In this article we will look at: general clock faults, quartz, electronic and wall clock faults, and also reasons their occurrence and possible ways elimination

Experts identify several typical watch malfunctions: wall, quartz, electronic, depending on the type of construction. What all of these different mechanisms have in common is that clock malfunctions result in the time being displayed incorrectly.

For example, for mechanical devices, a delay of no more than 20 seconds and a rush of no more than 40 seconds per day are allowed. Anything that goes beyond specified values is considered a malfunction.

For other types malfunctions Deviations within other limits are considered. The most common reason for a watch to malfunction is:

• contamination of the clock mechanism
• moisture penetration
• or lubricant drying out.

This can lead not only to incorrect time display, but also to failure of the entire device, stopping the hour, minute and second hands. To troubleshoot your watch, you can contact service center, watch workshop or try to carry out repairs yourself.

For self-repair hours you will have to acquire special equipment and tools (possibly homemade). Understand the circuit diagram of a clock mechanism. It is better to entrust complex watch faults or malfunctions of expensive devices to professional watchmakers.

Quartz watch malfunctions

Quartz watch malfunctions usually provoked by the failure of the microcircuit that sends pulses to the generator. As a rule, it just burns out. Generators themselves rarely break down, and this usually indicates a severe impact.

The quartz crystal is practically eternal, the gears are also very strong and durable. The problem with troubleshooting quartz watches is that each model requires an original chip, which is not so easy to obtain.

There are no problems finding generators, and they cost mere pennies. However, keep in mind that the performance of the entire clock mechanism depends on its own performance. And one poor-quality element can render the entire device unusable.

Wall clock malfunctions

Wall clock malfunctions There are two types, depending on whether they are quartz or mechanical. Troubleshooting wall clocks is easier than actually troubleshooting wrist clocks. larger size, and the need to use larger instruments. For example, there is no need for a microscope or magnifying glasses at all.

Electronic clock malfunctions

Electronic clock malfunctions often associated with battery discharge, or damage to the liquid crystal matrix. Also, often the cause of malfunction of electronic watches is the failure of the microcircuit.

The Soviet-era clock, or rather the wall clock mechanism itself, was broken. I don’t want to throw away my watch for my own reasons. Perhaps they fit the interior but there is no way to buy the same ones, or a watch is important as a gift for a long memory, but buying a new one is expensive or you don’t want to. In general, it will be faster and cheaper to completely replace a broken clock mechanism (which tells time) than to try to repair it.

Then I decided to look for a separate clock mechanism for sale.
For some reason it seemed to me that the clock mechanism was expensive and made up a large
part of the cost of the watch. It turned out that the clock mechanism can be bought in bulk from 60
rubles! True, these are discrete and noisy. Moreover, these mechanisms
standardized and have the same landing dimensions. Find a store that
I could sell the watch movements I needed at retail, but it turned out to be quite difficult. IN
in the end, for 150 rubles I bought a silent mechanism with a floating mechanism in the Bangood store Coupon(12% discount) Code: BGHome

The old mechanism worked for 20 years.

New silent watch mechanism.

y'all put it in old building watch - everything fit fine and the hands also fit, except for the second in my case.You can change the mechanism yourself, since now repairing wall clocks has become very simple and cheap. I bought it, unscrewed the old one, installed the new one, done.

Arrows are packed in a separate bag

The task is to remove the old mechanism from the watch case. Then install the new mechanism. Then install the hands on the axis of the mechanism: the first is the hour, the second is the minute, the last is the second.

.

This mechanism is very quiet and takes several steps in a second. I am writing this after a couple of months - it works perfectly, does not run away, does not knock, and does not interfere with sleep at night.

If your quartz watches are broken wall clock or tired of their loud ticking, the most cheap way get working silent clock is to buy a separate clock mechanism and install it yourselfhim into the old building.You can also create based on a clock mechanism

Let's look at the defect detection procedure using the example of a quartz watch, which, in addition to three hands, has a “day of the week - date” calendar. This is not the most primitive watch, but it is not a complex multifunctional one either, the repair of which, depending on the model, requires a separate discussion. Qualified repairs are impossible without professional tools. Therefore, we will assume that our workshop is equipped with a device such as Q-test 4000, Q-test 6000 or similar, which allows you to check not only the accuracy of the watch, but also some other parameters, and a device for checking the tightness, for example Waterproof Checker.

Face control

When determining a defect, customer complaints must be taken into account, but in any case the watchmaker must check the watch completely.

Let's start with an external examination. In some cases, even without opening the watch, it is possible to determine the cause of the malfunction. If the watch is under warranty, then carefully external inspection will allow you to avoid problems in communication with the client and reduce losses of money. It is especially important in this case to determine whether the watch has been worn or whether it has been opened.

