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Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

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cheddar
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Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

Okay, so there seemed to be interest in the "I screwed up my nice new watch" thread for some additional information regarding my first breakdown/rebuild of a movement and how others might do the same, so here's a thread with some additional information (and updates on any additional movement breakdowns I do).

A few notes at the beginning. I don't pretend to be a watchmaker. I'm fascinated by the movements in my watches and did this so I could learn more about what makes them tick. My focus is on getting a movement back together that works -- not that's properly lubricated and won't need a service for another 5 years. That's why I bought a cheap movement for this. In time, I hope to learn about lubrication -- and my dream would someday to be able to service my own watches with basic mechanical movements, but that wasn't the goal of what I'm laying out here. What I learned, and what hopefully anyone else would learn, is a lot about the very basics of manipulating watch parts and how the mechanics of a basic watch movement work to make it tell the time.

Okay, so what do you need? Here are the minimum supplies I would get (bold is essential, others are highly recommended):

1) Precision screwdrivers: you're going to want at least a .8 to 1.4 range of screwdrivers. Esslinger has a bargain set; you can also find sets on Amazon and eBay. $5 -$10. If you're convinced you're going to do a lot of watch stuff, just spring for one of the better Horotec sets from Esslinger.

2) Tweezers: you can use steel tweezers, but I used brass and would recommend them. Brass is softer (won't scratch your parts, easier to grip parts, non-magnetic). Esslinger has them for $4.50 a pop; I would get either the 3 or the 5.

3) Pegwood. If you think you're going to do much watch-related stuff, add this to your order. Otherwise, just grab a few toothpicks.

4) Movement holder. I bought the Bergeon 4040-P, which is $25-30. If you're not sure how much watch-related stuff you're going to do, you can get a similar holder on eBay for $10.

5) Leather mat. Just a piece of leather to work on. Could get one at your local craft store for $5. I found it very useful for working on. Holds parts, but also firm enough when needing to apply pressure.

6) Loupe. Need at least a 4X. You can get a Bausch and Lomb, pretty good quality, for ~$10. Or get a cheaper one on eBay and Amazon. I would also get a 10X, if you can.

7) Loupe holder. Just a cheap wire holder off eBay or Amazon should be fine.

8) Light source. You'll want a lamp you can use to illuminate your work area.

9) Tray. Some sort of tray with sections so you can keep your parts sorted. Useful if it has a lid to protect. A small tackle box serves the purpose well.

10) Pliers. Nothing fancy, just something to use for the cannon pinion.

11) Finger cots. Esslinger, or I'm sure Amazon or eBay has options.

12) Hand levers. Could probably also use tweezers, but you may want some sort of hand-pulling tool if your movement is going to arrive with hands. Very optional.

13) Rodico. Could probably get by without it, but useful for a bit of cleanup and moreso as a tool to lift screws out, instead of tweezers, reducing the risk of sending them across the room.

Okay, so hopefully you already have many of those parts, and can assemble those you don't for less than $50.

Next, get a movement. I used, and would recommend, an ST36, based on the 6498. The 6497/6498 is frequently recommended for beginner breakdowns. These run between $25 and $30 on eBay, depending on the source. Note that there are a couple of design variants. The variant I used, which tracks the closest to the 6498 videos I used, looks like this:

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The other variants will have a different bridge arrangement (one has a middle bridge that spans the whole movement), so look carefully.

Once you have all the supplies, use the videos that begin with this one on YouTube from Welwyn Watches to guide you through the disassembly and reassembly process. I would recommend watching the videos once through before starting the process, then using them step-by-step as you disassemble/reassemble the watch, pausing as necessary.

A few notes from my own experience that may be helpful:

* The cannon pinion, one of the first steps, can be pretty resistant to removal. I tried a few techniques, but ultimately what worked best was taking a good grip with pliers and being careful to lift straight up (to avoid cracking the jewel). Keeping in mind, again, that my goal in this process was taking apart and reassambling a working watch movement, without necessarily keeping it cosmetically pristine. If I was actually servicing one of my watches I would find a less "brute-force" method.

* With the tweezers, less pressure is better than too much. If you grip a screw too softly, the worst thing that happens is it falls on your mat. If you grip it too tightly, it may fly across the room, never to be found again. It would be worth playing with a spare small screw (eyeglass or something) to get the hang of it a bit before taking apart the movement.

* With the screwdrivers, be sure to use the proper size and keep them upright. Very easy to damage the screw slots if you don't maintain the proper position and pressure.

* Be sure to keep all your parts categorized so you know what goes where for reassembly.

* Reassembly will take longer. Take your time and don't force anything. Use the loupe liberally to understand how a part needs to fit. Pay especial attention to the drive train as you disassemble, taking photos if you can, to understand which way the wheels sit and in what order they sit. You will be glad for this when you're trying to reassemble them. The biggest difficulty I had was getting the drive train wheels put in with the proper side up and getting the pinions to sit properly in the jewels when replacing the bridges. The 10x loupe was useful in checking this.

* Don't bother taking apart the mainspring barrel, as he does in the video. It will only cause additional difficulty, and you're not servicing the watch (yet).

* He does some lubrication, but as I mentioned before, that wasn't the focus for me in this exercise. I did notice it, and may return to lubricate at future time, but this first exercise was really focused on understanding how the various parts work together.

* I ran my parts through the ultrasonic cleaner, but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't. The cheap metal parts in the movement started suffering some rust/corrosion, even though I ran them through an isopropyl alcohol bath and dried them as quickly as possible. My understanding is these movements are designed to run a couple of years without cleaning or any lubrication, so I would just focus on the disassembly and reassembly at first.

