Repair and Regulation of Moshe's Wittnauer All-Proof M50

[@moshekatzburg1859]

I am Moshe, the owner of the repaired Wittnauer M50 watch shown in this video. I stumbled upon "Watch Repair Tutorials" a few months ago, looking to repair my prized Wittnauer , which had a broken main spring. I watched a few of Alex's video's and was struck by his incredible knowledge , various terms , parts I never heard of and logical explanations of each step. It was a throw-back to my best teachers that I still remember after 50 years. It brought back that joy of learning something new, fascinating little mechanical "wonder machine" and the challenge and satisfaction of fixing that broken gizmo. Alex , thank you for fixing mine. Bravo !

[@watchrepairtutorials]

thank you, my friend. It was a pleasure working with you on this project.

[@rossjackson3670]

Beyond my skill level, but not my comprehension due to your teaching. So enjoyable. Thank you Alex.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Hi Ross, I would urge you to try it on a practice movement. Not your good stuff. Once you see changes, you will become more confident in your abilities. YOU CAN DO IT!

[@carlosgomis9033]

The way you render us your cognition in watch repair is amazing. Thank you again for your tips and explanations. I am really thankfull Alex.

[@carlosgomis9033]

Thankful I meant...sorry

[@watchrepairtutorials]

You are most welcome Carlos

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

Great video, a lot of gold dust info. Two groups in watchmaking, those who regret damaging a dial and those who’ve not tried cleaning a dial yet.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Well said!

[@barissara]

Always a pleasure watching the Master. So inspiring 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thank you my friend. 🤘

[@LenHere]

I just found your channel and I'm digging in to your back catalog. I filled my amazon cart with watchmaking tools with the intention of starting watch repairs. You are an excellent teacher, I think I will learn a LOT from your content. All the best to you!!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thanks, I’m glad you’re finding the content helpful!

[@ElderPinto254]

thank you i learn so much from this channel thank you!!!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Happy to hear that! That what i am trying to accomplish.

[@29ibrahimsayed95]

Your videos are extremely informative. Please make a playlist on quartz watch repair too.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

I have a whole section in my watchmaking courses on quartz service, testing and repair.🤙

[@29ibrahimsayed95]

@@watchrepairtutorials share the link i am not able to find it out

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@29ibrahimsayed95 watchrepairtutorials.com/

[@wioras603]

Great video, thank you. I had some watches with broken mainsprings, replacing them was fun. What I found challenging were click springs flying away… 😅

[@watchrepairtutorials]

They can sure fly a long way for being such a small spring.

[@obeomkwon5192]

Very helpful information. Thank you.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

You are welcome! I hope it helps.

[@felizuleta]

very cool vid, thanks for sharing!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thanks for watching!

[@kswaminathan5439]

Thank you, Alex Sir, for this very ,very informative video. How to fix the main spring looking at the direction of the arbor was really a puzzle solved, at least for me. Looking forward to more such educational videos.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

You are welcome my friend.

[@kuongsam2314]

Insights Insights Insights!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

hopefully, there's something that you'll get out of this video that you can use.

[@kuongsam2314]

@@watchrepairtutorials How to hold the movement vertical stably and view through the microscope and work microscopic tweetings on the hairspring stud.. It seems very difficult.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@kuongsam2314 Small movements are seen as much larger movements under the scope.

[@hugeshows]

With the crystal lift, check the condition of the O-ring inside it. Its purpose is to open the jaws evenly, and if you have jaws that don't line up it's likely the O-ring is weak or damaged. I really like your channel, I'm learning a LOT! I have entire cabinets of parts and crystals for vintage wrist and pocket watches. Feel free to hit me up for oddball parts!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thank you. Will do

[@johnvaluk1401]

Thank you Alex. The wealth of information you provide is amazing. And the manner in which way you explain and why is so helpful in understanding. Thanks again

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thank you John.

[@MyRetroWatches]

I’ve never seen the terminology mean much on position. My aim is to get good enough tolerance across all positions so does not matter which is really crown up. Equally I am a lefty so wear my watch in my right so in theory crown is always up for me! Nice video again Alex. Thanks

[@watchrepairtutorials]

👍 It all depends on the watch and the wearer Mike.

[@MagicTheKrakening]

new to watches and just joined the Journeyman Watchmaker Course. Hope to learn a lot from the courses, i have a pile of watches that are currently not working that I'm eager to get ticking again!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

That's great! You've chosen a great course for learning watchmaking.

[@boydsargeant7496]

That was awesome Alex! I need to start putting some of this in to practice on good condition movements. I’ve had some nightmares recently with quite worn watches. I have just picked up an omega 601 cal. Which I’m hoping for better from.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

You got it Boyd. Think it through logically. I have a Patreon only video coming up soon I think you may like. It Title is " What Actually Causes Rate Loss and Gain".

