the case over fit the crown and stem ............ bloody clutch wheel!!!, nah, fit the case ring and clamps then reset clutch wheel from the train side, no way am I going to pull that dial off again.


this is an old trick I learned 40years ago, as I said, it is a common
problem with ETAs.

ETA SA: "How can we improve on this ? Hm.. Ah voila ! We put a twist into the
stem's square, that should make it sooo much easier for a stem to slide into a
square straight walled hole and not bind." You gotta love them ETA designers.

yep, and of course the movement with the twisted stem is very similar to the movement with the straight stem, so when you think you have the right stem it's the other one you need.



Anyway, shhh, i'm doing one of these crappy original Piagets now.. I know,
it's nowhere near the ETA experience, but we can't choose what we have to do.
;-)


swap it out for a chinese movement, I don't think the customer will notice the extra bulge in the back ;)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: how to put the stem back in ?
    ... postion, pulled out the stem, cased the movement. ... So I had to take the dial side apart, put the lever back into the slot ... the clutch wheel "fell" off the lever again. ... I find it easier to attack the clutch wheel from the train side rather than pulling the hands, dial and calendar off again, specially if you just spent time placing the dial and hands on neatly and dust free, and lessens the chance of marking the dial or hands, I have been assembling new watches for a friend, these have black dials in divers cases, black dials are a pain in the A. for dust or marks, so if don't have to pull the hands and dial off again so much the better. ...
    (alt.horology)
  • Re: Waltham 15J pocket watch
    ... Just thought it extremely odd since the seconds dial was painted to ... allow for this setup. ... market for dials made this way, it's just that I've never seen one ... the relationship between the stem and the seconds subdial. ...
    (alt.horology)
  • Re: how to put the stem back in ?
    ... just spent time placing the dial and hands on neatly and dust free, ... new watches for a friend, these have black dials in divers cases, black ... You gotta love them ETA designers. ...
    (alt.horology)
  • Re: Brass ACME nut repair
    ... I think that I will simply buy a dial indicator with a long stem. ... of a poor man's digital readout. ... I don't depend on the dials on my lathe for accuracy. ...
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