On My Bench - Vostok Rescue

Got an urgent PM from @haychmack to see if I could help with his nice Vostok Neptune dive watch.
Timekeeping had become erratic and only seemed to work dial up.
Being a masochist I said OK, send it over.

The watch turned up a couple of days later, and while it was quite attractive (for a Russian watch), it was, technically speaking, a “Norwegian Blue”. It wasn’t pining for the fjords though, it was deceased, dead, not a breath of life from the seconds hand.



After taking an “as received” photo, I removed the bracelet, took more photos and then went about opening the case.



With the pressed steel caseback removed, I was able to get a good look at the movement. A standard Vostok caliber 2416b, so nothing rare or unusual.



Looking closer I saw that the hairspring coil was seriously out of whack. Instead of nice evenly spaced coils, the spring was compressed to one side.



Looking further, it became obvious as to what the problem was. The stud that holds the end of the hairspring had departed the stud carrier.



With the balance assembly removed from the movement, it was plain to see.



It seemed to be a simple fix, just re-attach the sud to the carrier. However! Those cunning Russkies had a special way of holding the stud in the carrier. Not content with the tried and true method of holding the stud in the carrier by a simple screw used in millions of watches, or even the ETACHRON style system used by many others, this stud is held in a split carrier, so to insert the stud, it’s necessary to (1) open the “jaws” of the carrier and (2) insert the stud into the carrier.



Easy peasy as Jamie says, you only need one hand to hold the balance cock steady, one hand to open the jaws, and one hand to manipulate the stud into the carrier.
Only having the standard issue of two hands, I had to start thinking.

🍿

The balance assembly on the bench trembles with the slightest breath of wind, so the first thing to think of was a way to secure the whole thing and hold it static.
Thus was born the “Staticator”.



The staticator is a clean softwood board (pine) with two pins made from pivot wire. One of 1mm dia to go through the balance cock screw hole, one a bit larger and set lower to act as a stop to prevent the balance from rotating. All held down by a stainless clip from something in my junk box.
The balance was lowered over the tall pin and aligned to the stop, and then all held down by the clip.
Now that the assembly was secure, I needed to come up with a “Wedginator” to open the jaws of the carrier.

A suitable candidate was found in a surplus generic 1mm screwdriver. The blade was shaped and polished.



And now we have a razor fine wedge.



Meet the “Wedgeinator”.



And now it's almost set up.

Almost.

Now that I had all of the components, there was still one issue, once the Wedgeinator was used to open the jaws, what would hold it there while I used my only two hands to manipulate the stud.
Thus was born, the “Frictionator”. The Frictionator is a flexible plastic “P” clip held to the board with a stainless screw. With the Wedgeinator placed beneath it, I can lift it with my thumb while moving the Wedgeinator into position then releasing it to lock the Wedgeinator steady.
Now we’re all set to go.



Using the combined powers of these aids, I was able to open and hold the gap in the carrier and have two hands free.



It was then a simple task of aligning the stud to the carrier with tweezers and pushing it into place with a peg wood stick.

And success!



Stud nicely secured again



Now to get it back together and see if it works.

But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm about to enjoy a nightcap.

Just a wee dram of Dahlwhinnie 15YO.

Good old Aussie ingenuity…..hope you were drinking a beer whilst doing all of this to make it authentic Jim…

👍👍

I’ve run into situations like that where the stud was glued to the hairspring. I found the job easier by using acetone to remove the stud from the hairspring, positioning the stud in the stud carrier, putting the balance and hairspring into position, placing the hairspring back into place in the stud, then re-gluing the hairspring to the stud.

Well, I was drinking a beer as I started writing this up, but not while doing the hands on work, besides, it wasn't hot enough down here anyway to chug frothies while working.

Werribee pronunciation ….😜😁

With the balance now fixed, it was time to place it back into the movement.
Usually an easy and satisfying task seeing the balance wheel start to oscillate as it goes in.
However! Those dang Russkies had another trick up their sleeves.
Notice something extra on the work mat?



The observant among you will have spotted the small brass shim that is used to adjust the end shake of the balance wheel. Another labour/time saving design feature?



This can be a real PITA when installing the balance as rotating the balance cock usually displaces the shim. Thanks to Google I found that the best method is to install the balance very loosely, then slide the shim into place and secure the balance screw. So place the shim in the gap between the cock and the plate…..



And gently ease it in with a pegwood stick.



The balance screw can now be secured, the caseback seal lubricated and after a final inspection, the case is closed up.

And just to clarify things for @watchyouwant and @STANDY 😁.

Dalwhinnie! Not Dahl-winnie.

Forgot to mention that I did some regulating and adjusting before I closed it. This was a decent trace (dial down), other positions varied a bit, but it's a Russian tool watch, not a COSC Swiss chronometer.



After the case was closed properly, I did a leak test to ensure that the case was at least water resistant.



PS: It's a GIF so you may need to open it in another tab.

And now it's on the Cyclotest for a couple of days to see if everything holds together.

I find it interesting that you opted to make so many 'inators' to assist in this repair, rather than simply having a third arm grafted on a' la Zaphod Beeblebrox.