British Horological Institute Short Courses - Service and Repair of Quartz Watches
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27-01-2024 7:52pm#1
Hi All,
Back yet again from another BHI course, this time was servicing and correcting faults in Quartz watches with John Murphy.
Links to my previous courses
-Service and Repair of Manual Winding Watches
-Service and Repair of Automatic Watches
I left earlier than normal on the Sunday morning to make the journey up to Newark, which turned out to be a wise decision. Due to strong winds and rain , many train services were disrupted or cancelled. Taking the LNER Azuma from Kings cross, made my way up north. Settled in for the evening, looking forward to the week ahead.
A short taxi ride in the morning sunrise out to Upton, I was soon back at the BHI! Wearing an appropriate watch for the week, ETA Quartz chronograph
Made my way to the front door where I was greeted with a familiar face, our Tutor for the week, John Murphy was busy setting up the classroom for the week. After the health and safety was completed, we were given time to set up in our rooms, I always wondered , how many watchmakers passed through these rooms, slept in these beds?
We made our way into the workshop and got straight to work.
Six of us in total, few already known each other from previous courses, travelling as far as Korea to be here for the valuable and getting harder to get watchmaking education. The first watch we will be working on is the popular ETA 955.112
Before the disassembling began, we started by doing an electrical test to test the functions of the movement along with getting base line readings which we could compare after the service was completed.
Different equipment is used in Quartz watches than the normal timegraphers I'm used to for mechanical watches, Witschi Analyzer Q1 is the newest out of the testers that I used first.
Things we would be looking for in our test: Battery Voltage under load, Coil (Resistance),Consumption (Stem in) , Consumption (Stem out), Lower Working Voltage, Rate of Module and to check the end of life operation. Throughout the week, John pointed out the things that would be part of the DLC exam and this was one of the things required for the exam
After we got our results, the dissemble began,
Removing the movement from the case
Removal of the hands
With the dial and hands off, the rest of the movement can be stripped down ready to go into the cleaning machine to remove any oils and dirt
Removing the calendar and keyless works
Removing the electric module and gear train
Putting some of the parts in a jar of essence of renata helped remove some of the oils helping the cleaning fluids in the cleaning machine. Left on a piece of paper to dry before all the components are placed into baskets to go into the cleaning machine.
As quickly as the day had begun, our first lesson came to a close
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After having breakfast, we headed back into the workshop to begin the resemble of our ETA 955.112
With John guiding us step by step, the movement started to come together
The various oils and grease that are used to lubricate the movement, Quartz watches requiring less amounts of oils compared to mechanical watches
The fitting of the magnetic rotor along with the gear train was the most changeling part, the rotor constantly jumping out of place, when trying to fit the gear train bridge, it required a small prayer that the rotor didn't move put of the pivot hole
Once all the pivots were lined up, using my plastic probe to keep the bridge from moving, I quickly secured the screw and took a sigh of relief
The electronic module and coil was refitted
It was time to flip the movement over to fit the keyless and calendar works
After the movement was put back together, we did another electrical test to check the operation before fitting the dial and hands the next day.
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At the end of each day, we would all meet up at the Cross Keys pub just down the road to reflect on the days lesson, talk watches and other interests. Two years ago, on one of the walks down to the pub, John said to get my ass over here to become a watchmaker..... and so I did!
I do believe... careers are made at the Cross Keys!
Some of the fantastic food we enjoyed throughout the week!
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Already into day 3 of the course, after a windy night, the old windows rattling, making me think of the ghost stories John told us about the lady of Upton hall, we made our way into the workshop to start refitting the dial and hands and a new winding stem.
Using a special hand fitting tool, the hands were fitted to the watch, starting by finding midnight for the date change, then the hour, minute and seconds hands were fitted, carefully checking the spacing
Once John gave the approval that everything was correctly fitted, the stem was once again removed in order to case up the movement. After giving John our old stems, we were tasked with measuring, cutting and filing our new stems to the correct length, crown close up to the case. The stems are much tinner than the ones I normally use in a mechanical watch, taking extra care not to snap it while filing.
