The Universal 215 is a very slim automatic, due to the rotor assembly being placed aside the train and barrel bridges rather than above them. Examples I have taken for repair have suffered wear to the rotor post which means that the rotor weight hits against the back of the case. This is both irritating and means that the watch does not self wind efficiently. Some repairers have added case back gaskets to increase the distance from the rotor but this looks ridiculous and the case back is hardly screwed on more than a turn as a result.
I found a box of brass non friction cannon pinions from old pin lever movements whose inside diameter was slightly small to fit over the rotor post and the outer diameter slightly too large to fit inside the rotor.
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So I set one up in the lathe and trimmed it then broached it to size.
The pinion which is a friction tight fit to the bottom of the rotor and which engages with the automatic winding wheels had to be removed in order to fit the brass bush I made, but I refitted it again using a hand vice to securely hold it in place.
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I completely removed the jewel which was not doing much due to the wear in the rotor post, replacing it instead with the brass bush which runs the whole length of the inside of the rotor post tube.
Pleased to say there is now no rotor slap and the watch is automatically winding much more efficiently.
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Last edited by Webwatchmaker; 2nd June 2019 at 12:26.
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