I purchased this watch from Ebay, for next to no money, with the description as working but winder falls out.

Intrigued by the Dynamic range I soon found out it was a front loading movement, and had a two piece stem! so could be a straight forward fix. When it arrived I quickly realised the movement was loose in the case so decided to dismantle and take a close look. What needs attention?
1 No second hand
2 No date change trigger gear (located and ordered)
3 Wrong crystal (new one in bound)
4 No Crystal/movement ring
5 No strap fixing ring (made a ring temporarily along with tool for it)
So now it's become a challenge for me. Any information that people can throw at me will be gratefully received, i.e. year of manufacture.

 

Hello, I don’t mean to dampen your enthusiasm but the reason it cost nothing is because repairs will cost many times more the value of the watch, especially given the bad condition of the dial.
If you’re just looking at tinkering then of course it’s a different matter, but I would advise not spending a penny on it.

 

The serial number can be compared to tables online to come up with a year (+/-). I know the Dynamics we're generally a late 60s/early 70s model m

 

Serial number start with 32..so it should be from 70' . In my opinion do not worth to invest in this watch. But if you just want to test your skills as a watchmaker it's a good start because it's not an expensive watch.

 

I just got one of these to play with myself. I think the watch in the OP was one on eBay I took a pass on, mostly due to the missing seconds hand.
To get the strap I wanted I actually wound up getting a whole second core, without retainer ring. I also got the lifting tool (102) a new stem/crown and an extra chipped crystal. The retainer ring opening tool is also quite inexpensive online.
Eventually I may look for the parts to get the second watch functional. Parts/movements seem to be available, but at the cost of a complete watch when summed up.
-j

 

I would agree, I relish the challenge of making it functional and usable again.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll go find the charts

 

That's exactly why I purchased it, to see what I can achieve.

 

Ah, I actually bid the guy and he accepted. As for the strap retainer and movement retainer ring, I have actually made them myself. I also made my own tool. I have yet to make strap centre for a metal bracelet and the second hand.

 

nice work on the strap retainer and tool, I take it you are more than capable of turning up a movement ring for this one.

Do you know if the rest of the movement is complete?
I would be a bit wary given that part of the calendar works was missing, along with the second hand, its hard to tell if the seconds pinion has lost its tip from the photos, but you may need to replace that too.
Be careful when ordering one of those/looking for a donor for that as there are 4 different lengths of sweep second pinion from the 670 and it looks like the 684 uses the 670.1253c (5.26mm long) as this is the longest sweep seconds pinion to clear the calendar works.
If you haven't already have a look over here (https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/files?subdir=Omega&dir=Technical Manuals&action=documents) for the parts guides makes looking for parts a little bit easier at least.

I love these movements, something about cramming all of the features of the 550 series movements into 17.5mm always amuses me every time i work on one. This one is high beat to boot!

Good luck, I will be watching this restoration eagerly

 

Reply to noless

Thanks for the compliment and info, ring obviously in its raw state, yet to produce the same brushed finish but I was just testing my ability to produce one and machine the thread. I am a mechanical engineer (but aged 70, just doing the stuff I enjoy) with several machines, Lathe, Mill, CNC mill. Now have a watchmaker lathe I'm refurbishing.

The movement is complete and running OK. but not yet inspected the second hand mount which following your comment will look at soon. As for calendar I have a trigger wheel inbound as we speak.

I have made the movement retainer and it now fits ok but I think it looks too bulky. If you look at the original dial its quite marked up round the edge, so I took it that was its seating position and width, but now I consider it may not have had one for awhile and therefore scuffed up the dial. I have attached a photo at the stage I am at (no cleaning going on just trial fitting) I cleaned the dial which made a big difference. I'm now considering reshaping the retainer ring, Maybe slope the inner edge so it still covers the marked up dial but is less intrusive. I could even finish it in with engine turning, we will see.

I know the purists will say its not as it was, but I'm just playing with my skills to see if I can produce a nice looking watch that probably would have gone in the parts bin.

