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Actually funny you mention that coz thats what i just did...sadly noticed the balance was mangled but luckily i got more parts coming soon On a brighter note two new watches freshly finished today. The Junghans has taken about two months to perfect but its worth it because there's no point saying chronometer on the dial if the movements not up to scratch. The Tissot was thrown away in rubbish but i wasn't put off by the damaged casing and broken movement it was worth the time and effort. Junghans J82/1 Chronometer - Serviced & repaired, balance rebuilt, hands polished and re lumed, dial refinished to original spec with new lume and hand polished indices, Italian made Ostrich strap ( super soft ). Tissot 28.5R-21 Automatic - Serviced & Repaired ,Dial Cleaned ,Hands cleaned, Rotor restored ( Dial markers were gone/moved before i cleaned her ) The pair ready to wear I have an unusual Orient watch now commanding my attention so im back off into the fray

Service Walk Through – ETA 2893-1 / Hamilton Khaki: Part 1 - Disassembly This is part 1 of my service of a Hamilton Khaki – dual time zone automatic based on the ETA 2893-1 movement. I purchased the watch on eBay and it runs for a short time then stops. Looks like it could use a good cleaning. Note that the part numbers in the images and text are consistent with those found in the ETA technical document for this movement. Disassembly of this movement is quite straightforward. The only "special" tool you need would be an oscillating weight bolt tool - and you only need this if you intend to remove the ball bearing assembly from the oscillating weight, which really isn't required. In this tear down I do use the tool - only because I recently acquired it and wanted to see how it worked Off we go.... The dial shows evidence of some sloppy workmanship in the watch's past – several scratches from prior hand removal. Here you see the back of the 2893-1 with its automatic rotor - nicely signed Hamilton. The arrows indicate the location of the dial screws which secure the dial to the movement. These screws have a flat. Turn them just enough so the flat is facing the dial foot and the dial pops right off. Secure the screws so they don’t pop off during cleaning. Preparing to remove the hands – with a safety sheet in place. After removing the dial, remove the Dial Support Ring (47). This ring keeps the dial the proper distance from the second timezone disc. Without it, the disc will rub against the dial. Remove the second timezone disc, or what ETA calls the Universal Hour Indicator (46) from the center. This is a bit tricky as there’s no obvious place to grip it. I used two very small screwdrivers on each side to lift the indicator straight up. Be careful not to scratch it! With the disc removed, we can now remove the Dial Washer / Friction Spring (45), Corrector Setting Wheel (44) and Hour Indicator Driving Wheel (43). The Hour Wheel (42) can now be lifted off, followed by the Additional Indicator Maintaining Plate (41). Next components to remove are the Date Indicator Maintaining Plate (40) and the Minute Train Bridge (35). We move on to remove the Intermediate Date Wheel (39). The Date Jumper (38) has also been exposed when we removed the maintaining plate, so we remove it. Finally, we remove the Date Indicator (37) and the Date Indicator Driving Wheel (36). Now on to some of the motion and keyless work. We remove the Minute Wheel (34), Cannon Pinion with Driving Wheel (33), Double Corrector (32), Date Corrector Intermediate Setting Wheel (31) and Setting Wheel (30). This side is almost complete. We leave the setting components in place. Removing them now would be problematic as we have yet to release tension from the mainspring. Flip the movement over and remove the automatic work. After removing the 3 blue screws (seen in the previous 2 pics) we lift the entire unit up gently by the Oscillating Weight (28). With the automatic work out of the way – I notice that the Stop Lever (Hack) is missing! Will try and source one. Back to the automatic work. Removing these 3 small screws will allow the oscillating weight to come off the Automatic Framework (21). This is a special tool designed to release the Oscillating Weight Bolt I remove the Oscillating Weight Bolt (28-3) and free the Ball Bearing (28-2) from the Oscillating Weight (28-1). There was no compelling reason to disassemble this portion of the movement, but the tool worked as expected! With the Oscillating Weight out of the way, remove the Auxiliary Reverser (27). Flip the unit over once again and remove the screw and Automatic Device Lower Bridge (26). Remove the Reverser (25), Reverser Wheel (24), Reduction Wheel (23) and Intermediate Reduction Wheel (22). A view of the underside of these components – handy when trying to remember which way to reassemble. Remove the single screw and gently lift off the Balance Assembly (20) with the Balance Complete (19). Carefully let the power down by releasing the Click (12-6) and slowly letting the crown wind down. Remove the Pallet Bridge (18) and Pallets (17). Remove the Train Wheel Bridge (16). It is secured with a hefty screw! Remove the Fourth Wheel (15), Third Wheel (14) and Escape Wheel (13). Remove the 3 screws and the Barrel Bridge (12) Flip the bridge over and lift off the Ratchet Wheel Driving Wheel (12-2) Remove the screw and the Click Plate (12-7), followed by the Click (12-6), Intermediate Ratchet Wheel (12-5), Intermediate Crown Wheel (12-4) and Crown Wheel (12-3). Note that the Intermediate Crown Wheel is under the Click Plate. When I removed the plate, the wheel was stuck to it due to some old oil. Here you can see the Intermediate Crown Wheel as it was stuck. This shows the proper placement of the wheels. Remove the Ratchet Wheel (11), the Mainspring Barrel (10) and Intermediate Wheel (9). Note the scrap of tissue that found its way onto the movement. I was so focused on taking pics that I didn’t notice. Pop the lid off the Barrel Remove the mainspring arbor And finally, remove the mainspring, leaving the empty barrel The movement side is now completely bare. Let’s flip it over and finish off the keyless work. Unscrew and remove the Setting Lever Jumper (8), Yoke (7) and the Setting Lever (6) Remove the Date Corrector Operating Lever (5), Winding Stem (4), Winding Pinion (3) and the Sliding Pinion (2) All stripped down Ready for the Ultrasonic!!! Hope you enjoyed this. In case you are interested, photo equipment used was: Camera: Nikon D5300 DSLR Lens: Nikon AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Shutter Release: Nikon ML-L3 Remote Shutter Release (wireless) Lighting: Polaroid Macro LED Ring Flash Tripod: Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB 100

