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And finally, the third and last part of this series of videos... Pointing out how I repair the movement replacing the date driving wheel and how I repair the hour wheel, instead of replacing it. Have fun!

I somehow can't imagine a smart watch being repaired in the sense that we use the word - and repair is really the purpose of this forum. From what I've seen of them, they won't be repaired as we know it - they'll probably be thrown away or the complete insides (a mini-computer) will simply be replaced. Can you repair an iPad or similar tablet? Can you repair a smart phone? If the answer is "no" to both these questions, then I doubt that you'll be able to repair a smart watch! Take a look at this: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Watch+X-ray+Teardown/41323 I'm sure there will ultimately be forums for this kind of thing, but I don't think Mark set up this forum with it in mind.

This is definitely the watch of the day plus I caught the Timex bug at the same time, lol. What started the bug you may or may not ask? One watch that was in the bottom of a box. It looked like crap, didn't tick even when shaken but it had some kind of charm to it so I went for the full service. Although I didn't take pics because I was cursing up a storm during the service process, I can tell you that it worked out VERY well in the end by completing the "full movement dip" method to clean it, going through a solid rinse, blow drying it then oiling correctly by following the Timex repair procedure. So, without further ado, I present to you a fully working 1980 gold plated (0.00000001 microns too, lol) Timex manual wind watch with date. (Great Britain version) It must have cost a dollar or three back in the day but boy am I proud of this one, even if it isn't worth a penny now! :thumbsu: I have about 40 more Time watches on order and am looking for more victims, I mean patients:D This is so much fun, I just don't understand why this is a dying breed!!!

From time to time, I'm unhappy with the watch luminous on a watch I've bought. I normally like to keep things as original as possible and just leave them alone, but sometimes it doesn't do it the watch any favours. Sometimes the hands have been redone in bright green, maybe the hand luminous is falling off due to careless watch repairer, or perhaps the hands have over aged and become black and too dirty to read. So that's where I step in and do my best to getting it looking proper. First of all, this isn't a tutorial, do this at home at your own risk! I just thought it might be interesting to you guys to see some of my results. I shall post some small tips below though:- 1. Mixture is key, too much thinner makes the paint runny, and it won't go where you want it too, too much binder will make it shiny and unnatural looking. (unless it's a modern watch), this is probably the hardest part to get right. 2. Leave hands to dry over 24 hours. While it's tempting to put on an hour after, the chemicals will damage certain dials, just from the vapor. 3. Too much luminous paint can make hands curl when they dry, if hands are very thin. 4. When putting hands back on, I prefer to set minute and hour hand. 5. Sometimes just accept you can't get it perfect. Even original hands sometimes age slightly differently from the dial, perhaps depending on it's thickness or environmental factors. Can't help with pigment advice, I bought a vintage source of waterproof pigments, that were designed to be mixed with eggwhite from an independent person, and it's no longer stocked. All pigments are mixed manually. Tools: 1. Hand removers, I mainly use levers, sometimes very rarely I will use the spring type hand remover though. 2. Dial guard, used with hand remover (I just made a homemade one). 3. Plastic tweezers. hands are very delicate and thinly plated. 4. Hand press 5. Oiler stick for applying paint. (Have tried a thin brush before like they originally did in the old days, but did not get the results I wanted.) Now that's all said, I have to say my jobs are hit and miss, sometimes I'm quite happy, sometimes I think I should of done better, but it's just how it goes. Feel free to comment on what you think is bad and what you think is good. Also I've only recently decided to share my work, so my best jobs are long gone and never photographed, but I shall try and keep this going as it's something I often do myself when trying to get a watch to be more sellable.

Fantastic work. I am not envy .Have a 7T34 that i should dig into someday next week . And a Y187 that has a problem with a contact . But all the plastic. Ujk:)

Side note noted, me too! Analog rules!

Hang on there are seven bottles in the snow but only five bottle openers, that can't be right :cool: Cheers, Vic

Quartz is what killed this industry...I'm just glad it is still hanging in there and that there are still many people that appreciate the engineering and design that goes into a mechanical watch. I was shocked to see Swatch develop the sistem 51, even though it is garbage IMO;) As WillFly stated, the watch industry is not going to die. (as a side note, nothing beats vinyl, lol)

If I remember correctly it is a regular screw. They are usually hard because of the plastic wheel they are into....but proceed with care!

How about this one Vic? or maybe this one!!! :D

Yes, I know a number of people - and certainly not all youngsters either - who just use their mobile phone as a watch, whether the phone is "smart" or not. And some people just feel uncomfortable wearing a watch. I wouldn't worry about conventional watches dying out. When cassettes and CDs appeared, the death of vinyl was predicted many times - a completely wrong prediction, as it turned out. Similarly, when readers like the Kindle appeared, and computers began to generate e-books, the death of printd books was predicted. Book sales have actually increased over the years (and I speak as an ex-university librarian)! People who love finely engineered things will always exist, and so will the things that they love.

As a kid I used to love looking at the Timex mechanical watches in the cabinet at Kmart. Then, of course, you had all those ads where they did things like tether a Timex watch to a outboard motor's propeller to prove that the watch was both water and shockproof. A good mate of mine bought one when he was 16. It had a day/date window and that watch went through thick and thin and seemed to be great. I think he still has the watch. It was silver in colour, a black faceplate and a kind-of hexagonal dial, as I recall.

I found a 5.5 V DC adapter and it seems to be quite happy. Obviously there is more strain on the shaft and winding's, but at 1.5V it was a "pensioners" speed. Now it's in the fast-lane.........how long it will last.......... I think if you don't let it run for hours........ still a long time . Bursting in flame? It's just 5.5V and it has its own water on top :D Of course, you can let it run on the 1.5V.............perhaps forever! So is the cleaning time.................