[@mikebruegger8654]

Nice technical stuff. Most will shy away from. Good information to those who listen...

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Most don't have the patience to listen to everything which is why many dwell in mediocrity. 🧐

[@bolgerguide]

I'm late for this one. Had a busy week with low amplitude lol. Another great video Alex!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

ah thank you sir. I'm in regulation phase

[@bencallahan4085]

Thank you for the information. Ben

[@watchrepairtutorials]

No worries Ben. Thank you brother.

[@MichaelHeinrich1]

The science of regulating a warch.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

A little bit of theory and a little bit of experience.

[@tomholloway7566]

Thank you Alex

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Good to see you Tom

[@AICD1999]

Very informative video. I have been doing this for a year now and have used your classes and a few other folks as well. I often wondered why a few of the vintage rebuilds no matter what sit around 200 amplitude yet keep fairly accurate time within 30 sec a day or so. I just figured that was all I could do with my abilities currently. Also, and I apologize if you already went over this, could you go over how to measure and determine mainsprings when ordering. Specially vintage where NOS may not be available? Thank you!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

I did this video earlier that might help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHbJc2uQjNSYf6ssi=TVPAQJSQ8k590lx3

[@andresgutierrez1514]

Thanks friend Alex for sharing. Greetings from Santander.🙋🏻

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thank you too

[@chenangokid]

great video as usual. but why didnt you clean the movement before you put the mainspring back in

[@watchrepairtutorials]

I often assume that people have watched more of my videos and know how I work so let me clarify my precleaning process. If I have a movement with a lot of problems or one that is very dirty, I start by precleaning all the parts through my regular cleaning machine. I use old cleaners and rinses that were once used for my final cleanings. I'm not concerned with them being spotless at this point I'm just trying to clean off as much of the gunk as possible so that I can test the movement and make my repairs without any old lubrication interfering with the testing. Once I make any repairs and corrections that need to be made, then all the parts go through the final cleaning process. This is when I want them to be spotless and ready for final assembly and lubrication. I do this primarily because I don't want to have to take the movement apart to make any corrections after I do my final cleaning. If you do then you have to go back and reclean the parts that were taken out after lubrication. In this particular case the movement was not very dirty so I final cleaned the barrel and then spot cleaned the bridge and plate so that I could test the mainspring. A lot of times I leave this out of the video because it really just becomes filler material it makes the video longer than it needs to be but I can see how it might be confusing for people who don't know how I work and I could probably do a better job explaining what I've done that might not be on camera.

[@DeadFlowersForDinner]

Hi Alex. So many thanks for all your videos and the encouragement it gave me to start a new hobby. I have a problem I need help with. I have rebuilt a seiko 6309A from 12 scrap ones and it was made from all the best condition parts possible from all of them. The watch runs like a dream and over 24 hours it loses only 2 minutes. It has a beat error of 0.2 and an amplitude of 220. The time grapher is a weishi 1900 and is set to LA 54.5 as it should be, but it will not display the time/speed correctly on the screen. It just puts dots going directly upwards on the screen and instead of giving a numerical value, it just shows four '+' signs. I have many other 6309s that have all been serviced and the machine reads all those no problem at all, and any other movement I put on it. I'm stumped with this one! Please help if you can. Much love from Wales UK

[@watchrepairtutorials]

email me.

[@sailgears]

Very infromative as usual + TKS +

[@watchrepairtutorials]

My pleasure!

[@paul25s]

Hi Alex. Thank you for absolutely superb hints and expertise. Would you please confirm that when you adjusted the regulator pins (moving closer together) you had to just apply bending of one of the pins? Or was it possible to slide closer to the other? It was not quite clear on the shot.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

When you are adjusting a regulator with a single adjustable pin, very small adjustments can simply be made by pushing the regulator pin in the direction you wanna go. This is what I did in this example. This can only be done a certain amount before it starts affecting the rate of the opposite dial position and of course, the vertical positions as well. In cases where this adjustment starts separating or spreading out the dates away from each other than the pin needs to be bent with an “S Bend” in order to keep the pin vertical.

[@medrr7654]

Merci beaucoup..

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Vous êtes le bienvenu

[@YogurtAndCrisps572]

Hello, what type of lighting do you use for your watchmaking setup? Also are you Swiss trained?

[@watchrepairtutorials]

I use a long LED light above the batch, but I spent 95% of the time under a microscope which also has an LED ring around the objective lens.

