- Posts
- 3,070
- Likes
- 3,533
Stewart H
·As a wedding present, 50 years ago this summer, my uncle's wife gave him a pair of Omega stopwatches - like all of the males in our family he is a motor sport nut. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago they were burgled and as the house was tossed, the drawer in which they were kept was thrown around. One of the stop watches was stolen but the other one flew under the bed and was missed by the low-life.
With the golden anniversary coming up, my uncle asked me to have a look at the remaining watch to see if I could get it working again.
It didn't look too good when I got it - the mainspring was fully wound and no amount of gentle shaking would coax it into life. Also, the pusher wouldn't push at all, so the hands were stopped where they were when the watch packed up a good 30 years ago.
Things didn't get any better as the post on which the second hand sits came away with the hand. This post is part of the heart (like the heart on a chronograph runner) and it turns out that the minute recording heart broke as soon as I released its spring.
Having removed the watch workings to avoid any damage to them, I set about seeing why the chronograph parts wouldn't move and as soon as I removed the plate covering the column wheel, it became apparant.
The 50 year old grease had set like concrete - it had never been serviced so I was surprised to see how much grease Lemania/Omega had used.
Here is a closer view of the horror:
Needless to say, this little lot took a long time in the cleaning machine to remove and fortunately the hearts were available from Cousins. So now, having rebuilt it and adjusted the lower balance jewel to get the balance to move at all, I have now adjusted the timing and it is running down from a full wind before it gets its dial, hands and case back.
As an amateur, I always check on the availability of parts before I start and I'm glad that those hearts were available otherwise this one would have been junk. I'm looking forward to seeing my uncle's reaction when I give it back to him.
With the golden anniversary coming up, my uncle asked me to have a look at the remaining watch to see if I could get it working again.
It didn't look too good when I got it - the mainspring was fully wound and no amount of gentle shaking would coax it into life. Also, the pusher wouldn't push at all, so the hands were stopped where they were when the watch packed up a good 30 years ago.
Things didn't get any better as the post on which the second hand sits came away with the hand. This post is part of the heart (like the heart on a chronograph runner) and it turns out that the minute recording heart broke as soon as I released its spring.
Having removed the watch workings to avoid any damage to them, I set about seeing why the chronograph parts wouldn't move and as soon as I removed the plate covering the column wheel, it became apparant.
The 50 year old grease had set like concrete - it had never been serviced so I was surprised to see how much grease Lemania/Omega had used.
Here is a closer view of the horror:
Needless to say, this little lot took a long time in the cleaning machine to remove and fortunately the hearts were available from Cousins. So now, having rebuilt it and adjusted the lower balance jewel to get the balance to move at all, I have now adjusted the timing and it is running down from a full wind before it gets its dial, hands and case back.
As an amateur, I always check on the availability of parts before I start and I'm glad that those hearts were available otherwise this one would have been junk. I'm looking forward to seeing my uncle's reaction when I give it back to him.
Edited:
