Teardown + Service: Bao Xuan / Jieyang watch factory – SN2 movement

Another watch with a bit of history … It all started off with saskwatch at watchuseek.com giving away this watch in a competition. I wasn’t even close, but Guan won the watch and I threw in a service.

The watch reached me yesterday, sent by Jon from Canada. And I couldn’t wait to take it apart and have a look!


I am writing this post with my new born daughter Ruby asleep in my lap. She was born at 0:21 this morning. And she is of course gorgeous!

The Bao Xuan has 17 jewels, and a quite minimalist movement – the SN2. My guess here is that it was made for the Chinese market, with a keen eye on production cost. The movement sits between two sheet metal plates that have a minimum amount of machining done to them.

Nice dial, reminding me very much of the double rhomb

The watch is in incredibly good state. No scratches, no dirt

First look inside - you can see the bridge made from a piece of sheet metal

Balance and escapement wheel have capped jewels. The movement is as new - the screws show no sign of ever having been opened, no dirt, incredible state

Couple of things to observe here: the amplitude is quite feeble, and there are a lot of erratic beats outside the pattern. A bit slow, but that doesn't matter. There is also a bit of a wave in the pattern

Lovely dial in great nick - no scratches, no dirt

As usual, the hands come off first

Then I take the dial off and keep it wrapped in watch paper in a safe place

The balance cock is a hollow construction made from sheet metal. The hairspring is pegged and you can't adjust the beat error without re-pegging it

The movement is in immaculate state - just a bit dry

The wheel bridge serves as barrel lid as well. The barrel has two wheels, one drives the second wheel (not a centre wheel), and the other drives the cannon pinion directly - this is a cheap and efficient way to have a central second. The two barrel wheels have a friction clutch between them which allows the setting of the watch

A closer look at the wheel train

The bottom plate with the cannon pinion still in place

Not an awful lot of parts - a minimalist movement, but one up from the pin lever no jewels type

After very little cleaning, time to reassemble and oil

The capped jewels are oiled before the bridge is mounted, and the open jewels afterwards. I'm using Moebius 9010 here, just because I can and to double the value of the watch 😉

And the top plate is back together again - and the balance wheel is turning

Just to get rid of any dust, I give the dial a quick brush

The hands get a quick wipe with a polishing cloth and go back on

And back together. This is a great piece for a collection as it's in super condition

The amplitude is quite a bit better, there is a small beat error that I will not attempt to fix as I will end up with a hairspring wrapped around my neck, and there is a bit of a wave - this could be the third wheel being a bit wonky, or it's just because this isn't a marine chronometer 😉 But you can tell that the watch needed some oil if you compare the before and after timegrapher image

Jon was even kind enough to supply a new watch strap, so I put that on and the watch is ready for shipping! And yes, it's 16 past 10, and my daughter will be born in 2 hours - better get my skates on and help the wife (we are having a home birth)

Escapement wheel

Pallet fork

 

Balance and hairspring

 

 

8 thoughts on “Teardown + Service: Bao Xuan / Jieyang watch factory – SN2 movement

  1. Very helpful information and excellent breakdown photos of the watch……..I won’t be bidding on one any time soon after seeing your blog…..Thanks Bridget

  2. hello i got one of these watchers.i dont know if they r worth anything i can.t find info on there.im i trying to find out about ut so if ypu .got any info.on them plz

  3. hi I have the very same watch it was very interesting to hear your thought on thit watch and would like to know if its of any value I bought this watch in the south wales valley in a boot sale for £5.00 hope its worth a bit more now haha thankyou.

  4. Pingback: Teardown and Service - Bao Xuan

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