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Welcome to the forum Dave. By all means ask questions no matter how trivial they are normally a member or members from the friendly forum will be able to assist. Enjoy.

Hi Dave, Always a pleasure to speak to another Dave I wish you all the best with your endeavour, it's a great hobby to have. I notice that you're looking to start on a 7S26 which is great. I haven't seen Marks videos on this movement but make sure that you have the correct tools to do this one as it does require a special screwdriver for removing the date indicator maintaining plate. Some may argue that you can use a small flat head or as you will see in this guide http://www.clockmaker.com.au/diy_seiko_7s26/chapter7.html he makes his own by grinding a screwdriver. I am a big believer in the saying 'you're only as good as your tools' and the result of using a makeshift screwdriver in this scenario is evident from the pictures that follow in the rest of his article. You can pick up the correct screwdriver for £7.95 at Cousins https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/seiko-crosshead-af-swiss and it will make all the difference... Anyway, I'd love to see how you get on with this and the other repairs. Keep us up to date. All the best Dave, David

so i finally got around to playing around on the lathe (that i purchased over a year ago) i needed to try and create a hand setting stem that was missing for a pocket watch - knowing what it looked like i measured what was needed and had a go.. this obviously is not a balance staff but it was my real first attempt at an actual repair using a watchmakers lathe... im happy with how it has turned out and look forward to learning more on the lathe when i get a chance.. obviously this post is useless without pics sooo... Start off with a bit of blued steel Turn the steel down to the size required to go through the watch yep.. you can see the it poking through filed down the end to size and checked the friction fit of the the wheel using the indexes on the late i worked out the 4 positions required to get a perfect square and started filing on each side. progressing onto the next side.. keep on measuring until it was the correct size for the watches key once happy i cut off the part from the remaining stock requires a bit of polishing to get the edges crisp the finished part with the attached wheel on it Video attached showing the function.. VID_20160910_190857.mp4

A regular young customer of mine has asked me to service these three beauties. Any service sheets or help much appreciated

Cheers mates... Today im wearing this very nice big Bullhead, Seiko 6138-0040 Speed-Timer. Made for the Japanese domestic market ... This I also totaly love...big, chunky, shiny.....

Seems the colection is incomplete , supergirl and batwoman are missing lol.

Yay! Thank you all!

thanks yorkist.got the setting lever back in and sorted everything else out ,then found a screw had sheared off so got myself some small drills,so should be able to sort that out ! already got new screws thanks again. bernie. PS i am doing a new post re seagull sp16 if you know anything.

