Longines Conquest

[c.kelly]

Hi All,
Been awhile since I posted anything. I’ve been looking in but haven’t seen anything that I could help with and didn’t have any project of my own. Well I do have this anniversary clock I bought at flea market that I had to put new suspension spring on that wanted to flutter. Still trying to get it regulated. It will be slow and I’ll adjust and then adjust again later then all of a sudden it’s going fast. At least now I have some adjustment. When I got it and got it running I found that slowed all the way out the thing ran about 8 hours a day fast. That was before I put new spring on it.
Anyway today I want to talk about a project I just picked up. A Longines Conquest automatic with a high beat 431 caliber movement. Bought it as a non running project hoping it had a good balance. It arrived today and I started checking it out. Has a good mainspring and balance. In fact after just a bit of tinkering the thing started running well. With a little cleaning and oil the movement itself should be fine. This movement has the Longines logo cut out into the weighted rotor and I just think it is an attractive movement. Thought of taking pictures along the way to record progress.
One issue I did find is that date won’t change. Before I take the dial off I looked up pictures of it’s date changing mechanism. Sometimes those mechanisms use the smallest springs placed in the strangest places. Like to see what I’m getting into before I start taking things apart. After looking at pictures I’m still not sure how thing works. Looks like there’s a date wheel that is held back by a spring to enable a change exactly at 12. Looks as if this date wheel is connected to an arm which pushes the date ring forward. Then there is a date jumper and spring which stops ring in proper position. I’m hoping that I just find all this just gummed up and a little cleaning and oil takes care of problem. If anyone has any helpful hints or warnings about these movements I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Charles K

[willofiam]

Hey Charles, good to hear from yah, I also just finished a 400 day clock, you are right about regulating, I, more than most need to practice patience, very small adjustments to the pendulum and then wait……..the smallest of adjustments in regulating OR putting into beat. Thats all I know, sorry I cannot give any input on your watch but I do hope you put up some pics as I might, possibly, maybe, learn something 🙄 . have a great day, William

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Here are a few pictures of watch. One is of badly abused dial with partial bad restoration of number track around 5 o’clock. Dial is being packaged to be sent off for real restoration now. Another picture shows under dial with hands back on so I could observe how date change works. Notice the massive amount of adhesive used to hold dial on after feet had broken off. That’s also after I removed a lot of it when I removed dial. The last picture for now will be of the back including the automatic portion. Mention that on purpose because that part is gummed up inside so that when you wind watch with crown it is very tight and weight spins. Probably has clutch in bad need of cleaning. Good news is that watch stated running about 1:00 today and it is still keeping time with the watch I wear everyday.
Sort of thinking about restoring it to give as Christmas present to family member. Kind of had in mind to take pictures and give copy of them along with watch so that person who got it could know what was involved in their gift.
Charles K

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Charles,

That Longines will be a nice gift for somebody when you finish.

As an aid in disassembling the calendar mech. you might try gently pressing small pieces of Rodico onto springs and small parts to hold them in place. The parts will then be ‘anchored’ to the Rodico when you go to remove them and won’t fly out into never land.

The rotor turning while turning the stem could just be dirt and grime. The reverser gears must be very clean to function properly. Often times when a movement is in the horizontal position a rotor will turn a little when turning the stem but should not turn at all when in the vertical position. Turning the stem when there is resistance can damage the reverser gears so would suggest servicing the watch first to see if that helps as these gears are not cheap. As you mention in your post a good cleaning may also take care of the calendar problem.

Let us know how it turns out Charles,
Bob

[Bob Tascione]

Charles,
I forgot to comment on your 400 Day Clock in my previous post.
You probably just need raise the fork a little on the suspension spring to take care of the fluttering problem. This usually gets rid of the fluttering. This adjustment also changes the pendulum rotation so best to just raise it a tiny bit at a time (like a mm or so) until the flutter stops.

Bob

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Thanks for your comments Bob. I should have mentioned that I had already fixed the flutter problem and am now in process of regulating. As William mentioned it takes lots of patience. I’ve gotten it pretty close now. My biggest issue with all that was getting spring centered so that pendulum didn’t wobble around and hit sides of cup at base. Getting the spring the right length was a bit of a challenge as well. Lot of trial and error there.
I have gotten the auto assembly removed from the Longines now. Been kind of down with sinuses lately but I may take that assembly apart and clean it tonight if I feel up to it. Taking pictures of that step that I’ll post once I get it finished. A lot of people seem intimidated by the auto device and they may enjoy seeing it apart.
Thanks,
Charles K

[c.kelly]

OK I got a little energy and decided to clean automatic portion. Here are 4 pictures of process. After I cleaned it I placed gears on plate to take picture not realizing that the winding gear was upside down. Later I found that another one, the small upper left was also upside down. Won’t go back together if they are wrong. Everything is back together now and is smooth as silk.
Charles K

[arutha]

Great pictures Charles and well done on sorting out the problem. I have a couple of automatic watches and a couple of alarm watches I need to do but seeing all those parts frightens the life out of me. I must pluck up the courage one day and get started on them.
Paul.

[Bob Tascione]

Hey Charles I didn’t see your last post until just now.
Congratulations on a great job and thanks for sharing it with all of us.

Bob

[c.kelly]

Hi all,
Just thought I would update you a bit on what is going on with the Longines. First off I did get the date changing issue sorted out. To do that I removed the spring on date guard plate you can see in picture. I could see another spring pushing the date jumper through the plate. To hopefully keep it in place while removing the date guard plate I placed small pieces of rodico on the date ring around the watch. Removed the guard and looked and spring was gone. Scratched my head for a bit and searched for awhile and finally found it still attached to the underside of the date guard. The piece you can see in the picture that is being pushed by the spring on the top side of the date guard also had another spring on it under the guard which pushed the piece sideways into a notch on the date ring as piece retracted from motion of date wheel. Got everything cleaned and put back together and date now jumps at 12:00 exactly and watch runs, keeping time well. I am just now waiting for the dial to get back from refinishing so I can put everything all together. I will post a picture when I get it finished.
Thanks,
Charles K

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Have spent the last few days in hospital with pneumonia so haven’t been able to do much. However I finally got dial back however it was too late to be Christmas present I had intended. Here is finished result. I had to remove crystal several times to make minor adjustments so any little spots you may see were removed or were on crystal itself.
Charles K

[michael weaver]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing the process.

[willofiam]

Well done Charles, sorry to hear about the peweynomeuwah, hope your feeling better now, who did you have do the dial and what was the cost? have a great day, William

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Had dial done by International Dial (Robert Miller) Cost was $55.00 to refinish dial and install dial feet and shipping. I however had to remove to dial feet to get the watch to run properly. When dial was installed with feet the center hole was just slightly off center so that tube of hour hand would contact inner part of dial hole. At that point watch would not run smoothly and sweep second hand which should have been very smooth was at best jumpy. Without dial watch was very smooth. Tried to adjust feet at first but became afraid of damaging nice new dial and gave up on that. Finally just clipped off feet and used dial dots along the edge of movement ring.
I am finally starting to feel a bit better. Still have no energy and have lost about 15 pounds but at least now I feel like worst is over. While I was in hospital local jewelry shop texted saying he had more watch repair he needed. Told him it might be a week or so. Maybe next week I’ll get by to see what he needs.

Thanks,
Charles K

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