Tutorial: Quieting noisy rotors

[P4GTR 0]

This is how I quiet noisy rotors.

 

Disclaimer: I am not a watchmaker. Some watch makers have thought the idea was ok, others would tell you to "leave it to the hands of a professional", which of course is always the best idea.

 

Remove rotor from movement. It's one screw.

 

 

Flip your watch so it is dial up. You want to keep these bits protected

 

 

Optional step- Wash rotor, focusing on bearings, use soap, hot water and a toothbrush. If there isn't a lot of grinding and the bearing just seems dry, you can skip this step. Thoroughly dry if you wash it.

 

I use bearing grease.

 

 

Take a push pin, and dab the needle into a tube of bearing grease. Insure there is only a very small dot on the tip of the needle. The amount circled in red is all I will apply.

 

 

Apply this to the open space on the bearing cup. Press the grease in with pressure from your finger. You want to apply it into the bearing track, indicated here.

 

 

The grease pushed into the bearing.

 

 

Work the bearing, spin the rotor using your jeweler driver.

 

 

 

You cannot over apply the grease, nor can you have any grease contact the gear on the bottom of the rotor. Too much grease will not allow the rotor to move freely and may spread its way into your winding bridge. Less is more!

 

Clean up any residue.

 

 

Look at the bearing cup after application, no heavy build up. Again, do not cake this stuff in there. Wipe down the rotor preparing it for the reinstall.

 

 

It is essential that this gear is clean and free from any bearing grease.

 

 

Install your clean rotor back into the watch.

 

 

Enjoy a smoother quieter rotor. Hope you find this helpful.

 

 

 

[HWG 11]

Nice Dan! Very informative, and great pics!

[cobn 0]

Good writeup!

Thumbs up!

[Member X 91]

Nice, I have been wondering how I could do this

[10:10 Watch Repair 1]

you can do it carefully. Your automatic winding will be compromised - i.e. the watch will not auto wind as well as the factory recommendation for oiling. If the grease contains any silicone, your watchmaker will be pissed when they do a service too, it ruins expensive cleaning fluids.

[DFH 0]

Great post, man - and excellent pics!!! Thanks for sharing....

[ReplicaFromDownunder 2]

That is awesome, thanks for sharing.

[ReplicaFromDownunder 2]

Will silicon grease perform the same thing? I have that it is white.

[ReplicaFromDownunder 2]

Cheapest I could find is around $20US on eBay. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Phil-Wood-Waterproof-Grease-Tube-3oz-/221005462707?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3374f3bcb3

anyone have a cheaper option?

[P4GTR 0]

You can get bearing grease just about anywhere. Auto parts store, bike shop, etc.

 

you can do it carefully. Your automatic winding will be compromised - i.e. the watch will not auto wind as well as the factory recommendation for oiling. If the grease contains any silicone, your watchmaker will be pissed when they do a service too, it ruins expensive cleaning fluids.

 

If the movement had the factory oil recommendation, it wouldn't sound so damn horrible to begin with.

 

 

Cheapest I could find is around $20US on eBay. http://www.ebay.com....=item3374f3bcb3

anyone have a cheaper option?

 

 

If the correct (factory recommended) grease works and is readily available then of course it's best to use it. No sense searching for bearing grease. Maybe CLS can chime in where to get the correct stuff, and if it resolves the noise.

[nuker 30]

Dis is da sticky one methinks

Simple and effective. Good one P4GTR

[Sakurai 1]

Nice post, building up courage to give this a go.

[P4GTR 0]

Nice post, building up courage to give this a go.

 

It is SIMPLE. Just use the smallest amount of lube, small as in the size of the dot/period on your keyboard. A tiny bit of bearing grease added to a dry ball bearing system is not going to be a bad thing. Do not apply it from the underneath of the rotor, and do not get it on the gear under the rotor. Do not use the same silicone grease that you use to lube your gaskets. It is too thick. Do not use WD40 or any thin oil that can seep out into the movement. Use what I've suggested or purchase the correct oil ETA recommends.

[Savi 0]

This is one of the most STUPID things you can possibly do. You run the risk of completely gunking up the whole movement!

 

I repair mechanical watches and the advice in this tutorial by someone who is not a watchmaker is ridiculous!

 

Follow this tutorial if you like but it is a sure way to ferk up a movement. Over time the grease will begin to migrate and potentially gum up the whole movement. It will require a full service strip down, clean and reassembly to put it right again. At the stage this needs to be done, if it's an Asian movement, you may as well completely replace the movement for a new one as the cost is pretty much the same.

 

Do what you will but do it ill advised and at your own peril. One minute drop of oil/grease to much can cause numerous problems.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Savi

[BC1221 44]

that will get gunked up over time.

and you should NEVER wash any watch parts using dish soap.

BAD BAD idea.

 

if you wanna do it right, grab some mobious 9010 and put a few drops of oil on the bearings and the gears.

its a little pricy but its worth having around.

[binatang 0]

Does using a grease quiet down a noisy rotor. Yes it does but not in the way you expect.

A heavyweight oil or grease will actually slow down the rotational speed of the rotor.

This slower speed gives you the impression that the problem is solved.

 

ETA recommends Moebius 9010 for oiling the rotor. This is a very light weight oil.

Rotors are high speed & low pressure ... whereas grease works best in low speed & high pressure scenarios.

