This ladies’ watch has the Swiss Bifora calibre 49 movement – not the smallest movement I have ever serviced, but not huge either…
The crystal has some internal stress marks, so polishing won’t get rid of these.
Nice little movement!Capped escape jewel (only at the top) and incabloc shock protection.
Just about fits the movement holder.
Ready for cleaning whilst I order a new mainspring.
The new mainspring gets some grease.
Having put together the top plate, on to the timegrapher it goes.
Doesn’t look too shabby considering the size of the movement.
The dial and hands go on. The case is 18k gold, and so are the hands.
Between my fingers to get an idea of the size of the movement.
I polished the crystal, but the stress marks are internal. Not easy to find a new one this shape …
Hi Christian,
It seems like you always clean the old mainspring, even though you tend to fit in a new one most of the time. May I ask if there a reason for this?
Cheers,
Steph.
Hi Steph,
I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that one day – well observed, you are the first!
The reason is that I don’t know if I will get the correct mainspring when I take the watch apart and clean it. Once I’ve done that, I order parts, and only when I have fitted the new mainspring and I know it works (decent amplitude, no banking) will I dispose of the old one. Cleaning it doesn’t cost me anything extra, and it gives me the warm feeling of still having a fitting mainspring that’s clean if I can’t get hold of a new one.
Ha – must have seen a hundred old mainsprings in Christian’s cleaning basket photos and never wondered about it for a moment 😉
Strange that the 18 carat gold case wasn’t fitted with a mineral or sapphire crystal, rather than acrylic.
Difficult shape to cut in glass maybe… looks like an odd profile as well.