Another one of Richard’s watches – a lovely Sekonda Alarm with a great dial. The crystal is quite scratched, but that’s not a problem, and the watch doesn’t work.
The Sekonda movement is pretty much an exact copy of the AS1930, used in various Swiss alarm watches, such as the Oris.
And here is the culprit – a badly deformed hairspring. I try to get hold of a new one, but that’s not that easy. After thinking about it and getting my courage up for a couple of days, I bite the bullet and start reshaping the hairspring.
The damaged hairspring. The damage is only on the outermost winding, so it shouldn’t be too hard to fix that. This is a microscope shot, and the background is a piece of pithwood.
To be able to get a better hold, I stick the balance on some rodico and start reshaping, using two very fine angled tweezers.
3/4 of an hour later, and having lost some weight, I have a good looking hairspring. The stud needed re-glueing as well, and I’ve done that with some super glue.
I try the reshaped hairspring, but the movement blocks every so often. Nothing for it, it wants taking apart. To reduce cost for my client, I only take apart the top plate and parts of the bottom plate.
The two mainsprings are still fine, and I leave them.
After having cleaned everything, I start reassembly.
Top plate back together.
The bottom plate back together, with the alarm tested.
With a new crystal, this is a fiendishly good looking alarm watch.
What can I do – I bought myself one on eBay as well 😉
Bought one of these in the early 90s it was my favourite watch and just went missing after a couple of years. Do miss it a little now I’ve seen it again. My watch had a slightly misaligned chapter ring.
Hi I have just stumbled on this article. I have one of these watches which I used at work, crystal scratched etc had a really rough life but kept good time however the crown for the alarm side has over the years become lost. Have you any idea where I might find a replacement. Fascinating article.
I have the same watch and have enjoyed reading your comments and observations. thank you davy
I just finished restoring one of these myself. The crystal was badly scratched, but I managed to restore that. The worst problem was the hairspring, which was misshapen by someone having moved the stud holder and regulator too far in opposite directions (to the point where the outer bend in the hairspring went through the regulator pins). Fortunately, I was able to reshape the hairspring. I wrote an article about the whole experience: http://www.stefanv.com/watches/restoring-a-russian-alarm-watch.html
Congrats for the hairspring reshaping. Quite a challenge on this one. Well done ! (especially considering the client’s tight budget)
It wasn’t so much a budgetary issue as one of common sense; although I love this watch and the pathetic little alarm noises it makes I wasn’t sure if I could justify the repair cost given how seldom I wear it and given I could buy an entire working watch with the same movement as spares / direct replacement for less cost.
Of course if you think about it like that then few (if any) of my watches would ever be worth servicing; the Seiko automatic I am wearing today is one of the most accurate mechanical watches I own, it looks cool and cost less than £60 new, but if it breaks I wouldn’t just buy another – I would get Christian to fix it for me because it is _my_ watch and not just a lump of steel and brass to be discarded if it fails.
My life would be a lot simpler – and cheaper – if I didn’t get attached to inanimate objects 🙂
I usually end up wanting watches that I’ve seen here as well, but I’ve put myself on a strict ‘no buying watches for at least 2 months’ policy for the moment. Seeing this watch and how beautiful it looks after this patient repair makes my resolve waver a bit…
“Must stay strong…”
Ha – usually it’s me buying stuff offa eBay having seen them on here!
It is a good looking watch; that and the fact I have the cool bracelet, box and original sales receipt for it made it worth the cost of I repair I think… although it isn’t ever going to be a big ticket item.
I’ve said it before, but you have a lot more patience than I do 😉