I was able to visit this important fair which closed Sept. 10th, and wanted to share my impression and something of what I saw in a short report, but quickly realized that the task is beyond me, so I'll give just few highlights related to aspects that are of my interest, that is watch movement manufacturers and tools suppliers. Please excuse the poor quality of my pictures, even if using a good camera I couldn't do better than that. That was my first time in the city, and I was impressed by its organization and ease of transit. Budget was helped having been pre-registered for free admission and airfare partially paid with travel credit. Overall it has been a very pleasant and interesting visit that I would recommend to anyone. Getting to the fair is extremely easy, take the metro Island line to Wan Chai, and walking the pedestrian bridge to the exposition center. Weather was rain showers, nothing like the windstorms of the previous days, so I was lucky to avoid that. The fair is as very large, divided on two floors and three sections. In short, the most space was taken by Chinese watch brands, large an small, which names are virtually unknown to West, or event to the East. The style choices are also much different from what is generally liked and discusses on watch forums, with the large majority being fashion quartz watches. It was very time consuming to at just walk by all the booths, and only rarely I found necessary to stop for a second look. There were also many European brands which are clearly made in China, one is Obaku, which for its general design lines one could confuse with Skagen and many others. The Chinese also manufacture vintage inspired watches and practical automatic watches, but at least in my opinion there is always something "not right" in them. However it was nice to see some of the brands that are on Aliexpress, like e.g. the Gotop which had a small stand but in my opinion come with simple design that is better than most others. Even if the only practical use of these is marketing gifts, it's nice to have the business card of their sales manager. All the stands and booths gave a kind reception to any visitor and were available for a frank discussion of prices, minimum q.ty, etc. However compared to the fairs of other industries which I've visited in the past, there was not the gloom and abundance of shows or free gadgets. One of the booths of my interested was the one of Time Module / Seiko, of which I'm not posting any picture because these came out even worse than the others - I found later that I could not focus well, either in auto or manual mode. I had a nice conversation with one of their sales, a dynamic young Japanese which illustrated me their sweeping second quartz line, in short these are not suited yet for all designs due the lack of a date indicator, which is being developed. He indicated that that quartz makes about 80% of their production, but the best of their production is with the NE series. I was pleased to learn that they make all spare parts available (except the main plate) and that there is new product development on the mechanical movements, which are sold as being made in Japan (that is a subject often debated on forums, but I avoided grilling him on the matter). I missed the determination to visit the Miyota / Citizen stand, but that is a good reason to come back for it the next year! My other area of interest was the manufacturers of watch components, of which I've seen quite a few, but not in an outrageous number. The quality, level, and presentation of their products and factories was excellent. The ones with the most prominent spaces were Peacock and Sea-Gull, with the first doing a much better job of welcoming and informing visitors. But since I'm interested in thin movements, I'll be more likely to come back to the latter. Moving on to tools manufacturers / distributors, all the major ones where there, and there is always something to see and learn about. For me it was the Witschi "dry" pressure tester. I immediately asked how would I know from where the watch leaks, the answer is that the main purpose of the tool (including the pathetic LCD version) is to give a pass/fail response and a warning about NOT placing it in the traditional machine if the leak is too large. I was also told that a new version of the traditional timegrapher is about to be released, with a much, ,much better display, which I did not photographed also because I'll never buy it:) The Bergeon stand was setup very well, with their nice work benches including the flagship motorized one, A*F had much smaller boot but their European staff was more interested in finding a good restaurant for dinner than receiving visitors, so I moved on. For the lovers of cleanliness some Indian exhibitor proudly showed this: However, for the humble watch repairer / hobbyist the peak of the fair was probably Watchme booth, a prominent Ebay seller. He was selling directly, so I got myself a small set of extra tools, of which I could probably have done without, but is the expereince that counts, and they made a nice shopping souvenir. Thomas is a really nice guy with good beer taste, and before I could finish the word "discount" he already had knocked down the price a bit. Not photographed, he makes a clever press / case opener combo tool, which I really liked except for the price, which in my opinion is way too deep into Bergeon territory. For the major tooling needs there was a small number of exhibitors, for example this one is for laser etching casebacks. My kudos however go to the Swiss manufacturer which installed two functioning CNC milling machines to demonstrate machining of plates and cases. I was told that ETA's movement sales restrictions are good news for them, as it's boosting production by competitors. Finally in the dedicated section there were the "better" brands, including a dark gallery of few expensive Swiss one, of which I recognized only Blancpain, and gladly didn't picture. Some more aficionado brands and the "independent" watchmakers confined all together: I also skipped the Invicta booth after learning that Eva Longoria had failed to show up, and being these the last hours of the fair everyone started packing up, which should not be allowed, I was also tired, so rather than chasing runners I crashed on a bench for a while before going for a well deserved street food feast and flight out. Hope you have enjoyed this.

Welcome to Dave-Fest! (from another David)

Welcome Dave, It is good to hear that you are already on your way to explore this new universe: watchmaking. As outlaw points out, that Seiko may require a Philips tip screwdriver (it is rather not conventional, I think the angles of the tip are different but I can't attest to that). In any case, check the version of your movement: 7S26A or 7S26B will need that screwdriver, version C doesn't...so if you have that one you'll be saving money! I wish you all the luck in your new projects and please ask all the questions you like and post pictures once in a while. Cheers, Bob

Welcome Dave , 7s26 is one of my favorite automatic movements ,easy to fix with many cheap spare parts and reliable.I am sure you will do great.

