Stowa Durowe 72 (1964 to 1970?)

 

My mother had this old, beat up watch that barely worked and gave it to me to take a look and check the battery. Opened it up and found this tiny, tiny movement that seemed to be trying it's absolute best to work. In my naiviety I told her I can try to service it and restore it. "How hard can it be, just clean, oil and see what happens" I said to myself.

Little did I know how tiny these 5 1/2''' movements really were. Smallest I had worked on was 8 3/4''' and that was already stretching it.

Well...turned out pretty well and I'm so proud of it I just had to go on the internet and write about it.

Everything went surprisingly smoothly. The scale of the parts wasn't THAT big of a deal until it came to installing the setting lever. That setting lever can go burn in hell. I didn't mangle any screws any worse than they were, didn't drop or lose any parts (there was a mishap where I moved the pallet fork while moving a jar on my table and that was terrifying but it was right by the jar). To me this means that I've made huge strides since starting ten months ago.

I have no idea how watchmakers used to service these without the use of microscopes but I gained a huge amount of respect for those who did, on a regular basis, especially seeing how this size of movement was very common in the 50s to 70s. I've learned so much but this, to me, seems to be at the absolute limit of human dexterity.

Before: looks beaten up, old and ugly.



Case cleanup was really easy. I've used Selvyt cloths (JC and SR) on another gold plated watch and it went really well, as it did on this. On close inspection you can tell that it's lived a long life but from a distance it looks new and shiny.



It ran, but the state of affairs was pretty sad. I used 52 deg lift angle because I didn't know what the movement was yet, turns out that the LA is 56 (supposedly).



Dial down didn't fare any better, but at least the beat error was on point. This gave me hope.



The fourth wheel pivot can be seen here in a plate under the escape wheel. Crazy stuff.



Just getting the movement to sit still in the holder was a challenge, being careful and diligent helped. I really like the satin finish on the movement, had never seen it before but I think I prefer it over overly shiny. It just looks neat, refined and that this movement means business.

The shock spring is also interesting here. Unlike Inca, the spring doesn't hinge but just slides out. Easy to ping I guess but at least you don't have to take the whole setting out to replace it. And really easy to put back in with a jewel picker/rodico, far easier than Inca.



Fourth wheel's "shelf" can be seen here.



Someone oild the pallet fork a long time ago. Hadn't seen it before but glad Kalle mentions it regulary, I wouldn't have thought to check otherwise. But I found one in the wild, that's pretty cool.



Just comparing sizing, because I'm a guy.



And after completing the service, right after winding and initial rough regulation. I know that I first need to let it settle for at least 24 hours, wind it, leave it for a few more and then regulate, and I do that, but I can never stop myself for regulating it before putting the hour wheel and dial on.



Dial foot screw. One of the dial feet is slightly bent but I know enough to leave it alone.



Cased. She chose a red strap and to be honest it looks really nice. For some reason my phone makes the red look way more bright than it actally is; it is more of a bright strawberry red.



About an hour after casing, with the appropriate LA. I didn't even change the mainspring so I'm really surprised at the amplitude. I hope it isn't too much but I suspect that 56 is just wrong. I didn't check myself with the balance, and maybe I should, but ah well.



The rate variation is due to a fail in the wiggle wiggle test. Barrel needed hammer time but the the third wheel and pallet pivots have quite some wiggle in them. I have a jacot lathe, that I got for really cheap (89 euros) that is in decent condition but I never used it and I wasn't going to try it here first. The hairspring is also ever-so-slightly tilted, I just think that the stud needs to be moved up a little but I'm scared to touch it and I think in this case I can leave well enough alone. I've had a few mishaps with hairsprings and although I managed to recover from them they were much larger.

Overall I'm really happy that I managed to get service it and get it to run so well without screwing anything up. I'm pretty proud of this one. A pro might scoff and that this isn't really professional work because of the rate fluctuation and that's understandable, I'm not at a first-rate result level yet but I really hope to get there someday.

Velona 1100 ETA 2409 (1969)

How it started

 

 And now, after two services (first one wasn't great), some hairspring work, a new crystal and light case polishing.

 

The train cap jewels should ideally be replaced as they seem to be made out of died quartz and the die has started to get damaged. Pallet fork also needs replacement as the jewel faces have been damaged by the escape wheel over the years, which means a new escape wheel too. But considering that the watch is still running pretty well and won't be used on a daily basis they can stay as is for now. Maybe they'll get replaced during the next service, a couple of years from now.