Very Good , Yes , I was referring to the indent . I have never seen that feature before , but it probably helps in winding . I like the full face dials .

If a smart watch section is added, I may consider going "off-line" from now on :D

Hi Sendikumar, if I remember well, the minute hand is inserted in the gap between the hour wheel and the cannon pinion or rather on the cannon pinion (I haven't worked on one of those for some time now. It depends on the hands you are getting and yes, it looks a little high but it might be the way the picture was taken. Just get a dial as Geo suggested and check that you have enough of the hour wheel out and clearance for the hour and minute hands. Also, don't cut the stem until the very end when you are ready to give the watch as finished: that's the last thing you would do. Also, I wouldn't cut the hour wheel because of many factors, one that come to mind is finish and another is "even", if you screw up you will be in a real fix to fit the hour hand properly if at all. Remember the hands tool stops on the rim of the hour wheel (on top). That surface should be even or the hand will be twisted and you will have to adjust by sight...it still can be done but not very professional. I 'd rather get a shorter wheel or a longer canon pinion...they are all the same for that movement regardless of country of origin. Good luck with your project! Cheers, Bob

I don't think so. "Watch Repairs Help and Advice" and "Watch Service Walkthroughs" sections would cover them just as it does any other type of watch, be it manual wind, automatic, Quartz or electric. The important thing to remember is, as with all threads, is to correctly describe it in the title of the thread. This allows people to find the information more easily when using the "search facility".

Yes stroppy, they had reputation as cheap and nasty, but some of them just kept on going, funny thing I recently bought a batch of 8 watches because it contained 3 with quality Swiss movements of the other 5 two had Baumgartner 866's, two had MAM 3467 movements, all four of them are up and running - the three "quality" movements are all in the parts bin as all had broken parts, too expensive to justify fixing in relation to end value. I am constantly surprised by cheap movements, even quartz, always seem to get stuck with a heap of quartz when you buy bulk lots, mostly cheap Chinese/Hong Kong make with Seiko PC21 ot the equivalent cheap Citizen movements, pull out the old battery clean out the crud and install a new battery and they fire up, the good quality movements when the battery leak it seem to invade all the electronics and destroy the circuit. Before I will buy any quality brand quartz watch that "just needs a new battery" I check to see if a replacement movement or equivalent is available, been burnt a couple of times, unfortunately even good brand quartz watches don't seem to hold their value well enough to justify spending $100 + on a replacement movement to restore them. Max

Walkthroughs not only help others but they also help the person doing it by allowing him/her some time to reflect in a) what it has been done, B) what is has been discovered on that particular instance and c) by explaining something we are supposed to know...It is said that if a person doesn't understand something he/she can't explain it. So, there you have it, by helping others -- in the form of sharing knowledge -- we also help ourselves, one way or another...or what goes around comes around! I could also say that one way to approach perfection on anything is to teach that subject. It is also the principle in martial arts and many other disciplines -- and I believe is the traditional way to teach in the Eastern Countries, but correct me if I'm wrong about this. I do know that in martial arts higher belts are supposed to teach lower belts, that way they also learn, remember and get better at it. Just my two cents on this...Lawson, buddy, your walkthroughs are awesome we miss them! Cheers, Bob

I have restored a few more Timex watches from the "Timex Lot", here are some before and after pics for anyone that may be interested:)

Agree with Geo that's why I recently purchased "repairing Quartz watches" by Henry B Fried. Which I recommend for those wish to service a Quartz Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can't find the 836 but thr 837 looks much the same. http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?11&ranfft&0&2uswk&Helvetia_837 Your second movement is a Baumgartner 866, I have about 4 watches of different makes on the go at present using this movement or the 866CLD which has the date complication. http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?11&ranfft&0&2uswk&Baumgartner_866 I checked on Cousins site for a data sheet for the Helvetica but they had none listed. Max

First watch is a J.W. Benson cushion 9ct gold from the 1930's. Luminous paint was completely missing from hands and dial.

It is very early to have book like this. But i felt my first book should be one of the best books.

I expect the long hours I spend with it and most likely cheap components is its downfall. Possibly. They come on when the lamp is switched on then flicker and then cut out. Could be a dodgy capacitor. Yes - prolly a good idea. I'll post a pic when I get back Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is the latest from the fight against Swatch etc unfair practices: Dear Contributor, As you will be aware, we have been in contact with both the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Competition and Markets Authority over the spare parts issue. Both organisations went to great lengths to recommend that we obtain proper legal advice, and this is a message that we took very seriously. Since the last update that we released, our efforts have benefitted from a continual dialogue with some of the UK’s best lawyers in the EU Competition Law sector, and a very great deal of progress has been made. However, the downside of discussing legal matters is that the rules on Confidentiality come into play, and frustratingly I am unable to give details at this time. The 31st of December 2015 has come and gone, and the supply of spares from Swatch and ETA has ceased. Many in the industry are doubtless wondering how long the remaining stocks will last, and are having to consider making drastic decisions about the future of their businesses. I am not in any position to promise anything, nor for the reasons given above am I able to disclose what I know. However, what I can say is this. If you are intending to make any major and irrevocable decisions about the future of your enterprise in the next few weeks, can I suggest that you would be well advised to hold off for a just a few weeks more, and see what transpires. If you think that the reason the British Watch and Clock Maker’s Guild IAF Project has been silent for the last couple of months is because it has given up the fight and gone away, please accept my assurance that you could not be more wrong. Kind Regards Steven Domb Project Development Industry Action Fund [email protected] 07831 538975