I thought I would pass this one along it is certain to ruff the
plumage of dis-belief. For a number of years I have been having
great success cleaning quartz watch movements which fail to work with
a new battery by putting them in the ultrasonic for 2-3 minutes then
blasting them under the steamer. I then dry them out on a paper
towel on top of the steamer for 3 hours and I get 8 out of 10 to
start working again once I install the battery. My watch supplier
Werkhaven and son here in Columbus OH is amazed by this and frankly
so am I, this seems crazy but I can assure you it works! I discovered
this one day when I had nothing to lose while replacing an old quartz
watch movement with a new one i decided to take a chance and clean
the old one the way i have described and it worked much to my
amazement and I have been doing it ever since, I simply tell the
customer I will attempt to clean the watch and if it does not work it
will be the charge for a new movement because the one they have is
beyond repair charges start at $50 & up if they agree then 8 out of
10 get charged alot less -
I have ultrasonically cleaned watch movements in alcohol or acetone
before with success. Never done so in water as it doesnt evaporate
very quickly and when contaminated conducts electricity better than
solvents.
I thought I would pass this one along it is certain to ruff the
plumage of dis-belief. For a number of years I have been having
great success cleaning quartz watch movements which fail to work
with a new battery by putting them in the ultrasonic for 2-3
minutes then blasting them under the steamer.
I love it, An 80% sucess rate is very good. All those years feeling
slightly guilty about getting a $10 movement working with a little
watch oil Your technique makes my efforts look like little kids play.
Another little trick I picked up recently from Chuck Koehler who
writes a column for Southern Jewelry News is to place the dead watch
(with a new battery) on your magnetic tumbler with the bowl removed
and run the tumbler motor for a few seconds to a few minutes. The
rapidly rotating magnetic field will often wake up a dead quartz
movement. Sounded pretty hokey to me, but darned if it hasn’t worked
every time I’ve tried it!
Wow, Gustavo, what an idea!!! Just had a thought on how you might
even get a higher %age to work. After the blast, dip the whole thing
in alcohol or acetone before letting dry. It’ll dry faster and
should get rid of all water. If you try it, let us know how it works.
And I’m still shocked.