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That is my point exactly, you're writing based on what you've read on the Internet, while I personally own and use daily many Chinese-made tools without any problem or breakage. Of course when there is no real alternative I'm happy to recommend against cheap or ineffective tools, once again disregarding their provenience. For the matter at hand, a Chinese crystal press can be $20, a Swiss one $200. Both will work fine when used correctly. Now guess which one allows beginners with any budget to approach this hobby? If you check out his videos, our site owner Mark Lovick never focuses on using expensive tools, he concentrates on practices and techniques, showing how the job is done by the person not the tool, and disseminate his knowledge without snobism or setting high prerequisites. Anyway, I think we've had this discussion already, now as before we can agree to disagree.

Oops, I did it again. I'm really trying to stop buying watches for a bit, but stumbled on what I thought was a very cool-looking watch from the late sixties/early seventies. I dug the "atomic transistor" logo, and it looked super clean. Being that it was in a monocoque case, and that I bought a crystal vise to deal with them, I decided to take the gamble. It just looked really clean. The insides were just as clean as the outside, and the battery checked out to 0 volts, so I knew one thing. Since this ESA Dynatron movement takes a rather odd battery, 344/1136, I had to wait to get one delivered. It came today and I put it in the watch. At first it wouldn't get going. Then I remembered that it has a hacking mechanism and the stem was in winding position. I popped into "wind" position and gave her a little twist and off she went. It seems to run pretty well but if the stem is pulled out and the watch stopped, it takes a twist to get it running again. I don't know if it's designed that way or the watch is somehow out of electronic beat? Anyway, I'm stoked on the watch. It's very cool to watch the hybrid mechanism that has a balance wheel that is impulsed electronically. I hope the video I took with my phone shows up. If not, you can take my word that it's running. IMG_0855.MOV

I'm very satisfied with how this dial turned out. I'm building and Elgin pocket watch conversion into wristwatch and wanted a vintage military dial look. I had recently purchased a lume kit but hadn't had the chance to use it yet. I design the dial with bold outlined numerals for the purpose of filling with lume. It really turned out better than I ever hoped! The first dial I did turned out very acceptable, except that I had another issue with it and had to start over. I learned quite a bit just from doing that one dial. Once I had the printing plate made I repainted the original Elgin dial to a flat white. I then Inked the plate and printed the new dial. Once everything was dry I then slowly added the lume using a 100 - 0 paintbrush which is about the size of a watch Oiler. I went around the dial 4 times adding a layer little by little. I'm very surprised just how much Lume this process adds. The markers have a nice three-dimensional heft to them...

some of my watches, mosty from Ebay

Isn't it kind of a repair question? But not taking that decision . Could be that the stem is worn and you need to get a new split stem. But for that you need to now what movement that watch has. There is also a few differenet types of split stems. Not sure which one your benrus have. That can probably be googled . I did and found some. This model has a longer split stem taht is hard to find. If it break it can be hard to find. You can put a shorter stem in that will work but can sometimes jump out. And i read there is some problem with loose movement. If the movement moves when the split is horisontal the crown will also jump out. Like the watches . If you don't feel like dump some money into them. Let me now.

This project started more than a year ago when a friend gave me his gold-plated 6309-7040 case. Just the case, the crown and the bezel. Now, I really don't fancy gold watches but the thought of pulling this off to something that I will actually wear excited me. So I attended to this project whenever I had the time. Started off by buying all the parts that I needed including the crystal, the crystal ring holder, gaskets and the two-part stem. These are all after-markets and are readily available here in the Philippines. But the movement ring and spring as well as the case back, I have to acquire from ebay. The real challenge however is deciding on the look. Gold hands and gold-black bezel inserts are available. But I don't think it will look good to use the available dial and chapter ring. So I had a local watchmaker custom made the dial and chapter ring with my desired color scheme. (To be continued) Sent from my ASUS_Z010D using Tapatalk

Topic moved, as there is no repair specific question. Split stem pic below, from Google search.

