Time to reassemble our pocket watch after having taken it apart. I’ve cleaned the parts in cleaning fluid, and put them on tissue paper (not tissue, but the stuff that comes in shoe boxes where the shoes are wrapped in) and carefully dried them each. We are ready to roll!
I’m using a sharpened pegwood stick to clean all the jewels and holes
I will be using a clock oil for the slow moving parts, and a standard watch oil for the jewels and faster moving pinions
I start off with the setting mechanism on the bottom plate. Here, I used clock oil
The cover plate goes on, and we can turn the watch around
All the pinions are carefully cleaned with pegwood
The centre wheel goes in
From the other side, the cannon pinion goes over the centre wheel
I oil the jewel in the escapement wheel bridge as it’s not accessible from the top
The escapement wheel jewel in the plate is oiled, and all the wheels are placed in their jewels, then the escapement wheel bridge is put on. Before screwing down, make sure it turns freely
I put the wheel bridge on, make sure all the wheels sit properly in their jewels, and test with a pegwood stick before screwing down the wheel bridge
After the wheel bridge is screwed down, it’s oiling time
Holding the pallet fork with tissue paper, I clean the pallets and the shaft with pegwood. I did not put the pallet fork into the cleaning fluid as that will dissolve the glue that holds the pallets
The pallet bridge goes on – again, test if the pallets move freely before tightening the screws
Oiling the lower balance jewel
Now the balance wheel and balance cock go back into place. Again, I check that the balance is properly in place and moving freely before tightening the balance cock screw
I use some grease for the crown and castle wheels on the barrel bridge
I lightly oil the seat of the transmission wheel and the barrel wheel and put them back into place
Ready for the dial to go back on
I put the dial back on, tighten the two screws that hold it, and put the movement back in its case
The two case screws go back in
I carefully press down the second hand
Then the hour and minute hands
Glass and back are pushed on, the watch is wound, done!
Quite a nice movement – considering that this is an everyday USSR watch.
Any help on how to exactly install a balance wheel in to one of these that happens to be in a hunter style case? I am not too sure how to remove the mechanism from the case. It don’t match anything I can find on the net. The thing is I bought this as a gift and am trying to fix the disconnected balance wheel. It jumped out during transit. The watch is exquisite but that problem prevents it from working right. So, any help here? Should I take it to a jeweler?
Thanks
Hi Martin,
Sounds to me like the balance staff is broken. You won’t be able to see that, but one of the tiny pivots is probably broken off. Balances don’t “disconnect”, and they don’t jump out. But balance staffs break.
Best to take your watch to a watchmaker and to have it fixed.
christian i have been looking at Time to move over to the bottom plate – I take the cannon pinion off in that picture the winding wheel in your picture seems to be up over the plate a little the ones in my watches are about 2mm under the plate could they be the wrong wheels noel
In all four watches? Not very likely …
very good i have been looking for a site like this for a long time i have a lot of Russian watches some railway ones you site is the best site on the net well done happy xmass noel
I’m really enjoying your website. Very clean design, and a good picture-to-text ratio…
In case anybody is trying to follow your oiling procedure: I don’t think you mean that where it says “Now the pallet arm shaft jewels are oiled from both sides”. The picture actually shows the oiler on the balance jewel, and most people do not oil the pallet shaft jewels on watches. (Reason being it adds significant drag in a position of negligible friction.)
Thanks for pointing that out – I have corrected the wrong caption
Another excellent strip down and re-build. I have been looking at these on eBay. So many thanks for the heads-up.
hi i have 4 of those watches all with the same problem when i put them back together they won’t wind,press in the winder it turns the hands pull the winder out it doesn’t do anything the winder springs in and out what is wrong
Noel,
Sounds to me like you made the same mistake on all four watches, and didn’t put the keyless works back together in the right way. Take it apart again, and make sure you understand the role of each part, and test while you go along.
Christian
thanks for your reply i got the watches in that condition i bought them for repair to practice on i got the first one it had no winder i got the others and they had the problem i told you about, the clutch lever wasn’t in place i put it in the grove on the winding pinion but its the same as before, i have taken apart other watches no bother