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Well, I am very, very pleased to report that I have fixed the problem! The yoke was indeed bent, (Right where you said it was Kalanag) and I was able to bend it back into the correct position and now the date corrector works perfectly ! (and all other positions now work smoothly too). I must say that I am flabbergasted at how week the metal is, it is SO easy to bend this part. I now know that I bent the yoke while trying to insert the stem with it misaligned to the square hole in the crown wheel. This is a VERY fragile part and it is an understatement that one must be extremely gentle when inserting the stem. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your help with this. I have learned SO many valuable lessons here. And what a GREAT feeling to have fixed it myself! Thank you again! Bill

Hello everyone. I'm really excited to join you guys and gals in this forum. I'm very new to the hobby and I can't wait to explore even deeper to the hobby. Right now, I'm in the stage where I'm watching a lot of videos related to watch restoration and reparation and reading a lot of the recommended materials. I'm planning to start buying the tools needed next month or so. I'm so happy to meet you all. Can't wait to participate in this forum as well. Warmest regards, bruh

I spy a new watch repair video from Mark on YT !

It's called a proportional divider and it's a drafting instrument. You use it to scale drawings up or down. By setting the pivot point to the ratio (enlargement or reduction) that you want you can then scale off the original and mark up at the new scale. Oops!! should have read the whole thread before replying, @grsnovi beat me to it by a country mile.....

Somebody named "Henry C. Miller" had a custom dial made. You would see that more often with pocket watches, but a few jewelers and watchmakers would still do it years later.

Re: bringing the leather back to life, start with oil (I usually use olive oil for conditioning leather). It's pretty far gone, but that's where you'd start. From there, you could conceivably go so far as to re-patent it (boiled linseed oil and some sort of carbon black), but with it already on the watch, you will have a difficult time keeping it contained. You could split the difference, and find some linseed oil that's NOT boiled. It'll take many coats over a long time to get some shine back to it, and it won't get darker, but it'll get shinier as the fatty acids oxidize/polymerize.

@AndyHull and I have been chatting, and we think it's time to formalize the 404 Club. 404 is the HTTP standard response code returned when a file (page) is requested and not found. You've probably seen the "404 Not Found" page a few times in your internetting adventures. Turns out though, watches can be found for such a tiny sum! Some surprisingly nice ones even! Every currency doesn't have the same buying power though. Fortunately, the Dollar to Pound conversion at the moment works out to about $5.00, and the 500 response code means there's an internal server error... Not quite poetic, but at least it's on theme. Similarly, Euro to Pound works out to €4.50. 450 is specific to Microsoft and means "Blocked by Windows Parental Controls" ... So you guys behave! So the way this works is you buy a watch for your currency/error code plus reasonable shipping (I've been saying $10 max unless I really like the watch, in which case I'll stretch to $15; the point is to avoid those $1 buy $200 shipping scams), fix it up for as little as possible, then add it to your personal collection, sell it off to pay for the next one, gift it to a friend, hang it around your neck as a tribute to Flavor Flav, or whatever else strikes your fancy! Somewhere in there though, post a picture of it here!

I saw an old watch bench pop up on FB marketplace and it was about 50 miles away, so this morning I was on a mission to get it. I did for $250!! It is not in great shape, but it will be an easy restore. Then I started opening the drawers. Wow. I am showing just some of the things I found. The two watches: one is an omega, and the other is an A-11 military watch. The name on the omega face is odd, but I opened the watch and it is an Omega movement. There are no chips on the poising tool!! I found WW collets (some rust but can be refurbished), a genuine Crocker sharpener. There must have been a lathe but it was not in the bench. I have asked the seller to look for it, so maybe there will be more to come!

Hello to all from the sunny UK, hope everyone is doing great fairly new to world of watches been learning for the past few months independently; mainly via disassembly/reassembly (trying to lose less and less parts each time!) and slowly but surly building up the kit. Finding it very interesting, looking forward to increasing my knowledge. Eager to hear peoples advice and past experiences, will take it all on board and hopefully one day I can return the favour to a future fresh spawn. Stay Safe

From what I can tell Elgin's "grade" is just a "model number". I suppose somewhere there is a comparison of grades but a lot has to do with the size and the number of jewels, etc...

I seem to have better luck buying the walthams vs the elgins. Both are of good quality and are great for the budding watchmaker like me. Shattered jewels and broken balance stem pivots seem to be the norm at this price point. Occasionally i get one that just needs cleaning. Not many franken watches but i do have examples where parts have been clearly swapped around. Sometimes the seller will say if the balance is moving freely or broken. i am simply amazed these pocket watches can still be made to work given they are over 100 years in age. The engineering and manufacturing for the time is pretty incredible too. Matt

23158398 is a 1921 grade 293. Total production of that grade was 718,000. It is a 7 jewel piece. I paid $24 USD for my movements. Not one of my 3 Elgins has a case. As JohnR noted, you really can't tell what you might get since there were so many and you never know who may have tried taking parts from one and putting them into another THEY THOUGHT was the same (like I was trying to do).

