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Hi there ! I would like to start sharing my small collection with two pieces that are really special to me. The Seiko SSA215J1 Caliber: 4R39 Date: 2015 Looks like this one is not really a popular Seiko. I barely find any related content online and the watch is litteraly selling half the price I've paid for it. But here is the thing, this is the first mechanical watch I've purchased for myself back in 2015. At that time I really wasn't that much into watches. But one day I entered a Seiko shop out of curiosity and it really was love at first sight :). I didn't buy it on the spot, but couldn't stop thinking about it until about 1 month later when I finally pulled the trigger. From that time I wear it almost daily ! The Rolex Datejust 1603 Caliber: 3035 Date: 1980 That one is a birthday present from my father. He actually bought it several month before my birth so technically it's my "older brother watch" :). He also wore it daily for so many years and in some borderline extreme conditions. The watch was still running great but started to show some degradation on the needles. So when he gave it to me I decided to have it serviced at a Rolex shop. Here is the result: That's it for now !

Today following a stream of consciousness, I discovered these bearings I had removed from hard drives. They are perfect for a filing rest. So, with a little 3D printing...voila! The bearings from from the read head servo arm.

The jewel simply needs to be replaced. You need to buy a watch repair book and start reading.

One of my husband's watches. Was his father's who received it as a gift when he worked in Switzerland decades ago.

Why does one wear a particular watch....or ANY watch for that matter regardless of monetary value? Is it because you actually like and do enjoy wearing that particular watch? Or do you wear a particular watch out of pure monetary value or prestige? Maybe because of a proud family heirloom or a special gift, etc.? As for myself, I wear a watch because I enjoy wearing it, whenever the occasion calls for regardless of value. I own a few high dollar $ time pieces and low value $ time pieces, from my humble watch collection and yes I enjoy wearing anyone of them regardless of monetary $ dollar value. Not out of prestige, show, being impressive, etc. or some other pity thought. In my opinion A watch is built and meant to be worn and enjoyed on one's wrist. Everyone's different on what they like to wear and when, etc. and I can respect that. To each their own. As for myself, if the watch is...$40K....$200K...or even if it's less that $200 dollars...I'd still enjoy wearing it, without any worries. Now if my watch needs to be serviced....well if it is a high dollar valued watch....believe me I'm sending it in to the authorized service dealer when it comes to that. If it is a low dollar value watch....I'll attempt to service it myself. Just my $0.02 on the subject.

I just worked on one. Split stem front loader. I like that the say super waterproof.

True, both are damaged. You will find white (clear) sapphire jewels no more (I have a few sizes in stock), but red jewels are available. Frank

My bergeon one is probqbly 50 years old, bought it from a retired watchmaker, its looks is nothing to write home about, but works absolutely perfect.

You know, I had to look at this a few times, and zoom way in. I don't know if it's the lighting or if the jewels are clear and uncolored, but it looks like there are pressed-in jewels there. If those are jewels though, then yes, they're a mess and will need replacement. Either way, OH is right, work will need to be done there.

And this is why I joined this group/forum; thank you for sharing! I'm eager to learn and improve from a helpful community.

Put it on an oil stone and in a circular motion that should dress the fingers. The Chinese ones are rubbish and a waste of money, what do you expect for £15.

That's more like it some are 60mm

Reminds me of working evenings at a trade shop when I was in school 25 years ago; still lots of expansion bracelets then. We would stretch them on a frame and clean with a toothbrush first, then into 1st ultrasonic and there was still a huge BLOOM of organic matter that came out. Rinse and into the "clean" ultrasonic. Yuck!

Hi In the UK cousins Seiko stem 351-196 (se1351196) and also via Jules Borel on the USA.

Funny you should mention the staking set. I picked one up on eBay two weeks ago (a rather nice "Favorite" brand in very good shape, for a fair price from what I can tell) and have used it several times already.

Thankfully for me they let a few gems slip through their fingers on occasion. They do estate liquidations and when they come across jewelry and watches they just separate them into a couple of baskets to sort later. Sometimes they will let me look before there watch person gets to it.

Very true, my interest really is in the mechanical aspect of these time pieces and the possibility that I might eventually gain the skills to work on them. They to me are works of mechanical art

Wrong gender, ladies watches aren't really collectible and hard to find a lady who would wear a used watch unless its Cartier or Rolex, audemars piguet ...

If I have a watch, it's because I like it, if I like it, I ware it.

I've typed up a half dozen responses to this since it was first posted, and I'm going to commit this time! This is not a criticism in any way of the method/tool there. Just genuine discourse, engineer to engineer. Please consider it in the spirit it is intended. I place cap jewels flat down on a piece of watch paper (so far so good), then fold a corner over, and just rub it around with my finger tip wearing the requisite finger cot. Not sure where I picked this up, but it's such a simple solution to a task that can go so horribly wrong that I'm sure I got it from somewhere else. Mark or some other youtube person, most likely given the fundamental nature of it. What is wrong with that approach? The only thing I can think of based on the above discussion is that it might go flying if I were to crinkle the paper or something. I've had that happen to where the jewel jumps, but never very far. I know better than to discount my own clumsiness and relative naiveté though... What about that is this addressing, and what other issues might be being introduced? The paper being taped down solves the fly away crinkle problem, but the stick seems like an abstraction from the manual manipulation that could (and in the not discounting clumsiness paradigm, will) result in equally annoying unplanned flight. Additionally, the tendency to apply additional force through the tool without its own escape prevention feature seems to magnify this, compared to the finger method having all that squishy finger enshrouding the jewel on all sides, prohibiting any possibility of escape during manipulation. A simpler solution, if we allow/agree/accept/whatever that the paper being taped down is a mandatory practice to avoid Alcatraz-esque exploits in escapery, would be to replicate the cotted finger and a second sheet of watch paper over a second, taped piece of watch paper. You have the required manual control over pressure and position, the escape prevention of the finger flab, and backup escape prevention in the form of the captive second sheet of paper, combined with the sproing mitigation of the taped piece of paper. Again, consider this in the spirit it's written AND consider the source. I'm not quite two year into learning this stuff, and that's on a as-can-find-time basis with work and a baby/toddler in a pandemic.