Hi,

I just got back my Speedy 145.012-67 from service done by a local watchmaker with good reputation regarding vintage watches. I did not dare to let Omega Switzerland do the service because of what I have heard about the kind of service they do with vintage watches…

Anyway, the watchmaker thought the mainspring was too strong (too high amplitude when he measured it in his timegrapher) so he suggested it to be replaced which I agreed to. I got it back last friday, when I was about to set the correct time I found out that I could not stop the sub-second hand by turning the crown counterclockwise which I could do before the service. I decided to test the watch in my own timegrapher (a Weishi No. 1900) and I got the following values:

• Rate: + 15 sec/day
• Amplitude: 249
• Beat error: 1.0 ms

I have compared the values from my timegrapher with values from a professional one (I have a Rolex GMT Master II that was serviced this summer) and they do not differ a lot.

I do not think these are good values for a newly serviced watch and I also want to be able to do some variant of “hacking” when setting the time. Was it stupid of me letting the watchmaker replace the mainspring?

What are your thoughts?

Best regards,
Hans

 

I would not worry that it no longer "hacks" with slight back pressure. Technically a watch should not do it but almost all do.

 

Hell is full with good reputation watchmakers.

 

Lift angle is 40 for the 321 I believe? He might have set it too high.

Did he notice it over banking with the old mainspring? (High rate gain in intervals when at full wind)

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

A Collector with a Timeographer is never going to be a smooth road.

 

Well, I am worried about it as it used to work and my other three Speedys works this way Do you think there is any way to make it work again? Found this info when I searched for "omega 321 hacking":

For those who must set their watches to the second, the cannon pinion may usually be used for "hacking" when the watch does not provide a true balance-interference hack lever. By setting the watch to the time desired and then applying a small amount of back pressure on the crown (i.e. in the direction used to reverse the hands), the cannon pinion will bring the movement to a stop. Simply releasing the crown will allow the movement to restart. If the watch cannot be stopped with this technique, a slight tightening of the cannon pinion is required. Such use of the cannon pinion for hacking will not normally add to the wear of the pinion, because, with the movement stopped, there is no slippage between cannon pinion and the great wheel pinion.

 

Yes, I searched for it and found out that the lift angle is 40 for the 321.

 

Well, so it might be What do you think about the values I get? Might it even be so that I am the only collector worried about how my watches are running?

 

I have mailed my watchmaker about what I think about the service being done to my Speedy, we will see what he answers me... I started this post to get some "ammunition" for my conversation with him

 

My understanding is that when it can hack it's slightly out of spec, but most do and it should be harmless if you do it.

 

wear it over a week and you'll see how it's running in real live. a timegrapher is not always telling the truth

 

Thanks for the advice As I cannot "hack" it I could not synchronise it with time.is, I noticed the time diff 0907 CET and it was +48 seconds.

 

Perhaps it's best to deal with this in stages as the value of amplitude doesn't seem very high.

Full wind the watch, leave for 30 minutes and then put on the timegrapher in the dial up position. Leave for a minute to stabilise and set the timegrapher to average over 30 seconds. Turn it on and get a picture when the screen is full and also shows the lift angle.

Post that picture and that will give an indication of how it's running in dial up and how you are using the timegrapher. You can get some odd results from these machines....

I hope this helps.

Cheers, Chris

 

Thanks a lot Chris, much appreciated I will follow your advice and post a picture of the timegrapher's display when I get home from work!

 

But in the name of God way you want to replace strong and working original part from 50 years old watch.If you won't to play with your timegrapher,chose isochronism movement.

 

If the watchmaker have measured at a standard setting liftangle at 52 instead of 40 the watchmaker would have seen a liftangle on 12x6 = 72 dg to high. Maybe that was the reason? But he should know it is 40.

 

Well, I thought the watchmaker knew what he was doing so I just followed his advice I will check with him if he can put back the original one!

 

Thanks for your input I sure will check with him what lift angle he used!

 

Standard practice to replace the mainspring at every service...

The cannon pinion can be tightened to provide enough friction to allow the watch to hack using backpressure. However I don't like it to be so tight personally that you can hack it when fully wound, as that usually means it can also run backwards, which can cause problems. So have you tried letting the watch run down say 24 hours before hacking it?

Regarding your amplitude number, you don't say what the state of wind is or the position of the movement when you took the reading, so amplitude could be low or it could be fine - not enough information to say for sure.

Cheers, Al

 

Here is the picture you asked for, I did not full wind it because I want to test if I can hack it tomorrow morning when it is not fully winded. I also want the observe how much the time difference has changed since 09:07 today. I can get you a new picture tomorrow were I have fully followed your instructions

Here is a picture of the setup