I recently lost my Dad who was a life long horologist [2nd generation. He ran a family watch repair business which grew to the largest in Phila. and served as the Authorized Service Agencies for many of the top brands like Omega, Ebel and Movado. Our family all worked at the shop at some time on our lives -- me every summer from age 8 to 18. Losing Dad has somehow lit a spark and I find myself going through his wide collection, changing batteries, doing small job repairs and discovering some unique time pieces he had collected but never really shared. I feel his loss but also his warmth as I fiddle with these watches. I know the basics but look forward to finding answers to some of my questions and attempt to repair some of the partial jobs he put away many years ago. Here is an example of a gem I found in running condition......how cool is this piece from the mod 1800's? Thanks all in advance. If only he had found this site in his last years .... he would have been an incredible wealth of information. Steve

Thanks for the replies and we very much look forward to getting involved in the forums.

Service Walk Through – ETA 2893-1 / Hamilton Khaki: Part 1 - Disassembly This is part 1 of my service of a Hamilton Khaki – dual time zone automatic based on the ETA 2893-1 movement. I purchased the watch on eBay and it runs for a short time then stops. Looks like it could use a good cleaning. Note that the part numbers in the images and text are consistent with those found in the ETA technical document for this movement. Disassembly of this movement is quite straightforward. The only "special" tool you need would be an oscillating weight bolt tool - and you only need this if you intend to remove the ball bearing assembly from the oscillating weight, which really isn't required. In this tear down I do use the tool - only because I recently acquired it and wanted to see how it worked Off we go.... The dial shows evidence of some sloppy workmanship in the watch's past – several scratches from prior hand removal. Here you see the back of the 2893-1 with its automatic rotor - nicely signed Hamilton. Preparing to remove the hands – with a safety sheet in place. After removing the dial, remove the dial support ring. This ring keeps the dial the proper distance from the second timezone disc. Without it, the disc will rub against the dial. Remove the second timezone disc from the center. This is a bit tricky as there’s no obvious place to grip it. I used two very small screwdrivers on each side to lift the indicator straight up. Be careful not to scratch it! Disc removed. Note the following parts: Hour Wheel (42); Hour Indicator Driving Wheel (43); Corrector Setting Wheel (44); Additional Indicator Maintaining Plate (41) Pop off the dial washer – note that you cannot simply lift the hour wheel (42) off at this point. It is held in place by the hour indicator driving wheel (43). I remove the hour indicator driving wheel (43) followed by the corrector setting wheel (44). The hour wheel (42) is now simply lifted off, followed by the additional indicator maintaining plate (41). Next components to remove are the Date Indicator Maintaining Plate (40) and the Minute Train Bridge (35). We move on to remove the Intermediate Date Wheel (39). The Date Jumper (38) has also been exposed when we removed the maintaining plate, so we remove it. Finally, we remove the Date Indicator (37) and the Date Indicator Driving Wheel (36). Now on to some of the motion and keyless work. We remove the Minute Wheel (34), Cannon Pinion with Driving Wheel (33), Double Corrector (32) and Date Corrector Intermediate Setting Wheel (31). Before dealing with the rest of the keyless work, we flip the movement over and remove the automatic work. After removing the 3 blue screws we lift the entire unit up gently by the Oscillating Weight (28). With the automatic work out of the way – I notice that the Stop Lever (Hack) is missing! Will try and source one. Back to the automatic work. Removing these 3 screws will allow the oscillating weight to come off the Automatic Framework (21) and its components. Using the appropriate Bolt tool (pictured with the red handle) – I remove the Oscillating Weight Bolt (28-3) and free the Ball Bearing (28-2) from the Oscillating Weight (28-1). There was no compelling reason to disassemble this portion of the movement. With the Oscillating Weight out of the way, remove the Auxiliary Reverser (27). Flip the unit over once again and remove the screw and Automatic Device Lower Bridge (26). Remove the Reverser (25), Reverser Wheel (24), Reduction Wheel (23) and Intermediate Reduction Wheel (22). A view of the underside of these components Remove the single screw and gently lift off the Balance Assembly (20) with the Balance Complete (19). Carefully let the power down by releasing the Click (12-6) and slowly letting the crown wind down. Remove the Pallet Bridge (18) and Pallets (17). Remove the Train Wheel Bridge (16). Remove the Fourth Wheel (15), Third Wheel (14) and Escape Wheel (13). Remove the 3 screws and the Barrel Bridge (12) Flip the bridge over and lift off the Ratchet Wheel Driving Wheel (12-2) Remove the screw and the Click Plate (12-7), followed by the Click (12-6), Intermediate Ratchet Wheel (12-5), Intermediate Crown Wheel (12-4) and Crown Wheel (12-3). Note that the Intermediate Crown Wheel is under the Click Plate. When I removed the plate, the wheel was stuck to it due to some old oil. Here you can see the Intermediate Crown Wheel as it was stuck. This shows the proper placement of the wheels. Remove the Ratchet Wheel (11), the Mainspring Barrel (10) and Intermediate Wheel (9). Note the scrap of tissue that found its way onto the movement. I was so focused on taking pics that I didn’t notice J Pop the lid off the barrel. Remove the mainspring arbor And finally, remove the mainspring The movement side is now completely bare. Let’s flip it over and finish off the keyless work. Unscrew and remove the Setting Lever Jumper (8), Yoke (7) and the Setting Lever (6) Remove the Date Corrector Operating Lever (5), Winding Stem (4), Winding Pinion (3) and the Sliding Pinion (2) All stripped down Ready for the Ultrasonic!!! Hope you enjoyed this.

I was just getting ready to give my collection of pocket watches their annual wind and I wonder why we ever progressed away from them, very sad really Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

This Hamilton 912 is project I recently completed in May. The movement just needed a good cleaning. The dial was a mess & the case had a lot of dents to remove on the back.I broke out the Dremel to remove the many small scratches . The crystal was badly scratched and plastic, installed a new glass nos crystal.

