Waltham 65 (jewels)

[rjenkinsgb]

Hi all,

this is one of the movements I posted in the "What do you have coming in the post" thread, a few days ago.

It arrived today, with the case/movement, crystal & dial all together in the same bag.

Through some miracle, that does not appear to have caused any further damage! I could see from the ebay listing that the hour wheel was not on the movement - but the hour had was still on the dial with the hour wheel attached.

 

It looks generally good, though the centre seconds staff is broken. It tries to run but not very well, possibly due to the broken staff binding, or just dried oil & dirt.

Other than the hands, it appears everything is there, including the crystal which has quite a heavy brass inner ring, and a quite decent dial.

Even the case looks good (other than the dirt) with no sign of the base metal showing through anywhere. That has "W36" scratched on the back of a strap lug?

 

The basic movement is apparently an AS1580, with Waltham mods. The automatic weight has a flange studded with jewels on both sides - 24 positions, so either 24 or possibly up to 48 jewels in the rotor, as guide bearings between the two parts of a split, pressed-together movement ring. The jewel positions are not staggered side to side, but no way of knowing if it's a single jewel or two thinner ones in each position - or a mix.

I've not stripped it down any further than in the photos so far, other than taking the front half movement ring off, which was held by the case clamps of the core movement.

I may get to it later in the week, depending on other work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gpraceman]

Geez, 65 jewels.  Hadn't seen that type of jewel arrangement before on the rotor.

[AndyGSi]

10 minutes ago, gpraceman said:

Geez, 65 jewels.  Hadn't seen that type of jewel arrangement before on the rotor.

They also did a 100 jewel version.

I think it was mid 50s that things changed and they could only declare functional jewels.

[rjenkinsgb]

Although it's obviously a bit of a gimmick having so many jewels in the rotor, I don't see how it can be claimed that they have no function - they limit the end float or twist on the rotor. I think it's safe to say it will never get the wear and scarring seen on some auto movement mainplates  as the rotor bearing wears over time!

 

OK, I have to confess, it got to me - I stripped it down yesterday evening....

The mainplate is marked AS1700, which according to the 17jewels site is pretty much the same as the AS1580 mentioned in another article on this watch.

(The movement itself is a seventeen jewel type).

It has an unusual auto wind system, at least from my experience so far.

That feeds a gear train to a wheel below the barrel, containing a centre ratchet which engages the underside of the barrel.

 

Main movement parts, with the mainplate there just for the photo.

 

Auto section parts (+ misc bits):

[gpraceman]

Regardless, that's a pretty novel movement.