ETA 2824-2 Manual Wind Malfunction

[SS72]

I have an ETA 2824-2 in a watch with the dial, hands, etc, fitted and cased. And it has a manual winding issue.

I'll be sending it off to get fixed, but am curious about what the cause could be, if it's possible to diagnose from the following:
1. The movement auto winds and runs perfectly - amplitude, beat, clean readout with no noise.
2. Date setting and time setting positions engage properly and function normally, including hacking.
3. When unscrewing the crown to move the stem into winding position, there is no click/snapping into that first position.
4. In that position, the crown physically cannot be turned clockwise without significant effort.
5. It does not wind manually, and after a lot of effort, it snaps forward one click, and that cycle repeats.
6. Turning the crown anticlockwise feels normal.

When screwing the crown back onto the tube, it does screw all the way on, and it threads smoothly, but a lot of effort is required. And it sounds like it might be winding at that point.

 

[ward1991]

[Record scratch, Freeze frame]

"Yup, thats me, keyless works. You're probably wondering how I ended up like this."

Cue Baba O'Reilly

It's your keyless, easy to fix if youre familiar at all with taking apart watches, possibly a worn member of the family but likely it all just needs to be reset. The works reside under the dial where the stem goes into the movement. They're responsible for hacking, controlling the stems position, winding setting, quick set date and time set. All the clicking you hear when operating the crown in and out is these parts interacting with each other.

Most of the time when the stem is removed from the watch and the wrong size screw driver or tool is used to depress the stem release it puts the keyless works out of commission. It can also happen from regular use of the crown or heavy handed use of the crown.

Simply put, the keyless works are the crazy ex of watch parts.

 

[ward1991]

P.s. I really dig the update of your avatar to the Unforgiven pic! My favorite movie of all time.

There wasn't room for the both of us in this here town!

 

[SS72]

P.s. I really dig the update of your avatar to the Unforgiven pic! My favorite movie of all time.

There wasn't room for the both of us in this here town!

Thanks mate. I ruled out the keyless in my mind because all other positions are engaging okay, and I've typically found the stem spins but the winding doesn't engage if it's the keyless. I hope that's all it is.

Yep, I had to change my avatar pic. But no way was I not going to be Clint. Also my favorite movie of all time, sine the day I saw it in the cinema. That man is one of my heroes.

 

[SS72]

It turns out the manual winding issue is due to a combination of two things:

• Auto winding reversing gears incorrectly oiled and/or gunky, hence manual winding has more friction than normal; and
• Stem is too short, so screwing down in first position instead of winding

Replacement of the reversing gears has been done and manual winding is much smoother now. A replacement stem is on order.

@tongsui is making everything right again!