Watch School

[MrJ320]

Hi Rich,

Awesome! I finally got started on the course myself. I am reading the materials first and learning about the tools before attempting any disassembly, but looking forward to start disassembling the movement soon.

Cheers,
James

[cedargrove]

Originally Posted by MrJ320

Hi Rich,

Awesome! I finally got started on the course myself. I am reading the materials first and learning about the tools before attempting any disassembly, but looking forward to start disassembling the movement soon.

Cheers,
James

Good stuff James. Feel free to post your progress in this thread.

[MrJ320]

As inspired by Rich and his thread, I have finally started the TZ watch course. Thought I'd post some photos to share my progress with everyone. Mine is a bit of a hybrid of the TZ lesson 1 and lesson 2 course because I have an ETA 2836-2 movement instead of the 2801 movement as part of lesson 1.

Started with the movement intact. Hope I will be able to get it back into this state at the end of the course. Photo of the bottom plate with the date and day wheels.


Top plate with the automatic winding rotor.


Top plate with the rotor removed before disassembly.


Bottom plate with the date and day wheel, spring block and cover plate removed, showing the calendar mechanism and motion works


The date and day wheel, spring block and cover plate kept in the tray after disassembly


Next, after removing the date and day wheel and cover plate, I was able to then disassemble the calendar mechanism and the motion works. Here is a photo of the parts from the two mechanisms. The date switching wheel actually popped off during disassembly as it's connected to a spring and I must have unloaded the spring somehow, but I was fortunate that it hit my hand and didn't go flying any further. So no lost parts yet But should be more careful going forward.


Calling it wraps for the night, I was able to complete disassembly of the motion works and calendar on the bottom plate. Next is to start on the keyless works.


Cheers,
James

[kilyung]

Very nice progress guys!

[cedargrove]

That is awesome James. I wasn't sure I was going to go on with the next course, because the first course let me accomplish my goal of learning how a watch works. But seeing your movement with the day/date and the auto rotor gets me excited, wondering how it all works. I'm now sure I'll continue on. Thanks for posting these pics. Please keep us updated.

Rich

[MrJ320]

Originally Posted by cedargrove

That is awesome James. I wasn't sure I was going to go on with the next course, because the first course let me accomplish my goal of learning how a watch works. But seeing your movement with the day/date and the auto rotor gets me excited, wondering how it all works. I'm now sure I'll continue on. Thanks for posting these pics. Please keep us updated.

Rich

Hi Rich, looking forward to seeing your Lesson 2 progress after you finish up your first course.

Cheers,
James

[MrJ320]

Decided to continue with the course before I call it a night. Didn't get too far today, but managed to finish disassembly of the keyless works and full disassembly of the bottom plate.

I have removed the cover plate from the keyless works in the photo below, showing the other parts that make up the keyless works.


Completed disassembly of they keyless works and removed the watch stem. Now I've completed disassembly of the bottom plate. Next is to work on the top plate and the automatic winding mechanism.


Parts from the keyless works. A few parts but very interesting to see how they work together. Really like the clutch design. Guess I'm a petrol head and love that there's a clutch mechanism in a watch as well


Looking forward to start working on the top plate next.

Cheers,
Jamees

[cedargrove]

Originally Posted by MrJ320

Parts from the keyless works. A few parts but very interesting to see how they work together. Really like the clutch design. Guess I'm a petrol head and love that there's a clutch mechanism in a watch as well

These parts look familiar, but otherwise I am very intrigued by the differences between our movements. Thank you very much for sharing. Great progress.

[MrJ320]

Originally Posted by cedargrove

These parts look familiar, but otherwise I am very intrigued by the differences between our movements. Thank you very much for sharing. Great progress.

Thanks Rich, yes the keyless works is actually pretty much identical between the 2801 and 2836. I flip between both lessons to make sure I don't miss anything, and the parts and steps to disassemble the keyless works is the same. I guess back to thinking about cars it makes sense to share as many parts and design as they can across different movements.

Cheers,
James

[MrJ320]

Continued with the course tonight, and started disassembly of the top plate.




First is to remove the automatic winding bridge.


Back of the automatic winding bridge showing the two click wheels and reduction gears. There are two click wheels because the 2836 is bi-directional winding, so one click wheel for each direction.


The sub-bridge is also removed to completely disassemble the automatic winding mechanism.


Can now see the crown and rachet wheels with the automatic winding bridge removed.


Removed the crown and rachet wheel, and the barrel bridge.


Removed the wheel train bridge, with full view of the barrel and the wheel train mechanism. Really neat to see how all the wheels and pinion work together to connect the barrel to the balance wheel. Never really understood how all this worked together until now. Really interesting.


Removed all the wheel train parts and now only the balance wheel and escapement remains on the top plate. Calling it a night and will finish disassembly next time.


All the parts I disassembled tonight and stored. Starting to get a bit worried that I won't remember how to put all the parts back together.


Have to really thank Rich for this thread which got me taking photos of my progress. I think I will more than likely need to refer back to my photos to help me remember at some point in time :)

Cheers,
James

[kilyung]

I can't recall (it's been a few years since I took them) but did the TZ courses discuss jewel removal/replacement on the plates and bridges? I know it's not covered in detail.

[MrJ320]

Originally Posted by kilyung

I can't recall (it's been a few years since I took them) but did the TZ courses discuss jewel removal/replacement on the plates and bridges? I know it's not covered in detail.

Hi Mike,

The course only mention to inspect the jewels and replace damaged ones, and talks about pegging the jewel, but doesn't go into details on how to remove and replace jewels (at least not in Lesson 1 or 2).

Cheers,
James