Crown becoming stiffer: (Watches now wont wind OR adj time)

[Amanda Ripanykhazova]

Posting because my repairer cannot figure out what this might be: I am
now having this problem on two watches (by coincidence) preventing me
from either winding them or changing the time? No evidence of the
stem being in any way bent.

On an early 1960s automatic Seiko SportsMatic with the crown at 5, the
other a curious 22 jewel manual Chinese knock-off which I cant
identify beyond noting that the movement is the same colour as an
Omega and there is an unusual roundish plate over part of the
mainspring between the mainspring and the balance wheel bridge, with
an inverted U shaped protrusion pointing towards the centre of the
movement.

Does anyone thing that this might be indicative of a wider ill or
should i just keep on experimenting with taking the stem out and
trying minuscule amounts of different oils where the water-resistant
seal is? (watch oil which I assume my repairer has tried, liquid dry
Teflon, WD40, other types of penetrating oil etc etc?)

[dAz]

On 12/07/12 00:28, Amanda Ripanykhazova wrote:

well the only way to be sure is to take the movement out of the case,
fit the crown and stem back, then test the winding and setting
functions, if it all works as it should then the binding problem is in
the crown and case tube, the gaskets can go hard over the years also
dirt and grit can pack in and around the case tube and crown and cause
problems

only use a silicon oil or grease on the gaskets, mineral based oils will
both melt and swell the gaskets.

if the seiko gasket is the o-ring type mounted on the crown pipe, these
can go hard, but are easy to replace

Post by Amanda Ripanykhazova
Posting because my repairer cannot figure out what this might be: I am
now having this problem on two watches (by coincidence) preventing me
from either winding them or changing the time? No evidence of the
stem being in any way bent.
On an early 1960s automatic Seiko SportsMatic with the crown at 5, the
other a curious 22 jewel manual Chinese knock-off which I cant
identify beyond noting that the movement is the same colour as an
Omega and there is an unusual roundish plate over part of the
mainspring between the mainspring and the balance wheel bridge, with
an inverted U shaped protrusion pointing towards the centre of the
movement.
Does anyone thing that this might be indicative of a wider ill or
should i just keep on experimenting with taking the stem out and
trying minuscule amounts of different oils where the water-resistant
seal is? (watch oil which I assume my repairer has tried, liquid dry
Teflon, WD40, other types of penetrating oil etc etc?)

[Amanda Ripanykhazova]

Post by dAz
well the only way to be sure is to take the movement out of the case,
fit the crown and stem back, then test the winding and setting
functions, if it all works as it should then the binding problem is in
the crown and case tube, the gaskets can go hard over the years also
dirt and grit can pack in and around the case tube and crown and cause
problems
only use a silicon oil or grease on the gaskets, mineral based oils will
both melt and swell the gaskets.
if the seiko gasket is the o-ring type mounted on the crown pipe, these
can go hard, but are easy to replace

Sorry but that wasn't it!! I took it apart and discovered that despite having a 22 jewel movement, an exceptionally high quality guilloche dial with extremely unusual hands and screwed on (display) back, the case is quite badly designed. The crown is set in a slight depression in the case and simply doesnt have sharp enough edges to let it move easily, meaning properly! Far from the 'tube' area needing any oil, in fact the stem ends at the movement edge and then the screw fits straight into the case with an exterior tube but no interior one at all? Needless to say, as soon as I took the stem out to test, the watch wont wind on putting it back in again with the movement in the case. I suspect something has to snap back into place to let this happen and it will 'snap' in its own time.

(Curiously enough the Seiko crown looks suspiciously similar as to gaining any traction while moving it)