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I'm sure I will be inspired, confused, dazzled and just generally humbled by the contents of this, but I'm looking forward to every page!

Good news ....... the Landeron 48 arrived today !! In reality it was even better looking than on the pictures and the hands were less bend than I thought. All seems to be within my capabilities .......... I hope We'll see... Here my own pictures, but unfortunately, due to the artificial light, not a whole lot better than the sellers pictures...... The chronograph functions seem to work fine and, maybe my wishful thinking, the balance-wheel showed attempts to get back alive agian. However, upon further inspection the first Gremlin stuck his head out off the winding hole. The winding-stem had broken off and the remaining part was stuck in the keyless works. Now, I was not able to check whether there was any tension left on the mainspring. This problem had to be solved first. All the hands came off easy.. The dial screws are a bit hidden. The two arrows are pointing them out... I don't think the dial had ever been off, so carefully with a surgeon's knife. Take care of the little pinions !! All seems fine. I couldn't get the stem out, so had to remove the whole keyless work. With everything removed, the Gremlin held tight and it was a struggle to get him out ..... Here he is ...... red arrow........ Installed an old winding stem (leftover of my first Landeron 48) and re-installed the keyless work. Time to check the main-spring tension. The click is a bit hidden, the following picture shows where it is hiding; I didn't notice a lot of tension, if any. While working on the broken winding stem, I removed, as a precaution, the balance-assembly already. The pallet fork can now safely be removed. The disassembling of the chronograph went as per Ebauches S.A Landeron 48 pdf-file, which can be found here Landeron 48.pdf Also, this time I replaced all the screws after the removal of an item. I've seen this "trick" on a YT-video from forum member George Clarkson. There are many different screw-types and it does make sense to replace them immediately. See how that works for me ....... ? The pushers had different length, the pusher with a longer stem at the bottom, the shorter stem at the top... The runners 8020 and 8000 ... The Landeron stripped off its chronograph components, screws replaced. Next is the removal of the barrel-bridge and the wheel-train bridge. With all the wheels removed, except for the center wheel, the movement is flipped over. I don't have a fancy cannon-pinion puller, so I use brass tweezers and the main-plate as a base for the leverage. Thereafter off with the keyless works again. Main plate empty......... so far I haven't noticed any obvious broken parts. Slight surface rust on some screws. Main spring winding-direction. Not broken, but I ordered a new one which will replace this spring. Tonight the main-plate and bridges are soaking in Zippo lighter fluid. Tomorrow cleaning and inspection of parts and jewels...... So far so good .........

Yes an amazing book always worth referring to just to see how the master did it. He was almost a good as Mark.

Come on guys, dial it in with the puns.

Looks like a Startrek ship

My latest purchase. Believe this a very faithful repro to the original 6309. Love this watch. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

I will, thanks. The balance-wheel was moving freely and it did some minor attempts ...... after the "wheel over 4th wheel" was removed, the wheel-train started to show signs of life ....... all good signs

A reproduction ofr sure, but not a very faithful one (not that it had to be so). http://wornandwound.com/turtle-vs-turtle-looking-at-the-6309-and-the-srp77xs/

@WillFly Thanks a lot I looked at Sturmanskies, but in a way I wanted to get a bit away from the "military"-style. I succeeded partly with this "Sport" issue, but (I think) it has a Sturmanskie case. A bit of both worlds I'll post some pictures upon reception (first a test on the Watch-o-Scope) and perhaps later the servicing. Obviously forum member George Clarkson has done already some outstanding 3133 walk-through work. But first my beaten up Landeron 48, which I hope to receive today. Lets call it "A nice Starter"

Good luck with the Poljot - it looks very good. I had a Sturmanskie 3133 a year or two ago. It was a nice watch but the chrono mechanism was getting very sticky and the movement looked a little rough here and there, so I sold it on. Made what I paid for it, so no problem there. The 3133 is a nice movement.

@Watchtime I bought it like that. The pictures are taken by the seller and the watch is currently in transit. I must admit that the movement looks in an amazing shape, for being 25 years old. Studying the pictures, I haven't discovered any irregularities so I hope it is not one of those: "if it is too good to be true, it probably is". If you look on the very informative website: http://www.polmax3133.com/ , on the right-hand side "1992 - 1H", then under "Sport" you see the watch depicted. If you click on "Nuclear", the author makes a remark about how pristine the movement looks, a movement of the same time period.......... so perhaps I'm lucky? Not knowing the watch history, I go from the assumption that it needs a service. I hope to see the watch in reality by the end of this week / begin next week.........

great read,....jealous me...

Agree, an amazing book from an amazingly skilled watchmaker.

It's an amazing book. [emoji851] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome book.

Sometimes , but not always . I'm talking about Hamilton Electric watches . I will remove the hairspring when I am switching to another balance because of broken pivots , or the coil is not good on a balance but the hairspring is , Also to rotate the Hairspring on the balance because when the crown is pulled to the setting position it hacks and stops the balance . The balance has to be in a position that when the crown is pushed back in , the hairspring has to jump start the balance swing being that its an electric watch . Otherwise I leave the hairspring on and use the glass eyedropper to place the cleaner directly on the hairspring being careful not to get the coil wet with the cleaner . Coils are varnished covered wires , and if they touch each other that can change the resistance , or possibly short the coil . As I had mentioned , I use a fine cosmetic brush , or a fine artist watercolor brush to carefully clean the hairspring and the contacts on the balance shaft . I use lighter fluid on mechanical watches . Drop the balance in the fluid , use a blower to agitate the fluid , place the balance on lint free absorbent paper , and use my blower to dry it .

A cool tool to have I guess but a balance tack and a fine oiler would do the job. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Now that does frustrate me... although they can still be used for parts if someone has a whole watch for repair.

It's always good to have the right gear on when you go out, but whether anyone else likes it could be a matter of a pinion. Sorry, for the wind up!

I had one of those from santa. Lovin' it, but without a £250k tool budget, 5 years off work and a patience transplant, I won't be building my own watch from scratch. However, it's a great thing to dip in and out of and learn something new every time... enjoy!

Hullblazer, Yes, but I would never strike it... unless I needed one of those parts... Please pardon that pun... ha ha. Thanks for the compliment!

Yes, just wearing it is a bit boring. I love spanners and screwdrivers

That is the best part, isn't it?

Here some sellers pictures of my newly acquired "baby". It's a 1992 Poljot "Sport" with a SU 3133 movement. It's made just before the disintegration of the Soviet Union and still has "Made in USSR" printed on the dial. Shortly after the disintegration, the print was changed to "Made in Russia". It should be posted today ............ Needless to say, I can't wait !!

When I was first starting to look out for parts, I found if I looked in areas for so called "steampunk" there were often collections of watch parts, cases and dials. Now 95% were of little interest but occasionally I would recognise bits I wanted. I never paid more than a fiver for a mixed lot but often I would buy to just get a couple of dials and often old watch glasses, the old yellow looking plastic type. I think they are getting a bit more savvy now and the really good stuff is filtered out but I dare say you may still find bits, dials etc. for the more obscure or less renowned but good makes, especially pocket watches. These days I have so much stuff that if I bought any more mixed lots my good lady would be wearing my sphericals for earrings so I desist. Cheers, Vic

George Daniels shows a neat little jig in his book to help with this