I thought I would take some pics and post the servicing procedure of a 6497 movement that we find in many of our pams. I work full time on watches and thought I would set up an area at home to service mine and my friends reps. With patience and practice im fairly confident that anyone could eventually learn to service this movement proficiently.
I didnt intend this to be so long winded but have ended up with a lot of pictures so decided to do it over 2 parts, sorry if it bores you but hopefully someone might find it a little interesting or helpful.
I personally think that most of the asian 6497's are very well made and with a service they will run and run, it is a good movement to practice on and being relatively cheap you can always buy a new movement at not too much expense. Personally I'd buy a movement on its own if you are going to try this so that you dont mess up a decent watch.
Obviously you will need some tools, most imprtantly and necessary are screwdrivers, tweezers, oilers, oils, eye glasses, movement holder. The list of tools is so great it could go on and on but these are the basics, I think!
If you use this in conjunction with this site guide http://www.eta.ch/swisslab/6497/6947.html it should be even easier. I do things slightly differently though but the end result is the same.
Anyway, firstly a pic of the watch. CG already removed, self explanatory I think.
We need to remove the case back and turn the set lever screw and remove the crown, dont turn it too much at this point, Just enough to remove the crown. In the pic the screwdriver is on the screw. We then need to remove the tabs holding the movement in, they are at the top left and bottom right of the watch.
Now place something over the back of the watch and turn it over, the movement will fall out.Next we need to remove the hands. Always protect the dial!! I use a little plastic bag ripped in half and use hand removers to remove the hands. Other tools are available but i prefer these. Same for the seconds hand too but I use an eyeglass to check im not damaging anything.
Once the hands are removed, next we need to get the dial off. The screwdriver is on one in the pic, we need to turn the other one in the opposite place too. Take a careful look at the dial screw, one part is flat instead of rounded, we need this bit to line up with the dial foot to allow it to come off.
Put the dial and hands in a safe place so they cant get damaged.
Next I remove the cannon pinion on the dial side using a presto tool (also used to remove hands)
Turn the movement, its now important the mainspring has no power in it. I begin by removing the ratchet wheel
Then crown wheel (threads the opposite way)
Then remove the 2 barrel bridge screws, set lever screw and the barrel bridge itself.
Then the sliding pinion and winding pinion.
Next we remove the screws and the train bridge.
Remove the four wheels and barrel. (escape wheel in the pic needs to be removed)
Open the barrel and inspect the mainspring. You can do this by resting the barrel on your tweezers with the teeth at the bottom, push down on the teeth and the lid will pop off
Finally I remove the balance. Generally if they look okay I leave the pallet fork and cock on the main plate.
Turn the movement over and we remove the rest of the keyless and minute train. First we remove the set lever spring.
Then basically remove everything, the set lever may already have fallen off, the minute wheel, setting wheel and intermediate setting wheel need to be removed. The one area to keep an eye on is the yoke and yoke spring. The best way I think to stop it flying off is to pull it out with blue tack.
As you are removing the different parts try and put them in a container in order so it helps with reassembly.
Also as you are removing the parts it is necessary to check them under an eye glass for damage/corrosion etc. I use a 12 x eyeglass.
Everything except the balance is now ready for the ultra sonic cleaning machine. Im not going to go into this, Francisco does it brilliantly here and is where I got the idea from : http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/tutorial-easy-and-cheap-ultrasonic-35546
Here is a pic of my set up just to show you what I use.
The balance will be put in one dip for cleaning.
In the next part I will go through putting the watch back together and lubricating it. Hope I havent sent you to sleep!
I didnt intend this to be so long winded but have ended up with a lot of pictures so decided to do it over 2 parts, sorry if it bores you but hopefully someone might find it a little interesting or helpful.
I personally think that most of the asian 6497's are very well made and with a service they will run and run, it is a good movement to practice on and being relatively cheap you can always buy a new movement at not too much expense. Personally I'd buy a movement on its own if you are going to try this so that you dont mess up a decent watch.
Obviously you will need some tools, most imprtantly and necessary are screwdrivers, tweezers, oilers, oils, eye glasses, movement holder. The list of tools is so great it could go on and on but these are the basics, I think!
If you use this in conjunction with this site guide http://www.eta.ch/swisslab/6497/6947.html it should be even easier. I do things slightly differently though but the end result is the same.
Anyway, firstly a pic of the watch. CG already removed, self explanatory I think.
We need to remove the case back and turn the set lever screw and remove the crown, dont turn it too much at this point, Just enough to remove the crown. In the pic the screwdriver is on the screw. We then need to remove the tabs holding the movement in, they are at the top left and bottom right of the watch.
Now place something over the back of the watch and turn it over, the movement will fall out.Next we need to remove the hands. Always protect the dial!! I use a little plastic bag ripped in half and use hand removers to remove the hands. Other tools are available but i prefer these. Same for the seconds hand too but I use an eyeglass to check im not damaging anything.
Once the hands are removed, next we need to get the dial off. The screwdriver is on one in the pic, we need to turn the other one in the opposite place too. Take a careful look at the dial screw, one part is flat instead of rounded, we need this bit to line up with the dial foot to allow it to come off.
Put the dial and hands in a safe place so they cant get damaged.
Next I remove the cannon pinion on the dial side using a presto tool (also used to remove hands)
Turn the movement, its now important the mainspring has no power in it. I begin by removing the ratchet wheel
Then crown wheel (threads the opposite way)
Then remove the 2 barrel bridge screws, set lever screw and the barrel bridge itself.
Then the sliding pinion and winding pinion.
Next we remove the screws and the train bridge.
Remove the four wheels and barrel. (escape wheel in the pic needs to be removed)
Open the barrel and inspect the mainspring. You can do this by resting the barrel on your tweezers with the teeth at the bottom, push down on the teeth and the lid will pop off
Finally I remove the balance. Generally if they look okay I leave the pallet fork and cock on the main plate.
Turn the movement over and we remove the rest of the keyless and minute train. First we remove the set lever spring.
Then basically remove everything, the set lever may already have fallen off, the minute wheel, setting wheel and intermediate setting wheel need to be removed. The one area to keep an eye on is the yoke and yoke spring. The best way I think to stop it flying off is to pull it out with blue tack.
As you are removing the different parts try and put them in a container in order so it helps with reassembly.
Also as you are removing the parts it is necessary to check them under an eye glass for damage/corrosion etc. I use a 12 x eyeglass.
Everything except the balance is now ready for the ultra sonic cleaning machine. Im not going to go into this, Francisco does it brilliantly here and is where I got the idea from : http://forum.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/tutorial-easy-and-cheap-ultrasonic-35546
Here is a pic of my set up just to show you what I use.
The balance will be put in one dip for cleaning.
In the next part I will go through putting the watch back together and lubricating it. Hope I havent sent you to sleep!
