Service: Junghans J83/E Automatic

Just to break the spell of Omegas, it’s a lovely Junghans watch today. I am of course quite partial to Junghans watches, which has probably to do with the fact that I’m German 😉

It doesn’t get much classier than this. Not to forget that Junghans makes (made) their own movements. Nowadays, they also use standard fare, but in happier days, they made their own.

You can see that many people have tried to open the back, and few with success 😉 Lots of marks where tools have slipped.There is a tiny little slot, and you need a loupe to find it. It’s right across from the crown.

The rotor weight is cracked in the middle.

Great little movement, with a very good auto winder gear assembly.

Under the rotor post, the central second arbor has a magnetic suspension. Quite clever, that always keeps the arbor in one position, pulled towards the back.

Here in detail: You can see the little brass bush-like looking thing – that’s the magnet, and held in it is the second hand arbor. The magnet goes into the wheel bridge, and is held by a concave brass plate, which holds the magnet down. A lot better than the usual brass spring suspension.

The bottom plate is more or less standard.

A fairly complex movement, considering there is no date ring.

I start with the broken rotor weight, which I’m going to glue with a special two component epoxy metal glue.

Glued and back in position. Gotta clean the glue off my bench quickly before it sets!

A new day, a new mainspring.

Barrel and wheel bridge in place, and the pallet fork mounted.

All clean and lovely, and ticking!

Now for the bottom plate… there were two dial washers on the hour wheel, and I will put both back, as I’m sure there was a reason, e.g. the dial being a tad higher, and I don’t want the hour wheel to ride up.

The dial and hands go on, and they are beautiful. I have carefully cleaned and dirt from the dial with a piece of pegwood, and lightly polished the hands.

Back in the case.

The beat error of 0.6ms is fine, as you can only adjust it on the collet. This is about as close as it gets. The mainspring isn’t fully wound, so the amplitude is fine, and we have a steady beat rate.

What a beauty. Only beaten by the Junghans with the Max Bill designed dial. And, if you hold out for a bit, that one is coming up soon – it’s already taken apart on my bench.

3 thoughts on “Service: Junghans J83/E Automatic

  1. I thought magnets & movements didn’t mix, although as it is so small, there are likely stronger magnetic fields from external sources, such as electrical appliances that surround us.

    • It has occurred to me recently that with the already common non-ferrous movements and with fiberglass main and balance springs coming along that magnetic bearings in watches might become common… had a bit of a google about and couldn’t find anything about this, but it seems likely 🙂

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