Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

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chrislovessushi
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Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by chrislovessushi »

Hello all! I happened upon a lovely 6498 recently but it’s been having some issues. I disassembled it and the biggest problem apart from being drenched in oil and filthy was that it was in need of a new escape wheel and click spring. I cleaned everything up, oiled and reassembled it, and after a few winds it started ticking away. Then after about 5 minutes it stopped. Checked the balance and everything looks great there. The mainspring also appears to be in good health. Tried orienting the movement in different ways and sometimes it would stop after an hour, sometimes 10 minutes. But no correlation to the orientation. It dawned on me that this movement had already had the seconds hand pinion clipped and it appears that it was probably with the “quick and dirty” toenail clipper method as the pinion stub still extends just a hair outside of the jewel. So when the movement stopped again I gave this little stump a poke with my tweezers and the movement immediately started ticking again. Applied a little pressure to the stump and the movement slowed to a halt and then immediately resumed when removing pressure. My question is, would you agree that this is where the issue is? The jewel is clean and in good shape but perhaps the stump has mushroomed and is causing friction? If so, how would you proceed? The only thing I can think of would be to remove the second wheel and file the pinion to a point.
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Re: Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by straps68 »

chrislovessushi wrote: February 21st, 2020, 12:34 am Hello all! I happened upon a lovely 6498 recently but it’s been having some issues. I disassembled it and the biggest problem apart from being drenched in oil and filthy was that it was in need of a new escape wheel and click spring. I cleaned everything up, oiled and reassembled it, and after a few winds it started ticking away. Then after about 5 minutes it stopped. Checked the balance and everything looks great there. The mainspring also appears to be in good health. Tried orienting the movement in different ways and sometimes it would stop after an hour, sometimes 10 minutes. But no correlation to the orientation. It dawned on me that this movement had already had the seconds hand pinion clipped and it appears that it was probably with the “quick and dirty” toenail clipper method as the pinion stub still extends just a hair outside of the jewel. So when the movement stopped again I gave this little stump a poke with my tweezers and the movement immediately started ticking again. Applied a little pressure to the stump and the movement slowed to a halt and then immediately resumed when removing pressure. My question is, would you agree that this is where the issue is? The jewel is clean and in good shape but perhaps the stump has mushroomed and is causing friction? If so, how would you proceed? The only thing I can think of would be to remove the second wheel and file the pinion to a point.
Sounds like you may have found the issue but don't have enough magnification to actually see the damaged pivot in question. Try taking a picture, maybe your camera will magnify it enough?

When you were assembling the movement, did you test if the gear train spins freely or checked end shake?
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Re: Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by Tanukjaju »

For sure I would disassemble the movement again.

Double check the jewels and for fine fibers in the gears. Looks for straightness and roundness of pivots.
:shifty:

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Re: Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by djolemag »

Also check centre wheel jewels and clearance upside down...
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Re: Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by chrislovessushi »

Some tremendous advice in here! I just opened up my box today and to my surprise the movement is still ticking today, about 12 hours since I poked the seconds stump. So it may be safe to say this is where my problem is.
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Re: Colibri 6498 Issue - Seeking Advice

Post by djolemag »

Check it in different positions, just to be sure...

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