Leaderboard

Collection so far Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fixed an old German pocket watch and an old 18l Elgin. The German one needed a new mainspring so I picked one up at Cousins UK and after much fun finally got the arbour to grab the spring and installed it. Then I oiled the crap out of it through the side of the movement with D5 and tada in started running. The Elgin I needed to disassemble to get at the jewels and gears because it was completely ceased up. Oils and reassembled it and it runs really well. I intend to do a complete cleaning on both of these watches but, for now, just wanted to see if I could get them running. https://vimeo.com/166703980 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OK, you asked for it. Here is a picture before a lot of the hand finishing and a new design regulator I'm trying to finish. Case has a scalloped edge, 14K hardware and chain with jade bullets on t bar, inverted 1/4 carat diamond in crown, matching fob and pure silver chapter ring. It took something like a thousand hours to make.

Now I don't blame the seller for this, but a glued on dial?!?, I knew it the moment I opened case, but was able to very carefully pry away dial with xacto blade. (thankfully cheap glue!) One mismatched 23 jewel in a 17j case! (BONUS), this is why I always look for case/movement/dial numbers or ask questions if pics are not clear. All three were listed parts and repair, so for $20USD + $6 ship, why not? The glued dial is running and the "TV looking" case is a 6309, (17J) in a 6349, (23j case), I think I will correct. Oh and found a phantom screw, not from movement, hanging out under balance, once removed, she started running. All in all not a bad weekend, two out of three runners and 23 jewel to boot! BTW it has badly handled hairspring, probably replace entire balance.

This arrived the other day. At first glance it is a sorry sight, at second glance also to be honest. However what a surprise when I removed the back, the movement is remarkably clean. The second hand was off and jammed under the minute hand, when I tapped the watch to dislodge it the hand came free and the watch started running. I couldn't believe it. Such a pity that the dial and minute track are in such a bad way. They actually don't look so bad in the flesh, the pictures make them look much worse. I am going to clean and service the movement and remove the years of crud from the case. I was more than surprised to find that Cousins have a genuine crystal for it so that's good. I really like this watch, it is a nice size. Maybe one day a decent dial might turn up somewhere, but in the meantime I think I will be happy to wear it as it is. What do you all think?

Will do eventually Bob, but you will need something that can do vector graphics - like Adobe Indesign or Adobe Illustator (warning expensive!) or similar - the photo programmes don't give clean lines. I have a few more to do, but they are on the back burner at the moment, due to silly season (warmish weather) being upon us again - grass to cut, walls to build, houses to paint etc. etc. so it may be some time. The joys of being a Handyman..........

I hope not. Haven't tried to get it off yet. But you can see it has been well looked after so I am sure that won't have happened. Do you mean fairy liquid Bob? Maybe with a nice soft artists paintbrush? Could well be heat, although up close it does look greenish, like corrosion. Might have a better idea when I get the dial off.

Also, in a pinch, I believe they all accept a brand new NH36 which has manual wind in addition to the traditional auto and hack seconds....but then there won't be anything to fix and the fun will stop there!

Impressive!!

The rinse can leave stains from the cleaning solution if it's dirty, or can leave stains if it is unpure, eg. minerals in water. I found that a water based rinse led to corrosion on some parts when they didn't dry quickly, hence why I moved to ethanol, plus the ethanol dries very quickly.

Thanks Alexander! Since you asked about cleaning, this is my way of cleaning (btw, I use a less impressive ultrasonic machine ). These are the solutions I use: + Also, these are the 2 sizes of baskets I use: + (16mm and 23 mm diameters respectively). As a side note, I have the copper rounded ones like yours but I didn't like them much. Somehow the little stuff tend to "disappear" and/or get stuck. Those bergeon ones, although expensive, are much, much better. My system: 3 min each cycle: one cleaning cycle and 2 rinsing cycles. When the 2nd rinsing solution gets dirty it becomes the first rinsing solution. I place the baskets into this: so it is easy to manipulate and that big basket into a beaker. The solutions go in the beaker which goes into the u/s previously "filled" with water. In this fashion, there is NO WATER touching the parts only the solvents in the beaker...but water will transmit the U/S waves to the beaker and the solutions it contains. I've heard that plastic is not a good U/S conductor so I avoid it. I also have a thing for metal and water so I avoid water touching the movement and its parts. I don't have a heater in my U/S so I blow the parts dry with the hand blower...some people use a hair drier. I DO wash the screws too. Although I have used ONE-DIP for hairsprings and jewel assemblies (all its components) I'm lately using Ronsonol (a type of benzine?) I get good results that way too...and save money in the process. I usually let them seat for a day or overnight in the stuff. I give some shakes to the container to provide agitation. Then I dry them on lint less paper. So, I guess there is not much difference between my method and yours...maybe a little detail here and/or there. Only thing I don't like, IMHO, is using water on the parts....and many people do, don't get me wrong...it is just my own thing about it. Some people use alcohol (90+ pure) to remove the residue of the "lighter fluid" they use. Only alcohol can't be used on the pallet fork and on any other spot where there is shellac. So there you have it, my way of doing it! I hope it is any good to you...I was wondering what U/S do you have and the capacity...I wouldn't need a big one but it would be nice to upgrade to a pro or semi pro one with a heater...although I can tell that the solutions get pretty hot in the regular U/S cycles. Cheers, Bob

You were spot on Bob! Cheers Alexander

Final picture: Very short movie

A description of using plastic bags for ultrasonic cleaners.

with the quality of that printing, i'm going to go with replica! I have quite a few of these collected over the years and they are always useful. I like to keep them in various states of sharpness. E.G. I have one that I have sharpened almost to razor sharpness with a very thin edge - very useful for opening gold case snap-on backs. I have another which I have made extremely dull which is better for thicker steel snap-on backs. I have another I use for taking off watch straps. And another I use for cutting slices of apple when I need too