Mary has a lovely old Movado DayDate from the mid 1940’s. Her late husband had the watch since it was new and followed him many years until it was replaced with a Rolex DateJust in the early 1970’s. Now it’s not running, the date is not changing and the oscillating weight does not sound right. I offered to do the job for free as she is a friend that made us feel welcome where we live now:)
No wonder the weight does not sound right. It’s broken… it looks cool, but the design compromises the strength of the oscillating weight.
The quick set date pusher probably used to have a gasket, but the cover is falling apart and there is no signs of a gasket anymore.
The date wheel is moving very sluggishly. I suspect the large chunks of dirt might have something to do with that.
I have removed the day and date discs.
I turn the movement around and start removing the autowinder mechanism.
I try hard soldering the pieces together, but fail miserably. So I start hunting for a donor movement.
The movement actually comes to life which is a good sign.
I start taking the base movement apart. Note the lower jewel for the oscillating weight is damaged.
Here you can see the gear train layout.
Here I’m removing the setting/winding mechanism. Note the old crown is very hard to grip as it’s completely worn down.
The mainspring is very dirty.
Everything cleaned and waiting for a donor movement.
I reuse the old mainspring as it cleaned up very well and still looks very good.
The donor movement is a non day/date calibre 115, but it has the parts I need.
I use the train-bridge from the donor movement as it’s much better.
I see that the balance moves freely after fitting the cap jewels.
Clean gear train going back in place, note the extra decoration on the barrel.
Base movement almost back together.
Movement starts ticking staight away when I wind it. (I will add timegraph photo tomorrow)
I start putting the date machanism back together.
The date wheel also cleaned up very well using Rodico.
I test and see that both Day disc and date ring moves very smoothly.
The dial has been restored at one point a long time ago. I’m sure purists will cringe, but I find it charming;)
I made a brass sleeve that I fitted into the case for the quick set date pusher.
Movement goes back into the case.
I find a crown that fits very well with the watch.
I fit the autowinder mechanism with the new oiscialting weight and it all works like it should.
The watch cleaned up very well, is running great and has lots of meaning to it’s owner! I fitted a new strap and deliverd it to a very happy Mary:)
1 Response to Movado DayDate calibre 118
Another beautiful watch. This one looks like it took quite a bit of skill to get back to original spec. Very impressive! Thanks for sharing. :o)