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I have both, the Ultrasonic I use for cases & straps & the watch cleaner I went down the cheap route buying of ebay as I'm expanding into watch servicing & felt at the early stage I didn't know what I wanted! however its been on the bench a year & I like it! bit of powder coating, a rewire & some details & it looks pleasing on the eye & presentable. If your used to what you have, repair it.

Just thought I'd share my view on the best watch for a newbie watch enthusiasts to start working on. Instead of going for cheapo pin-lever movements, my recommendation would be to start on a hand-wind Vostok or Raketa for the following reasons. 1. Designed and constructed using traditional watchmaking concepts. Not much different between the Russian movements and Swiss mechanisms from the 50s-60s. 2. While the appearance may be a bit rough compared to swiss machines, they are functionally correct and capable of keeping good time. 3. They are cheap and plentiful on the internet in running condition. It is important for a beginner to start with a running watch as if the result of your efforts result in a non-runner you know that you have missed something. If you start start with a non-running watch you may not be able to find anything wrong but the watch may still not run.. leaving you in limbo. 4. A lot of them have a hairspring with a Brequet overcoil. Not essential but nice and something you have to pay big bucks for in a Swiss movement. 5. A lot of interesting stuff can be had at a low price. The Vostok 2809 is a nicely finished movement and said to be able to keep Chronometer grade timing. It is also said to be based on a Zenith chronometer but I think this is probably wishful thinking..! It has a fine regulator to boot! If you can find one with Boctok and long word in Russian this is the best one as I understand they have a better balance/hairspring.. the long word is precision in Russian. The Poljot 3133 is an affordable mech chronograph (based on the Valjoux 7733 but parts not freely interchangeable). The Poljot 2209 is an interesting hand wind where the wheels have been re-arranged to allow for a thinner movement. The Poljot 2200 is a super thin movement but rare. I have only seen this on the net. 6. No fake stuff. Bad points.. a. Cases are usually base metal.. this aesthetically this fails to please me and what is worse they cannot seal well and allow in water and dust.. these factors make these watches an occasional watch rather than a daily beater. The Vostok Amphibias have poor water sealing too. There are a lot of snap-backs too, once the base metal case gets worn the caseback will not 'snap' into place. b. Poor availability of parts.. for wheels and gears you can resort to an 'organ donor' off the bay but for stuff like mainsprings, balance staffs etc you have to look for the handful of guys on the net who sell them. A bit of effort required and usually the watch will not be worth it. c.Shock-protection, where fitted, is not of good quality.. There is one specie of shock protection which looks like an Inca spring but once you release the 'legs' the whole spring just slides out of its slot. If you try to pry it up like you would an Inca it will just fly off... d.Styling is quirky...the simple dress watches are the best. a lot of weird combinations of colours and case style. Fine if you want something to remind you of Soviet memorabilia. e. There seems be variations in the specifications of items like balance staffs. I have seen watches where there is a foil spacer under the balance cock and others without. I don't know if this was to account for production variances or general practise when that particular watch was put together but its something to be aware of when swapping components around. All in all I have found Russian to be good value for money (best bang for the buck so to speak!) and very user friendly. While Seikos and its ilk are not that difficult to start with, the day/date complication and non-hand-winding (Seikos) do not really give you the insight to watchmaking at its most basic level. I appreciate and admire Seikos for their design and efficiency but their movements do not inspire me. Hope this helps some aspiring watchmaker...! Anil

Good advice! I would also recommend starting out on any watch with an SeaGull ST36 movement (Chinese ETA 6497/98). These are large caliber movements, easier for the beginner to handle. Also, the movements themselves can be had brand new for roughly $40US- A complete watch made from new parts for $65-$75. Also, Parts are readily available. Better yet, buy a second movement just incase!

I'm happy with it! Next step is to send the design to my dial refinisher and have them make the printing plate. And, hopefully, soon to be seen on a Dial very soon! I really appreciate the thoughtful comments from everyone. :woohoo-jumping-smiley-emoticon:

The logo is perfect just go with it. The DJW is not overstated and loud it just looks quality and is memorable.

That looks great Don. Easy on the eye and quite identifiable. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Clive, Great that this fix worked for you.. Generally brute force and watches do not go together.. it usually ends in tears! With this movement, since it has been extensively reworked with a lot of metal removed from the balance cock (what you refer to as armature), it is possible that a hard knock (drop on the floor) may be sufficient to have bent the balance cock but to to put a significant bend in the cock it needs to have moved beyond its current position. example, if you want to bend a paper clip to a certain angle, you need to push it beyond the desired angle so that it springs back where you want it. Like wise, if you want to straighten it, you need to bent it back beyond straight to get it to spring back correctly. In a watch balance, there is simply not enough space for this without either breaking the balance or displacing the shock-protecting jewels. A more common problem with old watches is the oiled looses its properties and hardens/gels.. slowing down the watch. This would be a more likely solution. One hint is how the problem ocurred, .. did it happen gradually (pointing to deterioration of the oil) or did it start to misbehave a a knock/drop (bent cock). Pinion flapping around in the jewel hole is not too good, can you check if the balance has up or down movement? It should have a miniscule amount of up down movement.. Skeletonised automatics are not too common, the automatic weight is too heavy and I would imagine that a drop can cause some distortion of the bridge (part where the rotor is fixed). Anil

Dear Cassandra, The gluing the nut on the case back may not work as well reason is that you can exert more torque when twisting. The pulling force may be more than the glue can take. Imagine double sided tape, if you stick two plastic plates together and try to twist (rotate) them against it other you'll find it quite difficult. But if you pry them apart it will come apart easier. But since this is a quick fix with no cost apart from the glue then I'd say give it a shot! Use something that will allow maximum contact with the caseback.. maybe another caseback but be careful not to get any glue in the seam between your caseback and the case! Anil

I agree too!

If it is a snap on/off back see this youtube vid.