I recently completed work on the timepiece that actually got me interested in watchmaking. I purchased the movement (in pieces) for a vintage Omega Speedmaster a few months back and have been diligently working on putting it back together. It was a pricey endeavor but what I've learned from the experience is invaluable and having the watch ticking away in hand at the end of the project was reward enough. I picked up the movement in February and knew it was missing some parts. I counted the minute recording wheel and hour recording wheel as bits that were missing but also couldn't locate the minute recording pawl and pawl bridge. It turns out they were inside of the semi assembled movement but unfortunately I didn't realize that until I had already ordered replacements- oops! Included with the movement was the front case, hour, minute, and sweep second hands, and some spare parts the previous owner had acquired. He warned me that the watch hadn't worked properly before it was disassembled but I had confidence that I could sort it out. First thing I set to do was assemble as much of the movement as possible to determine what else was missing and what may be broken. It became apparent quickly that there were many screws gone! There weren't many parts missing other than those I've already noted but I did manage to lose the click spring when it shot away from my tweezers. I've since become more adept at dealing with wire springs and don't attack any of them without two hands. When breaking down the movement for cleaning I discovered that the chronograph blocking lever screw had been broken off in the plate. Extracting the remains of the screw from the plate was actually easier than procuring a replacement screw. I placed the plate in a solution of alum and warm water over night and the screw was eaten away. The steel posts and eccentrics in the plate I protected from the alum with silicon caulk which I later removed with a bit of pegwood. After cleaning, I began reassembling the watch but was stopped short when I discovered the mainspring barrel gear teeth were damaged. I replacement was ordered straight away. Now I was ready to assemble the movement. I made sure to inspect all jewels and pivots before putting the gear train together. And I was rewarded with an exceptionally well beating movement. This was a relief since I've spent more than enough time on my previous projects straightening hairsprings, truing balances, and correcting beat errors. Next the chronograph layer came together. This takes quite a while since there are so many bits to lubricate and test the motion of before moving on to the next bit. Also, with so many screws missing I had to stop several times to order replacements. Below is the movement prior to final adjustment. A screw is missing at the top and the chronograph bridge screw isn't correct but it gets the job done. I discovered that the previous owner had already procured the missing hour recording wheel so that saved me a bit trouble. And the dial side came together quickly. The hour recording wheel is turned directly by the barrel and the blocking lever wasn't set properly before I put the dial on so the hour recorder creeped which required me to go back and remove the dial and re-adjust the blocking lever. I'll remember the importance of that adjustment the next time I do a chronograph repair! I needed to purchase a replacement dial and a full set of hands as well. I could have reused the hour and minute hands that came with the movement but since they were scuffed and faded and wouldn't have matched the other four hands I sold them to pay for a whole new set. It's not something I regret though because with the new dial and hands the watch looks about good as new. The case I had was missing the caseback and pushers but I found a gentleman who was selling the case (with pushers) and caseback together so I purchased the lot. I also procured a replacement dust cover since that turned out to be missing as well. No point in doing a job unless it's done right I suppose. And there you go! I'm quite happy with the result here. It was expensive but I now have a complete and fully functioning Speedmaster. The chronograph worked without a hitch and the watch has kept impeccable time too. It took quite a long time to get this one together but the patience has really paid off. I really love working on chronograph movements and am hoping to do a Venus or Valjoux soon but my next project is a bit more eclectic- a Cinderella watch by US Time from the 1960's! This will be my first pin pallet service. (excitement!)

