It is all about watches.: Servicing A Mechanical Watch

Ricoh India Mechanical Watch With

Lorsa cal. P62 Movement

This post is a Tutorial for beginners, who are interested in horology. Here i am using a P62 movement , whose images have been taken while i serviced it. I will guide you with images about dismantling and Cleaning. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Do it on your own risk, we are not responsible if you damage or break your watch. Be careful while removing parts (especially springs) as they may fly out and injure you. Moreover here I have removed a few parts before letting down the mainspring so that if there are any faults in the movement, one can find them out. Oiling will be covered in another post

Introduction To The Watch And The Movement :

The watch is an old one , the dial says it is a Ricoh india. On the movement it is written Timastar. The seconds hand is missing. It has a P62 Movement made By Lorsa ,it came with 17 Jewels. The company is based in France. I doubt this is the original movement because a ricoh movement should be stamped ricoh.

THE DIAL & CASE

The dial , RICOH INDIA , 17 Jewels

The Movement, Lorsa P62 With TIMESTAR STAMPED

SERVICE WALK THROUGH

The movement is taken out of the case. The Setting lever should be pressed while pulling the crown to take out the stem. The hole for the setting lever is shown in the picture.

Then the Movement drops out and the case can be kept aside

The next step is to lift the hand and the dial. For lifting the hands , Hand lifting tool is required

This is The Tool.See the Followong Pictures to understand the process of using the tool.

The Use of the tool is explained below , it lifts both hands at the same time. I recommend using a dial protector although I didn't use one.

Now the Hands are removed and can be kept aside.

Now to remove the dial , This watch has no dial feet and dial is stuck to the movement with an adhesive.So a screwdriver us used to pry off the dial(If dial is tight then use a blade to break the adhesive and remove the dial).

The residue of the adhesive can be seen on the movement.

The first part that is removed is the Hour wheel, Tweezers are used to lift the part , and then remove the dial washer from the hour wheel.

Now the cannon pinion is removed carefully, so it doesn't fly accross the room ;)

After flipping the movement. Now is the time to let down the mainspring. The click is pulled while holding the crown and then the crown is slowly and gradually released so that the mainspring can be unwound. The click then doesn't engage with the ratchet wheel.

Then the Movement is out of power now and the balance wheel is removed.

After that The pallet-fork(Lever), is carefully removed .

Now the barrel bridge is to be removed , the two bridge screws and the ratchet wheel screw are unscrewed. Then the bridge is removed .

Now the barrel is stuck so first the wheel train bridge is to be removed.

So now removing the bridge reveals the train of wheels and , this is remembered for assembly. Removal of wheels are to be done with care and barrel should be then lifted.

This reveals the center wheel plate and the center wheel. they are to be removed now.

I have kept all the wheels in order for you people to see. Center wheel, Fourth wheel, Third Wheel, Escape Wheel.

Barrel is Opened and the arbor is not touched as it can fly ;)

I have not touched the keyless works as, this tutorial is for beginners.

CLEANING OF THE PARTS

Now for cleaning, i use benzene , you may use thinner, spirit or high quality petrol. But i suggest using Benzine(C6H6).It can be bought from any laboratory supplier, but be careful as benzene is found to be carcinogenic!

For the Benzene pot, I use a china dish which i cover with a disc. You can use anything, Just be creative.

Now the Benzene is added to the dish and parts are carefully placed into the dish. The balance wheel and screws are not added as they will be cleaned afterwards. The dish is covered then.