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What could be causing drastic time loss - 6106C movement

1626 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  croolis
Hello all,

I will readily admit that my aptitude with watch restoration lies with refinishing and restoring ugly parts. My attempts at servicing a movement, on the other hand, are about 50/50. My 6309 and 7002 services have gone very well, with each now running within acceptable standards. My 6106-8100 is another story.

When I got the watch, I noticed it always took a lot of winding to get it moving. After shaking it vigorously, it would tick for about five seconds and quit. If I set the time, it would repeat this behavior. With no real rhyme or reason, it would suddenly spring to life (no pun intended) and operate normally for the day.

Realizing this wasn't normal behavior, I did a service on the movement and wore it overnight to test it. I lost somewhere around 3 hours in one night's time. I disassembled it, recleaned it, pegged all the jewels, and double-checked everything as I put it back together. I also demagnetized it, although I understand that would likely cause it to run fast, not slow.

That day (and the two days that followed), I wore it 24/7 and it lost only a few seconds. I don't have a Timegrapher, but I've been successful using the Kello iPhone app and it confirmed my experience that the watch was keeping good time. I was so excited, I even made a video!

http://videos-g-16.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/10586035_330474357119336_1602284421_n.mp4

I wore the watch today for the first time in a week or so and it is losing time steadily -- in the neighborhood of ten minutes each hour. One other odd trait I noticed was that, almost without fail, it will stop when the midnight date change occurs, almost as if there isn't enough power to keep it moving along. Possibly a mainspring issue?

Thanks for any advice. My 6106 is my favorite watch and I'm hoping to get it back in the fold!
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I'd guess the problem is with the pallet fork or balance assy. A tiny bit of micro fibre fluff on the pallet jewels, or dirt in the diashocks maybe.
Wind the mainspring by screwdriver on the screw and feel for any jumps or judders which could mean the spring is broken and therefore not holding much power. Second as feca says clean both diashock jewels its one of those jobs we hate because the bits fly everywhere but its amazing the difference it can make.
Wind the mainspring by screwdriver on the screw and feel for any jumps or judders which could mean the spring is broken and therefore not holding much power. Second as feca says clean both diashock jewels its one of those jobs we hate because the bits fly everywhere but its amazing the difference it can make.
The mainspring was fine when I cleaned it and put it back together. However, I'm betting it's related to the diashock jewels. I was dreading that . . . hehe
Dont lub the pallet fork.
I made sure to avoid lubricating the pivots but I did lubricate the jewels as directed.
Maybe slipping cannon pinion? Super easy moving of the hands when setting the time ( no drag) and not enough "torque" to change the date at midnight is usually a cannon pinion that needs to be tightened.
Maybe slipping cannon pinion? Super easy moving of the hands when setting the time ( no drag) and not enough "torque" to change the date at midnight is usually a cannon pinion that needs to be tightened.
This might be it. I forgot to mention that it's almost difficult to set because the hands move so freely during setting. Thanks for the advice!
Should be relatively easy to repair :)
You might want to invest in one of those cheap Chinese "Multifunction nr 1000" timegraphers. I've got one and it's working perfectly :)
Just a quick question, how do you tighten the canon pinion, just in case I have to do it in the future, cheers
There is a tool for this. Alternatively, remove the cannon pinion. Slide it onto a correctly sized smoothing broach. Pinch down the existing dimples with a small wire cutter or fingernail clippers. The broach is used to control the crimping and prevent crushing. With a little practice its easy. Regards, BG
Cheers BG, havent got a broach of any sort as of yet, but at least now I know how to sort a canon pinion out in the future cheers again
I also saw some references to using a nail clipper. I'll give that technique a shot!
Without a broach (or similar) in the lumen, there is a very real risk of ruining the cp. Also, if you use fingernail clippers, try to find some reasonably hard/sharp ones...alternatively you can heat and quench soft ones. Regards, BG
Just a quick update, it was indeed the cannon pinion being too loose. I borrowed one from a 6139 I'm currently working on (as they are the same part #) and it's keeping very good time now. It's also noticeably more stiff when setting the time. Thanks for all the help!
Happy days mate, glad you got it sorted, it's great when you have a bundle of spares on hand, speeds up the process some what doesn't it.
Should be relatively easy to repair :)
You might want to invest in one of those cheap Chinese "Multifunction nr 1000" timegraphers. I've got one and it's working perfectly :)
for a bit extra the 'nr 1900' model has a colour high resolution display, other than that it's about the same machine as the 1000 ..

well worth the money!
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