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So far from working with my homemade hairspring holder last night, having the collet in the hole and the spring flat on the glass is a major advantage. Having the smooth glass surface give a nicer feel when manipulating the spring. Also, with a glass surface, there isn't any shadow to further confuse you. But I probably need to get my eyes checked. My astigmatism seems to change every few years. And I am working without my glasses when with the microscope, so there isn't any correction at all. I wonder if there are astigmatism correction lenses for microscopes.

You have received great advice. Let me underscore it with my own story. I am the son of a watchmaker and learned the basics from my dad when I was a kid. Once he shuffled off his mortal coil, I inherited his tools. For two years I have immersed myself into watchmaking. Yet! I have a Wittnauer Chronograph that was given to me by my Dad when I was a teen. It is broken and remains broken because I am still not confident to repair this very personal watch. Even after servicing perhaps 30+ watches successfully, I am thinking, maybe next year I will be competent to fix it. The point is...be patient...get some watches...many watches, and develop the skills you need to work on your special watch. Good luck and welcome aboard. This forum has some great watchmakers...learn from them--I have.

I picked this silverware storage cabinet at the flea market for $1. Felt lined. I think it will work. These are not organized, just placed in to see how they fit. Later on, I will add cardboard separators to delineate sizes.

Hamilton was the cream of the crop in the U.S., and the envy of many Swiss makers. You'll want to get some cheaper watches to practice on before getting into this piece.

Hello everyone, I would like to present to you my latest project, a Vulcain Cricket (yes, another Cricket), model S2315A. I always wanted a Cricket, and it looks to me that Vulcain has made a lot of different variations of dials, watches etc. Cannot really find much info on the one I have. Initial condition overall: is running, but definitely needs servicing. It has a lot of DNA allover the place. Also, the watch came with its original bracelet (I wonder how that will turn out). Movement: looks to be a cal.120. Not 100% sure as googling for this caliber brings different results. What do you think? Also had tested it on the timegrapher, results on the picture. Crystal: needs a new one, as the original is cracked and has oxidation on the tension ring. Dial: looks pretty clean. Case: gold plating has some ware. Honestly not sure what to do as I have no setup of my own yet. Is it worth sending for replating? I am a newbie in the trade so any thoughts or suggestions are super welcome! Thank you!

This is for the 551 but very similar to the 471 and many parts carried over from 470 series to 550 series. It shows a similar reverser setup. You may find it helpful for serviving movement as well. When i serviced my 552 I tried to make a tool to turn the centre nut but gave up. I immersed the unit in lighter fuel and give it a good whiz in the US cleaner. To oiI, I managed to prise it open a enough to get a fine oiler in and apply oil to the inner gears. Its run for 4 years and worn daily, so must have worked ok! Omega-551.pdf

One of the ways to do this is to go to a website like the site below. Enter in the grade you get a parts listing and then on the bottom of the page if you enter the part number in it give you the cross reference. For this watch are probably be okay for the cross referenced if you're looking at older pocket watches the early ones you always have be careful when you start mixing and matching parts because just because the database the parts catalog said they change they may not. In the early watch is a lot of stuff was sized to fit so not going to be drop-in but this is new enough that everything should fit. http://www.elginwatchparts.com/ The problem with military wristwatches are they've had a long work and have had a long hard life. Then there vintage now and as you noticed a lot of interesting servicing has occurred or lack of servicing has occurred. Unfortunately this kind of problem is all too common and eBay is both good and bad for solving the problem. On the bench at work I have an Elgin 3/0. It has interesting story what has to be serviced or else he was traded to a customer for something else. So does no option of saying it can't be repaired it has to be repaired. Don't remember all the issues but the biggest issue was all the plates screws restrict. That bat movement off of eBay and the expensive watches don't necessarily look like there any better condition than the cheap watches. So promising watch arrives and it was probably dropped on the crown from outer space and all of the keyless parts were destroyed in some way it basically became a part watch the second replacement came last week and the good news for watches that are not running is if you're lucky the lubrication disintegrated in the watch is not worn out. Other than a broken plate screw it's looking quite promising. The problem with eBay as you can't tell from the description the seller gives as to what the condition is or is not. Despite the fact these people are selling watches all day long they will usually claim they have no knowledge of what a watch is and they can't properly describe its condition because of day did you probably wouldn't I the watch the nice thing though about eBay is you can set up a search save it and just keep an eye open sooner or later stuff will show up. But you have a popular watch that means it as an unpopular price. You may conceivably have to buy bits and pieces to put something together.

I suggest that you get an old hairspring, then try out adjusting it on various different surfaces - rubber, plastic, glass, card etc and find what works for you. I find glass too hard, and prefer something with a little 'give', like card or vinyl. Just because Bergeon make a tool, doesn't mean it's the right, or best, way to do it.

I'm certain that the brass ring with the cutouts in it, that fits the inside periphery of the case, comes out, and then your movement will come out (once you release the stem, should be the little button sticking up near it on the movement). It may take some convincing to come out, but it should come out. The dial screws should be on the side of the movement, so until you get it out you won't have access to them.

