My Hamilton 986a Ladies Watch

[peggy332014]

Hi guys!

In my recent purchase of a bunch of watches, this one was one of them. Hamilton 986a 14k gold-filled ladies watch.

Is it any value..worth anything?

When I started working on it, it was not running. I opened the back and discovered that the watch started running, and it kept gaining 1 minute and within a 5 minute time, it had gained 5 minutes. I slowed the balance cock until there was no more slowing and it still gained at the same rate. I closed the watch and it still ran fast. I re-opened it and the balance wheel ran a little bit and stopped. I had touched a drop of oil on the pivots thinking it would help. Now it won’t run.

Naturally when I opened the back, I noticed all those numbers! Is this a valuable watch..it looks original. The face had the cosmetic wear at the 4 and 5 position..that’s how I received it.

Anyway, I very carefully lifted up and out the balance cock and wheel, and put it back in to see if I could free it up. It won’t run at all. It will turn but acts out of balance.

Any help, suggestions? 🙄

[peggy332014]

I am thinking that two of the numbers were hand-engraved in from watch repair people… not sure.

[bobpat]

http://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/hamilton/2153581…hey peggy,, nice watch, check this site out

[peggy332014]

Thank you, Bob!

[peggy332014]

Not bad at all!

[david pierce]

Peggy,
This could be a problem with a hairspring that has coils sticking together. This might be due to gunk on the spring, magnetism or both. These would be the first things I would check and they are easy to remedy by cleaning and demagnetising the parts.
david

[peggy332014]

Okay! Thanks David! Will do!

[randy]

Hi Peggy,
You say that now it acts out of balance ?
Is it wobbly ?
If so, are you sure that you got the balance cock seated all the way ?
I would remove it again, and check for a worn or broken staff to start.

If everything looks OK, I would suggest a full tear down, new mainspring, clean the hairspring as David suggests, and see what you come up with.

I like these Hamiltons…great watches !

Take care

Randy

[peggy332014]

Hi Randy!

No, it’s not wobbly. It does turn but stops. I think when I pulled it out, I may have not got it seated back into the pallet fork properly. I will try it again, and I may just have to break it down and clean it. The mainspring works good, and is fully wound. I could have possibly messed up the balance weights when I lifted it out. Will do a close exam again.

[randy]

That’s good Peggy,
Sounds like the staff is ok, and yes,..not getting it into the fork will definately stop it !

Bestof luck,..and let us know how else we can help ????

Randy

[peggy332014]

I sure will! I’m going to be getting me some of that sawdust that Bob used on the video, and clean up the balance wheel, too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/350848306563

[peggy332014]

UPDATE!

Today, I took the balance wheel back out, cleaned it and checked it to make sure the hairspring was good. I mounted it back into the watch.. seating it carefully, and slowly tightened the screw a little at a time.. and made sure the balance wheel would still move. Snugging down the screw, the wheel would stop, so I’d back out the screw a little, then just wiggle the balance cock and continued the process until it was turning free.

It does spin and with my little air bulb, I’d gently send it spinning. The wheel didn’t wobble, but I could see it appear to spin in a slight out-of-round, so with my tweezers I would just touch one or two weights gently Each time, it improved the spin better and better. It would spin free-r and took longer to stop.

The watch does not run.. just like it was doing when I got it it… so I’ll go ahead and break it down and clean it. I did take down the mainspring power and rewound it again just to see if it would help to reset the watch, but it didn’t.

What would make a watch run ahead? I had adjusted the balance cock to it’s slowest point, and still it’d run fast. Maybe a good cleaning will solve the problem.

[randy]

A dirty watch will run fast Peggy.
Dirt on the hairspring will cause the coils to stick together, which shortens the arc of swing…making it run faster.

Clean it thoroughly, and see what happens.
Make sure the balance jewels on both the balance cock and the opposite ( plate side ) are very clean.

I’m of the opinion at this point that it may be old oil/dirt that is causing at least some of the issues you are experiencing.

Randy

[peggy332014]

That’s what I was thinking.. it being dirty. I did clean the balance jewel on the balance cock, but I’ll just do the whole watch this time. Next week is my payday, so I can order some stuff.

[Author]

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