(Cheap) Adventures in watch movement tinkering

Thirdfox

So a while back I posted up a deal for some cheap movements to tinker around with Tevise 801a (which I got from Gearbest - 2 for $28 delivered when they had a flash sale): https://www.gearbest.com/men-s-watches/pp_655844.html

Thread was this one: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057839796

The watches arrived a while ago and I finally had a chance to start my tinkering. I am creating this thread to post my experience (in case it's helpful to anyone) and also to catalogue my own adventures.

Now I haven't had any formal training in disassembly or reassembly of a watch so I was proceeding on the basis of "put it together in reverse of how you took it apart". I do have tools of the trade though (various tweezers, screwdrivers, watchmaker's loupe and miscellaneous watch tools).

First a photo of the watch itself:

20180317_141422 by Secondfox, on Flickr

For 14 dollars it's remarkable you get a functioning watch (nevermind I only needed the movement). The bracelet was fine, push pins and deployment far exceed their pricepoint (which I guess is $2-4). The bezel is spongy like a...well sponge and there is no lume to speak of I believe. The 3 parts in each link are riveted together and you're never going to be fooling anyone that you have a "Perlative chronometer" on your wrist

But hey - for 14 dollars you even get a signed crown, signed clasp and a fancy sticker on the autowinding rotor:

20180317_141114 by Secondfox, on Flickr

So - with my trusty bergeon spring bar tool 6767-s (I recommend anyone with watches to get this - I've tried cheaper Chinese ones and this is worth the money, even if you are not interested in watchmaking the tool is fantastic for people who wish to change straps/bracelets) the bracelet came off and I ran into my first problem... The caseback was a friction fit case and not screwed or threaded - simply put, the bloody thing wouldn't open!

(see the small lip at the 2 o'clock mark here)

Amateur watchmaker tip no.1 - do not point sharp objects towards oneself...
20180317_142602 by Secondfox, on Flickr

Case in point - I took a penknife and tried to fit the blade under indent in the lip of the case, the edge of the blade fit underneath the lip but slipped under pressure and stabbed my finger - 1st blood goes to the Tevise. Then I tried one of my screwdrivers underneath the lip, slipped and stabbed my palm (as seen above) - 2-0 Tevise. I hope by spilling my blood I can help others avoid the same mistakes . In the end the friction fit case was opened by taking the screwdriver, fitting it under the lip of the indent and using my watch hammer to gently hammer the screwdriver into the lip and slowly prising the case open. I could see that the caseback had an o-ring seal and from the strength needed to open the case I can imagine that the watch should be water resistant enough to withstand showers, if not swimming (the crown while not threaded also had an o-ring).



As I'm just starting off I had two modest goals - 1. practise removing hands and putting them back on; and 2. removing the autowinding mechanism and installing it again.

Goal 1:
20180317_152346 by Secondfox, on Flickr

This went smoothly enough - I had a watch hands tool like this (a cheap Chinese one):
http://blog.esslinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Hand-remove_step-2.jpg

And a hand applier like the one below:
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1xC9dJFXXXXbIXpXXq6xXFXXX4/2016-Wrist-Watch-Hand-Remover-Lifter-Metal-Repair-Tool-Watch-Hand-Remover-Pliers-Tool-Presser-Plunger.jpg

The hands came off easily using the tool and the plunger tool allowed easy insertion of the hands once you've used the tweezer to put them roughly in place. The trick with placing the hour hand is winding the crown until the date is just about to change - this is your 12pm and you can apply the hour hand at that point. You then wind the crown forward to any particular hour (1, 2, 3 etc.) and where the hour hand is exactly at the hour mark, that is where you insert the minute hand. The second hand can be placed at any point as it is independent of the minute and hour hand. The thing to watch out for here is not to push down on the hands too much as this can cause the hands to bend upwards which will result in the hands rubbing onto one another and stopping the whole mechanism. Amateur tip no.2 - the softly softly approach works wonders . As I had pushed down too hard on the plunger when reapplying my hands I had to remove the minute hand and ever so slightly bend it in the opposite direction. As we are dealing with small pieces of metal care should be taken when applying force of any kind as I can imagine the metal hands can kink/snap under too much force. As it is, my hands are now set correctly and the second hand no longer rubs against the minute hand. Goal 1 complete (and valuable lessons learnt).


Goal 2 - removal and installation of the autowinding mechanism

20180317_142548 by Secondfox, on Flickr

With the caseback finally removed one can see the movement in its plastic retainer - again this was friction fit but that's to be expected at this price. The rotor design is just a sticker on the rotor (again that's perfectly understandable and functionally it looks...fine). Taking my 1.4mm screwdriver (a 7 euro redroosteruk cheap set but I've an A*F set that I'm saving for nicer screws/movements as well as bergeon 1.4mm replacements when I need them - see here: http://redroosteruk.com/pair-quality-bergeon-screwdriver-blades-0-5mm-2mm-spares-repairs-screwdriver/ ) I removed the rotor.

Removing the plate I could finally see the autowinding bridge holding the winding mechanism in place - held in place by two screws. Undoing the first screw (with a 1.0mm screwdriver) I extract it using my tweezers. Undoing the second screw I thought I could just lift the bridge to expose the winding gears below... Amateur tip no.3 - read tip no.2 again and don't take shortcuts! Well suffice it to say the bridge and gears underneath exploded into my hands :pac: - instead of removing the second screw and gently lifting the bridge up I tried to take the shortcut and prise the bridge away from the mainplate. Thankfully I had disassembled the movement on a non-bouncy watch mat so the screw and gears didn't fly off into the aether. I managed to collect all the parts and because I didn't remove all the gears one by one I had to guess how they fit together and in what order.

After a few attempts and some trial and error all of the gears were installed in the right order. The rotor was reinstalled and after I disassembled it again to ensure I aligned the gears into the jewel bearings correctly I could finally see the autowinding mechanism winding up the mainspring correctly!

While the above is small potatoes for any amateur watchmaker I have to say that I'm rather proud of myself for not totally destroying the movement with my most minor of 1st step disassembly (or losing screws!)

I'll keep this thread updated as I delve further into the movement (the tongji 2650 automatic movement) and begin my disassembly of the keyless works/date mechanism. How long can the movement keep ticking? How much blood can I lose ?

So far the Tevise is still ticking and functional as a timekeeping device (though the front crystal has a slight crack due to the force needed to close up the friction fit case - had to use some pliers in the end to squeeze the case shut - I'm not too worried about this because in a higher end movement I can use my threaded caseback remover or screwdriver to remove the back - I doubt many average watches i.e. non-bottom of the barrel cheap watches use friction fit casebacks anymore).

I'll remember to take more photos next time - the explosion of the auto-winding mechanism got me into a fluster and it wasn't until I had everything reinstalled that I remembered that I ought to have taken photos - will make up for it next time!

Any questions or suggestions please feel free to ask/add - I always appreciate constructive advice