This time a Tissot Antimagnetique on the bench. It’s rather large for a vintage, 35.5 mm without the crown. It did run but it didn’t keep time and the amplitude was very low. It needed a new crystal as well and the hands were in a sorry state.
The minute hand had lost some lume in the tip and the hour hand had lost almost all the lume. Normally, I like to stay away from the dial and the hands. In this case, though, the hands had lost too much lume in my opinion and I preferred to re-lume them. The owner agreed with me.
The movement is a Tissot 27-1T. The serial number is 2640999 which places it in 1952.
Disassembly
As always, I start with removing all the power from the mainspring. This is to prevent damage when working on the wheel train later.
Then I remove the balance, the pallets, and the pallet cock. Now you can inspect the wheel train because it’s not locked by the pallets anymore. You’ll be able to wind the crown for a couple turns and look at the wheel train. See how the wheels interconnect and also check the end shake.
Next, I remove the cannon pinion on the other side of the movement. That’s because it’s fixed to the center wheel shaft. Without removing the cannon pinion first, it’s not possible to lift the center wheel.
I remove the ratchet wheel, crown wheel, and the barrel bridge. I noticed there was a lot of redundant oil under the crown wheel. Over time, this had become dirty and sticky.
Next are the wheel train bridge and the wheel train. The standard way to lift the wheels of the wheel train is center wheel, 3rd wheel, 4th wheel, and finally the escape wheel.
The last part left on this side of the dial is the main barrel. You can open the main barrel by placing it upside down on something hard and press the edges of the barrel with a pair of tweezers. Then you can remove the mainspring to inspect and clean it.
Now you can flip the dial and remove the motion works and the keyless works. Before you place the parts in the watch cleaning machine you should perform a pre-clean. Use a sharpened peg wood to peg out the bearing jewels, pallet stones and the crown of the pallets.
Often when a watch has a (very) low amplitude, doesn’t keep time and runs irregularly it’s dried out and filthy. A good cleaning and fresh lubrication should do the trick.
Assembly
Start with the main barrel. Put it back together and lubricate the arbors with Moebius HP1300. Next are the escape wheel, 4th wheel, 3rd wheel and the center wheel. Lubricate the staff of the center wheel with a bit of HP1300 before putting it back.
After that, you can install the wheel train bridge and the barrel bridge. Replace the ratchet wheel and the crown wheel. Don’t forget to lubricate the shim of the crown wheel with a tiny bit of HP1300. Lubricate the bearing jewels with 9010, except for the center wheel. I use HP1300 for the center wheel bearing jewel.
Flip the movement and install the motion works and the keyless works. On the dial side, many parts are lubricated with a grease. I like to use Moebius 9501. I use it on the cannon pinion, setting wheel, return bar and it’s spring, the set lever, and the set lever spring.
Lubricate the bearing jewels with 9010, except for the bearing of the pallets. Remember to lubricate the bearing jewel of the 3rd wheel before replacing the minute wheel.
Flip the movement again and install the pallets. lubricate the exit stone of the pallets with Moebius 9415. Finally, the balance is installed. Both Incabloc jewel holes and cap stones are degreased separately and lubricated with 9010.
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