| Author | Message | ||
     Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 5 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
Hi, my JLC is a 1947 piece with a 450 / 4 mvt. It has spent the past two months at a repair shop. It needed to be cleaned, and according to the watchmaker there was some internal damage, too. The watchmaker claims to have a large store of vintage JLC parts and apparently specializes in JLC. The watch used to run splendidly. 50 seconds late per 24 hrs is fine with me. HOWEVER. Since the $350 repair there are big problems. At night it runs smoothly, because it sits on the night stand. During the day however it is five minutes late, ten minutes late, whenever I'm looking it's off, and I'm guessing this is because I'm wearing it. Of course to say I'm incensed doesn't do justice to my feelings. However, I'm wondering if this problem can be easily remedied - by the same watchmaker, who gave me a year's warranty on the repair. Any ideas as to what went wrong? Thanks Herman | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2389 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
Sounds like a balance issue. It's either a hairspring that isn't right or they re-staffed it and the staff is slightly off center or they took a timing screw out too far and it's hitting something in some positions OR if it is dropping time in chunks, i.e. hands won't move for a while it's a canon pinion that is loose. Why did you service a watch that doing 1/2 sec in 24hrs? That's already exceptional. | ||
| Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 6 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
Thank you for yr quick response, Zaf. I just called this shop and they'll take it back and remedy the problem. Reason why I OKd a overhaul? A hair had gotten under the glass, making it a four-handed watch as it were, so I had to have it cleaned anyway. Two different watchmakers, on winding the watch, said they could tell there was some kind of friction, maybe a wheel had gotten damaged. According to both guys this could lead to real problems in the long run. So that's why a OK'd repairing a (virtually) flawless mvt. I think they indeed restaffed it. So would this be a matter of a tiny adjustment or two? Obviously I'm not too eager to let these guys do another major overhaul. Herman | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2390 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
It really depends. Restaffing, if you're off center, can be a tricky affair to fix and if they were not gentle, damage can occur to the balance wheel (i.e. it can no longer be cenetered again). If you were with 1 sec per day, I do not think a restaff was necessary. I'd give them one more chance, if not send it to me, I'll instruct the watch maker only to correct the problem, not a full tear down. | ||
| Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 7 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
Obviously this is their last chance. I would have sent it to you straight away after these reports about this arcane damage, if I it weren't the case that I live in Europe. Clearly this should not have kept me from sending it over to you, since this is taking forever; it's not really cheap, and (last but not least) they've hurt my watch. BTW it used to be fifty seconds late per day - not one (I wouldn't even be able to tell this) - which I was perfectly happy with. | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2391 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
5 - 10 mns late when worn, to me, sounds like the balance is hitting something in some positons OR the hands aren't moving all the time. | ||
| Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 9 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
Well, the watch is back at last! So the repair took only four months! In the meantime somebody was as kind as to tell me the 450 mvt is a really lousy mvt by JLC standards. Is there any truth to this, or is it just silly talk?  | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2500 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
What specifically is lousy about the 450? The 450 is one of JLCs 12 1/2 ligne movements (449,450,463,469,478, etc), the ancestor of the JLC geophysic and Vacheron Constantin Chronometre Royale. The 12 1/2 ligne movements are well regarded. | ||
| Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 10 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
"What is specifically lousy about the 450?" I don't know. Maybe the problem is the guy who told me isn't selling vintage watches, just new ones - horrific things like the one-armed Meisterstuck. I bought a new lizard strap at this place and when the guy had fitted it, he told me I could expect a lot of grief with this watch. So I told him my usual: it's 60 years old and 50 seconds fast a day. | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2508 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
I can generally get the 12 1/2 ligne movement to perform within modern chronometer specs unless they're worn out from neglect. They're very simple, with a logical layout and a large balance wheel with timing screws, lots of room for tuning them properly. | ||
| Herman New member Username: Herman Post Number: 11 Registered: 10-2006 Rating: N/A |
Well, the watch has been back on my wrist for more than a week now, and the results of these four months in the repair shop appear to be the following. It used to run 50 seconds fast a day. It is close to two minutes fast now. I’m not losing any sleep over this. The big however is, though, that adjusting the time has become problematic. When I pull out the crown I can tell the stem (if that is what one calls it) is more wobbly than before. And sometimes it just spins free; at other occasions I can only move the hands forward (which is rather inconvenient since the watch is fast rather than slow); and sometimes it works OK both ways. So what does this sound like? Obviously this is not an improvement, and I’m not going back to this place EVER. Thanks | ||
| Zaf Moderator Username: Zaf Post Number: 2529 Registered: 05-2003 Rating: N/A |
Sounds like you need a new watchmaker. Really, they're pretty nice movments unless they've been abused. |