I just noticed that my '68 Speedy (321 cal) has developed the dreaded "hour creep", ie the hour register runs with the chrono off and reset. Reset pusher will take it back to zero, but it will start running again, and seems to stop around the 3 hour mark. Anyways, I was wondering how harmful is this to the watch (beyond being annoying). Would I be damaging the watch further by running it like this? And in terms of getting this taken care of, how hard is it to correct? Is it likely to require hard-to-come-by parts and "321 specific" skills? Sorry in advance if these are dumb questions; just trying to find out how far I'd need to send my baby to get it worked on. Thor
I have exactly the same problem with 67' 105.012 and would be very interested in some answers as I bought this one very recently.
I'm surprised Al hasn't seen and provided an answer to the question. From what I have read on other forums, running the watch as is won't do any harm. As for the fix, I don't think it's going to be a five minute job because the hour recorder works off the main barrel and is on the dial side of the movement, necessitating the hands and dial to be removed to get to the spring that is worn and causing the problem. Hope this helps.
Found these treads. As usual, Al is a great contributor: Hour recorder creep: http://omegaforums.net/threads/new-member-new-omega-on-the-horizon.7043/#post-82964 Regarding wear: http://omegaforums.net/threads/my-fathers-old-speedmaster.7575/
Al has a life...sometimes it takes precedence over answering questions on a forum! So here is the dial side of a Cal. 321 (861 is not really much different): I have added some letters to the photo. A is the hour recorder runner, and the post that comes up out of the photo right at you is where the hour recorder hand mounts. As noted this is driven off the mainspring barrel directly, and more on that in a minute. But in the stopped position, as is shown here, A is held in place by B, which is the hour recorder stop lever. You can see where the lever comes in contact with the teeth on the hour recorder runner. The hour recorder stop lever is spring loaded, but how far it swings into the hour recorder runner is determined by the eccentric screw on part C, which is the switch. By turning that eccentric screw right under the C, it moves the amount the stop lever swings right or left. If the stop lever is worn, the teeth on the hour recorder runner are worn, or the eccentric screw is not adjusted properly, it can cause the hour recorder to creep. Usually this is just a simple adjustment of the eccentric screw, but if the wear on the stop lever is severe (rare but I have seen them all chewed up) then this will possibly create other problems with the reset, so the stop lever should be replaced. Of course the hands and dial must come off to make this adjustment. Note that after service, as part of checking the chronograph controls, this is also checked per Omega procedures. I do this on every watch because it's not fun getting it all together and finding creep, and then the dial and hands all have to come off again... So how is this hour recorder driven, and if you are really thinking about it, how is this reset is the big question. As noted this is driven off the mainspring barrel, and here is the barrel from a Cal. 321: You will see it has a few parts on it. You can't see this well when the plate is in place that holds all these parts together, but the barrel sits just as you see it here, with a pinion mounted over the barrel arbor, and sticking up. The hour recorder runner is driven by the teeth on this pinion, but the pinion is held in place by a friction spring, that is screwed to the barrel. This spring creates enough friction to keep the pinion turning with the barrel, but since the teeth of the hour recorder runner and this pinion are always engaged, the friction spring allows the pinion to spin on the arbor when the reset is pressed and the hour recorder resets to zero. The 861 is the same, and many chronographs use the mainspring barrel to drive the hour recorder. The ETA 7750 does this also, and it also has a pinion on the mainspring barrel, but it is fixed to the barrel. In this case the hour recorder runner is made in several parts that has a friction spring on it. If your 321 or 861 has hour recorder creep, it generally will not harm anything by letting it run and creep. However if the hour recorder is incessantly reset because of this, it can cause wear on the cam of the hour recorder runner. It's not uncommon to see wear on this cam when the other cams for the central second recorder and the minute recorder do not have any wear. The creep won't hurt anything, but I would not reset it 50 times a day or something. The creep itself is easily resolved at the next service. Hope this helps. Cheers, Al
Wow! Awesome as always. If I had a personal visit scheduled with Al and the President of the United States on the same day at the same time, Barrack would have to be rescheduled. To be fair, if it were Al and Kate Upton, well...
Good gravy, now THAT is what I call a reply! Thank you Al for the most educating response I have ever received on any forum - outstanding! Yes indeed, this forum rocks! Thor