Hiya mate. There is an array of everything here. A shed load of hobbyists, loads of very good amateurs and from my encounters some very skilled and knowledgeable pros and retirees. Let's have a look at what you are up to fella. Pictures are the name of the game here. Post a picture and folk will jump in and comment. Front back inside and out . Hi G . Have you watched Kalle from chronoglide showing how to dress tweezers. I was pinging screws and springs in all directions when I started. Take a look at the end of your tweezers when you overgrip, then tell me what you see happening it can be quite subtle depending on how good your tweezers are. It will suddenly click in your head, unless you've figured it out already. A couple of little tips I picked up and now I very rarely have anything ping away unless it's a spring diveboarding off the mainplate or a jewel setting.

The train is not jeweled so you could have wear in the train. This is at the lower end of Elgins P/W. Price is about right for such a watch. Dial is in good condition just some name nearly rubbed away. Case looks good no sign of the plate rubbing away.

I always think of these as transition movements which is not the correct technical term. Notice it's a lever escapement versus the verge. It's more tolerant to power fluctuations plus the quality of mainsprings has improved. In other words we no longer need a fusee but for unknown reasons they keep making watches the same design. This means need something to couple the energy from the mainspring barrel which now has teeth to the gear train which means you end up with a intermediate wheel basically that looks like a second barrel.

The reason the fusee was invented was because there was no way of having the same thickness in a mainspring, so when the watch was winding down the power was not constant. The invention of the fusee corrected this. It should be better because the springs were made had the same thickness end to end, so the rotation of the balance wheel would be the same regardless of what power was driving the balance to rotate. There are other movements that have twin barrels but only one has a mainspring the other acts as an extra wheel.

I had one of those on a 40s Certina a while back. Major PITA to find a replacement... I took very careful measurements of all the critical dimensions, then looked through the crystal manufacturers' catalogs. All of the required measurements aren't always published, and I ended up calling the company that had the closest match across a small number of the specs that were published, and told them the third critical dimension. She did some digging, and came back with a couple that were close on either side. I got both, and ended up needing to carefully reduce the outer dimension until it fit snug, but not so snug I couldn't get the case open/closed again. Not my favorite means crystal replacement, but doable.

Missed that. I thought that's what it was! Makes obvious sense, since it seems to be the most common movement out there right now. I'm used to seeing them through case backs with the rotor opposite the balance rather than digitally rendered like that.

I do not have money but if I was in the market to purchase another Rolex I would not purchase from eBay. Just to many really good clones including really good Rolex paperwork that looks authentic. Whilst on the subject of Rolex for some reason there is a shortage and some are purchasing and re selling at double what was paid. Plenty of examples on eBay . Noticed in our local jewellers Rolex’s are now for display only there is a waiting list.

Welcome You will find this forum invaluable, I have.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I'll definitely be here quite often. Cheers to everyone!

No real questions at this time, this is a watch that was owned by my father, who died in January 2019. Dad purchased it in 1946 when he was stationed in Germany in the US Army, in the Occupation his main area of operation was with the 332nd EGSR in Wiesbaden but sometimes he was assigned to Nuremburg and Damstadt. It is a Jaeger-LeCoultre and the serial number indicates it was manufactured on or after Jan 1, 1945 and prior to Jan 1, 1946. Dad said he got it for a good price but I don't know how much. I'm carefully reading his diary to see if he mentioned this bit of information. I took it to an authorized dealer and the wath guy there (not a repair guy but more of a jewelry consultant) took off the back and a minute or so later while looking through an eyepiece discovers some tiny piece of dirt or something and viola, the watch was ticking again. Dad had not worn the watch in perhaps 3 decades and put it in his safe. They are going to give me an estimate to clean and lubricate, and possible replace the hands to opriginal. I remember when Dad had it service in the late 1960's or early 1970's the crystal was broken and hands messed up. The originals we shaped mor like diamonds, as I recall. The jeweler said when their factory trained technician examines it, JLC may say it must be repaired at the factory but they will give me a quote. Has anyone an idea on a model for this watch? I do not think the band is original but I'm going by memory. The watch is at least 10 years older than me. Mark PS - this will be my top watch when I get it all sorted out!

Should be a military watch with caliber JLC 450 up. http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk&LeCoultre_450_4C& https://www.chrono24.de/jaegerlecoultre/jaeger-lecoultre-military-dial-cal-p478-fully-original-top-quality-rare--id21238901.htm

This Poljot springs are not genuine Incabloc. They are just similar. So it‘s questionable whether any Incabloc spring would fit imho.

Welcome bruh. Yes you sound like a very excited bunny. It is a fantastic and very rewarding hobby. Here you will receive loads of friendly advice and information from all different skill and experience levels. Newbies right up to top level pros. You've made a good decision to get here before you've really started, as there can be a host of mistakes to be made when trying to go it alone. I have many stories about mine . Ask away about any basic tools and materials that you will need. You've more than likely covered this with your research already and there is info on the forum separately without the need to ask anybody initially. But curious Newbies tend to have so much more they need to know. So enjoy and I will look forward to bantering with you at some point matey.

