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I doubt I could phrase my own sentiment better than Watchweasol. If this were a watch you wanted to sell, certainly all this work would be impractical. But if this is simply something you wish to do, work that you wish to learn from, and a watch of your own that you desire to have running, then time and money don't have the same meaning here. Some little mechanical items in our lives gain a sentimental meaning that transcends money, so if this an inherited watch, I'd say keep pursuing it. Even if it is just one you like, only you can decide. I have an old Waltham which I am working on, which I picked up at a flea market. The case was creased as though it'd been closed in a door. No bezel or crystal. No bow. Started off with no crown, but I've fixed that. Started off with not running, but I've cleaning the gunk out and straightened the hairspring, and I'm getting a good beat from her in all positions now. I think I'm going to like owning it when I'm done, but I couldn't afford it if I had to charge myself for my work. Time will tell. You needn't be in a rush with it. Tackle each small issue one at a time.

You will need jars with screw on tops as lighter fluid evaporates very quick. You can keep the parts in the fluid for as long as you like and it doesn't dissolve shellac. I would have a jar for the balance complete, pallets and escape wheel. just be careful with the other train wheels pivots and teeth. The way I cleaned the balance was after cleaning put the part on some tissue paper and use your blower as I said it evaporates very quick so it doesn't take much drying.

I've worked on a Ebel ladies quartz with a really user unfriendly design. It's a front loader with a monocoque case. To change the battery, everything has to come out to get to the battery. A real pain to work on.

More pocket watch fun on its way. A key wound Swiss La Pive pocket watch. It needs at the very least, hands, crystal and a clean and service, but the 0.99p price reflects this.

I just hold the hair dryer about half a meter away from the hairspring.

This is iteration number six or seven...it is hard to keep count. Methodology for this turn was aided by a number of phone calls with a forum member...coaching me... I made a carbide file to do the finish work on the roller side. It polishes extremely well. Full disclosure...I started with a large pocket watch staff because I have had some issues with my other starting material. However, I made every cut except for the hub. I am posting this now while I am happy before disaster strikes. Today, I will install the balance, check the fitting in the watch...then install the rest. No matter what happens, I can say for sure that my skills (minimal as they are) are improving. I think the pivot on the left is a little short, but hoping it will work fine.

I blow dry with hot air by a hair dryer, specially when drying hairsprings, the reason is that, temperature drops as the fluid evaporates thence air moisture condences on parts. Many grades of petrolium ether are produced, none is specifically for cleaning watch parts including naphta or Isopropanol.

Something a little bit different, and a little contentious today. Perhaps the ultimate quartz crisis watch. A National Semiconductor LCD watch. This is from the brief era when these watches were relatively novel, and thus relatively expensive. The construction of this involves lots of gold plating and not many features. A few short years later they were dirt cheap, so much so that they were giving them away free when you filled your car with fuel. These days fuel is so expensive it wont be long before they give you a free Rolex if you can afford to fill your tank.

Aye you right I blew up the picture and there it is. I have attached a coulpe od documents that might come in handy if you have never worked on one before cheers 577514301_03.CasingGuide.pdf 1034_Seiko5606A (2).pdf

Noooo, the back doesn’t come off. It says so right on the back I also have an LM inbound and I’ve also been itching to see how the crystal comes off (I’ve admittedly never worked on one)

Roughly measure the diameter of the dial and estimate if it is bigger than the expected opening in the back. If so it‘s a frontloader for sure.

If anyone is taking bets, I'm going with "front loader". I've worked on a couple unmarked Wylers and both were front loaders.

Hello Daniel and welcome to the WRT forum.

Congrat Littlewatchshop. Your steady improvement eversince you started, is examplary.

I hope we all speak about lighter fluids for cigarette lighters not for charcoal! Zippo lighter fluid (as an example) is made from light naphta (see SDS section 3).

I've seen a hair dryer mentioned a few times. Out of curiosity, what do you secure your parts in while drying them? Do you blow dry the whole cleaning basket?

