aerospace gmt help

Doogie · January 04, 2014, 09:43:51 AM

Hello i'm new here and wanted to say hi. I look forward to logging in and reading everyones post to learn all I can about the Zodiac brand.
I remember as a boy when dad came home from vietnam he wore a watch that I thought was the coolest, never thought much about it though the years as he quit wearing it and figured it was long gone but i never forgot what it looked like.
Well dad passed this past july and an older brother was helping mom go through his belongings and there it was! an aerospace gmt, no bracelet second hand off floating around under the crystal but it was IT! the one I remembered.
I've always loved watches and was so excited to see it again mom knew out of 7 kids that I should have it.
My prized possession, something of dads I could get fixed up and wear and always have a piece of dad with me never forgeting him for a minute.
So off to a local shop listed in the yellow pages for watch repair and when I finally got it back it wasnt right as the minute hand would stop going from the half hour to the top of the hour.
Well i took it back and after months of patiently waiting, it was done. BUT he says i'll have to set it every couple days that he had to fabricate a part and that it has a clutch in it that needs replaced but is no longer available
It didn't keep time for 15 minutes let alone 2days so i washed my hands of him.
So i proceeded to make matters worse, because I had invested a lot of wasted money into it, I took it apart reading that it was a common on these for the cannon pinion to loosen up and cause the exact problem I was having. So how hard could it be?!! Bwaaaha ha ha ha
Bought some tools and went at it carefully, and was actually doing pretty good UNTIL
I went to test it.
The best I can tell and am almost certain that in puting the gear train bridge on I missed the top jewel for the escape wheel and now the EW floats around as if it to short.
So what ta do? id like to try to finish what I started but need a part that I dont even know how to shop for. Will an escape wheel from similar movements work or is it cal 75b only? if thats the case I feel like I may be screwed:(
Sorry for the long post and for being a idiot, if your kind enough to reply please be gentle i'm very sensitive lol

Doogie · January 04, 2014, 01:07:28 PM

I wish I had found this forum back in july

Dutchsiberia · January 04, 2014, 03:45:43 PM

You might want to try this:
http://www.vintagezodiacs.com/watchrepair.php

And welcome :)

Butch · January 04, 2014, 05:36:22 PM

Sorry man, no clue here, I do not repair them myself.

jon p · January 06, 2014, 10:31:18 AM

i know how important it is to have your dads watch! i have my dads 1958 wakman 3 register chrono that i love. he was a private pilot and wore it a lot. when the doctor told him in the 1970s he had parkinsons, he had to stop flying because of the powerful medicine he had to take. my mother found the watch after he passed in 1998 and gave it to me. with your ZODIAC i would suggest you contact BUTCH here on the forum and get the info on his favorite zodiac watchmaker. this way you will have it serviced CORRECTLY. you need someone who KNOWS zodiacs. i went through tis a few years ago with my zodiac GMT. spent a lot of money with a local watchmaker and it was NEVER right. then sent it to butches watch guy, and it was fixed correctly. GOOD LUCK with your restoration, keeping a piece of family history and memories is VERY important.

Doogie · January 06, 2014, 05:34:55 PM

Thanks guys

incountry · January 06, 2014, 06:27:03 PM

Good luck with your GMT Doogie. I hope your watch story has a happy ending for you and don't forget to post some pictures after it's back in shape.

Doogie · January 11, 2014, 07:46:45 PM

Well a happy ending indeed... I bought a cal 70 72 for $100 and instead of the easy, less satisfying appoach of just adding the gmt gears on the face side and just dropping in the movement. I took the escape and fourth wheels out of the donor adjusted the cannon pinion cleaned oiled reassembled and low and behold it works! AND for 2 hrs now it is keeping exact time.
So now it's 99% my dad's watch and I proved I could do it.. Joy

Thanks everyone

Doogie · January 13, 2014, 09:40:07 AM

I didn't want to start another topic especially when it's probably already been discussed (I did search) But did the aerospace have glow in the dark hour markers and hands? And if so. Can it be redone?

Butch · January 13, 2014, 09:53:38 AM

Here is fine. Yes, and yes.

Doogie · January 13, 2014, 10:36:53 AM

Thanks Butch... what color would it have been in the light? the stuff I see now looks black... sorry for all the questions

Butch · January 13, 2014, 11:52:56 AM

Let's see now, what color would have been the lum on a watch that is 40+ years old.... Hmmmm. OK, you get the idea here. Even the old guy Jon does not remember what it looked like when he bought his in 1968.

Off white? Yellow-green? You can ask your guy to do it in any color you want, or you can ask him to use the stuff from the 60's, which is not as good as today's lum. Many watchmakers will try to blend in a color to make it appear to be aged. It's your watch, do what you want to it.

jon p · January 13, 2014, 04:00:32 PM

Quote from: Butch on January 13, 2014, 11:52:56 AM

oh yes i do, dont give up on your senior citizen members!! it WAS a light mint green, on my SEA WOLF, NOT GMT.
Let's see now, what color would have been the lum on a watch that is 40+ years old.... Hmmmm. OK, you get the idea here. Even the old guy Jon does not remember what it looked like when he bought his in 1968.

Off white? Yellow-green? You can ask your guy to do it in any color you want, or you can ask him to use the stuff from the 60's, which is not as good as today's lum. Many watchmakers will try to blend in a color to make it appear to be aged. It's your watch, do what you want to it.

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aerospace gmt help