To do this, we inspect the case and bracelet for small scratches, nicks, abrasions of the coating, etc. Special attention We pay attention to the lock of the bracelet: first of all, traces of wear usually appear on the clasp. We inspect the glass for scratches and chips (especially along the contour). Very often, even after several weeks of wear, small chips form along the edge of the glass. We check the operation of the fastener - whether it works, whether it warps when fastening it. We show all detected deficiencies to the client and record the condition of the watch in the acceptance receipt.
To determine whether the watch has been opened before us, we look for dents or scratches on the cover and case of the watch. However, if you find traces of tampering on a watch that seems to be under warranty, do not rush to blame the client. Once upon a time, when we sold only domestic “mechanics”, there could not be any scratches on the cover of a new watch. Now the situation is more complicated. In quartz watches, it is quite common to have a pre-sale battery replacement, in which case the warranty watch will show signs of tampering. It is wrong to refuse a person a warranty repair for such a watch. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to traces of unskilled autopsy. As a rule, workshops engaged in
warranty repairs and pre-sale preparation, have normal equipment that does not leave traces. But if the watch was opened with scissors, then there can be no talk of any warranty repairs.

The next step is to check the tightness. All watches submitted for repair must be mandatory check for leaks with the client - in many cases, this will subsequently avoid disputes with the client and loss of time and money. Restoring the tightness, especially if the workshop does not have a leak detector, is a very long job, for which the client big money, as a rule, is not inclined to pay.

The tightness must be checked in two modes: at the maximum pressure for which the watch is designed, and at low pressure, about 0.2 atm. Double checking is especially important for Japanese watches. The fact is that the waterproofness of the head is ensured by the oil seal located on the head sleeve. The hole for the head is not shaped like a cylinder, but rather a cone. The higher the pressure, the more the seal is pressed into the housing and the better the seal. It turns out to be a paradox: at high pressure the watch holds water, but at low pressure it can let through.
For precise definition If there is a defect, the watch must be opened. But if you have the equipment, you can determine the approximate location of the fault without opening it.

The Q-test device has two sensors that allow you to measure the accuracy of the watch: capacitive and inductive. We measure accuracy on both sensors. Inductive is triggered by the electromagnetic field created by the coil stepper motor. If there are pulses, then we can clearly say that the electronic unit and coil are working (but this does not mean that they are fully operational!). If there are no 32 KHz pulses on the inductive sensor, but there are on the capacitive sensor, then, without opening the watch, you can say with a very high degree of confidence that the coil is faulty.
Often the reason for the mechanism to stop is a malfunction of the calendar. Therefore, if the device shows that the electronic unit and coil seem to be working, we check the calendar before opening it.

We do this in two stages. First, we check how it works by moving the arrows. In the vast majority of modern watches, the date switches in two stages: first, the disc begins to move slowly, and then jumps sharply, with a click. If this sharp jump is not present on at least one of the teeth, it means that something is interfering with the disk. At the second stage, we check the operation of the accelerated adjustment mechanism.

IN different hours accelerated calendar adjustments are done in different ways. To check, we set the time to approximately 4-5 o’clock in the morning, so as to guarantee leaving the restricted zone, and, according to the rules of these hours, we change the date.
Sometimes on analog quartz watches, a malfunction of the wheel system can be determined by a slight twitching of the second hand.

So, we have done all the defect detection work that can be done without opening the watch. It's time to open the lid and study the mechanism in more detail.
An autopsy will show

In quartz watches, first of all we look at the state of the power source, i.e. check the voltage on the battery. Most repair instructions say that the voltage should be at least 1.45 V. I believe that if the battery in a watch brought in for repair produces less than 1.5 V, it is better to play it safe and replace it.
Low voltage can have various manifestations. A stepper motor typically stops working at 1.35V. best hours- 1.25 V, while the generator can continue to operate at a voltage of less than 1 V. That is, the generator and coil will produce pulses, but they will be weak to set the wheel drive in motion.

We install the battery in place, and now in the opened watch we check the operation of the generator using capacitive and inductive sensors.

If the capacitive sensor shows the presence of pulses, but the inductive sensor does not, then there is almost certainly a problem with the coil.

If both sensors show the presence of pulses, we conduct a detailed study of the parameters of the electronic unit. To do this, we again remove the battery, move the head to the extreme position and measure the current consumed by the electronic unit. In this position of the head, the generator continues to operate, and the coil and divider stages, which have significant consumption, are turned off. This is the intrinsic current consumed by the unit. For each mechanism, this parameter is individual and is indicated in the documentation, but in the vast majority of cases it should not be more than 0.4-0.5 µA, and in a simple watch - 0.25 µA. Increased unit current can cause the battery to drain quickly or the clock to stop. If the current is higher than normal, the unit must be replaced. Theoretically, you can try to clean the tracks if the leak is due to dirt, or do something else, but, in a good way, the block needs to be changed.

