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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/15/20 in Posts
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In my perusals of eBay I became aware of the watch brand Sicura. I also learned that they were the company that rescued Breitling from oblivion in 1979. I came across the Sicura Satellite with it's large chrome plated case, metallic blue dial and its enormous seconds hand. I was able to acquire one that needed attention on eBay for a reasonable price. When it arrived I discovered the crystal was trash, they date wouldn't change and the watch would stall after a few hours. Inside beats a Swiss, Baumgartner, BFG 158 31/7. This is a manufacturer I personally never heard of but I would become very intimate with over the next few weeks. I stripped the movement down and during disassembly of the date mechanism I discovered the Day/Date advance wheel pivot shaft had worked itself loose and the day advance wheel itself had dislodged and was wedged under the cover plate. I continued the complete disassembly and found no further issues other than general filthiness with oil everywhere. While disassembling the mainspring to clean and lubricate it, the arbor popped up and caused the spring to exit the barrel in a knot. Thankfully, no mainsprings were harmed in the restoration of this watch, although my nerves definitely were tattered. During reassembly I pulled the Novodiac shock springs to clean and lubricate the balance jewels and the lower spring pinged off. Thankfully I found it a week later. I ordered and installed a new crystal because the original shattered when removing it I assembled and tested , disassembled, cleaned reassembled, rinse, and repeat no less than 5 times trying to get it to run correctly. I used the wrong oil and it was stalling the movement. It is currently running without any lube which I will correct after I take delivery of some Moebius, but at least it's running and keeping excellent time! I took delivery of a silicone strap last night with blue accent stitching and I really think it looks the Business. Thank you for taking the time to read this long winded story.4 points
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You need to prise it out from the back, use a case opening knife or a screwdriver blade. It doesn't have a two piece stem2 points
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To whom it may concern, be careful when working/cleaning the inner bezel/chapter ring. The old paint will come off/flake easily. I speak from experience.2 points
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Hmm that’s weird never seen that before but after looking at a stock Elgin 712 it doesn’t have any other jewels which are held in by a spring except for the balance cap. If these springs have been used to keep jewels together then i would suspect other than the balance it would only be on the escape wheel since normally you dont see cap jewels on anything else, and cant see a spring being needed to hold pivot jewels in place. The Elgin 712 did come with a model that had cap jewels on the escape.2 points
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In general you'll either be dealing with an acrylic crystal that's got a tension ring ... or not. Yours seems to be the latter case which takes us here: https://www.cousinsuk.com/category/acrylic-round-domed-watch-glasses I can then tell you that you're after one of the High Dome series crystals i.e. HW or HWS*. These are effectively the same but the latter has a small 'step' around the perimeter. Yours looks like it might be one of these but I can't be totally sure as it could just be reflection in your first pic! Anyway, it's easy enough for you to confirm this with your existing crystal i.e. it will either just come down from the dome in a uniform way (HW) or come down from the dome with a small step (HWS). After accurately measuring the diameter of your crystal you should then get the size that is 0.1mm larger to ensure that, with a claw fitting tool, you maintain a tight fit crystal-to-case. You say your crystal is 31.5mm so you'll need the 31.6mm crystal ... so that's either Cousins item HW316 or HWS316 subect to your confirmation of my comments in the last paragraph. Because these crystals are so inexpensive you'll probably want to go with a new one but @jdm is quite right that polishing can achieve good results and get something with (light) scratches back to looking like new. Polywatch is a good product but some people just use toothpaste! *Although the Sternkreuz catalogues are available for download (e.g. direct or from a site like Cousins) they're still a bit rubbish for certain specific details measurements. I've double-checked with an HW crystal I have in my spares box to confirm it's 4.5mm high!2 points
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Yes, with the correct dies. See attached STK document about fitting "snap-in" crystal with a press as opposed to a jaws tool (crystal lift). 8836_Sternkreuz R19 Snap In Glasses Pages 12 to 29.pdf2 points
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You can press an acrylic crystal with a tension ring. For example GS Diver Tite. I would go with a 38mm or 38.1mm. Because if you dont you will never be able to press it in since it expands when pressed and in some case tension ring slips out. GS Lo/Hi dome can be compressed in using a brass jaw type crystal remover. In this case you will need to go 38.4mm because the jaws grip the crystal and it compresses it then when set into the bezel or case the jaws are released expanding the crystal to set in the case. flat crystals will need to be glued and any acrylic crystal can be glued except tension ring crystals.2 points
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Elgin had several styles of Springs to hold the jewels in place. I think what happens is watchmakers will lose them and shove in something else. Then you will note that these are not necessarily shock resistant jewels only Springs for holding them together. http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&Elgin_7122 points
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It's school holidays where I live and I have 2 sons, one 15 and the other 12 turning 13. The older one has 2 of his friends sleeping over tonight and my younger son has 1 friend sleeping over, so I currently have 3, 15 year olds and 2, 12 year olds high on sugar running around the house between the games room and their bedrooms. Not even going to attempt to do any work tonight, think I will just go get myself a nice malt whiskey and hide upstairs with headphones on. It's probably the safest thing I can do.1 point
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Hi and welcome to the forum everyone's opinion as long as its informative and constructive is welcome. On this forum we share most things but not insults1 point
