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Hi everyone, I've just signed up for course 1&2 of Mark's Watch Repair Lessons after too much contemplation and hesitation (I overthink my decisions). Looking forward to learning a lot here about my lifetime interest in watches and hoping to make a hobby/side business out of it. My background is as a journeyman diesel technician (which I still do part time) and I've always enjoyed taking things apart, seeing how they work, then reassembling them. The satisfaction of watching something broken return to life after putting some work into it is priceless. See you on the forum and thanks in advance for the help.

Hi! I wanted to introduce myself. My name's Rafal and I come frome quite a watchmakers family My father, grandad and gran's father in law were watchmakers. I picked up a different path in my life but there's a kind of calling that wants me to focus on watches anyway I make handmade watch straps for a few years and do some watch repairs, I also collect vintage watches and clocks. So I complete the equipment (mostly vintage, swiss made tools and machines) and educate myself in this beautiful art of watchmaking. Special credits to Mark for his awesome videos, I really appreciate to actually see how are some repairs done, which is way better than reading about it. Also pleased to meet all the Forum Members! Have a great new year and a lot of successful repairs!

Some of those are just very hard to get a start on, without a good gap to get in to. I’ve used a single edge razor blade on a few. You could be required to tap the protected edge of the razor with a wood dowel as well. Then suddenly it will pop off. Afterward it will most certainly require a back press to press it back on. Not pretty or very professional, but without more expensive equipment and experience, necessary. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

So as you've discovered 861 Comes in two styles. It appears to be the length is different and a slight difference in the hub thickness. Then each of the two staffs come in four different pivots sizes. Then staff dimensions are interesting in that it always seems to be a little variation. So for the New style staff I have 5.33 or 5.32 with the hub thickness of .53. Then old-style 5.20 or 5.18 with the hub thickness of .55. Then as is typical in American pocket watches pivots size variation in this case 0.10, 0.11, 0.12 and 0.13.

I got this new Casio Data Bank / Calculator on a whim . I have about 25 different watches I wear to work ,...watches that I'm not afraid to bump against something that may cause a scratch or ding . My Casio WR pictured above is an example . It seems that every time I wear it one of the younger guys at work comments that it looked like the first watch they ever had . Usually given as a birthday or Christmas present . So I was perusing watches on ebay and came across this Casio . It tells time in 2 time zones , has several alarms that can be set to go off daily or pre-set dates and times and with a snooze function on alarm 1 , a calculator , exchange rate function , stop watch and split time chronograph , data bank that can store 25 files and telephone numbers , and probably do my taxes . My favorite feature is that you can set it so the light goes on automatically when you turn your wrist to read the time . It also has a 10 year battery ,....it says so on the crystal . And last , but not least ,........$34 with free shipping . I forgot to say that it's multi-lingual.

Absolutely. Glad you threw that in. Promotes calm, strength, balance and circulatory needs to stave off aging. Well worth the time investment. Steady, consistent is the key.

Depends how much you want and what properties you want to achieve with your heat treatment. If It’s for small parts like setting lever springs have you considered recycling feeler gauges, hacksaw blades, craft knife blades, etc

Ah right I recognize that Ronda well, and for all the wrong reasons. There's two things people do to those movements practically all the time, one is to crush the battery contact to the side with the battery. The second is scratch the coil while bending back that awkward battery retaining arm. The coils on these movements have no protective lacquer which means it wouldn't even have to be a scratched from a tool, it can be damaged just by touching with your bare fingers.

I thought I've give a quick update on this project as tomorrow is the big day and I haven't made a peep since November. In the meantime, I received a replacement 7002 movement for the Seiko 7002-700J which was originally received with an improper 7019 movement inside. I also found a replacement mainspring for the 7019 movement (in Spain) and have cleaned and serviced the it returning it back to good working order. The replacement 7002 movement is the properly marked JAPAN (as opposed to SINGAPORE) version so this will still be a proper 7002-700J watch, but sadly the dial proved to be damaged beyond repair. Both dial feet had fallen off and the paint was ruined by whomever scrapped off the lume. I did manage to clean the oil off though. I cleaned and serviced the movement and found only one bad part- the Pawl Lever for the autowinder which had lost one of its claws. A replacement was readily available from Jules Borel and the movement is again beating away. Interestingly this 7002 movement came equipped with the Day Jumper and Day Finger that you would expect to find on the 7019 movement. I'm not sure why that was the case since the 7002 has no Day Wheel but there you go. Unfortunately one piece the replacement 7002 movement was missing was the Holding Ring for the Dial. This plastic ring sits between the dial and movement and keeps the dial from pressing against the Date Wheel. The holding ring from the 7019 movement had broken into seven pieces and was beyond repair. Replacements are hard to come by but I did manage to secure one just the other day but alas, it will not arrive in time for Christmas. Regardless I powered on and reassembled the case along with a nifty oyster style bracelet. As I've stated before, the bezel ring is an aftermarket replacement but the rest of the case is original. Both cases were the old style with a spring and ball bearing serving as the bezel click. On the 700J case the ball bearing had popped out but I was able to reseat it and the bezel rotates just fine. The 7002-7000 watch came together with a brand new replacement dial and hand set. The dial and hands are aftermarket I believe but look quite good just the same. I have a replacement dial and hand set for the 7002-700J as well and also have a proper original dial that is in route. I haven't decided which will go on the watch as of yet. Although I'm a bit bummed one watch isn't ready yet I'm still pleased with the project. My brother will be getting the 7002-700J when it's all done and I'm sure he'll be fine waiting another few days for the finished product. He will be a bit anxious when he sees the one that is done though. Happy Holidays!

