Service Eterna calibre 1416U

Eterna 1416 UAnother great watch from my favourite brand! This time it is a calibre 1416 U.

This Eterna is not ticking and hopefully only needs a service to get going again.

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Besides being dirty the movement looks to be in good condition.Eterna 1416URemoving the oscillating weight you can see that the grease inside the reverser wheels has solidified in to a green paste.IMG_2137Here you can see the auto winder gears.IMG_2138With auto winder assembly removed you can appreciate the high build quality of the 50’s Eterna with nice perlage decoration on the bridge and my favorite under the regulator on the balance cock.IMG_2140The dial in good condition with no scratches.IMG_2142The set lever spring is broken and will need to be replaced.IMG_2169Here the balance is removed.IMG_2170Here the train bridge is removed showing the geair train.IMG_2171Only the barrel and intermediate wheel left on the base plate.IMG_2172Old mainspring is extremely dirtyIMG_2143I gently clean the dial and apply new varnish, as the browning does not appeal to me.IMG_2176All the parts clean and nice ready to be put back together. On the photo you see I have a new mainspring, but when assembled the watch had to much power and was banking.IMG_2399To sort out the banking problem I clean and reuse the old mainspring as it still has plenty life left.IMG_2178I test that the balance moves freelyIMG_2171Barrel and intermediate wheel back in placeIMG_2383Gear train and bridge back in place.IMG_2384Pallet back in placeIMG_2404Movement is back together and ticking happily.IMG_2403What more do you want from a more than 50 + year old watch;)IMG_2426Movement back in the caseIMG_2428Last but not least the oscillating weight.Eterna calibre 1416 UThis is one of the most successful dial cleans I have preformed and the watch looks great!

8 thoughts on “Service Eterna calibre 1416U

  1. Beautiful transformation 🙂 Is it a problem that the regulator on the balance bridge is moved all the way to the – (minus) indication?

  2. the movement looks lovely! It always makes me worry about the future when you cannot use a modern new mainspring – if the old mainspring was US did you have a plan B? Also, are you ever tempted to remove the dial furniture before revarnishing as I’m assuming that’s how the original finish would be applied; I can see that the effort would be vastly increased but would the results be worthwhile?

    • I could try a thinner mainspring, but since the original spring looked pretty good I decided to go with that;) Well removing the dial furniture is risky as you need to re-rivet. The varnish on the batton’s can always be removed with peg wood when fresh. If the varnish is applied evenly it actually will protect it a little against the elements.

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