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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/07/18 in all areas

  1. This is a bit of a departure for me as I usually like to play with stuff a little more vintage and a little more Swiss. That being said I have done a few vintage Russians in the past and this is a watch that I had been curious about for some time. I picked this one up at a car boot sale last summer for just £3 in a less than wonderful state. As you can see, the seconds hand was off and it was described a not running. It turned out that it did run, just not too well and the hour and minute hands didn't move. Canon pinion anyone? First impression with the back off is pretty encouraging. Still looking good with the rotor off. This is a 31 jewel movement, 10 of the jewels are inside those reverser wheels. Somewhat minimalist under the dial. With the calendar wheel retaining plate off you can access the motion works, the calendar works, and the keyless works. Flipped back over and with the auto-wind bridge out of the way. This is an indirect driven centre seconds hand which has a tension spring to hold the seconds hand pinion in place. This has to be supported when installing the seconds hand otherwise the hand simply pushes the pinion against the spring and won't install. Balance cock removed with the shim that the soviets are so fond of for adjusting end shake. Hair spring is in good shape. With the train and barrel bridges out of the way the going train is revealed in all its glory. Flipped over again to strip out the bottom plate and a problem comes to light. There is some damage to the minute wheel (marked in red ink). Maybe the canon pinion isn't the problem after all? In close up you can see the damaged minute wheel tooth. This I didn't think would be a problem, just replace it..... I thought. Not so easy as it turned out as I couldn't find anyone that could supply a new wheel, and a donor movement proved elusive unless I wanted to spend a fortune on a complete, working watch, which I didn't, so I had to wait for eBay to come up with a spares or repair victim at the right price, which it eventually did. The stripped out main plate with the balance and cock, minus jewels, ready for the cleaning machine. The bottom plate back together again after a good wash cycle in the Elma. At this point I did check the canon pinion anyway and it was as well that I did. There was virtually no transfer of power through to the hands at all so a suitable adjustment was made and a tighter fit achieved. Back in the case and ticking like a champ. The rotor and massive case back gasket back in place. And a much improved trace on the timer. This is with the original mainspring which turned out to be in very good shape requiring just a clean and relube. The trace isn't perfect by any means, but compared with other Russian watches that I have played with (and with it's starting trace), it's pretty good. There is still a hint of a periodic variation that I may investigate at some point but for now I shall just wear it and enjoy it. And here it is on the wrist after a bit of a cosmetic brush up. These are available with many different dial designs, apparently this one is referred to as a "SCUBA Dude". I have worn it for two days now and it has gained about 5 seconds a day so there is a little fine tuning to do to get it right "on the wrist". All in all I'm very pleased with this one. I had been curious about the Amphibia for some time having read a couple of articles detailing its history and design. It also has quite a large following of avid enthusiasts who rate it for both value and robustness. On the value front I can't complain with this one as the total cost to me was just £11 (including the donor). As for ruggedness only time will tell, but the performance so far is very impressive.
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  2. Hi guys, I just want to share with you my small watch collection (brag about it ). First photo, from left to right : Seiko Chronograph, Regency, Raketa 24h, Orex, Kirovskie, Rotary Automatic, Poljot with alarm (Dad's watch, the one that started this passion) Wostok, Atlantic Worldmaster, Pallas Adora, 2x Orex (ladies) and Sparewa ladies. Second photo, from left to right: Ural, Poljot, Seiko 5, Raketa Automatic, Sekonda Automatic, Molnija Pocket watch, Sekonda, Pobeda, Zim Third photo, from left to right: Prim Czechoslovakia, Poljot, Raketa and Raketa again . Hopefully the photos are shown in order of explanation. Hope you like it and sorry for not mentioning movement numbers but will be more than happy to give you details if you want. Thanks, Andrei
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  3. Well, I guess I got a watch for Xmas. Does it count if I bought it for myself? I did fix a couple of baguettes that I gave to my nieces as well. They seemed more impressed than I thought they' be. I had fixed my nephew's Wittnauer, that was once mine, just prior to Xmas, and decided I'd get something similar if one came along at the right price. While his is an 11 KAS model, and mine is an 11 SR model, they aren't dissimilar. The auto-winding mechanism is different. I probably like his a little better for that, but the SR is fine. One thing is that I'll probably have to end up getting some of that Lubeta to do it right, as I feel the reversing wheels aren't acting right. Once I get the required band on it, it will look nice. Black, brown, or something bold? Hmm...We'll see.
