A good client has sent in his lovely 1959 Navitimer. It’s not keeping good time and needs a service.
Lovely Venus 178.
One would like a little better timekeeping than that!
I remove the hands and dial.
I start taking the movement apart.
Down to the base movement.
I now take apart the lower chronograph section. Look at all that dirt!
Old mainspring.
The movement has been cleaned. Now I see that the balance moves freely after fitting the cap jewels.
I fit a new mainspring.
Base movement coming together.
Case movement back together and ticking.
That’s more like it!
I start fitting the chronograph components.
Movement almost back together.
Movement ready for dial and hands.
Movement back together looking great.
4 Responses to Service: Breitling Navitimer 806 calibre 178
Great post Mitka and lovely watch. Something that occurred to me as I’ve not seen a Venus movement with that plating finish before – is there any perceived wisdom about what finishes are better than others, Omega obviously used to go for rhodium…etc which I assume must be purely decorative rather than anything particularly functional?
Its a combination of corrosion protection and decoration. If anything Rhodium is good against corrosion.
Wow, that’s amazing the reading you got on the timegraph after it all. Just goes to show a little tlc is sometimes all that is needed.
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