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Hi At My age and dexterity levels I dont do as much as you Guys so I spend the in between times rooting round the web and piling up on my PC lots useful data If you are looking for a sheet let me know and I will search from this end, I am not always sucessful but will always try.1 point
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It's the older 41mm k3 (2007) I replaced the dive bezel with the "pan" bezel . These watches have a big problem with the crown threads stripping so I put a Vostok crown tube in it with a Vostok floppy crown so a much better seal . Also ground off the crown guards and a extensive sanding and polish to the case .1 point
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For some really old watches like this one you actually have to remove the hands, the dial, and then you get to the keyless works and you can start removing it that way along with various other parts. Can you show us some photos from other angles ? Prying it out might not make it happen.1 point
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Schillachi61 has new forks. But cost 9.99 . He is in UK so won''t be that much shipping . I have his email adress if you like. Maybe a couple of quids cheaper? Send me a PM1 point
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Mineral high dome is not very common, but check https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000590727449.html Or may os cheaper on Ebay.1 point
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Welcome & Enjoy the forum, For me & many its more than a bug it has become a compulsive obsession.1 point
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Nice job. You resurrected that watch. You will find Baumgartner movements on many if not most Sicuras. They're not bad movements. Not as bad as the cheap and simple EB stuff but maybe not as good as some higher grade ETAs. The quality of the watches themselves is alright but from my experience they often time didn't resist the test of time like other watches (sometimes from less known brands).1 point
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Now I am going to have the song,"another one bites the dust".stuck in my head all day.1 point
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Wow thanks a lot! I got a bunch of homework to do on this... based on what I am understanding, the Acrylic crystals with tension rings could be press-fitted with the crystal press given that we use the correct size of dies, and those crystals would do fine without that plastic gasket, isn't it? What I am confused about is the plastic gasket that was used to friction-fit the mineral crystal in place. Do I remove it before fitting the acrylic crystal? If yes, then I believe that I have to measure the new diameter of the "dial compartment".1 point
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Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum. Its nice when asking questions for help if you could provide good clear photos. This also helps other members who might not have as good knowledge as advanced members.1 point
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That's the one I was thinking of. The "lyre" shaped spring. I simply could not remember what it looked like when I was working on this movement. That would certainly fit this setting WITHOUT the cut-out for the KIFF spring. Yes, they weren't shock settings. I remember reading in an Elgin publication how they crowed about this spring and the reductions of "lost" screws for the people servicing their movements. Thanks, RMD1 point
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Agree with Klassiker, the normal test is with fork out, barrel and train in, give a few clicks on the barrel and see how the train does. When it comes to a stop you want the escape wheel to reverse direction, at least a little bit. This is an indication the train is free, and the reversing is due to the backlash between the teeth in the gear train. It's usually done with the movement clean and unoiled- the oil can impart enough resistance to stifle the backlash. Of course you want oil when running under power!. It takes around 10 turns of the escape wheel to turn the 4th wheel once- hundreds to turn the center wheel once.1 point
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Welcome here and thank you for your introduction. Try looking on Cousins UK or even Ebay.1 point
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I don't think radium paint can be bought, that since a long time due to prudent prohibition. Chose the shade that better suit the piece from Luminova and other producers. BTW, we have a section where it's considered polite to introduce themselves, as well another for repair questions.1 point
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That is German and it’s an 8 day duration. The balance staffs on these clocks normally wear and the tips become like a blunt pencil, so they need to be pointed, so you need a lathe to do this and re-point using a stone, I used a small arcanses stone to do this with oil. Also check the cups as these can also wear, if so they need to be smoothed out by means of a countersink.1 point
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My apologies to your work shop. Colloquialisms vary in the English speaking world..no offense was intended. Thankfully scotch is the universal language.1 point
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That is Turk (romanized Arabic is not so common). It translates to: Isn't the mother-of-pearl dial very spectacular? Even if this an English language forum ad members are invited to use that all the time, sometime we can find convenient to use Google translate. It can also identify the language automatically.1 point
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I am almost sure Sweden will take 25% Vat on all orders . Even the small ones . There is no such thing as allowed in Sweden. Don't think it will be less . There will be much more trouble buying from cousinuk and other UK sellers. But as always there is seldom any good alternative. If there where i would chose that instead. Only time will tell how it will be in the future.1 point
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And who says the EU is the be all and end all, like most political groups elected and non elected self interest comes first the people who they promised to work for? Who are they???????. we dont count. I agree with VWatchie. abomination is correct.1 point
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Hi Attached file is the Seiko tec manual for the 433, contains more data. 4336A.pdf1 point
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Hi I have enclosed the tech sheet for the 4336. Some where I have some case data for seiko will try tofind it. I will forward if I find it cheers 3093_Seiko 4336A.pdf1 point
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This should put your mind at rest. Click on this link. http://members.iinet.net.au/~fotoplot/sdriver/sdriver.html1 point