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

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

Inspecting the tiny parts after cleaning and found this 🤬.


Broken Shock Spring.webp


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

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

Dud Mainspring.webp


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

I know why.

Keyless Works.webp


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!

445 Washing.webp


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

The previous person only had one screwdriver.

Tudor_Stem_Area.webp


Some balance shock jewel replacement.

WIN_20250114_14_51_28_Pro.webp


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


IMG_4211.webp


and came across this 😵‍💫

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


Bodge Job.webp
 
Dan S
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Is that first triangular piece with a crack some sort of shock protection device?
 
Archer
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Dan S Dan S
Is that first triangular piece with a crack some sort of shock protection device?
Yes.
 
J!m
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PUT THE TOOLS DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM THE BENCH!

KEEP YOU HAND WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!
 
ErichKeane
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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
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I feel bad for that movement. How does the inside of the mainspring barrel look based on the condition of that mainspring?
 
S.H.
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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
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rendo 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.


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


Barrel Polishing.webp Barrel Cover Polished.webp
 
ErichKeane
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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
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ErichKeane 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 for that so I just used a flat ended hard pegwood stick and metal polish and finished with cotton buds.

PS: the collet is called a concave step chuck, there are also cone shaped ones called ring step chucks.
 
ErichKeane
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JimInOz JimInOz
I'm not skilled enough to use a graver for that so I just used a flat ended hard pegwood stick and metal polish and finished with cotton buds.

PS: the collet is called a concave step chuck, there are also cone shaped ones called ring step chucks.
Cool, I'll look into that! I have a 16" lathe, so quite a bit bigger than that, but no reason I couldn't make a chuck like that.
 
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