Datum De Luxe Watch - second round of practice

[neevo]

This is my second watch I’m having a go at. It was in a box from my father in laws deceased estate and I thought about selling it on eBay, but it didn’t sell, so now going to have a go at servicing it and generally tidying it up.

It doesn’t run but if you wiggle it it wants to run. So my guess is it’s all gummed up as it’s likely never had a service in it’s life.

I’ve been pulling it apart and taking lots of photos. It all makes sense apart from the keyless works which I’ll have to really think about before putting it all back together.

I have it sitting here ready to put through the US cleaner and I’ve pegged all the jewels in preparation, plus the end stones. I even took out my first ever mainspring which was super exciting.

Heres where I made my first mistake though. I was being super careful taking all the springs out, making sure I put my plastic pointed stick on them so they didn’t ping across the garage. However the click spring, despite being held down, just vanished as I undid it. I’ll keep looking for it but I’m not hopeful. It’ll be such a shame to junk the watch because I can’t find a new spring (eBay didn’t bring up any options). But at least I can proceed to putting the movement back together and test it without the spring. For the last spring in the keyless works I decided to use rodico to stop any disasters which seemed to be much safer.

If I can’t find a replacement spring, I’ll likely buy some suitable sized piano wire and make one. I’ve made plenty in the past in my machine shop but never anything this small, but at least this stuff you can likely bend to shape with hand tools and not the lathe like I’ve done before.

Edited December 29, 2024 by neevo

[tomh207]

It is also worth getting an assortment of click springs from a material house, usually 100 springs for £2 or $4 AUD. if you don’t find the exact one you might be able to modify one that’s close. If all else fails you have springs to practice your tweezer technique that it really doesn’t matter if you ping them off into the watchmaker dimension.

 

Tom

[AndyGSi]

1 hour ago, neevo said:

I can’t find a new spring (eBay didn’t bring up any options)

What's the movement?

[neevo]

1 hour ago, tomh207 said:

It is also worth getting an assortment of click springs from a material house, usually 100 springs for £2 or $4 AUD. if you don’t find the exact one you might be able to modify one that’s close. If all else fails you have springs to practice your tweezer technique that it really doesn’t matter if you ping them off into the watchmaker dimension.

 

Tom

Any recommendations for places in Oz?

1 hour ago, AndyGSi said:

What's the movement?

I have literally no idea. Can’t see any markings at all:

[tomh207]

Can you get a better photo of where the balance goes specifically? There looks to be a makers mark there along with maybe numbers but is not clear in the picture.

I believe I have heard of a material house in Brisbane, maybe some of our Oz members know of some, quite a few here these days.

otherwise cousinsuk is a good bet though you might want to combine a few items to justify the postage.  Unfortunately you’ll be waiting a bit with the ungodly delay that Oz post seems to insert into every delivery.

 

Tom

[neevo]

Sure. Let me grab a photo in the morning. I had a look and I believe the spring is just a simple u shape. So I might grab some music wire and make one if I can find the correct diameter.

[RichardHarris123]

23 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

Can you get a better photo of where the balance goes specifically? There looks to be a makers mark there along with maybe numbers but is not clear in the picture.

Definitely there, can't quite make it out. 

Eta 95?

[CYCLOPS]

definitely an Ebauche SA mark, the setting bridge favors several of the makers under the mark...

[neevo]

Here’s the mark:

[RichardHarris123]

FHF/ standard time 96

[neevo]

41 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

FHF/ standard time 96

Thanks. I did some googling and found this. At least that helps me understand the shape I need to make or the part I need to find:

 

eBay has some options so at least I can get a replacement if I can source some wire. Shipping kills me to Australia.

I measured the existing wire and it’s 0.32mm on the other springs. Luckily I can get 0.3mm music wire and it’s about 1/4 the price of the replacement part. So I’ll aim for that as a primary solution.

Edited December 29, 2024 by neevo

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

FHF/ standard time 96

It is, I made that setting lever six months ago.

[Klassiker]

I'm sure you can make a functioning substitute, but It would be worth giving your garage floor a once-over with a magnet too.

[neevo]

29 minutes ago, Klassiker said:

I'm sure you can make a functioning substitute, but It would be worth giving your garage floor a once-over with a magnet too.

Definitely doing that. I lost an NH35 end stone a little while ago too. Bought a replacement. Then as I was cleaning up, I found the stone. Hoping that same luck strikes twice.

[mbwatch]

I would guess that the click spring wire was thinner than the other springs. If you measured a yoke spring at 0.32mm that is likely twice as thick as the click at least. Buy the thinnest guitar string you can find, for a lifetime of click spring replacements.

Edited December 30, 2024 by mbwatch