Reply With QuoteA suitable donor movement has been purchased, so now to see if the balance is as healthy as suggested.
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This Stowa arrived from eBay last week.
It was sold as "overwound" and suitable only for spares/repairs, but I fancied taking a chance with it.
It joins a list of watches due to be sent off for a service when time and funds allow, but in the meantime curiosity got the better of me and I thought I would have a quick look. The watch is clearly uneconomical to repair and many might simply dump it as scrap, but the idea of bringing a watch back to life - even temporarily - is what really interests me.
Removing the snap back it was obvious that the hairspring was mis-shapen, so I have my eye on a couple of replacement movements (which should be straightforward as it's a PUW 360). Hopefully one of these will be suitable, but by carefully removing and the re-positioning the entire balance wheel assembly to my delight the watch immediately sprung back into life.
24 hours later it is still running, albeit fast by about 30 minutes over the day. I imagine that is the result of the mis-shapen hairspring, but no doubt a full strip down and re-assembly may well turn up some other issues. That's way beyond my capabilities though. Regardless, Ranfft tells me that the PUW 360 dates from between 1963 and 1969, so having a 50+ year old watch ticking away again is more than a little satisfying.
The dial shows some patina, but ordering a Sternkreuz 31.6mm glass from Cousins and installing it in place of the old one this morning has improved it immeasurably. A new stem and crown would be nice, but I will wait for that until after I've sourced a replacement movement in case one of those has a crown that is suitable.
I will let the watch run down and then put it away until a service beckons, but in the meantime thought my (very) amateur fettling might be of interest to one or two others here.
A suitable donor movement has been purchased, so now to see if the balance is as healthy as suggested.
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
Nice one Willie, keep us posted.
Apologies for the lengthy gap, but work has taken me abroad a fair bit.
The replacement movement turned up and the balances were swapped over. The new balance is clearly in better shape, as the watch is now keeping far better time.
Not intended in any way as an alternative to a service, but it is satisfying to have completed this nonetheless.
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