OK, 19J Model 4 Grade 185 Burlington Getty... beautiful watch... but gummy and would not wind.

I presume because the winding clutch was gummed up and would not return to the winding position. How do I sweat out the brass cap to liberate the winding clutch without stressing the plate or the gears?

I've played with it enough that it has loosened up and passes the bench tests now.. but I would still like to open it up for a proper cleaning and inspection.

While we are here... and while I was focusing on the winding gears.. the starfish liberated itself without my consent...

Does it go back in feet down? or Feet up???

It looks nice feet down, but that may be my naturalist instinct kicking in...

Paul,

I remember battling one of those starfish bad dudes. Believe "it" goes like you have it (to create spring to push the little gear that sits on top).

I spent a couple minutes on the phone with Dave Abbe today and he confirmed that feet down is the correct orientation for the star spring.

He also coached me through the removal of the brass caps. These are not actually pressed in, they just seem that way after years of dried oil and grime sealing them in position.

It only took a gentle pry on alternating sides to get her to slide up a bit, then alternate sides every couple thousandths of an inch until it walks up and free.

The trick was to use the stem winder as the anchor/pivot point while using the screw driver as a lever.

I was able to reseat it with my thumb nails going back together.

The ratchet winding gears are always pressed together with the tension of yet another star spring. This one had old oil turned to varnish quite successfully bonding the two gears. They had to come out to clean them... with the star spring keeping them pressed together, they cleaning machine did not have a chance of correcting the problem.

Going back together, I tried to put it back in place the way it came out... but managing the star spring and aligning the pivot to the hole proved near impossible...

I finally had success when I seated the upper gear and star spring first, then inverted the lower gear and cap on to the post of the upper gear.

Verified my alignments and pressed her home with my thumb nails.

Then verified proper end play and return on the ratchet gears by pressing and releasing on the end of the shaft with a piece of pegwood (maple toothpick)

Don't freak out... these are dissassembly photos for demonstration purposes only... it looks brand new going back together.