Eg. Keyless works

 

[P4GTR 0]

that will get gunked up over time.

and you should NEVER wash any watch parts using dish soap.

BAD BAD idea.

 

if you wanna do it right, grab some mobious 9010 and put a few drops of oil on the bearings and the gears.

its a little pricy but its worth having around.

Does using a grease quiet down a noisy rotor. Yes it does but not in the way you expect.

A heavyweight oil or grease will actually slow down the rotational speed of the rotor.

This slower speed gives you the impression that the problem is solved.

 

ETA recommends Moebius 9010 for oiling the rotor. This is a very light weight oil.

Rotors are high speed & low pressure ... whereas grease works best in low speed & high pressure scenarios.

Eg. Keyless works

 

It's easy to point out problems, coming up with solutions is the difficult task.Telling people to have a movement properly serviced, and only use ETA recommended oil isn't helpful. People already know that. Those same people will do what they have been, which is nothing. Continue to sit there and listen to a noisy watch.

 

A better suggestion you guys could make might be to purchase a new ETA rotor. They are cheaper than the oil, and swapping a rotor is something most people could do themselves rather than send their watch off.

 

In the interim to having a service done, there is no reason not to clean the debris out of the bearing cup and apply a minute amount (less then the head of a pin) of bearing grease to resolve one of the most common annoyances of reps. This is no more likely to get "gunked up over time" than any of the other lubricated movement parts inside of a hermetically sealed watch case. Put a ton of grease in there? Sure, you will not only lose power reserve but probably gum up the whole movement. The rotor bearing cup is a separate entity entirely, and I stand by my statement that properly cleaning and lubricating it will not be an issue. When you are done doing it the way I do, the rotor and bearing cup should be clean, have no visible grease built up in the bearings at all, and the rotor should spin freely on a toothpick or screwdriver shaft as designed, albeit quieter.

[Savi 0]

Oh, so now you're a qualified horologist?

Edited August 4, 2014 by Savi

[wqleow 1]

It's good to hear from both sides. Ultimately the choice of whether to do this depends on the watch owner himself.

I can see P4GTR's point. If I have a low quality watch I may not mind fiddling around with it. Of course I most probably will mess it up.

Nonetheless, this was a good read. Thanks OP and all posters. Let's keep this collegial.

[Mwhitetx 0]

I may need to do this to one of mine. Thanks!

[Cynikal.Mindset 1]

I've used this method over the past 5 years with no adverse issues. Nobody is forcing anybody to do this but it works fine if u do it like shown.

[Sakurai 1]

Nice post, building up courage to give this a go.

 

It is SIMPLE. Just use the smallest amount of lube, small as in the size of the dot/period on your keyboard. A tiny bit of bearing grease added to a dry ball bearing system is not going to be a bad thing. Do not apply it from the underneath of the rotor, and do not get it on the gear under the rotor. Do not use the same silicone grease that you use to lube your gaskets. It is too thick. Do not use WD40 or any thin oil that can seep out into the movement. Use what I've suggested or purchase the correct oil ETA recommends.

Great, thanks for the additional pointers and for taking the time to put together the original post. I will probably have a go at a cheapie first... And definitely make sure I have a proper lubricant or oil.

 

I've used this method over the past 5 years with no adverse issues. Nobody is forcing anybody to do this but it works fine if u do it like shown.

Thanks for validating that this works if performed right!

 

I'll probably mess it up at first lol, but if so I'll keep trying until all watches are dead silent - or simply dead.

[Sakurai 1]

PS. And thanks to the guys warning as well, good to hear both sides.

[10:10 Watch Repair 1]

you can do it carefully. Your automatic winding will be compromised - i.e. the watch will not auto wind as well as the factory recommendation for oiling. If the grease contains any silicone, your watchmaker will be pissed when they do a service too, it ruins expensive cleaning fluids.

 

I stand by my original comments.

FWIW, the ETA recommendation is "very little" 9010 applied to the bearings.

[P4GTR 0]

Oh, so now you're a qualified horologist?

 

Who's this guy? Wish I could see what you said prior to your edit.

 

No, I never went to school for watch making. I got my qualifications through almost a decade of hard knocks on TRC, RWG & RWI. Some of the most brilliant and talented watch making information resides on these forums. I am not going to (continue to) defend something I posted years ago that I know for a fact works.

 

I've used this method over the past 5 years with no adverse issues. Nobody is forcing anybody to do this but it works fine if u do it like shown.

 

Thanks Cyn, I was doing this for a long time before I posted it with no issue. All of my watches work fine, no problems with reserve.

 

you can do it carefully. Your automatic winding will be compromised - i.e. the watch will not auto wind as well as the factory recommendation for oiling. If the grease contains any silicone, your watchmaker will be pissed when they do a service too, it ruins expensive cleaning fluids.

 

I stand by my original comments.

FWIW, the ETA recommendation is "very little" 9010 applied to the bearings.

 

I'm glad for your comments, Chris.This "mod" could easily cause more harm then good if people do not understand the mechanics behind what is happening, and that there should basically be little to no grease in there. My concern with suggesting something less viscous was that it would be overdone and leaking out and into peoples movements. With bearing grease, a tiny dab would remain where it was put. In retrospect, too much grease isn't exactly safe either.

 

Maybe it is a bad idea, but for me, It does a good job on dry/old movements until it's time to get a full movement service done.