Hello,
First off, I'm a complete amature and do this for the sheer fun / challenge. I've got a bench set-up at my home, and have been fairly succesful at being able to diagnose, disasemble, clean and repair cheap (no jewel / 1 jewel) swiss watch movements. I have a dozen or so Timex watches that I would like to work on, but it looks like a daunting task. Does anyone have any info on Timex movement disassembly? The farthest I've gotten is removing the balance wheel hairspring for cleaning, but have several that need more work beyond this. Most of these movements are Timex era, with the exception of one cool black faced watch that has a US Time / Timex movement that I desperately need a new balance wheel hairspring for.
I worked on a German single plate trench watch movement last winter and managed to get it back together so I think I can do a Timex.
Anyhow, any suggestions out there?
Thanks,
Tom
PS any suggestions on where to get junk movements / parts other than ebay?

Hi Tom,

Oft whiles your local watch shop may have a box full of Timex scrappers that they will give you to get rid of them, or yard sales, thrift shops, that sort of thing will often come up with some - again glad to get them out of the way.

Servicing is covered on the link from the links page here on the site - disassembly is not that needed on Timex, a clean can be done without too much taken off or out of the movement. Take the link to "Budget Watch Collecting" or Google for the same and take the Wiki link that comes up - submitted by some of the guys here - that should help!

e~gards

Mel

Frae Edinburgh, Bonnie Scotland

http://www.timekeepers.me.uk
Affordable and Everyday Watches

http://www.sequencedance-online.co.uk
My other hobby - Sequence Dancing

Thanks for the great info from across the big pond!

The way they are manufactured makes them a real "chore" to take apart and put back together. What I do is remove the hands and dial. Then, I soak the movement in a mixture of Original Dawn Blue Dish Detergent. One part Dawn to 3 parts water. I put this in my ultrasonic cleaner and give it several times in the solution.

Then, I rinse it thoroughly under water until all the soap has been rinsed. After that, I use a hair dryer on low and help dry it out quickly. However, I do let it sit overnight to be sure all water has evaporated.

Then, I can do one of two things: Give it a soaking in lighter fluid (Ronsol from Wal-Mart), which will place lubricant on all parts.

OR, you could just use watchmakers oil and oil the pivots and the mainspring. When oiling the balance wheel pivots, if you drop any oil on the hairspring, use the corner of an absorbent paper towel to remove the oil from between the coils.

Then, replace the dial and hands and give it a wind up and off she should go.

Have fun with your servicing.

Cheers,

Ed

Thanks Ed,
I'm going to try this on a cool looking vintage 73 Timex that is kind of mod looking. The movement is running way fast! I cleaned it in watch cleaning solution in my ultrasonic cleaner and then in Ronsonol, but the hairspring coils are still sticking together making it run even faster...I have a feeling that cleaning solution is not getting rinsed out completely and causing this. Also having trouble getting the darn day and date rings to work...Day # actually works, but the weekday outer ring won't turn...

Timex Forum.

I've repaired and serviced many a mechanical watch and clock in my time, but I only did a complete dissembly / reassembly of a Timex mechanical movement ONCE in my life...once was enough!

Timexes were not really "meant" to be fully dissembled...alas, they were manufactured as inexpensively as possible to be "throw away" timepieces. This, of course, is the reason for that daunting two plate "sandwich" movement that is characteristic of the watches. Even at the factories where these watches were made, they used a special patented machine to temporarily hold all of the gears in position so the plates could be closed. In other words, even the people making the watches could not assemble them by hand!

Most here are overjoyed just to get an old Timex up and running again and, if it does so accurately, so much the better. Most here "repair" a Timex movement by exhanging it for one that still works which is not that much of a problem since so many MILLIONS of functional movements are still floating around out there.

Anyway, enjoy your new hobby and please do keep us informed of what projects you are working on from time to time. Posting photos is also nice and you might want to consider opening a free account at photobucket.com to store your images for inclusion in future emails since, quite unfortuately, the forum program we use does not allow for image files to be directly upload to this site.

Welcome aboard...


technoguy

Thanks Technoguy.
I figured these were assembled with a break apart jig that held all of the parts in place while the top and bottom plates where assembled.
I'll take some pictures and put them in photobucket.

I would be happy to send some old Timex for you to take apart.
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