Omega

I just had to let you know of my experience with Omega Bumper movement number 10622794.

This watch was bought by my grandfather in 1946. He went on a road trip to Switzerland from the North of England then. He wore that watch every day of the rest of his life until he died in 1966. After that my father wore it every day of his life until 2009. To the best of my knowledge, it has had no more than three services since 1966. The watch stopped in 2009 and Dad bought a quartz watch. 

I inherited that watch in January 2011. It was stopped and not knowing any better and being of a curious disposition, I opened the back and found the balance somewhat sticky. I thought the mainspring was broken since even when I wound and wound it, it never came to a stop. I did not then realise that these autos and I now believe all autos allow slippage so as not to over strain the winding mechanism. 

This is where the job got nasty. I looked at the watch, a mere curio that had worked for a solid 63 years with little or no attention since 1966 and decided it was probably not worth doing much with. Thus, I took some switch cleaner and lubricant (servisol 10) a kind of volatile swizzing solution, and squirted it into the movement. It bubbled about and the movement started working, though a bit fast since the hairspring was sticking to itself when wet.

I decided to give it a crude clean and placed the movement in a shallow bath of naptha (Ronsonol lighter fluid here in the UK). I swished the movement about and some black rubbish floated out - dust really. I emptied the very shallow (3mm) bath and gave the watch another two swishes until the fluid remained clean. It ran the whole time and when it dried out, the watch performed to a daily rate of -12 seconds.

Taking pity on the ancient staffs and pivots and jewels, I very carefully introduced some very light silicone lubricant to all accessible jewels with a blunted hypodermic needle and gave tine puffs of servisol to those I could not get at. Servisol contains about 3% light oil, so when  it evaporates away it leaves a tiny amount of lube. I was VERY careful not to get any of this on the hairspring, because I didn't want it to stick to itself and upset the timing.

I had to regulate the watch a little, and it has been running to a daily rate of one to two seconds a day for a month.

I know the actions I carried out will be regarded as mortal sins among horologists and watch buffs, but rest assured I will have it serviced properly now I know how good a watch it is. As to the idea that the 28.10 would shake itself to bits if worn - not in this case. My father and his father wore it 24/7 for 63 years and it saw little care and attention in that time. It is a GREAT watch in my opinion, and I am very glad that I've got it.

Kind regards

Tony

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