You are correct. Would still like to replace the rheostat

As this is a project undertaken by you to do in your own time with no time scales it is entirely under your control. Anyone saying its a waste of time is wrong, you have so far accomplished a lot and the fact that it runs at all is some achievement, I have been sat on a fusee pocket watch for three years looking for bits. As these were virtually hand made its difficult but I am not giving up. Stick to your Guns If you are enjoying the experience carry on and let nobody discourage you I wish you all the best and success.

Hi 12. This topic has been discussed many times over here so some searching for previous info and people's experiences will give you a good insight of how to use lighter fluid. But in the meantime here is some to get you moving. There are obviously better specific proprietary fluids for cleaning but as a starter the light fluid is ok and was also my starting point with cleaning. So just to give you a little background on the substance you are using. Lighter fluid is a type of naptha which is petroleum ether. There various grades of naptha that all have different uses. The gradings are established according to their molecular structure, with two basic categories which are made up of a light and a heavy naptha. Light naptha is made up of a low carbon to hydrogen structure, heavy naptha has a high carbon molecule structure. In reference to cleaning, light naptha evaporates more quickly than a heavy naptha. You can do your own test here with a couple of drops on a mirror, this will also show you any residue left behind as an indication as to its purity. Lighter fluid often contains vm and p naptha with is varnish makers and painter's naptha. This has a higher count carbon atom structure so is a heavy naptha and does not evaporate as quickly as a light naptha. The time length of soak depends on how dirty the parts are. 10 mins with agitation and brushing can be enough or an overnight soak maybe required if heavy contamination is present. Watchpaper and a blower is fine for drying, just be mindful that tiny springs can fly, so consider some method of containment here. Enjoy your first experience of servicing

But the battery must be changed

I just had to quote these words of wisdom as well.

Place 10 or so Timex electrics on a flat table top and you will have the sound of a stampede. This movements are just loud.... "find a donor"? If you do find one and it is used how do you know it is any better? Even if you find an NOS it has been in storage for decades and will require a service and than installation. Sorry but with vintage Timex this option has limitations.

Heh, till you work on Seiko 6309's where you're considered a master of the art if you get 230deg amplitude. It really depends on the piece and how it was designed

always nice with questions like this if you would give us pictures so we can see what you're seeing.

Thanks to the stocking distributor model, we have NOS items appearing on eBay all the time. If the entire world shifts to the just-in-time model or the indent-order model, there wouldn't be any hidden stashes waiting to be discovered.

Eyup. Here are 5 Timex watches that cost 23 quid in total so a little over the original 404 price budget. 3 waterproofs with snap on backs so thats non believable for starters. And if Andy's American strap a Timex to an outboard engine propeller, submerge in a large tank full of water and let rip advert is anything to go by then i dont think so lol. An unusual pink/orange dial hard edge cushion case and an m22 W.D.P Cinderella from the late 50s early 60s which my missus really loves and is going to restore herself.

I have adjusted the spring as instructed and the jerkyness disappeared. Thank you!

This typically occurs when the dampening spring for the seconds pinion is not placed correctly (on the wrong side of the pinion) and has no tension. The red arrow in this pic points to the spring:

Another suggestion from a complete amateur that has saved me a couple of times already: I was watching one of the streams from Chronoglide Watchmaking and Kalle mentioned that some less experienced watchmakers will slide the movement into a large size ziploc bag, big enough to reach in and work with tweezers & pegwood when removing and reinstalling challenging springs. When they jump away into the clear bag, it is a lot less stressful to me than when they jump across the desk. It helped me to focus on the tweezer technique without the stress & shaking hands that comes with the worry I'm about to lose a part. I suspect the more experienced people here are rolling their eyes at this technique, but it's helped me and I never would have thought of it, were it not mentioned on a Chronoglide video stream.

I consider myself ISO9001 compliant as I continually improve! (at least I think I do)

I have added the ability to set the Radius of the stem cutout as a parameter in the spreadsheet. Also reduced the height of the overall holder. MovementHolder.FCStd

Looks like a snap on back. and the crystal is acrylic. If the scratches anre not too deep you can use polywatch or even toothpaste and Autosovol chrome polish to remove them. To remove the crystal you will need a crystal lift tool like the one attached. cheers