Hello All; I received an Omega 18SPB gold-plated pocket watch, allegedly a non-runner. It was a heirloom item and had to be passed on to the younger generation. Luckily it wasn't a total "non-runner"; after a full wound it ran for 7 hrs. The small seconds-hand was missing and there were visible signs of dirt inside the case & movement. According to bidfun-db ( http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2ustu&1095006620), it is a "Gents Omega Hunter", from the 1924 era and the 18SPB movement has 15-jewels, a bi-metallic screw balance with a Breguet hairspring. Here are some pictures of the watch in the condition I received it; Front cover and dial; Notice the dirt on dial and on the inside of the bottom edge glass ... Rear covers and movement; The 18SPB movement seems pretty straight forwards and judging the case marks / movement-screws-heads; not very often "messed" with. The case numbers did match-up and the gold-plating wear on the case & the chain seem to match up as well. Also the tapered chain seems the original & authentic one; a great bonus ! Before removing the winding stem, remove the residual power in the main-spring; in this case there wasn't any residual power left (?). To pull the winding stem, the set lever screw has to be undone by 1-1/2 to 2 turns; After removing the winding stem, there are two case-screws which have to be taken out. It's a "front loader", the movement is placed inside the casing through the front. Flipped the case over and carefully remove the glass & bezel ...... both the glass and bezel are of very thin material ...... Carefully remove the movement. There is a thin ring around the movement, between the bottom of the movement and the watch case; not shown in the picture. The hands are a straight pull up. The dial is attached to the movement by three (3x) dial-screws, each with a roughly 120 degrees spacing in between; Stripping the keyless works, minute and hour wheel revealed some excessive lubrication; Note; the winding pinion didn't come out at this stage. Pulled the canon-pinion but left both keyless-springs (left and right) in place. Keep an close eye on the minute pinion, which protrude above the main-plate !! Flipped the movement over and removed the balance. Thereafter removed the pallet-bridge, the pallet and the wheel bridge. Note that the crown wheel screw is left-handed, but hasn't got the triple markings some left-hand screws have; Removed ratchet wheel and the crown wheel, also note there is an additional washer underneath the crown wheel; Removed the wheel train, barrel-bridge, spring-barrel, winding pinion and the set lever screw. All items collected in a tray; Opened up the main-spring barrel; Took the old spring out and I have to say that the old spring wasn't eager to get its freedom back ! Before I started on the watch, I asked under the "Watch repairs Help & Advice" the forum for some help. A very educative discussion followed; Luckily I received some excellent help from JohnR725 and StuartBaker104. Both noticed that a wrong main-spring was fitted. The spring fitted had a "normal-bridle", whereas the barrel needed a "DBH" special bridle. This meant that the old spring was not a good reference for a new spring With the help of both forum members above, and the "Spring calculator" on David Boettchers website; http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/mainsprings.php, we were able to guesstimate which spring was needed. The internal barrel diameter was 14.4mm. Feeding this number in the "Reverse engineering calculator" yielded the follow answer: Spring thickness = 0.177, length = 450, turns = 6.4, area = 55%. From measuring the barrel, the maximum allowable height of the spring was 1.9mm. Scrolling through CousinsUK list for 1.9mm high DBH springs, the closed match was spring GR5617DBH which dimensions were 1.9x0.18x440x14.5 (Height x thickness x length x washer ID). That was the spring which was ordered, pictured below; Even though the spring fitted from the washer inside the barrel, I couldn't engage the hook, so the spring had to be unwound. Note the difference in the amount of "un-cloiling" between the old tired spring and the eager spring. No wonder there was no residual power in the old spring left after 7 hrs running ! Fitted the new spring and it was a perfect fit While this all with the spring was going on, StuartBaker104 made me aware of an eBay auction for a lot of small fusee seconds-hands. The auction ended late in the evening and I throw in a bid, never thought to win it. Lo and behold, I did win !! Whether they fitted had to be seen, but judging the sellers pictures, they had to be close. Thanks again for the tip Stuart ! While the hands were on their way, I thoroughly cleaned and de-magnatized the movement parts. To be continued in part II since I nearly lost all my work above; about 2 hrs of work !! This program doesn't allow intermediate saving, which isn't so good ! @Mark: can that be changed ?

Yes, I remember the '" the work bench thread". my benches are so cluttered, -don't want to show them. vin

Make sure your tweezers are still good and regularly dressed anyway! Good luck.

if it fits and works use it. vin