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The bottom items look like cut floor brads a type of nail used for nailing floorboards down, flat to prevent splitting as they are hammered into the floor board.

Sector Depthmeter today

Picked up this Sandoz Alarm watch, a bit big for my wrist, but it has a certain retro charm

That hat is too small for my big head.

Nice, lots of character, and one of those rare watches that actually suits a blue strap.

I'm sure I saw some similar plastic domes on either ebay or ali express, being sold as display cases or some such. In fact... try this ebay search... https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=plastic+display+dome+large&_frs=1

I agree. Pocket watches, mechanical alarm clocks and desk clocks are good, as they have nice big components and are less likely to be damaged. You might also like to look on ebay for the really cheap basket case hand wind watches, or perhaps some second hand Chinese mechanicals. The big skeleton movement Chinese manuals and automatics come up regularly, and I've picked up a couple of the last few months for less than £4.00 each. Citizen and Seiko manual winds and automatics are another option, but they tend to be slightly more pricey. Also worth considering are Indian HMTs which are a bit of a favorite of mine can be had for a few quid. The ones with the most hideous repainted dials from India, often go for rock bottom prices. The HMT manual and HMT automatic watches are clones of some of the good quality Citizen movements, and they are pretty robust mechanisms to play about with. Quite forgiving, and not much money if you come a cropper while learning on them.

My name is Tim, although officially Harlan Timothy, so please feel free to call me Tim. When I searched for a watch repair/making forum, I found this to be a really nice community, a place where I can search and learn what I would need to know on various watch repair issues. I am an old retired fella and redefining my interests to keep my mind under control :). I have had a varied background professionally and I wish to continue to use and hone my skills or even take them to a new level. Watch repair is definitely a whole new level. My interest here comes from the little boy in me, loving shiny tiny moving bits and pieces and the engineering marvels we can do! As we are cleaning up the family estate, I was given my fathers watches and jewelry, compelling me to try and restore his watches. When I started my career in electronics, one of my first fields was meter movement repair and calibration. I worked for G.E. and had many movements on my bench for jewel replacement or hairspring repair. My hands were much more steady then, and I will learn if I can still hold a steady hand. It comes from the meter movement repair job, that lit the fire of watch repair in me, some 40 years ago. After the work at G.E., I moved on to medical equipment design and engineering, then semi retired to my passion of violin making and restorations. So to sum things up, over the years I acquired many tools, some which can be helpful in this, but knowing the right tool is always necessary to do something right, I am now adding new tools to my stash. I of course will need all the suggestions and advice to properly set up a new bench. Timing is always nipping at my heels, and as I am beginning this, I am plopped into a move, so my time to practice and attempt to hone my skills will rather limited. But makes for a good time frame for putting things together for this hobby. So that is the brief (extremely so) bit about me and what I wish to try. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone here and hope all shall forgive me as I forget names and places a lot. Memory is going here for sure. I wish all a good day and well being. Tim

Thanks guys! Well, i have broken some pivots and lost some parts on the other movements i have been practicing on, so i guess i was lucky this time Did the last finishes on the watch today. Sanded down the case with 400, 600, 800 and 1200 grit sandpaper to get rid og the worst scratches. Then polished with metalpolish. It turned out well, have a look. Pictures before and after. But again, what oil should i buy for the pallets? Moebius 941 or 9415?

More like Ian Dury from the Blockheads....or Jethro Tull...

Big is beautiful !

I will keep an eye out for one. Big hands need a big watch. I looked on eBay this afternoon but to no avail. Never mind half the fun is in the looking !

Do you have an old catalog? I have one from the 50s-ish (I think), which doesn't show anything similar to this, but it's old enough that the Jacots are still the old traditional style and not Steiner's later distinctive design. It's be nice to see something from in between when mine was printed and now; I'll get mine scanned and post it up somewhere too.

I think you are right, will look up my catalog later. Frank

the 4 th pic's are good " drive wedges" ! vin

As I understand it when the burnisher is moved front to back it causes the drive wheel to turn which moves the pulley which engages the part.

Are there any symbols or marks at all on the Jacot? I'm 99% certain it was made to work with the straight burnisher and not a wheel, there were also automatic burnishing machines using straight burnishers quite similarly by Hauser and others. The general look of some of the components says Steiner to me, which would be a rooster symbol if not marked with the name.

Photoshop is your friend. The hat I stole from the internet, likewise the background, and OH's hansom features are carefully clipped from his profile pic. All intended as a bit of light hearted fun, I assure you.

Goodness, where did you get that? I hope I didn,t annoy him. I love the man.

Who do you think lent me the hat?

A quick test would be to weigh a number of them and then fill up a measuring jug with water and drop them in. You should be then able to work out their volume by how much water they displace. Nickel weighs 8.908 grams per cubic centimeter. Lead weighs 11.342 gram per cubic centimeter. Tin weighs 7.265 gram per cubic centimeter Also if they are tin and you bend one you will hear a cracking sound as the crystalline structure within the tin cracks, lead won't do this. If you are accurate enough with your weighing and measuring and they are not an alloy of elements you should be able to work out what they are made from.

Top one is definitely a Jacot tool, a very expensive one, its possibly meant to have a diamond lapp wheel to polish the pivot a bit like this one. http://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/36767/files/150953315/sold-bergeon-4106-rollifit-with-steiner-jacot-pivo.jpg No idea on the second one The last one what is the metal they are made from and how big are they? I am wondering if its a bag of anodes for plating.

I'm a self confessed bookaholic, not just Horology books, but books on model engineering, jewellery making,woodworking, restoring classic cameras, gardening, cooking, brewing etc. Basically if its a book on how to make or fix something I probably have atleast 1 book on it. I've even got books on how to make books. (book binding that is not writing a book)

Something more like this perhaps?

In the second photo from post #19 you have an impulse face on a pin, this is pushing the guard pin against the safety roller. When you manually move the balance the wedging effect there is kicking the fork over to overbanked, before the impulse pin has a chance to enter the horns. Double check your drop and total lock and freedom of the guard pin. I think it's not locking correctly and either the pallet pin dephthing to escape wheel is a bit shallow, guard pin too short, both, or both and excessive side shake on balance in particular.

Have you ever seen a lady or gentleman shopping for a watch, ask the retailor about the lift angle? Glittering gold plated cases, dial and a reputable sounding brand name sells the watch. Gents bracelette help with the selling too. Rado is notorious for breakable or gold plated base metal cases. Orders decent grade ETA and AS movements. Here is one with the cases still atached, simply for being in SS. ETA 2789 I think.

From what I've read, the overbanking may be resultant from either the mainspring being of an excessive strength, or the modern oils you have used resulting in less resistance/more power being delivered to the escapement than what was originally intended. I have read of some people solving this problem by oiling the pallet pivots... but it's not really best practice and may cause issues down the line...

Here's a fresh upload on Thingiverse for 3D printing. A simplemovement holder for Miyota 8215, Clones and other variants. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3501843

I recently decided to attempt to create a video of the disassembly of a Chinese clone of the ETA 7750. In actuality it is a variation of the 7750 platform. The movement does not have an hour recording feature, but instead has a continuous seconds hand in the 6 o'clock position. I also show where the clone design improves upon ETA - namely protection from breaking the date indicator driving wheel if the user attempts to set the date using the rapid corrector during the "forbidden" time range (10pm-2am??) Certainly not anything near the quality of Mark's videos, but I decided to give it a shot! Assembly video will be posted when available. Enjoy.

The action of a Swiss lever escapement. https://youtu.be/Wmk2mA6dg3o