Leaderboard

I was lucky enough to win on the bay a Zodiac 70/72 automatic at a reasonable price. I knew the hairspring was shot but wasn't expecting what I found. On receiving the watch and opening the bag I thought I know that smell "OIL" Looks ok dial needs a bit of a clean but the case is in good Nick. The back shows hardly any wear so a good polish should sort that out. So I open it up and once again the over powering smell of 3 in 1 hits me like a slap to the face. The stud holder has come off but luckily is in tact. I start to strip down the movement. Out of the case and case ring removed. Dial looks ok hopefully dust a light wash in soapy water will get rid of the oil and remove alot of the spotting. Dial removed and my first glimpse of oil. Flip it over and take a closer look it the movement the hair springs a mess and the balance is wobbling like a 16 year old on a night out. Rotor off. Reversing wheels a bit of staining and more oil. Auto wind wheels and balance removed now like a fool I forgot to take a photo of the spaghetti mess of the hairspring and the staff had a broken bottom pivot. I decide to drop John at obsolete watch parts an e-mail and luckily he has a complete balance at a very reasonable price and further more if I post the movement to him when I've cleaned it as we are unsure whether its the correct one for the movement as according to J boreal the base caliber was a AS 1649 he will try it before I buy bit now that's service for you . Look at the oil its dripping in the stuff. crown and ratchet wheels Now the barrel on this caliber is a sealed unit and has wrote on it very faintly do not open. But I'm not worried about it being oiled it has enough oil on it to last forever. Look at all that oil its been dipped I'm sure. Barrel out. Train bridge off. That side is stripped just alot of oil and a bit of staining. Dial side more oil date ring a bit stained. Oily That's It stripped down and ready for the ultrasonic. The cleaning went well and the assembly was just a reverse of the strip down. I then sent the movement of tho John and he fitted the balance and returned it all within 2 days the man's a star. On reassembly and leaving to run after I had adjusted it on the timing machine I noticed the hands were only moving 5 minutes in the hour. This was the culprit a slipping clutch wheel on the offset cannon pinion. Luckily Rogart69 heard my call for help and directed me in the right direction as to how to tighten it many thanks to him. So here it is running nice and looking good.

Hi Guys i'm back after a quite a bad flare up of rheumatoid arthritis. Its a bit frustrating really. I started this hobby to give me some thing to look forward to in retirement, and after getting very hooked in a short space of time & spending what I'd say a considerable amount of money on tools etc.. I've now been diagnosed with RA. However, I feel quite blessed as when it first took hold it was quite aggressive & TBH I was starting to think about giving up work, buying a bungalow & installing a disabled ramp. But with the help of meds i'm now starting to feel more myself apart from the fact I can't straighten my arms lol. Anyway I'm back at work & feeling much more positive. i'm probably going to loose a lot of screws, click springs etc. but want to get back to the hobby i loved. David

Wearing a hand-wind Elgin. Got it with a badly damaged dial with the lacquer lifting off...gave it a scrub and underneath was this nicely suffered finished. Powered by a nice Elgin 524 movement. Have a good weekend everyone! Anil

Try to reset the circuit block

Today I am wearing my new Seiko 7T34-6A00 I just received.... He domed glass is just fantastic!

Thanks guys for your kind warm welcome back. Now I just have to remember how i disassembled this movado HS360 kingmatic, at least I took pictures. However, can't remember which size screws go where. Its been soaking in lighter fluid for 3 months lol

Mechphil, The first mevement I bought to take apart was an auto with a winding fault. I quickly realised it was the wrong place to start. A few simple hand-winders help give you some confidence before moving to something more exotic. In terms of books, I am a fan of Donald DeCarle, but I'm sure there are others. These are quite clear and explain old tools and old watches. S

mechphil,, I have a few of these old bullys, (23j autos), see pic below for parts/nomenclature, just in case you need them Bulova has very simplified numbering system for parts, so it will be easier for you to decipher what parts are called, sorry but don't have any pictures to help.

water resistant 100ft? even its namesake can't do that! This is so much better.. cheers

This pic from my albums had likes elsewhere so why not

While I understand where you do come from, I personally believe that this low cost movement actually has a superb engineering, of course toward cost and parts reduction while preserving substantial quality, and is the evolution of the previous generations. It is also a truly modular and scalable design being the base platform for the 4R and 6R movements and their many variants. While working on it I've discovered many interesting manufacturing details (holes in the main plate to observe pallet action, marking on wheels to indicate the up side, the ability of accessing both balance jewels for quick lubrication, and others) which indicate the great attention to detail it has designed with. I think that each one of the points you have listed has a solid reason to be, but I will address just one - the plastic wheels (for calendar and quick-setting). These actually give great advantages over metal due to their flexibility and self-lubricating properties. Perfect for wheels turning slowly that will self-adjust to the next part. Also note that the micro Phillips screw has been converted to slot in later versions. I've no experience so far with other low-end auto movements, but having seen the Seiko is not that I expect they can be better than that, Not easily at least.