[@OceanST955]

I always struggle with mainspring arbors. I can't find that sliding pin vice anywhere. Can you let me know your source? Many thanks. Bill from Scotland.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

this is it, images.app.goo.gl/HjYLrbs9PGU9xJAY7 You can source it from many suppliers. Try cousins UK

[@OceanST955]

Ah hah ! That makes sense. I was scouring cousins and all other sites for "sliding pin vice" but found arbor tools easily! Many, thanks for the tip and the quick response, and for all your great videos.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@OceanST955 it's my pleasure. Thank you for the conversation.

[@leereyno]

3:39 I bought a cheap lift from esslinger when I started out It was not good. I then bit the bullet and bought the Bergeron model. MUCH BETTER.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

yeah, I just never did a whole Lotta one piece cases like this for me. it was never an issue because all I needed to do was get it off and then use my crystal press to install the new crystal.

[@sonnymoorehouse1941]

thats corrosion in between finish and dial sub strait,

[@gpraceman]

I'm still rather confused by crown left and crown right. Which is with 12 o'clock high?

[@watchrepairtutorials]

12 up is also Crown Right as you look at the watch. Does that make sense?

[@gpraceman]

@@watchrepairtutorials Thanks, that's what I was thinking it should be.

[@patriot_III_tinman]

Nice

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Thanks

[@austin73]

I just replaced my chinese crystal lift with a vintage Bergeon lift. The Bergeon wins hands down for a reason I could see in your video. The fingers on the Bergeon are all even and grab the crystal evenly all the way around. The knockoff, like the one you showed, had several fingers that were too high or didn’t even touch the crystal. Sometimes you can get by with a knockoff tool, but in my experience, this is not one.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

yeah, agreed. When I worked as a watchmaker, I didn't work with Monocoque cases with acrylic crystal enough to buy the Bergeon lift. all I needed to do was get it off. We always replaced the crystal with a new one and to install the new crystal, I use my crystal press.

[@Heuamoebe]

​@@watchrepairtutorialsthanks for the great video! I am curious how you fit the crystal back into the monocoque case using a crystal press!? I have only seen it done using the crystal lift (and mine is quite bad..).

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@Heuamoebe the crystal lift works by squeezing the perimeter of the crystal, right. what's the second type of compression crystal? And armored crystal, you know the kind with a ring inside. The crystal lift will not work on these so you use a die that has a hollow tapered center that squeezes it in to fit it into the watch case. That's what I use. It work perfectly and will not leave any marks on the crystal

[@Heuamoebe]

@@watchrepairtutorials oh, I didn't think that would work with non-armored crystals. Just so I am sure: The order in the press will be 1) lower die 2) case (with movement etc) 3) crystal 4) upper die (hollow inside, pushing on the outside rim of the crystal). And then compress, so the crystal slips into the case?

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@Heuamoebe yep

[@VHMMP]

Just wondering why you cleaned the mainspring barrel in IPA - twice? As always, I stay riveted to your videos to learn more. (Pun intended)

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Just to make sure it was clean. it was pretty dirty. once I tested, the main spring was working properly. I didn't wash the barrel again, so that was the final cleaning.

[@VHMMP]

@@watchrepairtutorials thank you.

[@jfdomega7938]

greetings!

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Hello there. 😉

[@Usman-r6t5z]

Can someone please help me with watch troubleshooting. I am a beginner in watchmaking hobby. I have recently serviced a Seiko 7009a movement. The problem is that it completely stops ticking in dial up position. In side positions, it gives a low rate like in 3 and 6 up positions it goes to -170 to -230 s/d. But in the dial down position it works fine like it gives +10 to +12 s/d. The beat error remains ok, between 0.2 to 0.5 ms. By the way I am using an android app timegrapher named "Watch Accuracy Meter".

[@watchrepairtutorials]

so just to be clear, this is not a regulation issue right. The first thing you gotta do is figure out why the watch is stopping in the position . When you have a situation like this, it's best to isolate the problem . The first thing you should do is remove the balance and pallet fork and then reinstall the balance only. With an air blower get the balance moving check each horizontal position to see if the problem still happens. If the balance will rotates as it should in both horizontal and vertical positions then you know that it has something to do with the pallet fork. If the movement still stops moving in the dial-up position, then you know that most likely it is an issue under the ball wheel, i.e., the pivot or the jewel . Start with this troubleshooting procedure and let me know what you discover .

[@Usman-r6t5z]

@@watchrepairtutorials thank you very much! I will try this and tell you the results soon.

[@Usman-r6t5z]

@@watchrepairtutorials Hi! I have a spare movement so I just took the whole balance wheel from that replace it with the defective one. It is working fine now.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

@@Usman-r6t5z Great. So you now know there was an issue with the balance pivots or impulse pin.

[@uniqname4sure]

Wearing a bronze Willard mod.

[@watchrepairtutorials]

Good eye.