Welcome to WRT forum.

I read anOrdain but see Armitage Shanks. Ooohh... harsh, but fair I guess. It does have a certain similarity to the colours of sanitary ware. You might like their coloured enamel dials more. This is a company from Glasgow, (where I grew up), and the Glaswegians have a pretty dry sense of humour so I suspect the "Vitreous Enamel" reference is slightly tongue in cheek. https://anordain.com/

I forgot to mention: Medana = Roamer = MST = Meyer & Stüdeli

I wouldn't know an ETA if it bit me, but I trust @Kalanag If you follow the guy's link to his blog you'll see that he's quite prolific with various topics.

This is a culprit with the yoke in ETA keyless. it bends, usually in the event of an impact ( shock) to winding crown. A bit of filing and polishing the very end of the yoke plus some grease would do good, as said its thin so not much material is there to file and polish. Regds

Based on ebay prices, I am guessing the materials in the bench value between $500 and $1000. The watches are another thing. It appears they may be worth something the A-11 is missing a balance assembly but still worth something on ebay. I will be in the hunt to find the balance assy and complete the watch myself.

Thanks @Nucejoe. I will keep my eyes peeled for spares. @grsnovi - about the same amount of time as I’ve been playing around with it too. I have the horia style jewlling tool and bits to fit it. Will be having a practice on a defunct Seiko 5 before taking the plunge but without the jewel I might be best off waiting for a complete mainplate.

This is why get really excited when people suggest they're going to mix-and-match American pocket watch parts and make a good watch and that's not going to happen typically. American pocket watches were made in batches and matching parts from one batch to another can be problematic. If the watch was made over time matching something from her earlier batch to later batch will be very very problematic. But it's hard to tell from your description but you may be dealing with the difference between a single roller and a double roller. This often happens with pocket watches you'll see in the parts book you make a reference to before the serial numbers single after it's double and know they definitely will not interchange at all. I have a link to a YouTube video below. Notice in the video there making things by machinery which should be made to really close tolerances but? Look at some of the women when their hand fitting the components though actually adjusts the components to fit. So even with all this automated machinery they still had the hands fit. There are getting better at it by the 30s much better but still not perfect. Then if you have that time span like you're looking out that's going be a huge difference

Brilliant! New battery arrived. Took my time. Installed as per the directions of the pdf (thank you Watchweasol). Runs like a dream. Cleaned the Crystal. Looks great. Next job. Repair the strap. New pins needed. More posting when that is done. Getting there. Ross

The bottom tool is a set of proportional dividers. See here.

Wow @Kalanagthat is amazing. Mine even has a omega signed crown. BTW, the second link did not work for me...timed out several times. Could be me. Here are some of the other tools. Even includes a cannon pinion breaker! That last tool has me baffled. It is not a watchmaking tool...perhaps for scribe something or another.

Hi oldhippy . In your opinion is a non working fusee a total no no for an amateur even a very good one ? I can be very childlike when I want to be , does that count? Me and my missus recon J. Firderer. Googled it . Yes mate Birmingham company

I think it’s a „Sternkreuz XS Stülpglas“. This may help:

Great find! What's with the letters on the Omega dial where numbers would be?

Google picture search is your friend in such cases

Here is the Omega. Cannot find this exact movement on ranfft. I just think Ranfft only shows the sub-second variation and this one is sweep second. It is either a 302, 310, or 311

There is no part that is interchangeable with a fusee movement. The mainspring are very high the length is important it has to be correct, finding a chain the correct height length and thickness to match the fusee cone will be like looking for a needle in a hay stack

I'm tempted. Sometime soon, when I have a bit of leftover cash (hey, it happens sometimes) I want to pick up an old fusee movement, just to learn from. I want to see what it would be like to repivot them. And I know where to get chains and mainsprings for them. I'm getting better at sorting a balance spring. I could probably get one running just because I'd likely never stop tinkering with it. But I must concede, that approach is not in any way economical. However, a good education seldom comes cheap.

A couple more watches from the "Dresser Drawer" auction I won. These are two "Juvenia Sport" 'bag watches' from (I think) the 1930's. There are some halmark markings which I at first thought might indicate the case was made with silver but I didn't see any silver markings so I guess not. One of the watches looks to have some sort of life form growing, I fear it may petition for self governance if I don't clean it soon. Is there any chance of bringing the leather back to life? I found this on the interwebs, and in their full glory this is what they *should* look like:

If you drag across and highlight a portion of somebody's reply you will then get the option to include that bit in your reply. As above. If you just start typing in the space below the message you'll simply see what you replied. As @oldhippymentions, you'll get everything from the person's answer and you can then cut out whatever you don't want.

I was sent this pic on one of my Facebook pages. A new way has been found to re bush a clock with washers. Obviously to much glue .