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Is there a dial washer fitted ? Could it be the hour pinion wheel is rising up losing contact and falling forwards or backwards for that matter

I have a sad, expensive, miserable and embarrassing story to tell! As you can understand after reading I have been reluctant to share this horror story but I believe It's time to confess... A little time has passed and now it's just a 'lol'! In 2004 I bought a fine looking Orient chronograph watch in Prague, an "Orient Chronograph Alarm PILOT watch Sapphire Crystal 44 mm" pretty cheap I think and I loved the look of it and still does. It has a sapphire glass and is equipped with stop watch, alarm, interval time, calculator bezel and so on. Just digged it. That was when I knew even less of watches than I do now. A couple of years ago it needed a new battery so I went to my local watch-repair shop to get it fixed saying that I wanted it leak-tested as well. When I came for it he told me it was ruined and couldn't be repaired! I later found out that the stem could be drawn out with ease and didn't engage at all. Put it in a drawer and forgot all about it until I caught interest in watch repair. After studying Marks video I thought it was a piece of cake to simply replace the movement and I still liked the watch you know. Got a similar movement from ebay (it's a Seiko 7T62-movement) at a non-cheap price (won't tell you as it will increase my embarrassment...) The new movement came with a new stem and there seemed to be a temporary stem inserted. I opened the watch and got the movement out, removed all the hands and the dial. Then managed to mount the dial and hands on the new movement. So far so good. Then it simply was a matter of casing the new movement as I intended to use the old stem and crown. I thought. The stem can only be removed when it's pulled out to the second (not in the fully engaged nor the first or third position) and that's were when the son of a b**** fake stem with plastic inlay broke!!! Then used 3-4 hours trying to get that little plastic piece out. Couldn't do it. Broke the old stem trying. Well, found the manual on the internet and found out that the movement could be "stripped" apart so I possibly could reach the small plastic-thing. As I am of a lazy nature I thought out of the box! Maybe it was just a matter of the stem not engaging, so I did it all over on the old movement. Fixed the stem (a new one came with the new movement, remember). It seemed to work. Cased it and found out that it didn't work: The stopwatch and re-setting didn't work at all though the interval function did seem to work. Read the manual and noticed malfunction-corrections. Maybe the circuit-block was faulty. Again being lazy and looking for loop-holes I replaced the circuit-block with the one from the now ruined new movement. Wasn't that diffucult, used surgical gloves and wood-tip tweezers to minimize static electricity. Needles to say I cleaned the case and bracelet, cleaned the two push buttons, fitted the new stem and attached the crown. Didn't disassemble the calculator rotating bezel, just dried it thoroughly with a hairdryer. Inserted a new battery and miraculously it now works including all complications: Stopwatch, interval, alarm. The watch after my "treatment": Lessons learned: The list is almost endless but I should have removed the fake stem with caution. I practised removal and re-fitting of small hands I practised changing a watch battery I practised changing a quartz-watch circuit block. That said I do NOT recommend others to practise the same way. If you have a little fun reading this you are welcome. Pauli

I'm working in replacing a spring in the balance incablock, the spring that holds in place the jewel on the balance. The last time I tried the spring literally flew away. Is there a technique or a protector to avoid small parts fly away forever?

In the meantime here is a link to a 4205 restoration thread on the Seiko and Citizen Watch Forum (SCWF that was carried out by "Transporter". It's probably as good as you'll get so it will be of assistance. "Transporter" is also a member on this site so I am sure he won't mind. http://www.thewatchsite.com/20-mod-restoration-reviews-how-i-modded-restored-my-watch/151810-ladies-4205-0140-restoration-project.html Sorry, posted link to the 2nd page at first.

On some dials buds can cause damage (see previous post by wls1971). A very soft artists brush is the best way to apply a little wiping action. This would be the only addition to my suggestion to rinse in very dilute calcium remover. But try first with distilled water and a soft brush: Windsor and Newton water colour brush size 4 or 5 http://www.winsornewton.com/row/shop/brushes/water-colour/professional-water-colour-squirrel-brushes/pure-squirel-pointed-wash-brush-pure-squirrel-pointed-wash-brushes-size-0-brush-5250300 or equivalent.

If Rodico doesn't work, I have had success using a spectacles impregnated wet wipe, cutting a strip, and making a fine tipped end using peg wood.

The first thing I would do is dab the area with some Rodico. Don't press it hard, you dont want to lift the paint!.. just touch a bit again and again. You'll want to use fresh rodico. If its not so noticeable as it stands now you may see an improvement. Anil

I've used a bit of washing up liquid and luke warm water on quite a few grubby dials. As long as I'm gentle enough to not rub off any of the printing and dry it off properly afterwards with some kitchen towel, it can be quite effective. However I've never done it on anything I wasn't prepared to restore afterwards if the dial wasn't improved enough, so the risk is yours.

I would leave it if I where you live with It. The white printing on Speedmaster dials is very delicate, I know from experience whilst cleaning a dial on a 1960's Speedy pro I used a cotton bud and distilled water and gentley swabbed the effected area and managed to wipe away about 5 seconds on the outer edge, I wouldn't even attempt to touch one now. I did once send a Speedmaster back to Omega for a service and it came back worse than yours the matt black paint on them shows marks up quite badly, I don't think they have any kind of laquer coating over the paint, I sent it back and they replaced the dial. I have had success with a Breitling Navitimer dial that had gone a faded grey colour due to the laquer on the dial drying out. I put a very thin coating of clock oil on the surface and it restored it back to black but they do seem to have a far more robust printed surface.

Thank you very much for the tutorial, I am learning quite a bit from everyone. I wish you all the very best. and special thanks to Mark for all the hard work and effort on your videos and tutorials. Thank you Omar, raleigh USA

Yep...those folks recommending using soft or distilled water are right. Less likelihood of calcium or salt in the water causing residue. You can buy distilled water from most supermarkets (used in clothes irons as mentioned above). I'd still investigate the CRC co-contact cleaner. It really is magic stuff BUT do try it on an old watch face first.

I've tried the hairdryer method but still the same. A suggestion from a friend is to put the uncased watch in a plastic bag with tiny holes and buried it in rice. But when casing up the watch will still expose it to the damp atmosphere. So I came up with an idea by using a moisture absorbing paper, those found in Seiko capacitor packages. Sticking it inside the caseback is able to absorb the moisture after cased up. Similar to Stroppy's idea. No condensation inside the watch after blowing it with cold air. But as you can see this method is only applicable for stainless steel caseback. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Priceless! All leather watch face, ultra thin movement ... 72 bpm. All waterproof with auto adjusting time. Anti-magnetic, shockproof and self-healing watch face. What could be better!? :thumbsu:

Hi Hiren, I'm in working on lesson 8 and 9 of year 1 now, and plan to do exams in May. The course is great, I'm loving it. The revamped year one material is infinitely better than the old version (which I did for a while, 15 years ago). So far, my marks (from the tutor) have been very good, but I won't be able to do anywhere as good on the exam, without references. The member's section on the BHI has been down for months unfortunately (groan), otherwise you could access the student board there. Cheers! Rob

An Omega Speedmaster on eBay: 3000$ A Calatrava with engraved on the back "with love from (put the name of your favourite actress)": 50000$ The wrist watch that your daughter draw on your wrist, getting the number of the hands right, but missing 1 hour marker, and still looking at you with the most beautiful smile in the world while you say "it's perfect!": PRICELESS!!! This is btw the sign that she understood what your passion is, and wants to be a part of it! Congrats!

Arrived this morning - very comfy and great to wear. Wrist shot: