Rolex 3085 rotor spring clip required

[clockboy]

Just on the off chance has anyone have inter stash a Rolex 3085 rotor spring clip. I am servicing a Rolex 3085 GMT master and when opening the case the Auto rotor was loose. On investigation the jewel bearing had been pushed out and the rotor spring clip that holds it to the bridge was broken. If you look at Marks vid on the 3085 GMT master you can see the clip required. I have ordered some small 1.3mm C clips but not sure they will work.

     

[Delgetti]

I think there are 4 versions of this part varying in thickness:

Rolex-Part-No. (thickness)

5066 (0.135)

5066-1 (0.150)

5066-2 (0.165)

5066-3 (0.180)

There are several parts available on ebay (expensive, of course, Rolex is special ;-) ).

Erik

[clockboy]

Thanks Erik. I have the drawings for the 3085 and it shows the clip BUT no part No.
measuring the old clip is is 0.180 mm. 

[clockboy]

UPDATE: I might have found a generic clip from Cousins. I will keep you guys informed of it fits.

[Roll1ex]

@clockboy

Adding some more information and asking my own question.

Cal: 3000 | 3055| 3085 | along with others have a base cal of 3035.

These are the spring clip options:

 

Coming to my question(s):

• Do you have thickness measurement for the spring clip that fits in cal 3000?
• How has your experience been with the quality of cousinsUK parts?

Currently only axle seems to be the problem, but I am ordering the following parts just to be on the safer side.

Thanks in advance.

[Knebo]

Hi all,

instead of starting a new thread, I'm connecting here.

@clockboy, how did your story end up?

I'm currently servicing a Rolex 3035 and the rotor had too much play and started rubbing on the bridges. 

I assumed that the rotor would need a new a axle, but upon inspection with the microscope, next to a new/generic axle replacement, it actually looked pretty good (actually better than the generic replacement)! 

So I'm wondering if I only need a new C-clip, maybe in a different size. The one in the watch was the 0.135mm version. And it just slid off without any springy feel or tension. What do you think?

 

 

Edited January 20 by Knebo

[clockboy]

Looking at the vid clip I would say it’s the rota that is worn. Is the clip missing. This drama was 6 years ago & I think !  I modified a clip but not 100% sure. 

Edited January 20 by clockboy

[VWatchie]

25 minutes ago, Knebo said:

So I'm wondering if I only need a new C-clip, maybe in a different size. The one in the watch was the 0.135mm version. And it just slid off without any springy feel or tension. What do you think?

I'm no Rolex expert but that sounds like it would be worth a try.

[Knebo]

1 minute ago, clockboy said:

Looking at the vid clip I would say it’s the rota that is worn. Is the clip missing. 

The clip is there. But I was surprised how easily it just slip off the axle (and back on for a test). There was no tension/resistance when pulling/pushing it off/onto the axle.

I also expected the axle to be worn (and I've seen worn ones), but this one looked really good actually... I will try to post some pictures when I get back to the bench.

 

2 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

I'm no Rolex expert but that sounds like it would be worth a try.

Yes... 

I already bought a new axle, but unsure now if I should replace it. I'll probably order the 0.15 and the 0.165 spring clips and check that first. Then I can still replace the axle, if needed.

[Roll1ex]

@Knebo

On 1/20/2025 at 2:37 PM, Knebo said:

I was surprised how easily it just slip off the axle (and back on for a test). There was no tension/resistance when pulling/pushing it off/onto the axle.

I also expected the axle to be worn (and I've seen worn ones), but this one looked really good actually...

Same and same.

Removing and putting a clip back several times might also lead to this as I learned.

***

The movement I am working on has the same issue, however it did not ruin the bridges. Generic axle was a bit better but the old one wasn't that bad either. The clip measured .14 so I figured that it would have been a .15 clip at best to begin with.

Since A&B were sitting perfectly on the jewels and the Pinion was covering C and a part of D. I figured that I could fill D with the clip without any issues so I ordered .165 and .180 clips. Also the amount of play in the clip did not make sense to me in terms of tolerances.

While trying different ones several times and comparing  they eventually became lose, the fix is quite simple as you would imagine.

