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onzenuub

Repairing an IWC Slevin Damaged by a Hairdryer

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onzenuub

Originally posted by Francisco on another board.

 

A friend of mine washed his IWC Slevin and after he realized that some water condensation appeared in the dial. He used the hairdryer to remove the water, unscrewing the crown, with the aim of evaporating the water.

 

However, he was using the hairdryer during 20 minutes…what it is really a lot. Some seconds is enough… After this torture for the movement, there was no water, but the watch stopped. Well, he sent me the watch to have a look.

 

The movement had no corrosion problems. Next video shows the problem. The balance wheel hardly rotates; it does not push the pallet fork. The video shows:

 

1.- That the balance wheel is only rotating a bit, and finally stops.

2.- That after removing the balance wheel and pushing the pallet fork with the pliers the movement works. Therefore, it seems that the breakdown is in the balance wheel.

 

 

Following video shows how a balance wheel from another A7750 movement is assembled on the Slevin and that the movement works. Hence, it is confirmed that the problem is in the balance wheel.

 

 

By the way, assembling and disassembling the balance wheel in a completely assembled 7750 is not an easy task, because the minute counter gear (golden) is disturbing.

 

Following picture shows two balance wheels (BW). On the left, the Slevin’s BW and on the right, the spare BW that works.

 

4230394107_a818d35dc1_o.jpg

 

As it is possible to see, the Slevin’s BW has the jewel that pushes the ballet fork in a different position, rotated to the right. Due to this different position the jewel cannot connecting to the pallet fork and the movement is completely stopped even if the balance wheel is manually pushed.

 

Where is the problem? Next picture shows the breakdown. The end of the spiral has to be glued where the green arrow shows. However, the Slevin’s spiral end is glued on the plate (red arrow).

 

4231161842_6d71659111_o.jpg

 

How is this possible? The strong heat from the hairdryer melted the glue. The end of the spiral was free and, after cooling, the end was finally glued on the plate, because this is the place where the end was resting. Amazing!

 

Repair this problem is easy. Just we have to remove the end of the spiral fro the plate and gluing on the correct place. You can use superglue (cianocrilate) or epoxy. I like to use a piece of tape on the table and with the point of a needle I take a small amount of glue.

 

4230394165_9724782c19_o.jpg

 

Next picture shows the repaired balance wheel. The end is a bit off in comparison with the correct BW, but this guarantee a better adherence. The jewel now is in its correct position.

 

4230394193_51cebd9eba_o.jpg

 

And a final picture of the beautiful IW Slevin, after repairing it.

 

4231161948_1b1bfd379c_o.jpg

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Francisco.

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twofake

Thanks for the very interesting topic but are your videos and pictures deleted?

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gran

Ahh what a relief..good work

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Sakurai
Thanks for the very interesting topic but are your videos and pictures deleted?

They work nicely over here, which is impressing as it's more that 3.5 years since the post was made.

Death by hairdryer, how embarrasing.

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SSTEEL

Great read. Heed a warning to anyone, not to use a hairdryer on a watch, use silica sachets or uncooked rice instead.

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Adamsmith

nice job! thanks for the post

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