 

ah, the ring you made should come with the crystal you already ordered(?) the crystal number is 5117 btw.

looking again, Im not sure if this case has another split ring that does a partial rotation to secure the movement in like the seamaster deville or if it just drops in and rotates then is held steady by the crystal.

with a ring over the top of the dial the crystal may no longer fit.

I myself have yet to get a lathe, I would love to get my hands on one. The great dream is to be able to fabricate parts, not to be beholden to the spare parts restrictions...
Still a while away from a lathe I suspect though, too many other tools that I need first (not to mention actually getting the skills to use them)

 

I didn't have the crystal no, but it didn't come with the ring. I have adjusted the ring I made to accomodate the crystal so all fits well, but this is using the dial to locate the movement. Your second ring theory I did see on another thread but when the movement is in place there appears to be no access to the slots in the case. I am now wondering if this movement was even meant to be in this case. I also saw on a thread a small insert that pushes in around the stem, but again with the dial on you can't get to the slot.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a lathe; cheap, that needs work and give you a ring. I just enjoy saving nicely made stuff. My company restores, repairs veteran vintage and classic cars. where are you based?

By the way, I have looked at the spindles and i can see two bosses and a spindle sticking through the two. so I presume all is well with the second hand mount.

 

I did some more digging because your project has me intrigued, I really like the ladies movements of this era, and I find it a real shame that so few people share this enthusiasm. Thankfully this also means that such watches and movements are often had "cheaply" and as a result the missus has amassed somewhat of a collection of vintage omega as well.
Anyhow, I came across this photo album
https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/library?action=show_photos&wat_id=3250

It looks like its just as is, you would drop the movement in rotated CCW about 20 degrees and the casing clamps would be able to go in through the cut notches in the case, you then rotate the movement till the stem lines up with the pendant tube and clip in the crown, and that along with the pressure from the crystal would hold everything straight.
there are little notches on the side of the dial that allows you to get something in to rotate the whole assembly, I circled them on the watchguy photo.

I am actually Japan based, so usually shipping and import tax are the big killers for sourcing things. That said, I am currently working on getting into a watchmaking school, so that should get me access to a nice lathe (and perhaps more importantly teachers to show me how to use them).

Good to hear your seconds hand pinion is intact too!

 

Did you read my thread about the ladies dynamic I got from Moldova. You need this tool https://omegaforums.net/threads/my-newest-omega-from-moldova.150326/#post-2047919

This compresses the crystal and ring to load the watch into the front. This is the actual tool 102. They are somewhat common on ebay. The crystal should have an Ω in the center. There may also be a little half moon shaped seal that goes into the notch when the watch is rotated into the case.
Impressed with what you can do with your CNC. I have a CNC and access to others. Never seem to find the time to actually program them. What really needs to be made is a custom movement holder (especially for chronographs) These have hardened set screws for back pressing against the center jewel. Such holders can be had from Horotec. They are special order and can be somewhat expensive.
Look forward to seeing the progress on this.
-j

 

Thanks for your efforts, it is appreciated. Is tax and import still the same for a gift? We'll see what we can do.

Your second paragraph is spot on, you can see the two lugs sticking out of my movement and the movement does rotate into place CW. I was surprised how loose it was with the lugs in place though, hence I came to the conclusion that the crystal and ring held it all down. So we came to the correct conclusion.

Your link to the album is very helpful, as I see now the movement locating ring is indeed sloped, but looks highly polished to reflect the dial markers.... more work to do, I'll be back when modifications are complete.

 

I haven't read the thread, but will do now. The crystal I have then; I presume, is not original as there is no insignia in the middle.

The half moon shaped seal you mention I saw in another thread, but how do you get it in when the movement is in place?

CNC, I have SolidWorks CAD/CAM which produces the G code. Let me know what machines you have access to, and I will see if I can produce the correct G code. If I can produce the code, then anything you need code for, just send a fully dimensioned sketch, I'll draw it up in SolidWorks, and then I'll send you the G Code.

 

It is placed onto the movement first. If you look you can see matching indentations. The movement is rotated to lock it in. There is a thread somewhere that details this. I think it is in the watchmaking section. Many of the frontloader cases work this way. I marked the key way in your photograph.

