Tutorial: Quieting noisy rotors

[10:10 Watch Repair 1]

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.

It's a matter of tolerance. The Swiss bearing is tighter, so 9010 will lubricate, and the same amount of noise doesn't exist. With a rep part, have at it.

 

The tolerance is sloppy. Lubricating with grease will effectively decrease the slop, but at the same time create more drag. It's good and bad. Good, the rotor is quieter and has less slop. The bad, too much grease can migrate, silicone is bad for cleaning, the rotor won't spin as well so it won't wind as well.

[10:10 Watch Repair 1]

Oh, and "qualified?" Is that the new forum buzz...

Some lesser qualified horologists include George Daniels and Hajime Asaoka to name two.

[binatang 0]

I think members of the forum will know well meaning posts when they see it.

Members will decide for themselves what best suit their needs & budget. The role of knowledgeable participants is to present the options.

 

I agree that Moebius watch oils are more expensive than drugs & not all members would want to make that investment.

However, it is also fair to present the possible consequences if they decide to use something else.

Moebius oils are expensive but they are for a reason. They are specifically for watches & are designed not to spread excessively (or at all) if applied correctly.

 

Also I would not wash any watch parts with soap & water but that's just me. Personally, I would use lighter fluid if the job is small like a rotor bearing.

That being said, "rotor squeak" is also often cause by misshaped rotors & not just sticking rotors.

You will find this very often in decorated rotors where cut outs are required eg. Omega CrPO rotors.

The stamping process just bends the rotors out of shape & they end up scraping the movement holder.

[locoandroid 0]

great info