With all of those problems, I think that it should be used as a donor movement.

Did you know you've never seen a message that I've hand typed. Every single thing here is with dictation software. The problem with dictation software is well sometimes I think it hates me. It doesn't always do the right word is not misspelled I can't find it with a spelling checker. Friends that I email comment a fine if they read it out loud to the word is not overwhelmed it should be over wound notice how dictation did that is two words anyway. So it's a dictation mistake the wrong word. That doesn't overwhelm me that just leads to anger and frustration but thank you for pointing it out. It's a very common problem is that people will say things about watches with no real idea of the problem. It's also a common problem that people get into watches unskilled people oftentimes children but sometimes the children are much much older and age like adult children and play with the watches. Then things happen bad things happen. This watch still looks complete it's probably the balance staff. But if it has really dirty oil bad oil it may not be running at all. Then if you do wind it really really you can break something. Then I suppose you would be overwhelmed at what the problem is. It's still a nice watch I have one on the bench yesterday I took it apart for cleaning up put it back together tomorrow. Then at least most of the parts are available. But that doesn't Spain somebody should start on that is their first watch never do family heirlooms is your first watch. So providing my dictation software did write that might be readable by the way that was my second attempt I usually have to do everything at least twice sometimes three times the hopefully get everything worded correctly.

Update. The markers are trivial to remove. Unfortunately, the distance between the holes is slightly different, and there is a notch in the marker on the donor dial--used to put lume. So...I am now attempting to make replacement markers. I won't put a post on them because that seems a bit hard. Will glue them on. Stay tuned! Update OK, so here is my first marker. Not perfect, but to the naked eye, I think it will work. I thing good enough

Watch Repair Channel on Youtube! Mark Lovick is our host here, and also has an online course you can take a look at. I took the first three levels and got a lot out of it.

Hiya watchie,I was meaning I wouldn't pay 72 for the Bergeon version of that tool as the cheap one seems almost identical. Maybe not in quality but in practicality as regards to dimensions etc. If you can't get along with using the cheap version it's likely that the same will be of the Bergeon version.

If you want to save time and wish to get some solid advice I recommend watchfix.com and/or learnwatchmaking.com

Definitely Cal.120.....and the later version with incabloc balance bridge. A nice watch. As to whether it's worth the cost of replating, the value is about 400-500 GBP serviced if sold in the UK 'as is' but could rise to 700-900 GBP depending on how the restoration of the case turns out. I've owned and worked on a few crickets and they are lovely little watches. Recently re-released in a much larger contemporary sized case, they look ungainly to me but of course it's each to his own.

"overwhelmed" - it happens to us all @JohnR725

I did think about these silverware boxes, but the ones I saw were a lot more expensive. They were very nice though. I made my own trays for acrylic, but planning to do them for glass too. This is a "factory made" crystal box, probably it is not visible on the pics but it gets deeper and deeper as the diameter of the glass is increasing.

In addition, there is a piece of metal that runs vertically along the edge of the jar. It too creates turbulence.

Search this topic Dial refinishers: Here for you is a DIRECT comparison

Valuable info, thanks! I wear glasses myself, but not while looking into the stereo microscope. I know very little about optics but the lenses on my microscope can be rotated which affects the focus for me. I have no idea if that is to compensate for astigmatism but I thought I'd mention it.

Oooooh lead bars ! Don't know about your scrap prices over there but here they might even cover the cost of making the base. Concrete a really cheap weighted base material. Sounds like my sort of project, love doing these jobs for mates over a few cuppas, burgers and good music blasting out.

Eyup watchie. I bought this same one just a week ago. Not Bergeon ,just a cheap ebay one for a fiver. The hole is way too large for a stud. I placed the balance wheel into the hole, and manipulated the hairspring while on balance. This just seemed the only way. Have yet to read all of this thread yet to discover otherwise. Also have my fried book on bench practices with me in Rome. Read two and a half hours on HS manipulation on the plane. A few ideas in that book and a diy tool made from a broach and a sub dial. Will post up some pickies later when I've read through the rest and had breakie . Visiting the Colusseum today two mins walk from our hotel. My brief trial was placing the balance in the hole. Just the HS and the colet will give more freedom, not tried that as yet but I'm thinking it will jump out of the hole with it being too light and shallow in the hole. I will find out next week, but I wouldn't pay 72 quid for them. It looks almost identical to the one I bought. Mine I think is acylic which I'm thinking will scratch up eventually,the Bergeon may be made of sapphire .

How about a cast weight plate Gert. A 5 or 10 kilo, second hand plates are usally around a quid per kilo. Then adhere a timber , ply, mdf top so you can fix the apperatus on to that. Expanding foam sticks like shite to a blanket but cramp or weight the pieces together .Or better still build a sandwich base and put the plate inside it, or build a timber box, concrete fill it and pop a lid on it. Or even easier, if you don't mind the box being 5 inch thick then a 4 inch breeze block or two dending on your base dimensions sandwiched between half inch ply. A standard medium density solid lightweight block weighs 15 kilos. A 7 newton block weighs around 20 kilos.

