Grrrrrrrrrrr! A Tudor with ETA 1080 butchered by poor quality watchmaker in the past

JimInOz · 2025-01-16T01:53:37-0600

I'm servicing a 1947 Tudor with an ETA 1080 in it.

Inspecting the tiny parts after cleaning and found this 🤬.

Not surprising actually. Some of the previous work must have been done by a blacksmith.

Evidence........... the mainspring.

One of the symptoms the owner reported was "it's difficult to wind and set the time.

I know why.

In the pic above, the setting lever spring looks OK, but when I was hand washing the parts in a dish (to reduce crud in my cleaning machine) I noticed this!

The two parts were actually being held together by grease and magnetism.

There were other signs of rough work, but I don't want to scare you.

JimInOz · 2025-01-16T02:00:46-0600

Oh what the heck, you're all brave people.

The previous person only had one screwdriver.

Some balance shock jewel replacement.

Anyway, it's a sentimental piece so it'll be good to get it ticking again.

Anybody have a secret stash of Novodiac springs?

Archer · 2025-01-16T05:09:31-0600

Ouch. I wish I could say this type of work is unusual, but it’s not…

JimInOz · 2025-01-16T22:56:01-0600

Archer
Ouch. I wish I could say this type of work is unusual, but it’s not…

I was going through my vintage Swiss movement graveyard in the hope of finding a donor with a Novodiac spring.

and came across this 😵‍💫

Must have been the guy who worked on the Tudor 🙄.

Dan S · 2025-01-16T23:00:21-0600

Is that first triangular piece with a crack some sort of shock protection device?

Archer · 2025-01-16T23:07:29-0600

Dan S
Is that first triangular piece with a crack some sort of shock protection device?

Yes.

J!m · 2025-01-17T10:15:10-0600

PUT THE TOOLS DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE BENCH!

KEEP YOU HAND WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!

ErichKeane · 2025-01-17T11:00:16-0600

Ooof, that is all really rough! The setting lever spring and the incablock spring are both understandable perhaps... perhaps it happened 'after' the service? That shop-made replacement though is funny. That replacement jewel is sad, seemingly he didn't have a proper reamer to size it right.

FIWW, I would LOVE a thread/following a thread of watchmaker gore.

rendo · 2025-01-17T11:44:47-0600

I feel bad for that movement. How does the inside of the mainspring barrel look based on the condition of that mainspring?

S.H. · 2025-01-17T13:13:01-0600

Meh. I even saw a train bridge secured by double tape. My daily driver speedy was also a horror show: some screws were rusted under the dial and the incabloc is hard to access without removing these. So, the previous guy left the screws alone, somehow broke the incabloc spring and glued it back... cleaning that mess properly took some work.

JimInOz · 2025-01-17T20:32:32-0600

rendo
I feel bad for that movement. How does the inside of the mainspring barrel look based on the condition of that mainspring?

Surprisingly not as bad as I expected. It's been cleaned but I'll polish the surfaces before I fit the new mainspring.

JimInOz · 2025-01-17T21:28:05-0600

I think they'll be OK after another go in the cleaner.
Still some tiny pits, but no ridges.

ErichKeane · 2025-01-17T21:38:37-0600

Thats a neat collet fixture there! I work with larger stuff in my hobby shop, but that sort of collet seems like a neat addition to my lathe. I'll have to make one!

Did you just use a polish, or tooling to remove the material smooth?

JimInOz · 2025-01-17T22:01:22-0600

E ErichKeane
Thats a neat collet fixture there! I work with larger stuff in my hobby shop, but that sort of collet seems like a neat addition to my lathe. I'll have to make one!

Did you just use a polish, or tooling to remove the material smooth?

I'm not skilled enough to use a graver so I just used a flat ended hard pegwood stick and metal polish and finished with cotton buds.