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Being another 64+ here's how I position screws easily before tightening. I have a set of tweezers with a bend at the tip that allows me to hold screws vertically for positioning before tightening. My left arm/hand rests on the bench and this allows absolute stability when positioning the screws. If it is a deep hole, I just drop the screw in, and if it is shallow, I continue to hold it with the tweezers while screwing it in a couple of threads.

Welcome Rich enjoy the forum

I have one (Harper) and runs beautifully. I need to service it but it is down on the list. I will post some photos later.

Croeso Rich. NAD

Douglas, I'm glad you posted this thread. I've never had the steadiest of hands and this has been a problem with learning watchmaking. My dominant right hand in particular has a bit of a tremor. As with others, I use my non-dominant hand to steady my dominant hand. I enjoy coffee, but that's obviously not helpful in this situation. I've also noticed that my hands are steadier after I've had a drink or two, but I wouldn't drink just for that. I try to be creative when dealing with really small parts. Rodico on the end of a piece of pegwood is one of the best tools you'll ever make. When I was having trouble oiling and inserting a parashock cap jewel into a movement I came up with this Rodico Hershey's Kiss Not only did it create a stable platform and free up my left hand when placing the oil, it also made installing it into the movement much easier. I just turned it over, placed it above the jewel hole and gently knocked it off with my tweezers. To me, Rodico is a miracle product. So many uses. Most people say such and such is "the best thing since sliced bread." I say it's the best thing since Rodico. Of course almost no one knows what I'm talking about when I say that. :D Another thing that helps me is to take a couple of deep breaths and let my body completely relax before starting. It can be very stressful to try to manipulate tiny, tiny parts that are easily lost or damaged. I've seen more than one comparison of watchmaking to bomb disposal work. Though admittedly the consequences of a mistake are far more serious for an EOD specialist than for a hobby watch repairer. Don

If you use the correct movement holder, you can keep pressure on the hammers while pressing on the hands and ensure absolute zero is obtained. Without doing this the hammers are only held by spring pressure and the hearts may move slightly when positioning the hands. Using the correct holder also ensures that you don't dislodge the lower jewels when firmly pressing on the chronograph hands.

Hi Ray, you are correct in that the problem is with the setting lever...it hasn't lost its spring but merely jumped out of its groove. The 2836 family of movements is notorious for this, that's why the push-piece for the stem release sit in a screwdriver shaped slot. You use a screwdriver which fits this slot so that the piece cannot be pushed to far in. The traditional method to fix this problem is by removing the hands, dial, day-wheel, date-wheel and finally the set lever bridge. The unconventional way is to remove the autowind bridge, followed by the barrel bridge. This gives access to the clutch wheel. Using a fine needle tool, it is possible to maneuver the set-lever back into place. One tip to avoid such problems in the first is to get the stem in the hand-set position before removing it. Enjoy fixing your watches! Anil

Glad you got it worked out and that the fix was an easy one. Nice watch by the way. There is an extra emotional attachment to a watch that belonged to a family member that does increase my tension level however those are the ones I enjoy working on the most. Charles

Thank you for all your replies. Charles had it on the money! I had previously raised the hairspring stud upwards a little, and when I returned it to flush with the top of the balance cock the problem was sorted. It is now keeping good time for a movement made about 1940. Like a ladies watch, the AS984 is a small one so another step in the learning process. Clearly, any timekeeping difficulty has to highlight the balance to be investigated first. I'm looking forward to seeing my sister-in-law's face when she sees her late father's watch running. By the way, isn't working on someone else's watch nerve-wracking compared to your first throw-away one! I am trying to attach a couple of pics of the watch, wish me luck! Frank.

On this one - my Illinois "Bunn Special" - I used a 3x converter, locked the ISO to 100 and shot with a cable release at 1/20th of a second. Getting better...