I apologize in advance if this has been discussed ad nauseam, but i searched and could not find anything similar to my problem.

I recently purchased a '49 Seamaster. It seemingly worked fine at first. Then it started doing this thing where it would stop ticking. Not sure if it is just getting "stuck in the wheel" or being over wound as some articles and "experts" on the world wide web suggest.

Here comes the even weirder (IMO) part. If i tinker around with it. Adjust the time and slightly rotate the crown to and fro. A wind or two...it will eventually begin running after some time. Yesterday for instance, i got it running and it ran all day long. Never missing a beat. Wore it one my wrist all day. I Then took it off at night. Laid it down. Woke up this morning and it was ticking and the time was correct, implying it had worked all night. I left it alone to keep running. I went to yoga and ran some errands.

I cam home and it was 11:05 and ticking fine. I put it on my wrist and seconds later it stopped. This is the 4th time such a sequence has occurred. Stopped - tinkered for several minutes - working fine all day - took it off - fine all night...then stopped once i put it on my wrist.

I'm guessing something is causing it to hang up, but cant figure out what. It is frustrating and oddly amusing that it waits til i put it back on to stop. It feels like my watch is messing with me

Thank you in advance for your time and any insights.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Regards,

Brooks

 

Do you know the service history of the watch?

 

I do not unfortunately. I was told it was serviced “recently”, but that’s not very certain. Sounds like perhaps it’s due for one, huh?

 

Silly question - are you winding it with the crown (don't worry about "over-winding") or are you simply picking it up and shaking it to wind it with the automatic (presumably bumper) mechanism? Could be that it's just running out of power?

With the crown pushed in / normal position, just wind it about 30 times for a full wind (it won't stop due to the automatic mechanism). Next day, do the same, and so on. If it still stops, then it probably needs a service.

If the hands turn freely when you set the time, then they're not getting caught on each other, I'm not sure what else would make it stop suddenly when still keeping good time.

 

I have probably under wound it so I will give that a shot. I had been winding it a bit and then also give it a shake to “bump” it a bit. I will give you method a go.

This could also be the case. I will give it a few days of fully winding and if the pattern continues I will take it in for a cleaning. I got a replacement seconds hand and crown from cousins that I need swapping out so I could kill two birds...

Thanks AJ and Gator!

Hey @gatorcpa Im a Dawg, but I’m glad we can check our differences at the door

 

My money is on the simple solution. That being said, never a bad idea to take it for a cleaning and oiling if you plan to wear it for a while...

 

@gatorcpa Can that work be done by any competent watchmaker or does it. We Omega service?

 

Yeah that is honestly probably not a bad play. Thank you for the insight. I was starting to suspect one of the two solutions may help

 

Any competent watchmaker will do. Stay away from Omega Service at all costs.

 

One other odd thing of note I forgot to mention:

After it stops, if I wind it forward an entire day, that seems to set it in motion to run all day. Until it stops again. The damndest thing.

Regardless, Sounds like a cleaning and oiling is in order.

 

@gatorcpa Ha! Fair enough sir. Fair enough

 

Try up to 60 turns to get it fully wound then wear it. The bumpers aren't as efficient as building power as the full rotor movements so as noted above it may just be running at too little power reserve affecting the amplitude etc.

Nice looking watch. You did well.

 

Thanks Pad. I’ll give it some additional turns. Makes logical sense.

And thanks for the compliment. I’m over the moon on this one. Turns 70 next year!