Polishing watch parts

EB 1333, decided to try polishing brass parts on dial side.

 

 

 Aliexpress polishing tripod, not just for screws but for small parts too.

 

 

Flat polishing plate that came with the tripod. Flatness isn't great but workable especially for the price. Glued some 3000, 5000, 7000 and 10000 grit sandpaper but the results aren't great; a piece of glass with 3M lapping paper will be a much better option but this will do for learningt he basics. Wet works much better than dry as particles are moved away from the work.

Setting lever, brass, came pretty rough out of the factory as this was a relatively cheap movement.

 

Attaching the part to a holder that goes in the tripod. Superglue works wonders here and afterwards just leave in acetone and it will dissolve nicely, cleaning the part too.

Result after; without magnification the scratechs can barely be seen. At this point the only way to remove them is to use diamantine powder, 1 or 0.5 microns so this is just the preparation for black polishing. Still this is a massive improvement.

 

 I'll eventually get a piece of glass, better lapping paper and diamantine powder is on the way, that should improve results but am happy with the results already.

First balance staff replacement

 Top pivot for Ronda RL 5111 17 jewel pin pallet bent, roller table not sitting flush either.

Tried to straighten the pivot using the Seitz pivot breaker; worked as intended. Pivot broke.

 

 Hairspring removed.

And the roller table too.

 

Next, removing the staff. Such little force was needed; only a few taps with the back of tweezers.

 

The balance disassambled. One bent and another broken pivot.

 Measuring the staff; there are three available staffs for this movement, one for incabloc and two for pin pallet. 0.01mm difference in pivot lengths between the two for pin pallet but the endshake doesn't seem adjustable. Is balance endshake adjustable? I thought it wasn't.

Replacement ordered; pack of 3. Cousins only had three in stock, more of the longer staff.

Making Liquid Shellac

 Shellac requires heat to manipulate and can be re-heated many times. However this is a slow, tedious process. Luckily it is dissolved by naptha and alcohol so it is possible to make a liquid form of shellac to use without requiring heat; just wait for the solvent to evaporate and the shellac will harden. A 1:4 ratio of shellac and solvent is needed and the solvent will need to be topped up regularly. This will allow time to manipulate anything that the shellac is on; it is possible to move jewels while mixture hasn't hardened yet.

 

Fixing a watch with a hammer; First time using the Staking Set

The movement

Had this Velona 1100 Compressor with an ETA 2409 that I purchased, it ran but there was way too much play in the barrel. This was a job for a staking set, which I didn't have at the time, so I just serviced the movement and let it sit.

Staking set

 

Enter a few weeks ago, a staking set! Managed to snag an almost complete Boley 173gN staking set, missing one stake and the stake handling cap, for a really price and in great condition.

When the set arrived the stake hole in the base was plugged, my first reaction was quite depressive and I thought I got scammed. Coming back after a break it turned out that it was indeed clogged but the clog could be removed; a couple of centimeters of sort of compressed leather were plugging the hole. A couple of hours patience and, surprisingly, quite some WD40 fixed that. The latter softened everything up and helped me understand what was going on; it was "disappearing"; soaking into the plug and making it softer. Remove some, rinse repeat, the set was back in business.

 

Hole too big

 
Sizing the hole

First, centering the plate. Someone in the past missed the mark but this is just cosmetic damage.

The bridge ready for a smackdown.

 

An unlikely ally appears.

Tap tap tap; and the hole is now too small, right as planned.

 

 

 A set of broaches, which I purchased for this project (and hopefully many more in the future).

And, rightsizing the hole. It takes such little pressure to increase the diameter of the hole again and it got too big again but there was still a slight improvement so I knew I was on the right track.

 

 

A few more rounds of hammer time and testing and the barrel could finally move freely without very little play.

 

 All in all this took about an hour, I'm sure that with practice it would take less time with better results but as a first try I think it went really well. No mishaps, nothing broke and there was a definite improvement in the barrel shake. All that remains is to re-service the movement.

Seitz jewelling tool - 1938

 

Managed to buy this 1938 Seitz tool complete from a retried French watchmaker, who probably purchased it used or inherited it. It wasn't cheap but such a rare and complete tool couldn't be. Doesn't have the micrometric screw from the newer version, and it takes 3mm stumps instead of 4mm like the new ones but I can replace jewels in rubbed in settings with it and such tools haven't been made in a very, very long time. A separate set for that would still be really expensive anyways, and from the US, which makes is much worse.

 

The pivot breaker works well too. One down.