Leaderboard

Work bench nice and cleaned and replaced the top lock, made a mistake of getting the plastic wood. It is same color as the sides but the work top is darker. Applied Mahogany wood stain and sealer, the worktop being a jeweller desk it has sign of burnt on the front part and some surface dent due to that. So the plastic wood used as filler... but wrong color :( well, the top may need to be skimmed... but it is not that critical. I will put a table mat on top for better work surface and a good work light next. So far I can only find the round but not the rectangular work lamp. Affnan

I am coming across more, and more loose hand tubes these days with the various watches I have in for repair, and was wondering what methods you use to secure the hand tube to the hand to prevent it from spinning again? I have tried broaching, pin vice etc, but the success rate is 50/50 right about now.

The first of a few vids planned on the subject.

Hi Nige, The fusees are a different breed from the later going barrel pocket watch movements (which could also include the wristwatch movements as they are generally the same, just smaller). In some ways the fusees are more awkward, in some ways easier and the verge is not that dissimilar to a lever in principle....heck, reading this back it is not helpful to you in the slightest! Have you worked on fusees at all before? If not, I'd pick up a lever & verge movement cheaply on ebay to dismantle & reassemble a few times before trying a nice watch....I ruined a couple of movements before I got the hang of it but better that than wreck a complete watch as buying interchangeable spares is not an option.

There is a good chance that it was made in my home town of Dundee. Timex were based in Dundee from 1946 to 1993 and looking at your watch I would say it would be from around 1950 give or take a few years. PS I'm glad your posts are working now! :)

No problem... my Google searching skills have finally proven useful for something!

Yep..keep it as it is!

A rare watch indeed Roger, and not one I had heard of. Because of its rarity, I would keep it as is. B)

That's a difficult one then. I have not tried this, but my experiment mind is kicking in, perhaps coating the inside of the hour hand tube with an epoxy. The when it is fully hardened to broach it to size. This may possibly work and would be non-destructive. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Micky. If the hand is loose then I mount it in a pin vice and tighten it little by little until the job is done. I have a very high success rate this way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The only reliable results I have had correcting this problem is by inserting the tube into a correct sized collet, then inserting the collet in the lathe and giving the drawbar a snug twist.

new hands...! TBH..nothing makes it back to perfect.. metal, once expanded will always want to stay expanded. Example with sheet metal (panel beaters).. it is only with applied heat and selective cooling (heat transferred from the surface to the head of the hammer/dolly) that dents can be repaired, not exactly applicable for watches. If every watchmaker used proper hand-pullers and correct hand-setters then this problem would not exist! its when they get at an angle that the tube expands beyond limits. Anil

Hi i just thought i'd post back with an update. I finally got a few spare hours to continue trying to repair my omega. I slowly finished reaming the hole out until i could just see the threads. i compared the thread on the omega tap i got from cousins to a new pusher and they seamed the same thread to me (only comparing by sight) so i thought i'd risk it and give it a go. I managed to very slowly clean out the threads using the tap. and have managed to get the new pusher to thread in. Hurray!! (i guess they were the same thread then) Its a tiny bit from threading in all the way so may have to play around with it a bit more before i put the watch back together, but I'm really happy with the progress so far. So thank you to everyone for the advise and support. I'm finishing for tonight so will post back with another update soon. Just out of interest would anyone recomend using some kind of loctite to fix the new pusher tube in or just tighten it to hand tightness? if so what kind would you recomend. Thanks again

I've not worked on one myself, but unless I'm mistaken you need the correct tools for the job. https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/eta-special-tools Have a read of this thread:- http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/997-stud-removal-techniques-for-the-eta-chron-system-eg-2824-2/

Seems to still be running great! I've defiantly beat it up quite a bit and will probably need a service before too long if I keep it up.