Ive had a fair few vintage watches come through recently, I’m not complaining though – I quite like working on them. David sent me this one in for a service and case brighten. The Omega calibre 613 is to all intents and purposes the manual wind version of the Omega 550 family.

Movement removed from the case and hands removed.

Once the dial has been removed I begin to disassemble the movement, starting with the dial side. The date indicator maintaining plate has been removed, so you can see the date, motion and keyless works.

Just the keyless works remaining now.

Next I’ll begin on the opposite side, no automatic device here as its a manual wind watch.

I start by removing the crown wheel and ratchet wheel. As with all parts, I check them as I remove them for any damage or signs of wear.

Barrel bridge and train bridge removed, next ill remove the centre wheel and barrel.

I remove the mainspring from the barrel, and its pretty clear this is one worn out mainspring. For a mainspring to work it has to want to uncoil itself, its that energy of the mainspring slowly unwinding that powers the watch. In the picture below you can see it now wants to keep its coiled up form, this has to be changed or there is no way the watch will run even remotely as it should.

The bare mainplate stripped and ready for cleaning.

Once cleaned, the first thing I do is oil and fit the shock settings for the balance, closely followed by the keyless works.

A much needed new mainspring fitted to the barrel.

Next I refit the barrel bridge, I’ve also fitted the escape wheel into place here.

I fit the rest of the train, then the train bridge.

We now have a running watch, at this point I’ll oil the pivots and escapement. Just the centre seconds pinion and bridge left to fit this side.

Finishing off the dial side.

Final checks on the timing machine before moving onto its final testing and being returned to its owner.

Finally a couple of shots showing the case brighten – I also gave the glass a light polish.

Im sure you’ll agree it looks a lot nicer, and with the movement serviced, its ready for another good few years of time keeping.

Thanks for reading,

The Watch Professional