Currently I have installed the .165 clip on the old axle and am testing it out for a few weeks. The play has reduced by more than half.  Will post an update once I figure out how to upload GIFs

 

 

 

[Knebo]

5 hours ago, Roll1ex said:

@Knebo

Same and same.

Removing and putting a clip back several times might also lead to this as I learned.

***

The movement I am working on has the same issue, however it did not ruin the bridges. Generic axle was a bit better but the old one wasn't that bad either. The clip measured .14 so I figured that it would have been a .15 clip at best to begin with.

Since A&B were sitting perfectly on the jewels and the Pinion was covering C and a part of D. I figured that I could fill D with the clip without any issues so I ordered .165 and .180 clips. Also the amount of play in the clip did not make sense to me in terms of tolerances.

While trying different ones several times and comparing  they eventually became lose, the fix is quite simple as you would imagine.

Currently I have installed the .165 clip on the old axle and am testing it out for a few weeks. The play has reduced by more than half.  Will post an update once I figure out how to upload GIFs

 

 

 

Thanks for adding your experience. 

Coincidentally, I just worked on mine yesterday and replaced the old spring clip (0.135 and heavily worn in a circular manner on one side) with a new, generic 0.15. 

I have absolutely no play in the rotor now. But I felt that maybe the rotor wasn't moving 100% freely. So I started testing the build-up of power reserve yesterday. 

Any benchmark on how many hours of power reserve should come form a day's wear? 

[Roll1ex]

@Knebo

Will depend on the lifestyle, winding efficiency, mechanism type, wearing habits etc.

• I tend to clock between 5k-7k steps a day with the watch on.
• For a watch with no power, I wind the crown 2-3 full turns before putting it on and letting it wind automatically. (I have observed this puts between 2-4 hours of power in my watches)
• For all my sub 48 hour power reserve watches, I tend to put in close to 100% power even when I am around 5k. steps.
• For my 72 hour watch with power reserve indicator, I tend to put in 2-2.5 days worth of power.

 

You can probably try the following out, it should work at least in theory.

• Take a amplitude and rate reading on a full wind
• Take those readings every 2-6 hours till its fully unwound.
• Plot that data to get a graph from full wind to zero.
• After a day's wear you can check where you land on that graph.

[Knebo]

25 minutes ago, Roll1ex said:

winding efficiency, mechanism type,

Yes, I was specifically referring to the 3035.

 

27 minutes ago, Roll1ex said:

wearing habits etc.

• I tend to clock between 5k-7k steps a day with the watch on.
• For a watch with no power, I wind the crown 2-3 full turns before putting it on and letting it wind automatically. (I have observed this puts between 2-4 hours of power in my watches)
• For all my sub 48 hour power reserve watches, I tend to put in close to 100% power even when I am around 5k. steps.

That's exactly what I wanted to know. 

Would be cool if you could test that for your 3035!

28 minutes ago, Roll1ex said:

You can probably try the following out, it should work at least in theory.

• Take a amplitude and rate reading on a full wind
• Take those readings every 2-6 hours till its fully unwound.
• Plot that data to get a graph from full wind to zero.
• After a day's wear you can check where you land on that graph.

 

That's pretty much what I'm currently doing. Even simpler, when stopped, just don't wind at all, wear a day, then see how long it'll run. 

[Roll1ex]

@Knebo

 

17 hours ago, Knebo said:

That's exactly what I wanted to know. 

Would be cool if you could test that for your 3035!

This exercise has been done and includes: Seiko 4r35 | ETA 2824 | Rolex Cal 300 (3035) | Rolex cal 1560 (1570) and some others.

Since I am getting 48-49 hours power reserve on manual wind and wearing, I bundled it with others not realizing its supposed to be 50 technically.

 

17 hours ago, Knebo said:

Even simpler, when stopped, just don't wind at all, wear a day, then see how long it'll run. 

Sometimes I don't think things through before posting on the internet.

 

 

[Knebo]

@Roll1ex

FYI, so I'm getting 100% power reserve after about 15h of wear. Probably around 6k steps. I guess that's fine.

[Roll1ex]

11 hours ago, Knebo said:

@Roll1ex

FYI, so I'm getting 100% power reserve after about 15h of wear. Probably around 6k steps. I guess that's fine.

Oh awesome!