WatchTime - August 2012

An uncased movement is timed. This machine does both pressure and vacuum tests without water.
are up to date on the latest movements and
techniques. Technicians with training on all
levels are available to handle almost any
watch complication.
Each workstation has all of the tools
and instruments each watchmaker
needs – sharing would slow things down.
Each watchmaker has a specialty, such as
chronographs, calendar watches, vintage
pocketwatches, etc. However, all watchmakers
work on a variety of movements
to keep their skills sharp and their jobs
challenging.
After the movement is removed from
the case, the dial, calendar display rings or
disks (if any) and hands are taken off and
set aside. The movement is placed in a
holder, dial-side down, and if it is an automatic,
the rotor, reversers and gears are
removed. Next, the mainspring, barrel
and barrel bridge are removed. The mainspring
is inspected and replaced if it appears
to be compromised.
Next, the movement components go
into baskets to be placed in an ultrasonic
cleaning machine, where the combination
of a petroleum-based cleaning agent plus
cavitation (bubbles induced by high-frequency
sound waves) deep-clean everything.
After the cleaning, the parts go
through three ultrasonic rinse cycles, with
each cycle leaving the parts cleaner than
the last. The final step is a heated centrifugal
dryer where a final rinse leaves the
parts spot free. Each of these cycles takes
about 20 minutes, and an especially dirty
movement can go through the multi-cycle
process a couple of times.
116 WatchTime August 2012
Once the components are clean, the
movement is ready for reassembly and
lube. To lubricate the movement, watchmakers
use both hand and automatic oilers.
Automatic oilers look like pens with
small reservoirs for oil near the tip. Pressing
a button dispenses oil to the tip, which
looks like a very short piece of fine wire.
Hand oilers look like small screwdrivers,
and the tips of the wires have different
shapes to hold different amounts of oil.
The oil is kept in small cups with lids to
prevent contamination and evaporation.
The watchmaker dips the tip in the oil to
pick up just the right amount for a given
application.
Many parts of a movement require lubrication.
On a Rolex caliber 3135, for
instance, the areas that are oiled include
the mainspring and barrel, the pivots or
jewels for all gears, the face of one pallet
stone (typically the entry pallet), the
canon pinion, and several of the winding
and setting components.
ONCE THE MOVEMENT is back together,
it is fully wound and attached to a
Witschi timing machine’s microphone so
that the machine can “listen” to the
watch’s beat rate. The movement is attached
in the dial-down position and allowed
to run for a minute or two to let it
settle down (it only takes the machine
about 10 seconds to determine the beat
rate and amplitude). The timing is
checked before the dial and hands are replaced
to minimize handling those components.
Ideally, the room where the tim-
ing machines operate should be quiet, as
the sensitive microphones can pick up extraneous
sounds, which can affect performance.
A loud machine operating near
a timer can generate a “snow” pattern on
the timer’s LCD screen, rendering the
timer useless. The Stoll & Co. clean room
is very quiet.
Most watchmakers regulate the watch
with the movement still mounted on the
microphone, so they can receive instant
feedback as they make their adjustments.
The microphone is on a motorized
mount, allowing it to run movements
through a series of positions automatically.
Once the watch has been timed in all
positions, the timing results are printed,
and the print-outs are included with the
watches when they are returned to the
owners or retailers.
After the movement is regulated, the
dial and hands are replaced and the movement
is re-cased with all new gaskets.
Gaskets must be replaced, as they can become
dry and brittle. Even if they are relatively
new, gaskets deform after installation,
so new ones should always be installed
at each service.
With the dial and hands installed and
the movement in the case, but before the
caseback is installed, the watch is placed
on the microphone a second time to confirm
that the timekeeping is still within
specs. If not, the movement is regulated
again. Once the timekeeping is verified,
the caseback is installed and the case is
pressure-tested. All timekeeping checks
and pressure testing are performed by the