The different heights for the hour wheels aren't much about room under the crystal, but dial thickness. In any case you can reuse the original one. A seconds hands is light and won't fly far, check your clothes carefully.

All fakes from the same faketory. They haven't got right a single detail

Whilst i can't speak about watch tools, i do have issue with the "you want the best you have to pay" and the fact that you have solely taken advice "from the internet" and made this claim without having any experience of said "shit" tools your leveling you criticism at, in "general" yes you do get what you pay for, but there is always exceptions to the rule and it also goes the both ends of the scale/spectrum as well,(heard anyone use the term "overpriced junk"?). To me there are tools more than "adequete" for a job to last you years/decades out there that are fairly middle or lower of the road price wise, then there's your "high end" stuff that's "supposed" to be the "best" and sometimes it is, it might be something built so well it still gets used 80+ years later, more than a lifetime of service or more. But I can also point you to a video where a £25 Takstar microphone for a DSLR camera walks all over the RODE £300 mic it was tested against in sound quality, capture and range, so that is a "tool" (which it is to a videographer) that is 11.5 times less the price outperforming the "recognized industry standard" tool, TBH a lot of these companies are using their marketing strategies to target the "snobbery" that comes in ALL industries, because it works and makes them and their shareholders much more money, if we were mechanics we would be talking about Snap-on Tools right now, they Generally make pretty good stuff, but some of their stuff is outsourced shit with their name slapped on in( their welders for instance are made by cebora, a fairly shit brand in welding) That's not to say that there isn't some cheap sh*t out there that isn't worth wasting your money on, but you need to take it on a case by case basis.

Ive a few Chinese tools, Oilers for instance, Ive cleaned up a bit, shaped for specific tasks, they are fine. Oil-pots, again- cheapo Chinese doing the job, cant really go wrong, can they, Cheapo oil-pots, but with Moebius synthetic oils in 'em! Crystal-press, again a cheapo thing, might even be Indian, works well enough, I haven't broken it yet. I did have bad experience with Chinese watch screwdrivers, Those were utter garbage, seen harder copper wire... A*F screwdriver handles with Bergeon bits work out the most reasonable compromise rather than a full Bergeon set-up... --A*F bits tend to chip/wear/break a bit easier than the Bergeon I found.

Be careful about Timex watches, as they tend to multiple and take up more and more space! Not that I would know anything about that!

.Titoni 'Airmaster' today. It has 'Bombe' lugs which don't really match the band fitted here. A leather strap would suit it better. The original steel bad has enpieces which fitted better. Nicely executed caseback with the Titoni flower prominent. Titoni flower on clasp. And the makers name on the clasp. Titoni were really big in Asia in the 50s to the 80s. Inside is an ETA2408 I think, the case back need a a special tool which I don't have. If I need to I can open it with some other caseback openers but I do it only if I need to get inside as it could get scratched in the process. Normal quality but it's running pretty well here. Been wearing it for the last week and hasn't needed the time adjusted. Anilv

Very cool - I also recently managed to perform a Timex conversion. Only this was to replace a quartz movement with a mechanical. This was done on the very popular J Crew re-issue of the 24 dialed "Sprite" produced from 1968 thru the late 1970's. Amazing at how well it all fit. Only challenge was to find the space that fits between the movement and the dial. As it turns out I just used another Timex part! Here now is a great 24 hour dial in all stainless case.

And so after more than a year later, I am finally done with this project. And this is the finished project. Honestly, I still don't like how it looks overall. But I'll be wearing this one proudly for sure. Sent from my ASUS_Z010D using Tapatalk

I will try to put together a walk-through of the process of dial printing along with creating the plate itself. Honestly I spend more time on the computer designing the dial layout then it takes two create the actual plate or print the dial.

From what I have found out about Chinese watch tools on the internet there a waste of money. If you want to have the best, you have to pay. What is the point of cheap and having the worry that the tool will be useless for the job it is intended for, it could cause unrepairable damage. I have had 30 odd years experience working with good reliable tools.