two technical questions relating to the 88d

[szabgab]

Hello everybody,

I have two questions relating to the 88d or I supppose quite a few other as 1688 derived zodiac automatics in general. One is about the rotor - strangely enough this one does not seem to have a ball bearing like the other,even very low quality ones do,only a shaft the rotor is turning on. I cleaned the mechanism but wasn't sure what kind of a lubricant I should treat the shaft - generally you lube the ball bearing with watch ool,if I'm not mistaken. Would the same do here or something a more viscose thing should be apppied? Also the rotor is slightly touching the movement I guess the shaft must be either very slightly bent or something is worn.did anybody try to very lightly bend the rotor retaining clip or is this a very bad ideatidea

The he other question is relating to the triovis regulator.dies anybody has git a sure fire way of setting the bloody thing?I'm at my wits end,the screw has got finer grove than my finest screwdriver,. It us hard ti reach and opposite to others,who say it. Is a breeze to turn the screw mine does not seem to bulge. All I manage to do every time is to move the whole regulator,fortunately so far I always managed to move it back to the same position.


Thank you for your answers and sorry for the jumbled up writing -using a phone's keyboard to write a novel is a pain :-)

[Nateb123]

Never had any problem with the fine adjustment screw on my 86.  What's your smallest screwdriver anyways?  It's a small screw but not that tiny.

As for the rotor, many reputable brands still don't use a ball bearing system.  Patek, some JLCs, Piaget, Girard Perregaux and Audemars Piguet all come to mind.  Never had to bend or oil one though.

[szabgab]

Hi Nateb123, thanks for your answer. I'm not bashing the rotor assembly, I know other brands don't use ball bearings (but some use jewels and hardened steel shafts). All I'm asking is if there is any knowledge out there to mend my specific problem.

As regards to the triovis regulator, the screw is absolutely the finest screw in the whole watch, and my screwdrivers (not a very-very good set but still reasonable watch screwdrivers) drove them all without any hickup. The only one is the triovis screw, but it might be due to it's proximity to the balance spring and awkward position that makes it a damn hard one to adjust. Also mine might be stuck and yours is fine as it should be, who knows.

Anyway this is just to re-iterate, I'm not trying to blame the machine for the user's faults as this watch (and many others) were in use for the last 40 years and are still going strong. But if somebody bumped into something similar - scraping rotor or stiff triovis screw please let me know how they sorted it out.

Thanks

[rdenney]

Eterna patented the ball-bearing rotor in 1948. Swiss patents lasted 15 years, or thereabouts--I can't seem to find it anywhere from before the TRIPS agreement that made all of Europe 20 years. If it was 15 years, then the patent would have been in force until the early 60's. My 1962 Ebel watch has an AS1687 with the automatic winder, so that had to have followed the work of the consortium (Zodiac, Eberhard, Doxa, Favre-Leuba, and Girard-Perregaux) that developed the autowinder for the hand-wind AS ebauche.

Of course, ETA became a separate ebaucherie from Eterna, and took those patents with it.

The ball-bearing rotor was a real advance, but it did not become ubiquitous until movements that were introduced in the late 60's and early 70's and thereafter.

Rick "wondering if your triovis regulator was installed correctly" Denney

[szabgab]

Hello Rick,

Thanks for the background info, always fascinating to hear how byzantine the relations between Swiss companies were.

About the triovis - well I became easy with my watch as I stripped it to bits, cleaned it, put it back together and it works, what's more, works better than before :) The only thing I would have not touched (apart from general soak-clean) is the balance assembly. Somewhat that extremely precise and fragile spring makes me wobbly. Especially since I tangled up two of those on cheap movements I've learnt the nitty-gritty. Also I do not have a timing machine, so I suppose I won't be able to check for regulator fault