You don't need an auto oiler. Insert cap jewel and spring, then turn bridge/mainplate around and put oil in the jewel oil well as if you were oiling a normal jewel. Then poke the oil through the jewel hole so that it kind of gets sucked through the hole an on the cap jewel. You need something very thin. I sanded down a normal oiler and made it a thin needle. When there's enough oil on the cap jewel, clean oil well with rodico. Don't press rodico through jewel hole or you'll mess up your new cap jewel lubrication.

look carefully on the backside and see if the minute we'll post it looks like it will push out. A lot of times the posts were pressed in so they can press back out. I have a Elgin wristwatch which is really a tiny pocket watch on the bench at work and the first movement had stripped screws. The replacement movement off eBay that looked promising had been dropped on its crown from Mount Everest or some other elevation. It'd banned all the parts quite a ways in and made the watch unsuitable. the third watch from eBay look sexy quite promising and if I'm lucky I get it back together this week. It is really amazing some of the bad things that happened the watches in the outside world.

While busy losing auctions for donor Elgin 539 movements (thanks for the tips LittleWatchShop), I believe I've found the root cause of the mangled minute wheel. While re-assembling the motion works, I noticed that the minute wheel pinion scrapes against a part of the setting lever resulting in significant friction. Removing the setting lever and minute wheel revealed that the minute wheel post isn't straight! It leans to one side, forcing the minute wheel to butt up against the setting lever. My guess is that the increased friction is enough to chew up the teeth of every gear in the motion and keyless works when winding the watch.

Perhaps you're on to something! It would be nice to know. Perhaps there's more to find out by Googling it intensely. Yes, that's my impression of how most people do it, so thanks for confirming. I try to think of delicate work as a kind of meditation. I always try to be aware of and guard my breathing and muscle tension (there's always more to do). If you stop breathing and get tense enough it can really turn into a mess, both the work and the joy of doing it.

I'm not sure that was "short work". It was speeded up video and some of it might not have been shown. That much manipulation takes time. I find that after a while of such concentration, I need to take a break to get relaxed again. If you just plough on, it's so easy to trash the spring..

You’re gonna laugh at me but I’ve been using a staking block. I’ve been meaning to get a fancy hairspring holder but it slips my mind when I place orders. I’d imagine the collet of the HS goes over the hole? It’s for that reason I’ve cheated with a staking block because it’s full of holes

If I needed this spring, I would make it. Fortunately, I have a pretty good supply of spring steel of various diameters. Also have a couple of different wire-bending pliers.

one of things we all have to member in watch repair is this is watch repair? What do I mean by that well somebody ask a question and it leads to jump on personal experience answers but many times are answers could be wrong and someone else could be right or a combination of both or even neither. If for some reason the cannon pinion is super tight or possibly rust the which would make it super tight or some other unknown factor. this is why it's really important on incoming watches to do proper evaluations. Visually look at everything checked the winding check the setting. Often times these steps can get skipped and later on your wondering why there's a problem

Good advice from @nickelsilver - I have a Hamilton 992 Railway watch, nothing complicated about it, but it's not worth the risk of damaging yours before you become more skilled I started on pocket watches, and I always advise beginners to do the same. It's easier to learn the necessary skills on the larger parts before moving on to wrist watches. If you want them to run well, buy watches with at least 15 jewels. I have a collection of 16s Waltham's which I learned on. Nice quality and not too hard to find parts. And they look wonderful

Welcome. I have a Cricket story... My father was a watchmaker and I inherited all of his tools, watch bench, and boxes of old watches. This stuff lay dormant for many years until about two years ago, I decided to return to watchmaking (he taught me as a young boy). Digging through the box of watches one day, I discovered a Cricket. It had no crystal and the dial was in terrible shape, but it had the hands and a good balance...no rust. So, it was one of my earliest projects. I did have the dial refinished--I am wearing it now!! Since then I have acquired and restored several Crickets. I love them...but I can only wear one at a time, so I wear my first one. I think there is another Cricket enthusiast on this forum...maybe two. You have come to the right place...we can help you in your journey. Have fun!!!

Hi, the movement appears to be running great but the dial needs help and also need a crystal. This watch is really neat, for those that aren't aware of it the watch was very popular with military pilot's in the Vietnam war. The numbers on the dial change from the normal 12 hour format to military 24 hour format after 1 pm. The watch has been stored for a while sans crystal and it appears either mold or something else is on the dial and need advice on how to remove it and also help with the crystal. I haven't installed a crystal on any watch yet but feel confident I could be capable, but I do know when to stop and hand it off to the pros. The inside bezel measures approx 33mm, I say approx. because the digital caliper changes with the amount of pressure applied. The case measures 35mm, Anyway, just want to clean the dial and get a crystal and I would appreciate any help. Thank You!

Welcome! I'm jealous that you are able to make a living from playing with watches :-)