Mitka's vintage watch service.

Project: Omega calibre 321.

mitka88
Omega 321 project 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. 

The movement is complete and in decent condition.

As expected there is quite a bit of dirt!

I start taking the movement apart.

These parts are getting expensive so I would rather not brake any of those thin springs.

Here you can see the 321 gear train layout.

I take apart the setting/winding mechanism.

Broken mainspring.

Movement taken apart and cleaned.

I see that the balance moves freely after fitting the shock jewels.

New mainspring in the barrel.

Base movement almost back together.

I fit the setting/winding mechanism.

Movement is running again for the first time in over 40 years!

Nothing wrong with the performance!

Chronograph layer back together.

As I could not find original hands I found a pair that matched closely. Then I tightened them to fit the movement.

I applied new compound to the dial and hands. I also added some patina to the hands so they would fit the ageing of the dial.

Movement goes back into the case looking great.

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.
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