Welcome to the forum with the hope you will be able to share some of your expertise here, like most members do.

I think it should have a resin case/strap like this one hence the long case screws where you would find one has me beat tho.

Interesting to see a member join from my old place of work. Welcome to the forum

Because they're not quite right.... in the head! Can't wait to see chrono

The power from the mainspring is transferred through the train wheels but this energy is released under the control of the escape pallets. This an old vid but explains it better than I can.

Now that's just not fair posting things like that to upset me That is absolutely stunning, really like that That summit is a real gem also, unbelievably clean and sharp. Mean while im faced with 3 x brand new Seiko's on my bench which have been drowned in.........WD40 Why lord do people do this

Hi Paul, You can find Bergeon and Horotec tools (both Swiss) on Ofrei and Esslinger. The German brand Beco (less expensive, yet decent enough to me) can be purchased from: http://www.watch-tool.de/, they also ship to north america. Cheers, Cedric.

Welcome from York, PA where I go to watchmaking school! A lot of watchmaking goes on here. In addition to my school we have the School of Horology in Columbia, PA, the Lititz Watch Technicum and nearby Lancaster was once the home of Hamilton watch.

This past Tuesday I attended a lecture at the Horological Society of New York, where I am a [recent] member. http://www.hs-ny.org The lecture was given by Seth Kennedy who was visiting from England. Seth is an Antiquarian Horologist and his lecture was really very interesting. He spoke about the history of watchmaking in London - and he incorporated quite a bit of the history of London itself and how watchmaking evolved along with the city from the 1600s through 1900s. He featured some photos and stories of work he has done - including some fantastic custom case making. You can read more about Seth and the lecture here: http://www.hs-ny.org/meetings/ If you are based near New York or you are visiting - I would really encourage you to try and attend one of the HSNY meetings - typically the first Monday of each month.

I just finished working on the 2472. Everything is in place and it's running fine. Here are a couple of pictures. Some are just for the sake of having them. Not necessary to assemble the movement but nice. Assembly of the date mechanism proved a challenge for someone inexperienced, like me. Mounting this part took me quite a while to figure out. Usually the silverish part sticks out further and cannot be inserted. This is how the part should look like prior to assembly: The spring proved to be another challenge. During assembly of the driving wheel / lever slide the spring has to be pulled back. This is the situation where the lever slide has to be slided under this guide post: After 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to assemble it, I eventually succeeded. You can see the the lever has been slid unter the guide post and that the spring is nicely in place. I first assembled the date jumper and date jumper spring but it turned out that when mounting the date indicator, I cloudn't get it done. So assemble the date jumper AFTER the date indicator is on place. The driving wheel has to be positioned so that the notches of the date indicator fit through. The date jumper is not properly in place in this picture. Done! Yet another picture of the other side with the movement in motion on the timegrapher.