I did a study on CNC back in the 1980s for my EET certificate. I am quite well versed in G-Code and Gerber. Mostly I use the Ashlar Cad programs. I got Vellum after seeing it used in one of the Swiss factories. At the time the headquarters was across the expressway from my house. Found an 'international version' in a place called Weird stuff. The company thought I got it in Switzerland and upgraded to a domestic license. Unfortunately they seem to want one to spend about 1K a year for 'upgrades.' I can still run the old version on really old macs that are power PC based. A real problem with CAD systems. The company moved to Texas about a decade or more back. I think the program is now rent ware.

Solidworks has similar issues. The makerspace has a 'student license' with I think 3 seats. The problem with SW, is that it also requires annual upgrades and the old stuff is incompatible.

It is not easy dealing with this stuff from the distaff side. While I got the training and certificates, I could never get a proper job using it. Mostly they wanted me to be a glorified typist, or customer service 'help desk.' Eventually I found my way into Apple computer (Imaging division) where I became an expert in the postscript system. Cad/Cam remained for me a hobby. On the other hand I can create toolpath using postscript then convert the postscript to G-code. I have plans to use the laser cutting machine to cut some custom watch bands.

The CNC machines I have access to are custom. Some speak G some speak Gerbel. The controllers are based on Arduino 3D printers. My CNC was from a company called robotmart. It was obsolete in the 1980s. My experience was that the G code had to be tailored to the work holding tooling. Spent as much time making this as I did the parts. Currently I need to finish new spindle as I have an extra Tag/Sherline spindle. A lot of this turns into major projects, then gets shelved due to lack of a part or a tool.

I made a pinion cutter out of some Tag/Sherline lathe parts which were sold surplus back in the 1990s. I got a Cowels dividing head, and found it did not quite fit. Another project is to make a wheel cutter out of some old Chip manufacturing assembly automation fixtures. I had a friend an mentor who ran a tool and die shop. Every Wednesday the 'elves' would come and make clocks. Last I knew his daughter was running the business.

I do appreciate the offer. Eventually I will need the back retaining ring for my spare 566-0015 case, I have a screw cutting attachment for my lathe, but have yet to figure out how to turn the fine threads without snapping the tip of the tool off.

-j

 

So I have seen 2 varieties for top loading cases,

the seamaster cosmic did what I think this one is, where the case clamps are tightened onto the movement before the movement is put into the case and they drop in rotated and then turn to line up the stem and pendant tube. I really think this one is one of those from the small notches to rotate everything on the edge of the dial and the cutout circled by sheepdoll is so the stem can also go down and then rotate.

The other type I have seen in seamaster devilles where the movement goes in straight and a brass ring rotates to cover the cutouts for the case clamps. unfortunately it looks like i didn't take a photo of the full case as I was trying to get a photo of the reference number instead, but you can see the ring i'm talking about here.

The movement locating ring you have been referring to is actually the tension ring for the crystal and its purpose is to press against the inside of the crystal to give it a much tighter fit and give the case more water resistance. You wont actually need to manufacture one of these as it should come with the crystal.

 

You sound very much like me.

With the business I was manual machining for many years making one off parts. But, being involved with historic motorsport as well with the cars I built for customers, I developed many parts to improve the performance of the cars. One particular part I made took two days of machining to manufacture from the raw stock, but when the customer started winning events, I got a lot of requests for the same part for others to fit. That's when I could justify the cost of a CNC machine. Not a new machine but one I bought cheap from a dealer, I then got involved with all the setup, so it ran good tolerances ( 0.0002") and loved it. I now make two of the said parts in less than a day. From the original machining I did enjoy the technical drawing side when it was required, so that carried over very well into the CAD which I found easy and enjoy just as much. I still find it amazing repeating the stuff I did manually, now on the CNC in a fraction of the time.

Now in my retirement I'm looking at how I can justify buying a new Kern 5 axis machine, Mmmm sadly I'm not 21 any more, so it won't happen, but we can dream.