Service Glycine Vacuum / Felsa 4000N

IMG_2045Barry has sent us this interesting Glycine for a service having a hunch it might be an early model as it is marked “patent pending” on the case back.

The oscillating weight is not attached to the movement as you can hear it clanking around in the movement, but it ticks when manually wound.IMG_2047No doubt it also needs a service.IMG_2048Very interesting screw down crown, I have not seen this feature on later models.IMG_2049To get the movement out of the case I must remove the bezel ring.IMG_2052I have noticed on a lot of Vacuum watches tend to have discoloration around the dial; my guess is it comes from the rubber gasket. Between the dial and crystal.IMG_2054Expecting an ETA movement I’m pleasantly surprised to find a Felsa movement! And as expected the rotor post has broken off.IMG_2055I start by removing the auto winder bridge.IMG_2060Here you can see the gear train after I have removed the train bridge.IMG_2059The crown wheel is mounted on the underside of the train bridge.IMG_2111I have cleaned the movement and put the balance jewels back in palace to see that it moves freely.IMG_2110The barrel lid on this Felsa movement is pretty cool as it works both as barrel arbor, lid and ratchet wheel.IMG_2112The center wheel back in place under it’s own center wheel bridge.IMG_2113The crown wheel is back in place.IMG_2228Unfortunately the only way for us to get a new rotor post is to take it from a donor movement.IMG_2229The gear train is back in place and a new rotor post is fitted.IMG_2230The Felsa 4000N movement is well built and looks very nice.IMG_2115Performance is acceptable for a 50 + year old watch:)IMG_2231The rotor is back in place on the movement and is ready to be cased.IMG_2248Movement back in case with a new crystal looking very nice! I’m curious when this watch was made as it has the unusual crown and a Felsa movement.

15 thoughts on “Service Glycine Vacuum / Felsa 4000N

  1. Did you relace the crystal with a correct glass one? I am in need of one for my Glycine vacuum. Same case as yours but mine has a gold bezel.Thank you

  2. Hi, thanks for that walkthrough. I’ve one of these minus an oscillating weight – any idea if they’re specific to the 4000n or can one be swapped in from another felsa?

  3. Very good description of work undertaken, thank you. I have an Allaine watch with a 4000N end movement. Could you tell me how the rotor is actually connected to the post please. Much appreciated.

  4. Great blog as always.

    You noted that the dial was quite discoloured. Is there no way to clean or refurbish dials? I’ve noticed this on a few other watches too.

  5. Very cool to see this watch! As you know, I like Glycines,with the Vacuum models being some of my favorites … any way to show a shot of the case back stating “Patent pending”?

    With a Felsa movement, this is no doubt a very early model …

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