Trying to repair anything in the block is almost pointless. It consists of a microcircuit, a quartz, a permanent capacitor and a board with tracks. If corrosion has eaten away the tracks, theoretically you can try to restore them, but this is a difficult and unprofitable matter. The microcircuit in most watches is filled with compound and cannot be soldered off.

A resonator malfunction can be detected using the device. The accuracy of all modern watches should not be worse than 6-10 seconds per day. If the device shows a deviation of 20-30 s/day, then this indicates a malfunction of the quartz. But changing it is almost useless. Firstly, it is not always possible to remove it: about 80% of watches have welded quartz rather than soldered. Secondly, usually a quartz resonator has a frequency that is not exactly 32768 Hz, but slightly different. The microcircuit, quartz and capacitor are matched to each other, and by replacing the crystal with another, with a different frequency, we can get very poor accuracy. Replacing quartz can only make sense in mechanisms that have a trimmer capacitor that regulates the oscillation frequency.

If the current is within normal limits, we check the coil, first of all, the resistance. It should be in the region of 2 KOhm (usually in the range from 1.4 KOhm to 2.5 KOhm, more precisely, you need to look in the documentation). A lower resistance is a sign of an internal short circuit in the coil, a higher resistance is a sign of a break. In any case, the coil must be replaced.

After this, we check the coil for shorting to ground. To do this, we measure the resistance between each of the coil contact pads and ground. It must be greater than 1 MOhm.

We push the head into place and measure the full current of the mechanism. If the electronic unit and coil are in good working order, and the current consumption is higher than normal, then the cause of the malfunction is in the mechanical part of the watch. A small excess (about 1.5 times the norm) indicates the presence of dirt, specks, etc. in wheel drive. Usually in this case, the client complains about timing failures: lag, temporary stop. More consumption - 2-3 times higher than normal - is usually associated with wheel jams.

Thus, we checked the electrical and electronic parts of the mechanism. Let's move on to the mechanical one. Its the same as in mechanical watch disassemble and inspect. As a rule, the reasons for stopping are the same as in mechanics: trapped lint, corrosion, jammed tooth, etc. Only the power of the stepper motor is less than in a mechanical watch, so any speck turns out to be more critical.
The only feature of quartz watches is the presence of a rotor - a magnet. If metal shavings or debris gets into the watch, it will eventually be attracted to the rotor of the stepper motor. Moreover, it will not remain motionless on it, but will “walk” and move along it under the influence of magnetic fields. And at some moments it can stop the rotation of the engine.

I recently told you... Now I would like to talk about wall ones.

Nowadays it is probably impossible to find a house that does not have watches made in China or India. Wall clock- this is such an element home comfort, which practically does not change its appearance. The only thing that wears out in them is the mechanism.

And it often happens that after several years of operation, the appearance is perfect condition, and the watch either stops working, or is in a hurry and lags behind, or, as is typical for smooth-running mechanisms, begins to literally “eat up” the batteries.

It would be a shame to throw away such a watch, especially if it had a high purchase price or is valuable as a memory. The most reasonable solution is to repair the wall clock yourself and replace the mechanism.

In the example given, we will replace the mechanism by swapping it from another (new, but barbarically broken) watch.

By the way, at any time point you can buy such watches for literally pennies. The advantage is that if the diameter of the hands from the “original” watch does not fit, you can easily install the hands from the broken ones.

Unscrew the bolts of the fastening strip holding the glass.

Judging by the inscription on the watch itself, this is still a Japanese alarm clock, but we are not interested in the manufacturer, but in the parts that can be taken from this inexpensive device :)

I'm not disassembling this alarm clock just to take from it necessary details, even from the pictures you can assemble it if you have previously tried to repair it) First, remove the inner box with the clock from the transparent case.

Carefully remove the arrows.

On the back wall you need to remove the clock setting knobs.

Now open the plastic latches on four sides of the alarm clock. Be careful, the latches break easily!

At the bottom of the clock there is an electric motor, it consists of metal plates with reel copper wire And permanent magnet, combined with a small gear. This electric motor operates from current pulses supplied from a microcircuit on the board.

Remove the upper gears.

We take out the electric motor coil and the plastic partition. The wires of the coil are very thin and any inaccurate hand movement will lead to a wire break!

We remove the gears.

I no longer need this alarm clock, so I tore off the motor coil.

We bend the metal contacts of the alarm clock and take out the gear.

One by one, we tear off the contacts from the electrical board; they are attached to plastic pins from the housing.

The board has a molded microcircuit, quartz, and a small speaker mounted on wires. This board can be used as security device or another device for giving a sound signal, I will talk about such schemes more than once on the pages of the site.

Do not rush to throw away the plastic box; there is still a battery compartment in it and it can also be used as a housing for a security device.

Alarm clock gears can be used for various crafts.