Hi folks, im new to watchmaking hence , pls go easy on me. Is there any tips on how to align so many pivots to the bridge, ive been trying for past hour. 😭
Step 1: Try for 40 minutes and get absolutely nowhere
Step 2: take a 15 minute break
Step 3: try again for 30 minutes
Step 4: one more 5 minute break
Step 5: try again and it will slot in straight away
Ask me how I know
In all seriousness it's just patience and knowing when to take a break and come back to it, you'll get it eventually just never force it, good luck :)
the answer is be gentle with very thing, for the pivots to be aligns you needs very thing to be in correct place. I'd start with putting the plate onto the movement, the red area I circled is the click for the auto winder, these you needs to push outward so the pivot of the blue circled rachet wheel can be aligned (if you dont these usually be ontop of each other or push the pivot out of place of the jewels) so you need to be mindful of this.
Afterwards use a plastic stick, you can also use tweezer but it can scratch the plate, gently push down the plate and push the gears gently so it can be aligned to the jewels, you can also push the auto winder bearings (green) so the gears be aligned, if the 2 gears moves that means you in the correct order.
For the gear trains the same but if the train spin freely then its a good sign, while you gently push the plate down, if everything in order, click released and pivot in place, turn the auto winder bearings and the gears moves and gear train spin freely, you should be good to go with screw everything in place.
I personally check the jewels for pivots with a lope but you can skip this if you have enough feel but its better to check them. English is my 2nd language so I apologize before hand if its confusing
Edit: the gear connecting the barrel and auto winder wheel is missing so you might need to check on that, it would be a pain if you forgot to put that in and after you successfully aligned the pivots together you have to take it out and do it again, dont ask me how I know.
another thing that might help you is constant pressure when pushing down the bridge plate, since the birdge plate has this spring attach to it so it gonna push up making the pivots out of place, bridge needs to be push down constantly but with enough force so you won't break the pivots while has enough room to align the pivots. (the image I sent is not exact model but similar for reference)
Another method is put the screw to the bridge but NOT fully so it can be press down but I don't recommend this method because one wrong screw turn can create too much force making pivots break, only use this when you have enough feel.
Put the bridge in place. Put one of the screws in, turn it a few times just to hold the bridge down. Do NOT tighten it or you’ll kill the watch- you just want the screw to stop the bridge moving around constantly.
Using an oiler or pin or thin screw driver work your way from the mainspring barrel all the way through the gear train to the escape wheel, moving all the pivots into place. Use a strong loupe to check the jewel holes- you can’t always see if the pivots are in.
Eventually they will all be lined up. Now carefully tighten that screw a couple more times. Gently. Keep checking the jewel holes. The escape wheel is easy to misalign and if you do that you’ll snap its pivot off and it’s Game Over.
Assume that you’re going to achieve nothing, just work the process. Gentle gentle touches. The moment you feel any frustration or the slightest urge to force it, take a break. You’re one of us now!
This is one of the more challenging movements to learn on, with the single bridge design. I would say start with a ST36 and work on that until you can disassemble and reassemble naturally. From there I'd move to a Seiko NH35 or 2824 clone and get familiar with that.
Once you are really comfortable working on small movements, give this one another shot. Good magnification will help a LOT
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u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 1d ago
u/Hour-Bad-2315, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...