Checking the Technical data from ETA to make sure we had the correct battery, we fitted a new battery and completed another electrical test
With the tests looking good, the caseback was fitted and placed in a dry tester to make sure the case was water resistant
The watch was set to the correct time and date and placed to one side as we began our next watch, Harley Rhonda 1019
Used to be said " Harley worth repairing" due to the not watchmaker friendly design, we once again started with an electrical test. This time I got to use a different machine, Witschi New Tech Handy which was once used in the former watchmaking school in Manchester that sadly along with so many others is no longer there
The rodico used to keep the watch flat with the curved crystal, by looking through the mirror underneath, when testing the end of life operation/ lower operation voltage we can see the seconds hand move around at different speeds or stop.
Having access to all this quartz equipment, I took full advantage and brought my Seiko Alarm Quartz long to try and find out why it kept stopping
Getting John to take a look, thankfully the electrical module and coil was okay, the gear train is most likely the issue with dirt/ old oil causing the consumption to increase, a service is all that is needed, something I should be able to do myself by the end of the week!
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Getting back to the Ronda, once the results were in from the electrical tests, we once again like a band of brothers we had become over the last couple of days, put our heads down on our green bench mats and got to work removing the movement from the case, taking the dial and hands off and stripping the movement down
Having difficulty removing the date jumper spring for the calendar works, it soon came free with the assistance of John and I could continue with the disassembly.
Like before, all the components, apart from the electrical were placed into baskets into the cleaning machine, nice and clean ready for the next day to be refitted and oiled, hopefully all working again!
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One of the students had brought along an Omega Tuning fork watch which became the most talked about thing for the rest of the week, the whole class now spending the afternoon on auction sites, looking at getting one of these amazing movements!
Incredible how they were able to make these things back in the 1960s, in this picture we can see that the pawls are bent, not engaging correctly with the index wheel
Looking upstairs, John managed to find old Omega/Tissot service manuals for Tuning fork movements, like gold dust today!
Omega Servicing guides
Old overhead projector slides with illustrations of the functions of the pawls on the index wheel
Extremely rare to find, like a kid in a toy shop, I could of spent the whole day looking through the many guides
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Thursday morning, I sat drinking my tea, looking through a book on the former Irish watchmaking school in Blanchardstown, hoping someday it will reopen so more people can experience this amazing journey I've been so fortunate to experience. Tea and breakfast had, it was back to the Rhonda at the bench and see if it was actually worth repairing!
Like before, we started by fitting the keyless works
Refitting the wheels, despite having more pivots to line up, the geartrain bridge was actually easier to refit compared to the ETA, which was a relief to us all!
Movement flipped over, fitting the calendar works
Carefully refitting the date jumper spring, testing the calendar functions, I could now fit the dial and hands back on to the movement
Making sure the dial and glass is free from dust and finger prints, just like I do everyday at Bremont, I do my final checks before casing up the watch for the final time and run the electrical tests using the same tester before to get consistent results.
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With great sadness, we headed down to the Cross Keys for the last supper and began the final day of the course.
All of us couldn't believe how fast the last few days had gone by, travelling from all over, we were brought together because of our shared passion.
John gave us another ETA 955 Quartz based watch for us to try by ourselves, following the same steps as the previous two.
One of the most important things to make sure after putting all that hard work into servicing the movement is that the case is water resistant. We all got to use the dry tester, using a case with the movement removed, John demonstrated how to use the water tester
Packing up our benches for the last time, we heard stories from John of his career, starting in a small jewelers in Northern Ireland, going to school in Birmingham then making his way to Switzerland to the WOSTEP school in Neuchâtel finally getting into teaching... a path I hope I can someday follow.
With the course finished, we were given a tour around the building to the museum and library.... could of spent all day looking at the many books!
Going into the clock workshop, one of the students, originally from Galway, now living in Oxford, just up the road from me in Henley, reminds me just how small this world can be! Looking at the many lathes and drills, gave me ideas for my next courses.
Examples of student pieces from the DLC exams
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Sitting here, looking back on the week, cannot believe how fast it went, even the last two years have passed since my watchmaking journey all began with that walk to the Cross Keys! A lot of people in this hobby look down on quartz watches, but after spending the last week working on three different movements, learning how they work, I think they deserve to be collected and enjoyed just as much as any mechanical watch.
Another huge Thank You to the tutor, John Murphy. I owe the beginning of my career to him, encouraging me to follow my passion and take the leap in making the move to becoming a watchmaker.
Made some lifelong friends during the week, we all came away from the course, smiling, excited to see where we all go next.
Thanks all on here too for the continued support and having to injure all these posts!
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