Jason from Germany sent in two watches, and the first one I’m servicing is his Glashuette. It’s post-reunification, so it has an ETA movement, and not a GUB. Not a bad thing 😉
If you look closely, you can see that the inside of the crystal is hazy. An odd thing to happen with a pretty watertight diver’s watch, and you wonder if that was caused by overheating (oil fumes) or fumes coming off the dial paint or lume.
A lot of dirt on the pendant tube thread, but that’s usual.
The hazy coat on the inside of the crystal comes off easily.
And I start off with the bottom plate.
A quick look at the timegrapher – a bit of a beat error, a very low amplitude, and the movement is too slow. Definitely time for a service!
The parts of the keyless works.
Now it’s time for the top plate. Balance removed, and the gear train is next.
The old mainspring is a bit tired.
Everything goes into the cleaning machine.
As usual, I start off with the balance jewels, which I oil and assemble under the microscope.
The gear train is back in place and oiled.
The balance goes in, and the movement starts ticking.
Now that looks a lot better! These ETA 2824s are great performers, very reliable, very accurate, and I like them a lot.
The bottom plate goes back in.
Dial and hands are on, and I’m ready for casing.
I case the movement without the auto winder.
Then I oil and put together the auto winder.
And everything is complete with a new gasket.
Having put everything back together, I notice that the hacking second feature doesn’t work. And, looking back at the photos, I notice that the stop lever never was there… Not a problem, I’ve got the missing lever in stock.
The missing lever is put in place, and I can put the movement back together.
A simple, and beautiful watch.
Nice service job, and cool watch. Sub-like, but not a copycat.
I love ETA 2824s, also!
Nice article Christian.
Would you please advise me your expert opinion:
I have an automatic watch with ETA-2824 movement. When it gets powered down completely, sometimes it is easy to manually wind while sometimes it is harder to wind. Apart from this issue, the watch performs extremely well. Keeps accurate time, good power reserve etc.
Since I care for my watch (emotionally love it), I get very worried whether the watch is fine or something is not right with the watch.
Have you come across such as issue previously? Any advice? Thanking you in advance.
Sounds to me like this could be the pendant tube gasket, but it’s impossible to tell without having the watch in hand.
Thank you Christian, for your prompt reply. Greatly appreciated.
Hi I am working on one of these currently and it has sever beat error far more than can be adjusted with the balance cock. I need to move the collet a bit. but it appears that the collet the hairspring is attached to is in the shape if a four leaf clover and not the standard round type with a slot. This one has no slot Have you ever put one of these movements in beat before and if so did you find some sort of special tool?
Sincerely,
Jim
I never had to move the collet on one of those, and my guess is that something is wrong with your balance. As the balance is relatively cheap, I suggest to just replace it.
Best regards,
Christian
Is it me, or do the hands not suit the style of watch face.
A beautiful watch!
A very nice watch! Wonder where the hacking lever has gone?
My guess is that it’s on the floor of another watchmaker’s workshop 😉