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Repairing a 1956 Cyma R.458 movement - never tried to repair a watch before...

3K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Jeremy Harris 
#1 ·
For my 18th birthday, my Godfather gave me his 9ct gold Cyma. This was in 1970. About a year later I was wearing it at a Hawkwind gig at the Round House, Chalk Farm Road, and on leaving I bashed it on something and the whole movement, crystal etc dropped out on to the ground. The case of this watch has the lugs fixed to the back, and the bezel ring with the crystal holds the movement in place, and it's not a very secure push fit (something I need to devise a way to fix later).

So, as this watch hasn't got a lot of value, but is in pretty good condition as far as the dial, hands, case etc go, I thought I'd have a go at fixing it. I'd lost some bits, plus there seems to be an extra bit in there, but this box has been stored away for about 47 years. This is what I found when I opened the box:

As_found.jpg


The face looks to be in pretty good condition for a watch that's over 60 years old:

Face.jpg


And it was easy to date as inside the case there are a full set of Edinburgh hallmarks for 1956:

Inside_case.jpg


The movement is not too bad, but the balance wheel is missing, and the balance bridge is minus the bearing and cap jewel, plus the screw that holds the balance bridge in place is missing (I think I must have had it apart to try and fix it back when it was first damaged):

Movement.jpg


So, it looks like I need a new balance wheel, complete with staff, hairspring, upper jewel bearing and cap jewel. A bit of hunting around revealed a complete movement for sale with a very badly damaged face, but the balance wheel looked OK. So for £13 I bought it, only to find that it's missing the upper balance wheel jewels! The good news is that the balance wheel and staff look to be in good condition. As the face on the replacement movement was beyond saving, I carefully pulled the hands off (they are in good condition, so will be kept as spares) and removed the face, so I could take a look at the bearing on the face side of the balance wheel. A quick check with a vernier seems to show that the bottom bearing jewels are identical to the missing upper bearing jewels.

I'm now waiting for some more tools I've ordered to arrive, so the next instalment of this tale will be when I find out if I can remove the balance bridge, balance wheel and lower balance jewels from the donor movement, fit the jewels to the balance bridge and then try and put the movement back together again. It will need a good clean, as there's lots of bits of fluff in it, but first I want to find out if I can just swap the lower jewels for my missing upper ones.

I'd welcome if anyone has any ideas as to how to make the case clip together more tightly. Being gold, and because the lugs are fixed to the case back, I think the tension from the strap may have slightly distorted the relatively soft case. I can clip it together easily, and unclip it with a finger nail, which is the reason it came apart and dropped the movement on the ground in the first place. I think I need something to slightly ease out the diameter of the back, so it's a tighter fit, but I've no idea if there's a special tool that will do that or if I'll have to try and make one.

More to follow in a few days, when some new tools have arrived, plus a new crystal that I hope will be the right size (I've bought a couple of different sizes in case my measurements are a bit out.
 
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#4 ·
Lovely watch!!

Cyma wristwatches do have quite a following and are collected, so a 9ct version is going to be worth a bit, i would'nt write it off as a cheap n cheerful one!!

As Simon said best to have a professional person to repair it or someone competent to do so, the balance is the brain of the watch and life is not as easy as swopping balances and hoping for the best

Hope it all works out for you :)
 
#5 ·
Cyma produced in- house movements including the beauty you got. It is a jewel. If you are set to do it yourself;

Lets hope the balance off of the spare is good, just because it looks to you like turning freely is no gurantee it is okay. Check upper and loewr pivots, if not worn short, you may have a runing one.

If it refused to run, pivots can be polished in jacot tool, or the staff renewed.

If you get it to run, you will get good timing but unlikely to get good amplitude.

Clean in Ronson lighger fluid, it is shelack friendly. Impulse and pallet jewels are shelaked in place. Make sure you grease the barrel. Do not oil fork arbor.

Good luck.
 
#7 ·
Cyma produced in- house movements including the beauty you got. It is a jewel. If you are set to do it yourself;

Lets hope the balance off of the spare is good, just because it looks to you like turning freely is no gurantee it is okay. Check upper and loewr pivots, if not worn short, you may have a runing one.

If it refused to run, pivots can be polished in jacot tool, or the staff renewed.

If you get it to run, you will get good timing but unlikely to get good amplitude.

Clean in Ronson lighger fluid, it is shelack friendly. Impulse and pallet jewels are shelaked in place. Make sure you grease the barrel. Do not oil fork arbor.

Good luck.
are you sure lighter fluid will not desolve shelack ? vin
 
#8 ·
Sorry for the very delayed update, life got in the way, plus a move of house, and it took some time to get around to working on this watch. The good news is that it has been back in good running order for a couple of years or so now. Not as straightforward a repair as I thought, but by being systematic and swapping parts over one by one from the spare movement I managed to get it running well. I learned a lot getting this watch back in working order, although I did need to get an expert to fix the fit of the case halves. The cause of the original accident was that the front of the case came off, and the movement is retained by the front half, so that resulted in the movement falling out. When I'd got the movement working well I wasn't happy with the fit of the two case halves. They didn't seem to click together tightly enough. There was no obvious damage, I suspect the softness of the gold has led to the interference fit becoming a little slack over the years.

The good news is that I found a local chap that knew exactly how to resolve this. He worked his magic on the two halves of the case and they now click together tightly. The Cyma makes for a very elegant dress watch, IMHO. It's slim and discreet, yet has an elegant, understated, look. Not quite my favourite watch in my small collection, that remains the Seiko 7A28-7120 I've worn practically every day since 1984. The Seiko definitely isn't the sort of watch for going to a fancy do, though, whereas the slim Cyma fits the bill perfectly. My timing was out, though. I got it fully working just when we were stuck, unable to go anyhere, because of the plague!
 
#12 · (Edited)
Just realised I didn't post a photo of the repaired watch. Wearing it today, so this is what it looks like now, some 67 years after it was made:

Watch Brown Analog watch Gesture Clock


The movement is an R.458. Hallmarks inside the case show that was made in 1956. I think it came out reasonably well, all things considered. The case etc seem to have survived being bounced across a side road off Chalk Farm Road in 1971 remarkably well..
 
#14 ·
Just been checking dates. Hawkwind played a fair few of the Roundhouse Sunday gigs in 1970 and a few in early 1971. I was given the watch for my 18th birthday, in late 1970. I know it was winter, as I remember it being cold. That puts the date of the incident as being the night of 13th December 1970, Fits with me wearing the watch, as I'd only had it for a month. Hawkwind didn't play the Roundhouse on Sunday again until 2nd May 1971, which doesn't fit with me remembering how cold it was, scrabbling around trying to find the bits of the watch on the road.

I do remember that this was the first time we'd driven to a Sunday Roundhouse gig, in my mates newly acquired NSU Prinz (along with his newly acquired licence). The pair of us drove that car to Weeley festival, near Clacton, in 1971, as there was no IoW festival (not surprising after what happened at the 1970 one). Bloody miracle the NSU made it that far. It was not made for long distance touring.
 
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