I expect we can help you with that. Post pictures so we can see what you have.

Welcome Dave! A year ago i was servicing my first watch... a chinese cheapest one to ruin it After losing and finding many many parts of it surprisingly it worked again Now i can do complicated repairs for example broken balance pivots. Pocket watches are easy way to learn, they have much bigger parts Its a beautifull hobby and here are many helpful and experienced members ready for novice questions

Hi Dave, I'm a newby here too and learning as I go on - very helpful bunch (at least so far!).

Hello Dave, Loads of info on here for you in getting started.

Welcome Dave!

A big welcome to you Dave. Have fun on your first service and remember take photos of each step of the dismantle just as a reference. Remember Marks video wont always be there to help you and its the easiest way of keeping a record to go back to when your scratching your head saying where the hell did that go and which way around. Ask as many questions as you like everyone here is always willing to help with any question no matter how stupid you may think it is we all have to learn I know i still am . Mick

As OH says, work out which way up the arbor fits in the barrel, Then look closely at the hook on the arbor (with a loupe) and you will be able to see which way the spring has to go so that it stays hooked on to the arbor.

Try fitting the arbor into the barrel and which way it fits will tell you which way round the spring should go.

Winding wheel on the wax chuck after grinding the pattern. It has the paste on it, but here one can clearly see the lines grinded in the material. Washed with paint solvent: Here is the retaining washer after finished grinding: And in the movement with a blued screw From a distance: Tomorrow i will make a two stage pattern on the ratchet wheel.

Do I win anything? Just kidding... https://www.1stdibs.com/jewelry/watches/wrist-watches/zenith-stainless-steel-automatic-wristwatch/id-j_1662363/

Viet Nam Era Glycine Airman . https://ambwatches.com/2014/04/01/glycine-airman-special-cal-as-170001/ I don't bring this one out of hibernation very often . I found this one at the swapmeet about 3 years ago . A seller had it on a tarp and I picked it up to examine it . The crystal was crazed and all I could make out was the word Glycine , which at the time I didn't know anything about . I figured it might be a Swiss watch because of the case back design . It was on a worn , used fake Rolex SS bracelet that was the selling point for the seller . He was asking $20 and I offered $10 , which he refused . I chatted with the seller a bit , then offered $15 which was again refused . I put the watch down , thanked him , and moved on to the seller across the aisle . A moment later I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was the watch seller . He said ,OK , I'll take $15 ,..I paid and moved on . You won't believe my surprise when I got home and opened up the watch for inspection and then read the article in the attached link from AMB watches . This watch has a 24 hour movement and a special hacking feature ,...when you pull out the crown , a tiny wire comes out of the dial at 12 O'clock and stops the second hand until the crown is pushed back in . I installed a new crystal made for this model and a new canvas watchband with cordura backing .

Welcome Brian lots here for all on this friendly forum. Enjoy

Hello from me Brian, Excellent that you chose to join us. I can only claim a quarter of Scottish ancestry as it was my grandad who was a proud Scot. Oddly enough his Surname was Paisley. Cheers, Vic

And finally experimented the setup and settings for the perfect pattern

Have been reading with interest the threads about watch cleaning machines and I thought I'd post a pic of mine that I purchased on eBay a few years back, old L&R Master, it was in a pretty unloved state when I bought it, motor ran, heater did not and paint finish was all chipped, worn off and just looked not nice, I paid $130 for it as I knew it could be brought back to life with a little love and attention. I re wired the whole unit (original looked downright hazardous, threadbare fabric insulation) and rubbed down paintwork and sprayed unit and jar lids with grey hammerite paint, replaced the bulb inside the red display switch and the heater was operating, (the builb acts as the fuse for the heating element). Spent under $20 in Home Depot for everything that I needed. Hoping this might help someone who has been looking to get a machine, it really was a pleasing job fixing it up and it's a great little machine that I now love dearly.