Omega Seamaster – Cal. 1120
Hi there
Michael dropped off his Omega Seamaster last week wanting to have it cleaned. I haven’t seen or serviced a Seamaster yet with a blue dial. It certainly is a great looking watch, with Titanium case and a Cal. 1120 movement.
Let’s get started 🙂
With the case back off, we get a quick peak at the 1120.
Interesting to see the finish on the back of the dial with the movement holder out.
Here’s a few pics of the movement out of the case and the dial with and without hands. The last image is the back of the dial.
With removing the hands and dial, it’s time to dig in. First a pic of the dial side of the movement.
And then, to see what I’m dealing with, not horrible, but also not great. That’s a pretty low amplitude, this with the movement fully wound too 🙁
After removing the movement from the timegrapher, I start on the bridge side, remove the oscillating weight and get started dismantling the rest of the movement.
Here, I remove the balance and pallets.
Then gear train and it’s bridge.
Seems like I may have forgotten to take a few more pictures while taking the movement apart. Here, I remove the bezel from the case so I clean everything in the ultrasonic machine.
With the case and it’s parts are being cleaned in the ultrasonic machine, the movement has gone through it’s cycle of being cleaned in my watch cleaning machine. Here, you can see how watch repairers can have OCD when it comes to organizing parts 🙂
As per usual, I prepare the usual suspects. First, I run the mainspring through some alcohol to clean it further, then oil it. Then, I treat the mainspring barrel with some breaking grease, epilame the escape wheel and pallet stones, and cap stones. As well, I treat the reverser gear in some Lubeta V-105. It’s a slow process, but one that should always be done in order for the watch to work at peak performance. Ha, I should be a salesman 🙂
As you can see, these are the two cap stones (chatons in French). The small red rubies must be oiled exactly in the center for approximately 2/3 of the surface with some 9010 oil. In watch making school, this is one job that took some time to learn and find a technique that we must learn. Quite often, you’ll see students on their knees looking for these. Ahhh, the good ol’ days 🙂
With all that out of the way, it’s time to start putting everything together. First, I get the barrel bridge ready.
And install that over the barrel and screw it down in place.
Then the gear train and pallets with their respective bridges.
Next, I turn the movement over and get started on the keyless works so I can wind, quickly change the date and time. I’m not sure which picture I like most. With my new black work matte, my camera has a hard time finding the right white balance.
After installing and testing the keyless works, I finish up the rest of the dial side by installing the motion and calendar works.
I turn the movement over and install the balance. While letting the watch run for a good 30 minutes, I get working on the oscillating weight and it’s bridge. When some time has passed, I remove the balance and grease the pallets with some Moeubius 9415. It’s generally a good idea to let the watch run before greasing the pallets so we can let the epilame wear off on the pallet stones.
After greasing the stones, I put the movement on my timegrapher and regulate the watch. I’d say that is a pretty large improvement 🙂
After regulating the watch, I install the dial and hands.
Install the movement back in it’s case, then install the oscillating weight, followed by installing the case ring and screwing it down securely.
After checking several times for dust specks, testing the rapid date mechanism and everything else, I tightly install the case back.
Lastly, it’s time to install the clean bezel click spring and bezel.
And a couple last pictures of the Seamaster 🙂
I thank you for reading this post, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed working on this Seamaster.
Cheers
Chris Marcellin 🙂