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Hi All I saw some amazing pictures sent to me in Facebook where a watchmaker has put a key-wind / key-set old fusee into a wristwatch case. He has made a near sliding door on the back crystal for winding, and the case has a hinged front crystal for setting. I'd love to try and do this with one of my really nice old pocket watch movements - but I've never seen a watch case with a hinged front crystal before. Does anyone know if such watch cases exist ? Dean Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is not a quartz movement, it is a balance wheel electronic using an ESA cal 9176 which I believe is derived from the 9154 as used in many "Swissonic" or "Dynatron" labelled watches. I can't speak for the 9176 as I've never had a play with one (they are really quite uncommon) but the 9154 is a really good piece of kit. It does use coils in its make up but they are reasonably robust. The movement its self can be stripped and serviced pretty much as any mechanical, except don't put the balance wheel assembly into the cleaner, it has magnets attached to it which will pick up all the magnetic swarf that has come out of previous movements (bitter experience) so just clean it separately in fresh cleaning solution. The circuitry in the 9154 is comprised of discrete components (basically a transistor, a capacitor, a diode (I think!!), and a resistor), no IC's in there at all so could be repairable. I rate these beasties quite highly as they seem to be reasonably tough, they run at a pleasingly smooth 28,800bph, and they're not too heavy on battery power. They are also quite happy with silver oxide batteries instead of the mercury cells they were originally designed to use. It's possible that there could be balance staff issues due to the increased mass of the balance due to the magnets but I have played with a few of these (and similar from Seiko) and not found any problems, maybe the shock protection is beefed up accordingly. I've got an Avia Swissonic and a Seiko EL-370 lined up for servicing so watch this space and I'll post up a walk through when I'm done.

Aloha All , Well the good news is that I finally got my swap-meet Bulova Accutron 2182 Deep Sea watch working and keeping good time . The other good news is that Man , did I learn a lot about Accutron movements using my original broken movement , 2 donor movements ,....1 working and 1 spare for another project to get it working , 2 pdf tech manuals...1 downloaded from some watch forum and 1 purchased on Ebay and downloaded , and Youtube videos . After getting the stem off and removing the movement I was able to press out the hefty acrylic crystal . The inner rotating brass bezel came out easily and cleaned up well . The crown and gear that turned the bezel was frozen in place with crud and a little rust . I kept it covered with penetrating oil for a few days with no results . Then I used some paste made of Alum and hot water for about 12 hours...I kept adding drops of hot water every few hours as the paste started to dry out . After putting the movement in my ultra sonic cleaner after the Alum , the gear and crown started to wiggle a bit . Next I soaked the gear in vinegar for about 12 hours and the gear and crown finally started to turn freely . I next installed the working donor movement , but either the crown and stem would not stay in , or the calendar would not work correctly . The coils on the tuning fork are magnetized and every tiny screw and spring would be drawn to the coils . If a part pinged off , especially the springs for the calendar indents ,....check the coils and 50% of the time they would be stuck there . I decided to put the project to rest for about a week and started to study the tech manuals I downloaded , I finally took the project watch out again and very meticulously lubed and installed the setting mechanism and calendar works using the tech manual as my guide . installed the movement into the case with the crystal and rotating bezel , and BINGO , it all came together....at last . I've attached a few pics showing various parts of the watch....

Sweetness!! :lol: This is something that actually repairable ... pretty much forever. Coils, if kept away from moisture, and excessive current, should last a very long time indeed. I watch an antique radio and TV restorer on youtube, and some of those coils are nearly 100 years old and still going strong. rogart63, you've really peak my interest in these watches mate ... there very well could be a purchase and service walkthrough in the future :p

Biggest issue with accutrons is coils, difficult to source them. However I have 12 currently and all run very well indeed, very robust in my experience. Movements will run for many decades if serviced correctly.

2+ to oldhippy. Glass Check the inside of the Glass for rub marks (angle it to the light to see the reflected surface of the Glass), this will indicate if one of the hands is coming in contact with the Glass. Wheels When inspecting the wheels, make sure you have a good light source, and while rotating them with your tweezers keep changing the angle to the light source. Every tooth should 'flick' the light back at you ... if a tooth is damaged you'll see a reflection difference compared with the other teeth. Jewels Use the highest magnification optics you have, and double check for chips, cracks and old oil scum that may have been missed by cleaning. Pivots Make sure you don't have a bent pivot on one of the wheels. Make sure they are also spotlessly clean. Cocks and Bridges Fit them without the wheels etc... and make sure they seat down flush with the Main Plate and that there is not a small burr or indent making them not seat properly. Also, if one is a very thin bridge, make sure there is not a bow in it. I have seen this on ETA 980.153 bridges. Centre Tube Make sure the Centre Tube is not bent. You can do this but watching the Hour Hands height from the Dial as you adjust the time with the Crown. If the hand is further away from the Dial on one side and lower on the other, you have a bent tube. There's a few fault finding steps to check out mate. Please let us know how you go.

Congratulations Jim how wonderful for you. Enjoy your retirement and make the most of it. :woohoo-jumping-smiley-emoticon:

So for future reference the links below have the information you need. Factory site with all sorts of information. http://www.incabloc.ch/en/pieces_rechanges.php http://www.incabloc.ch/images/cat/tableau-synoptique.gif In printed form I've seen two separate catalogs. The factory side has the smaller catalog and the link below the large book. So the book as been scanned in to a whole bunch of separate PDFs the first four have all of the cross reference material then listings of specific factories. http://www.phfactor.net/wtf/Incabloc%20By%20Factory%20Tech%20Sheets/

Congratulations and best wishes for the future from this tyro retiree. It's now time to unload and make safe! :) PS if your not too keen on the Black Label, I'll make you an offer. ;)

I want to thank Roger for helping me get my watch running. It was a great morale booster as I've recently been breaking more than fixing!

Thanks Marc, you never quite know what your going to get when you crack open unknown brand names...... I had a BFG 800, dead easy ..... 866... thinking cap on..... anyway, another method learnt.... and my mates watch is running again .... :)

"Twatted" and all serviced and running very nicely at the moment, Waiting to see how it manages with the extra torque at midnight with the day,date change. I must say though, if anyone takes on one of these movements, there is a fine line between free running and locked. Take care and the stake to use is as the link I put on earlier in this topic. Thanks for the interest..... :)