Gandhi Watch continued

 Disassembling the watch revealed a couple of surprises given the watch had been "refurbished."

The basic procedure for servicing a watch is three steps: disassembly/inspection, cleaning, and reassembly/oiling. The service this watch received failed on at least two of these steps.

The most glaring problem was broken teeth on the ratchet wheel, seen in this image:

The HMT mechanical hand-wind movement is based on the Citizen 0201 design, and Citizen is said to have overseen manufacture to insure high quality. It looks like that quality control may have relaxed, given that this wheel looks as if it is stamped steel that's been thinly plated. I was able to replace this wheel using another identical movement. (This wheel mainly interacts with the click to prevent the mainspring from unwinding, so its proper function is essential.)

The refurbishment was certainly sloppy. Look at the wild amount of oil pooled under the keyless works:

There's another anomaly I noticed in the first HMT I practiced on that is repeated with the Gandhi watch. The sweep second wheel passes across the barrel bridge, and it looks as if there has been an attempt to slightly deform the bridge at the point the wheel enters over the bridge, possibly to provide greater clearance between the wheel and bridge. I have a few more HMTs and it will be interesting to see if this deformation appears in them as well.

The technician who did the refurb either missed or didn't care about the missing teeth, and really pumped in the oil. The watch does run, though, so the basic requirement is satisfied.

I've done the disassembly and reassembly without incident, but my cleaning was not adequate to remove the really baked-on gunk. Soaking in naphtha and scrubbing with  stiff nylon brush got some but not all the parts clean. I think I'm going to disassemble it again and run it through the ultrasonic cleaner, then oil and reassemble. 

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I had been hoping to attend a meeting of the Midwest Watch Club's Spring Meeting, but it was moved from March to late April. The problem that continues to be central to this hobby is the direction to go with it. Collecting watches? If that's it, should it be wristwatches or pocket watches? And should they be antique, vintage, or contemporary? Or should I take brand new modern movements and ready them for sale? 

Or make a hobby of restoring old watches to working order? This is an expensive option since it requires the purchase of expensive tools like mainspring winders, crystal fitters, and

It would be nice to get the perspectives of other watch enthusiasts.

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I've also now completed a beginner course in watch servicing offered by a local watch shop. We took a new 6497 clone movement through the three servicing steps mentioned above and put it into a case with straps. It's ready to wear and running great. It's amazing how much easier a modern movement is to work with than the designs of the early 20th Century! Except for the shockproof springs, I hate those! 😖

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Next time, the Gandhi will be back, oiled and ready, with its results from another run on the timegrapher.

Winter Watchmaking

 Yes, it's been sincerely winter here since I last posted. Overnight temperatures have cruised down to -11F and there's been a lot of snow. Not Buffalo NY amounts by any means--total seasonal snowfall is now at 48.3 inches which is about twice normal, and the snow depth is 13 inches. Everything has a thin crust of ice on it, too.

This means it's been time for my winter hobby to get going. I've been out and about trying to learn about how to get the basic raw materials: watches (including bare movements) and tools. I'm also starting to ponder how to make this a long-term sort of thing. 

Last year I mainly focused on dismantling old pocket watches; This year I'm going to get a formal, if brief, education by taking a two-day class from a local professional watchmaker. I'm also going to try my hand at smaller movements. Toward that end I've purchased several HMT watches from Ebay. These have India-made movements, are typically 17 jewels, and can be had for about $10 refurbished and running. At that price there's not a lot of concern about fumblefingers wrecking it. Here's a picture of the first arrival

Yes, that's an image of Gandhi on the face. The hour and minute hands are luminous, but I'm not sure about the choice of a red second hand over a red watch face. Oh well, it's the movement that has my interest, and here it is

Fairly clean looking, but there is some discoloration on the spacer ring near the stem suggesting there might be some rust. That might account for the gritty feeling when the crown is pulled out or pushed in. On the plus side it seems to be keeping good time. I'll be able to quantify that once I put it on my timegrapher.

Like most modern wristwatches this has a screw-on back, and normally one would use a special tool to open it. It's often possible to use a rubber ball instead. One simply presses the ball against the back and turns it. Here's the one I use

It's not the famous Bergeon #8008 8-ball ($17 on Amazon or $9 on Esslinger, shipping extra). It's a dog play toy ($5 from Petco and probably other pet supply stores). It has a smooth, tacky surface and seems to work quite well. It's not inflatable so no need for a pump. And as an extra bonus it squeaks!

A footnote about saving money: shop Ebay, not Etsy. I paid $7.50 for the watch (before tax). An identical (save for a white face) model on Etsy is $37.96 before tax (shipping is free from both vendors). And the Etsy watch is a refurbish, too--the description is word-for-word identical with that on Ebay. Don't expect the Etsy version to arrive faster, either. It also ships from India and has the same protracted delivery time as it does on Ebay.

Next time, more about the Gandhi watch!