Something came along today

A month ago I had a new gas central heater installed. The tradies were a great bunch of guys and when they were doing the functional checks on the outlets one noticed a watch case on my dresser and said to his mate "Hey Scotty, he's one of your mob!". It turned out Scotty was a watch nerd too and told me about a Rolex he bought some years ago but didn't wear any more because the bracelet was broken and it kept stopping and he had to give it a few bangs or whacks to get it going again 😲.

This was my first hint that while Scotty might love watches, he didn't know too much about what makes them tick, or not tick in this case.

He asked if I'd be interested in taking a look at it to see if there could be anything done to fix the problems. I was OK with that and said just drop it in next time you're in the area.

That was quite a while ago and I thought he'd forgotten all about it until a call this morning and an excited visitor carrying a Rolex box a bit later.

So here's what he brought along,



a rather beaten up 16610.



The bracelet was broken, the case was marked with battle scars and the movement was stopped dead.

First step was to remove the bracelet, thank heavens for drilled lugs!



After cleaning the caseback with a clean brush it was into the case opener to get the back loosened.



The inside look OK, no water damage or other signs of corrosion and NO CRACKED ROTOR! The caseback has a prior service marking but unless it was done by Rolex the place and date are unknown.



Moving the rotor around exposes the balance assembly.



And you don't have to be blind Freddie to see the problem. One of the bridge screw has come adrift and lodged under the balance wheel.



With that carefully removed with my finest brass Dumont 4 tweezers the balance started again.

Looking around before the lid was closed I noticed some scuffing from the rotor which I suspect may be the reason for the first service.


And also evidence of "prior work".



Now that we know the reason Scotty had to bang his watch to make it go, the next step is to fix the bracelet.

Then remove the movement and clean the case and bracelet and possibly re-brush the bracelet. I'll leave that to see how it cleans up after a scrub and an ultrasonic bath.


Now to start preparing dinner for SWMBO, who is due home in a couple of hours.

PS: I wonder if he'll let me grind that snot blob odd the crystal 😁.

I reckon my Scotty could pull that singers arms off like wings from a fly.

But BOT.

Now all taken apart ready for cleaning.



Some great gunk here, but not the worst I've seen.



The case, caseback and bezel will all be given a thorough ultrasonic clean and then re-assembled.

And once again I must depart to prepare dinner for Ms Darlin' who'll be home soon.

Baked fillet of Rock Ling, Couscous with roasted vegetable/capsicum/sundried tomato and blanched sticks of zucchini.

No bullshit, here it is!

So where did I get to, ah yes, ready for cleaning.

All parts got scrubbed with an ultrasonic toothbrush and dish liquid, then some went into the ultrasonic bath (NOT THE BEZEL!)
The case shows signs of hard use and I'm not sure if I should do a mild re-brush or just leave it as is.



Nice to see all of the gunk gone. Compare it to the earlier shot of the same area.



The bezel was cleaned with sharp pegwood and an ultrasonic brush.



All parts nice and clean, almost like new.



Now all parts ready to go back together. Points to the person who can tell me what's missing in the pic below.



So now we are ticking away nicely on the timegrapher. Proper checking to be done later.



Next phase is the bracelet which was problematic due to the link pin being sheared off in the side links.

This is one side with the missing pin.



This is the other side link with the broken part still embedded.



Fixing this will be fun.

👍

Not surprising considering the marks on the movement. The owner didn't buy it new so who knows the history.