That's about all I can think of for now, and should give you a good start if you're interested. I'll add anything else as I think of it, as well as any additional adventures in my own movement breakdowns. Good luck!
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

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Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

Following an initial USPS misdelivery, my next victim arrived today. [emoji3]

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Will probably give it a few wears over the next few weeks before taking it under the knife.

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This thing really is impressively spec’d for $115: sapphire, deployant, 2824, signed crown — pity about the name on the dial.

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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:02 pm Following an initial USPS misdelivery, my next victim arrived today. [emoji3]

Image

Will probably give it a few wears over the next few weeks before taking it under the knife.

Image

Image

This thing really is impressively spec’d for $115: sapphire, deployant, 2824, signed crown — pity about the name on the dial.

Image
Heads up when removing the second hand, both of mine left the hand tube on the second wheel.

Needed to remove the cannon pinion to remove the stuck tube off the second wheel.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

tjcdas wrote: Heads up when removing the second hand, both of mine left the hand tube on the second wheel.

Needed to remove the cannon pinion to remove the stuck tube off the second wheel.
Thanks for the heads up! Looks like the case is a press-fit, but I haven’t seen any notches. Do anything special to get it open? I have a tool that’s worked fine on similar cases I’m planning to use...
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:15 pm
tjcdas wrote: Heads up when removing the second hand, both of mine left the hand tube on the second wheel.

Needed to remove the cannon pinion to remove the stuck tube off the second wheel.
Thanks for the heads up! Looks like the case is a press-fit, but I haven’t seen any notches. Do anything special to get it open? I have a tool that’s worked fine on similar cases I’m planning to use...
Popped right open using the spot between the lugs the t-shaped opener worked better than the knife style opener.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:15 pm
tjcdas wrote: Heads up when removing the second hand, both of mine left the hand tube on the second wheel.

Needed to remove the cannon pinion to remove the stuck tube off the second wheel.
Thanks for the heads up! Looks like the case is a press-fit, but I haven’t seen any notches. Do anything special to get it open? I have a tool that’s worked fine on similar cases I’m planning to use...
Popped right open using the spot between the lugs the t-shaped opener worked better than the knife style opener.
Right on! I haven’t taken the strap off yet so I hadn’t checked out that spot.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:00 pm
tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:15 pm

Thanks for the heads up! Looks like the case is a press-fit, but I haven’t seen any notches. Do anything special to get it open? I have a tool that’s worked fine on similar cases I’m planning to use...
Popped right open using the spot between the lugs the t-shaped opener worked better than the knife style opener.
Right on! I haven’t taken the strap off yet so I hadn’t checked out that spot.
There is not a spot but between the lugs gives you the best location to get some leverage.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:00 pm
tjcdas wrote:
Popped right open using the spot between the lugs the t-shaped opener worked better than the knife style opener.
Right on! I haven’t taken the strap off yet so I hadn’t checked out that spot.
There is not a spot but between the lugs gives you the best location to get some leverage.
So I finally started disassembly last night. Case back popped right off like you said. But I tried to put it back on with my caseback press and ran into some issues. Did you encounter any difficulty replacing the caseback? Use a press? My largest die was just barely larger than the crystal, so I may just need to get a larger die.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:54 am
tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:00 pm
Right on! I haven’t taken the strap off yet so I hadn’t checked out that spot.
There is not a spot but between the lugs gives you the best location to get some leverage.
So I finally started disassembly last night. Case back popped right off like you said. But I tried to put it back on with my caseback press and ran into some issues. Did you encounter any difficulty replacing the caseback? Use a press? My largest die was just barely larger than the crystal, so I may just need to get a larger die.
I used a different case so I didn't put the old caseback back in. Can use a flat die and a cloth on the flat crystal?
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

Nice. 41mm case?
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:09 pmNice. 41mm case?
40mm from Mywatchcode/Greenstars on ebay $36 the finish was very good. The 41mm Black Bay style case has lug to lug of 51mm plus zero wrist wrap, the 40mm Explorer style case has lug to lug of 48.5mm, but the case sits higher.
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by tjcdas »

cheddar wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:54 am
tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:00 pm
Right on! I haven’t taken the strap off yet so I hadn’t checked out that spot.
There is not a spot but between the lugs gives you the best location to get some leverage.
So I finally started disassembly last night. Case back popped right off like you said. But I tried to put it back on with my caseback press and ran into some issues. Did you encounter any difficulty replacing the caseback? Use a press? My largest die was just barely larger than the crystal, so I may just need to get a larger die.
Did you get the case back on?

I was getting a pin bar tool out on my tool kit and saw both empty CK cases without movements and I was able to pop both back in one was tough.

Did you get your seconds hand off without any issues leaving the tube on the seconds wheel?
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Re: Taking apart (and re-assembling) your first movement, and related notes

Post by cheddar »

tjcdas wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:54 am
tjcdas wrote:
There is not a spot but between the lugs gives you the best location to get some leverage.
So I finally started disassembly last night. Case back popped right off like you said. But I tried to put it back on with my caseback press and ran into some issues. Did you encounter any difficulty replacing the caseback? Use a press? My largest die was just barely larger than the crystal, so I may just need to get a larger die.
Did you get the case back on?

I was getting a pin bar tool out on my tool kit and saw both empty CK cases without movements and I was able to pop both back in one was tough.

Did you get your seconds hand off without any issues leaving the tube on the seconds wheel?
I scotch taped the back to the case and put it under a movement “dome” for the time being — I plan to proceed with the disassembly sometime in the next weekend or two, and order some new dies from Amazon for my press, so this works temporarily. :-)

I’ll have to watch out for that seconds hand.
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