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Here's a few pictures of my home made watch cleaning machine. It uses a bathroom vent fan motor, ceiling fan speed control, and a digital timer. I've since added a 12v cooling fan above the motor as running an induction motor at lower speeds (voltage) increases the heat produced by the coil. I turned a 10mm shaft extension to mount the L&R cleaning basket, and the "lid" has a groove that has high temp RTV silicone in it to create the seal. The square post indexes the basket and lid to each jar, and I'm using old school (read: DANGEROUS!) solutions, but they are quite effective. I raise the head after each cycle and spin off the extra solution before going to the next one.

Got a Tipover Tool Rest on line with no bolt. Went to Ottawa Fasteners and purchased a plastic grip nut and two big metal washers and a brass bolt with a flat screw top. Then i flattened out the round on two sides to make it fit into the tool rest base groove. Sanded it with 1200 grit for smooth action in the groove and TaDa. It works well. My Peerless Lathe now has a Tip Over Tool Rest which is great for getting it quickly out of the way for measurements. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I typed "dub" but automatic correct stepped in and replaced it with "run" [emoji35]

Impressive!

Having eagerly watched Mark's videos, it was only a small step to sooner or later join his forum! Although it seems that stripping and reassembling a watch is as easy as the videos are suggesting - a hobbyist like me can only imagine how much practise is behind such skills. This and the great respect for the numerous specific and scientific topics a watchmaker has to cover in his profession made the whole thing very interesting for me. I started to service some of my sticky vintages a few weeks ago. I even managed to put some automatic day-date watches back together recently (and they worked afterwards!) - what a progress As for my language: it is german, but I come from Austria. I really like the english language and therefore I am trying to participate here with all the watch related special expressions (there are thousands) as a training if you will. So please be lenient with my posts, and don't hesitate correcting me. Well lastly, my nick translates roughly into "someone who remembers" (celui qui rappelle) and is somewhat of a pun with my name and the term rhabilleur. Now you know it all Oh not quite: I have a small family, I am self employed, in the middle of life (hopefully) and a lover of books and music, when not working on watches. Looking forward to having a lot of nice conversation here!

khunter I run thee...... McGuyver Great work there [emoji106]

I also come very often to this problem concerning watches with a regulator arm. I built this little tool. The tool head grips over the regulator arm while the watch is on the timegrapher and due to the tools long lever arm (which is about 4 inches) I can manipulate the regulator position very precise. Here are some pics of my work on a watch which ran constantly +4 seconds per day and I could slow it down to +1 second.

As I serviced my nephew's Wittnauer automatic last month, it came time to reinstall that setting-wheel (little gear?). One side was nicely beveled, the other was relatively flat. I didn't notice that when I took the watch apart. Having a 50/50 chance to get it right, I placed it in position beveled (pretty) side up. Then, as I read through a book by Jendritzki (?) I believe, I discovered that the pretty side should have gone down towards the winding pinion. Like I said, 50/50 chance. I'm just wondering whether or not your setting wheel has the "pretty" side up when it should be down, and whether that would cause an issue such as yours? Then again, I figured you've probably tried it both ways if you had any question. I was just a newbie who didn't know that the beveled/chamfered/pretty side faced down. I probably should have known, but it just seemed like such a waste of the "pretty" side. Alive and learned. Good luck. Cheers.

Photo of the movement. Illinois Central is the railroad that my grandfather and father worked on, so it holds some sentimental value. I think it cleaned up nicely considering the shape it arrived in. All the screws and regulator, spring, etc were hand polished, complete tear down and clean/oil. I have a 10k case on it's way that it will live in, and the dial (not pictured) also is marked Illinois Central and is in fine shape. New hands will be fitted as the old ones were not worth refinishing (broken tip on the minute hand).

I usually have the collet lock on just enough to hold the weight of the stake so it will hover above until I'm ready to tap, makes it easier to position whatever it is you're staking. Once or twice I've had to tighten it significantly though because I've needed to tap something hard but without the stake going too far down.

I grew up in a jewelry store. My father was a watchmaker. Starting around the age of 12, I started learning to repair clocks. After a very long break in the work, I am setting up my shop again. Dad passed away a few years ago but I kept all of his tools and shop equipment. Looking forward to doing this work again. I'm trained as a machinist and have been working in an industrial environment for the last 30 years. Time for a change and getting back to my roots and doing work I truly love. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

Thanks. It's the engineer in me. I will be using my lathe to make additional tools for my tool. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

That’s the sign of a real horologist: someone who can adapt tools to work for a job. Nice one. I love adapting and making specific tools for a job.

Oh, if you are in Europe then I could possibly look through my spares and send you a 955 with working keyless works. Always good to have spares for them if you are working on watches regularly.

You may need a spare 955 movement as a reference to compare for wear. The reason I suggested swapping the entire movement is that for me it’s cheaper than servicing (they cost something like £25) and it gives a better result than servicing in my opinion as there is no wear on the new movement. The parts on these watches are very fragile, and the springs become deformed as already mentioned. You can adjust those, but they will work-harden and not be as good as original. For obsolete quartz movements like the ETA 536, I always service them.

I think it is a Felsa 90 http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?00&ranfft&a&2uswk&Felsa_90

If you can give me the make of the clock I can give you the exact spring you need. A pic of the back plate and its dimensions will help with the Id. The thickness of the spring is critical with anniversary clocks.

If we were to comment here on just 1% of what comes out everyday in high-end horology this forum would soon become the copy of so many drool-inducing luxury blogs.. But some achievements can't be ignored... Movement mechanical self-winding, extra-thin (3 mm), Cal. 581. 16 lignes. 33 jewels. Numbered and signed Breguet. 80-hour power reserve. Barrel mounted on roller bearings. Inverted lateral lever escapement with silicon horns. Frequency 4 Hz. Silicon balance spring. Tourbillon with titanium carriage. Small seconds on the tourbillon axis. Breguet... hmmm I think I've heard this name already.

The best rust preventative/lubricant that I've used is Eezox. I use it on all my firearms and as a rust preventative on my tools. There is a good video about testing 20 different lubes/rust preventatives on Gun Tap, https://shop.guntap.com/eezox . I have a used K&D staking set on order and it will get the complete eezox treatment as soon as it arrives.

Does your watch tracker app show beat error. It is important to know this as well when regulating because sometimes the beat regulator moves when adjusting the time regulator.