A client has sent me his Omega chronograph featuring an early 321. He got the watch in exchange for cutting some firewood back in 1979.. It has since been lying in a drawer. I would say that was a pretty good deal if you think of today’s values;) He would like to have the watch repaired and of course a new set of hands as they are missing.
I had a little brain twister when testing the watch. The hour recorder would not reset between 5.30-6.30. Not only that, but the hour recorder would stop working completely. (You can see this issue on the first and third photo)… Removing the hands and dial I discovered that the hammer would jam underneath the hour recorder wheel and get stuck. Inspecting the hour recorder wheel I noticed the hammer hart was a tiny bit thinner at the tip than the rest. That happened to the only position where the hammer would jam. To remedy the problem I unscrewed the hammer hart from the hour recorder wheel and cut a dial washer to shape, I fitted the washer between the hammer hart and hour recorder wheel. The extra hight now made the hour recorder reset effortlessly in every position.
7 Responses to Project: Omega calibre 321.
Great job and walk through! Awesome to see watches have a new chance and we get to see the amazing workmanship of the past! I never tire of these. Thank you for sharing Mitka.
I have a question about dials and reluming. How do you remove the old lime and do you do anything once removed to prepare for the new lume?
Thanks again,
Gary
Hi Gary,
Glad you enjoyed the blogpost:) I mix the compound to get a aged look. I remove old compound manually using pegwood on the dial. On the hands I dissolve the compound in Acetone to reduce chances of scratches ect. https://mitka.co.uk/2017/04/14/aplying-luminous-compound-onto-a-dial-and-hands/
Nice tip for the heart-shape reset pieces!
One question, if I may: how did you tighten the hands holes?
I use the staking set to hit the holes for the hands flattening them a little, but also narrowing them in the proses.
Nice, one more purpose for the one-million-purpose tool.
I suppose you do that from underneath and before you varnish it.
Thank you, of course!
Nice job. This is actually my brothers watch. I see he only waited 39 years before having it repaired. That’s actually quite quick for him..