Leaderboard

Hi From your pictures I say that the top pivot of the escape wheel is broken off hence it is unable fit into the plate and wobbles. I take it this is a Chinese clone if so parts are difficult if not impossible to fine/get unless you can find a donor watch. cheers

Yes possibly screwing down or pressing the main bridge with the escape wheel upper pivot not in the hole, hence breaking it. Watches have very little tolerance to mistakes. Proceed with extreme caution, do not ever force anything or make assumptions without verifying well first. The bridge must fall in place almost by itself, and even before it does, just touching any of the wheel must get all the others moving.

Reamers box and trays A (relatively) cheap set of stray reamers was crying for shelter. A suitable box was easy to get and refinish, then I made two trays from iroko wood on the milling column. Could I have 3D printed these? Sure. Would I have then liked them? No.

Hey all! I have been collecting watches for about a decade now, and have always found it fascinating how a watch works with all its gears, levers and parts. So I have taken the plunge, bought myself some quality tools to work with, and begin the journey of one day being able to service my own watches. I have also begun watching videos online to understand how every part has its role to play, and that every single one of them is essential for a watch to run on its own. I've gotten more curious as I dig deeper, and cannot wait to oil my own watches! Total newbie here, and looking to tap on the valuable experience of members here. Thanks everyone in advance! -techwannabe

Sorry everyone for the numerous posts. I’m currently away from home and writing this from my phone. Everything is done at home from my ‘maker space’ its a complete disorganised mess at the moment I’m afraid.

My mistake, I did not review the full thread, and my questions are answered! Thank you

ER25 collet chuck spanner I have found that the cut to hold the body on the chucks above is not standard. I have two of these, on one the cutout is a bit less than 29mm, and on the other some 28.5, maybe an English size. Sure one could use a mechanic's spanner, or even an adjustable one, but when it comes to machine work I dislike both. There is a subtle satisfaction when using "really right" tools to accomplish something, and even more when making your own. So I bought an extra ER16A spanner, which has an opening of 1", and milled to the new size. Material is good steel, fortunately not tough like an alloyed one, as that is not needed. For the rounded portion I used my rotary table for the 1st time on steel, since it's a small one the setup was not immediate. Very happy with the result.

Replace the caseback and apply low pressure compressed air through winder. Glass will pop out. An 8bar+ air source is way, way too much!! (Don't ask)

Nice work jdm.

I have three Valcain calibre 120's. I set the alarm indicator to a given hour as precise as I can. I generally choose 6 or 12. Then I adjust the time until the alarm goes off. Set the hour hand loosely on the hour wheel to the hour of the alarm indicator. Adjust the time past the alarm time, reset the alarm and wind if necessary. Then I repeat by adjusting the time, but this time I know when I am close at which point I make very small adjustments until the alarm goes off. Then, I tweak the hour hand and press it on, followed by the same with the minute hand.

Hi Esslingers have a reference on their site or tho could try The Watch Site there is a lot of information for citizen and seiko well worth looking at. The document below is on the site along with the rest of the manual. The manual is in pieces as ie rather big. hope you find it interesting. cheers 463096287_1971CitizenTechnicalInformation-02WatchCase(3).pdf

Hello all, Thought I'd share my first bezel repaint for a Vostok Komandirskie watch. Maybe not 100% original shade for the colours but I'm happy with the outcome. Eager to do more work like this. Advices and constructive criticism are very welcomed. I used Humbrol enamel paint and a leftover oiler to do the job Photos attached.

For scratches in steel I use wet and dry stuck to wooden sticks (Cousins sells them), so I can keep sharp edges. For deep scratches I'll start with 240, them move to 400,600 grit (800 for finer scratches), before using Dialux orange, on a hard felt wheel on the Dremel. I finish with Dialux white with a soft felt or cotton mop - which I also use for gold.

Jewelers rouge with a soft mop is best for gold. Then wash out is soapy warm water and dry with a clean cloth. What you call fogging can be caused by heat. I used a bench buffer with various types of mops.

Don't feel bad, this happened to me as well. A disclaimer should come with these movements that the springs don't hinge like you would expect them to, but can easily just fall out the back end of the setting. I have not worked on one of these movements in a while, but as noted above you can place rodico or hold pegwood behind the spring when opening to prevent this happening in future. I am not sure where you ordered from, but for future reference there is a Polish seller on ebay who stocks spare parts for these movements. He should be easy to find. Although it is not economical, I understand the rationale behind buying spares to get your first movement up and running again.

The incabloc shock springs in Swiss movements can also fly out, although they are less likely to. I have had that happen to me, which is why I always use rodico now. If you are going to try and re-insert the shock spring without disassembly of the entire shock block I highly approve of @HectorLooi suggestion to use eyebrow tweezers, which have a flat edge at the end to allow you to safely hold the shock spring by its entire length. Tweezerman makes very good tweezers of this sort.

Here is a very big lathe, wife to scale!

Assembe movement and let it run 5 minst. Afterwards I do it using 9415 on every second teth tip of the escape wheel. Only on the tip of it not on the top or bottom of the wheel I check it under the microscope after 24hours of work if its not enough i do it once more Enough is when the escape wheel tip and the pallet jewel meet you shoul see a droplet of oil between them which is aprox. 30% of the pallet jewel tip length(its dificult to explain) And of course i use epilame as it makes this job a lot easier and the grease stays in place afterwards and does not travel along the surface which will leave the pallet jewels dry, at the begining i said let it run 5 mins, this will wear of the epilame coating and will leave the oil on that places. I hope i made it a bit clearer for you now br emso p.s: sent from my s****y phone so sorry for typing mistakes