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This vid shows making a balance using incredible high end machine skills. Only years of practice can achieve this level of skill. I also wish I knew what the liquid is he uses to attach the piece to a wax chuck & how he centred the piece. I have tried shellac but could not get the piece centred.

Fantastic! "And you would have gotten away with it much easier if it hadn't been for that pesky full plate" Lovely story & the watch is priceless!

Well...not so much a repair as made a spare part...and not so much a spare part as a part to replace one I lost due to my hamfisted buffoonery during a restoration! During reassemby, the tiny ratchet click spring living under the barrel ratchet click flew off & is now probably orbiting one of Saturn's moons. I'll certainly never see it again and it was so small, I didn't even bother to look for it. So what to do? It struck me that the spring was made of click wire not unlike that of my guitar strings so I snipped a bit of excess off above the tuning peg (for those interested it was the top E string, Adagio light-gauge, I tried the B string first but it was too thick). Anyway, I was able to fashion it into shape & it works. I doubt if George Daniels would have approved but the watch is an antique Swiss made pocket watch so buying spares was not an option. So, when you change your guitar strings keep them, you never know when they'll come in useful!

That's a nice movement and a good bit of improvisation Dave, Will our resident guitarist will be proud of you. :)

Nice solution to your missing click spring, I will bear that in mind next time I change my strings. Now that you have sorted out a replacement you will of course find the original, and it will probably be in plain view as well.

Soaking it overnight in Naphtha and 4 cycles through the ultrasonic did the trick. There was still some caked on oil that I got off easily with some pegwood. I bid on a Zenith cleaner on eBay yesterday since the seller was pretty close and shipping was reasonable. I assumed it would go for at least $75 based on previous sold listings but I ended up winning it for $45 + $18 shipping so cleaning should be easier in the future.

It's probably a PC21J. A very common quartz movement. http://www.timemodule.com/sii/index.php?route=product/category&path=0_65

Trust there is no shellac in the movement

Nice introduction Profundus. I'm sure Will, who is our resident time piece historian (my words) will be eager to hear about your pocket watch exploits. I just like anything that ticks other than bombs, and just love taking them apart..............and putting them together again. :)

Mlfloyd1, there is one important thing to remember "The man that never made a mistake, never made anything"! ;) Don't be too disheartened, horology can be a very frustrating game at times, especially when you are learning. Walk away when things are giving a lot of trouble, have a break and regroup before continuing. Controlling your mind is every bit as important as controlling your hands. Percivere and eventually it will all come together, both the understanding and the dexterity required for the work. :)

i may be missing something but fogging on the inside of the case would indicate that the watch is not sealed? - like i said, sorry if ive completely missed the original question.