Month: June 2022

We see many different types of watch come through our workshop. From quartz watches powered by batteries, through to automatic mechanical watches, we service and repair a huge range of timepieces, both modern and vintage. Recently, we’ve seen quite a few automatic watches, all of which share a fault – a heavily worn reversing wheel. In this blog post we’ll discuss the automatic winding mechanism found in many modern watches and why it experiences such wear.

The automatic winding mechanism deals with keeping the watch wound up as you move around. It consists of the rotor (or oscillating weight as it’s also known) and a series of different wheels, sitting between two bridges. As you move around, the rotor always wants to be towards the lowest point of the watch due to gravity. For example if you’re holding your automatic watch with the crown pointed in a downward direction, the rotor will be hanging down in the same way. The rotor is weighted on its outer section to encourage its motion.

As the rotor moves, a series of wheels transmit the force through to the rachet wheel, which thus winds the mainspring. The construction of the automatic system can vary from watch to watch, though the majority of modern Swiss watches use a similar design which features bi-directional winding – i.e. The rotor winds up the watch regardless of the direction it is turning. In order to allow for this bi-directional winding, a wheel called a reverser must be used.

We won’t go into the technicality of how a reverser works, though suffice to say they are a fantastically clever piece of engineering. As you can imagine, if a watch is worn on a regular basis, the automatic winding mechanism is moving all the time. It’s been said that a reverser changes direction of movement between 10⁶ and 10⁷ times every year. These are vital components to ensure your automatic watch continues to wind, so they need to remain in excellent condition.

As you can see from the images, these reversers are in quite the opposite – a terrible state. This is what can happen if a watch is not kept regularly serviced. The pivots have massively reduced in diameter, simply due to being thoroughly worn out. A reduction in diameter of only 10% equates to a strength reduction of approximately 1/3, so you can imagine how weak the pivots must be in these examples. The automatic winding mechanism was not functioning properly in these watches, and it’s clear to see one of the reasons why!

Like anything with moving parts, a mechanical watch needs periodic servicing in order to allow it to continue working properly for years to come. Even if you’ve had a watch for many years and it has never seen a watchmaker but it’s still ticking, this does not mean everything is fine and it does not require any attention. The longer these watches are left, the more likely it is we find additional worn parts. We advise our customers to have their watches serviced every 3-5 years, depending on the model. There are of course some exceptions, though this is a general rule.

When you have a quality timepiece from the likes of Rolex, Breitling, Omega or Tag Heuer, it makes sense to look after it. By ensuring your watch is kept regularly serviced it will continue to provide you with years and years of reliable service.

Do you have a watch in need of servicing? Contact us to see how we can help. We offer a repairs service both locally via our shops in Lewes and Uckfield, as well as nationally via our fully insured secure postal repairs service. We are experts in the repair of watches and have the skills to take on a huge variety of repairs. We are business partners of the British Horological Institute and we hold a Platinum Trusted Service award from Feefo – testament to the consistant, excellent reviews we receive from our clients.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director

Further to our blog post a couple of weeks ago, here’s another example of a pocket watch which may perhaps on the face of it look to be beyond repair. We like to think differently though! With the correct skills and tooling, we can tackle these challenging jobs.

The repair and restoration of vintage timepieces is very specialist work. These watches may be collectors’ items or family heirlooms and they often have a broad range of faults, simply due to the age of the piece. It’s often difficult or impossible to source parts – this can further add to the challenge. Vintage watches need very specific care and attention, and preserving originality and history is at the forefront of our minds.

Our head watchmaker is very experienced in the repair and restoration of vintage watches. He has worked on pieces of real historical importance and is able to work on a huge range of pocket watches with a variety of different escapements – from verge to duplex, English lever and beyond! In addition to his experience, we have a good stock of parts from our many years of tackling such restorations. From new old stock hunter pocket watch glasses through to hand sets, there’s every chance we can find a suitable part from our stock of spares.

Indeed we needed to go through our spares to find a number of suitable parts for this pocket watch. As you can see from the before images, it was in poor condition. It arrived full of rust, missing both the hour and minute hand as well as both glasses.

The movement was thoroughly serviced restoring it to excellent working order. From our healthy stock of vintage pocket watch hands we were able to find a minute and hour hand appropriate from this timepiece. We also found a pair of suitable new old stock glasses from our stock. The profile and sizes of these glasses is unusual, so you need the correct type to fit. Fitting a modern watch glass is not an option!

The case was given a light polish to compliment the new glass, hands and the newly restored movement. As you can see, the difference between before and after is striking! Our client was absolutely delighted with the outcome and this pocket watch is ready for many more years of reliable service.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director

We’ve had a number of Omega Seamaster watches in to the workshop recently. They come in all sorts of sizes and variations. This one is a bit special – it’s the America’s Cup version. This is a limited edition Seamaster and has limited edition engraving on the case, the America’s Cup branding on the dial, plus a white gold bezel. This watch is one we’re adding to our pre-owned watch collection, so it is available to purchase at the time of writing!

As with all of our pre-owned watches, we give them a thorough once over. So this watch received a full service plus a clean and polish of the case and bracelet.

This model is powered by the Omega 1120 automatic movement – a 23 jewel enhanced version of the excellent ETA 2892-A2 movement. During disassembly we noticed a relatively unusual part in need of replacement – The dial side jewel for the barrel arbor was broken. Perhaps the watch had received a shock at some point in its history, and the shock was enough to break the jewel.

To replace the jewel we first needed to remove the broken one. After the rest of the movement is disassembled, we use a specialist jewelling tool to press out the old jewel. As you can see in the images, it comes out in a number of pieces. We had a replacement jewel in stock, so it’s then a case of using the jewelling press to fit the new jewel. Care must be taken to ensure the jewel is pressed in to just the right position – avoiding both too much or too little end shake.

The movement parts are cleaned in a specialist watch movement cleaning machine before reassembly and re-oiling. The dial and hands can then be refitted.

Separately the case and bracelet are disassembled and given a clean and refinish. We always take each polishing/refinishing job on a case-by-case basis, taking care not to compromise the shape of the case by over-polishing. After the case and bracelet are thoroughly clean everything is refitted back together before the watch is checked for timekeeping and water resistance. The complete watch is then tested before it goes in the shop window.

We have a fantastic range of pre-owned watches – do get in touch if you’re on the lookout for something special. Omega, Rolex, Tag Heuer – we carry a range of top brands in our pre-owned collection.

Do you have an watch in need of repair? Get in contact with us to see how we can help. We are able to repair almost any Omega watch and we offer a comprehensive watch repair service. We cater to clients all around the UK thanks to our fully insured freepost watch repairs service. You can also bring watches in to our showrooms based in Lewes and Uckfield, Sussex. As Business Partners of the British Horological Institute and a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award accredited business, you can be confident when dealing with us.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director