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  4. Wanted one of these for a while, and my wife bought me exactly the right thing. A Chinese homage to a Chinese copy of a Swiss watch...
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  5. That is probably corrosion due to a bad gasket or something done by a previous watchmaker. I don't think it will spread. But you should need to look over your gaskets. The little i can see i can see that it's in bad shape. Maybe have a service done or at least a check. Omega has coating called rhodium.
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  6. There is a time limit for editing posts. Unless the mistake is something terrible, don't worry about it. To answer your question, the case is one part, not two. Chances are that if you press the crystal out with your thumb, it will pop off.
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  7. I've been "playing" watchmaker for the past year or so and I absolutely love it. I'm at a stage where I basically spend all of my free time tinkering with watches. I find it extremely rewarding and it has a therapeutic effect on my soul So far I've only serviced Russian watches (Vostok calibres 2409, 2414, and 2415) as they are so inexpensive and fun to work with and I usually hang on the F10 Russian Watches forum on WUS when I'm online (member VWatchie), but I believe watchrepairtalk will be more suitable for me now as it is the movements that are my main focus. Once in a while, though, I like to make a "mod watch" and my latest "creation" I actually finished yesterday and it can be seen here. For a living, I work as an IT teacher at Academy, teaching .NET, C#, SQL, and JavaScript. I have a lovely wife (who actually helps me find watch parts when I've shot them across the room. She has the eyes of a hawk, bless her!) and a daughter (12 years old) and a son (8 years old). Eventually, I'd like to get some decent equipment for making videos about watchmaking and publish it on my (just started) YouTube channel. In my next life, I will become a real watchmaker but for now, I really look forward to be talking to you all! Thank you for reading!
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  8. Welcome VWatchie, nice introduction of yourself and 'staff'. George
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  9. Hejsan Vwatchie, Jomenvisst, här är landsman till, i mitt fall från jöttebårj ! You will be amazed by the wealth of experience and willingness to share at this forum. When I got started with this hobby a couple of years back, I got somewhat hooked on watches from late 30´s and 40´s, meaning that they are not always easily identified for parts chasing (at least not for me). But there are guys in here with sleuthing capacity that constantly amazes me and their willingness to spend time on my requests even more so. Welcome! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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  10. 6309-7040, 6105-8110 and 6138-0011 i guess I am biaised as I happen to own all three (and a few more) but they are real classics. if i could add to the list it would be the 6138-8020, panda dial, i have been looking for a nice original one for a while
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  11. I can agree with these choices for starters although I like the 6309 - 7049 a bit more then the 6309 - 7040 . A little wider cushion . Both classic beauties . 6309 - 7040…. 6309 - 7049…..
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  12. I did ,…two of them . From me to me...….
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  13. I got an LIP R27 !!!! its like 5 christmas presents all at once.
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  14. Hej Vwatchie Kul med en landsman.Välkommen. There are more people from Sweden in here i think. Nice mod you have done . Have worked on some Vostok to. But not that fond of them. But parts are cheap and they are real workhorses. But would love a Vostok swing lug. I fixed a Vostok recently that i managed to get waterproof and the owner said he take i diving this summer
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  15. Hello VWatchie; luckily there is some information on this forum about Russian watches. I’ve also done the calibers you mentioned and some more like the Poljot 3133 or the 31659, both you will find under the section “walkthough”. Indeed, these Russian watches are fun, but the market has become (even more) a bit of a Russian roulette. Especially in the last year or so, many fake dials, made identical to the old collectable USSR / CCCP dials, have hit the market. If you after the older dials, it has become a real mine field. Same counts for the 3133 Poljot watches, many Frankens out there. One has to wonder how huge the Russian Navy must have been if you see the amounts of “original” OKEAH’s on offer ...... but that all makes it interesting and fun too Molnija (Pocket watches) is another interesting one. Venlig hilsen fra Danmark
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  16. Welcome. Nice job so far. Good to know that we have a coding teacher around. Your expertise could come in handy, for some...
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  17. This family poster is great to quickly scan styles. Just be careful loading the biggest pic on less than adequate tablets or smartphones [emoji6] http://www.watchsleuth.com/seiko5finder/portrait/
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