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I been at this for about a year and I learnt a lot of things the hard way. I don't see any thread about lessons learn the hard way so I'll start here. Tea leave holders are not good parts holders. The two halves don't clamp down hard enough and small parts will slip through. Hairsprings are hard. Mainsprings are fragile. Just because someone been in business for 40 years doesn't mean they can't mislead you about vintage watches. Do you homework and don't only take the seller's word. If you don't know what an expensive vintage watch supposed to look like, don't buy it. You will not save money by buying a bunch of "cheap" watches. You can't (or shouldn't) oil a watch with a single oil and grease. Organizing a lot of parts is hard.

It's a looker.. It is a bit strange the winder at 2, but it wouldn't take long to like that little quirk

Not sure I like the winder at 2 makes it look uneven. Nice clear dial.

Up and running. Puuuuhh . The lower chronograph hand is slightly to the right. So need to adjust. But will do that later when i change the crown and crystal. Have to do something about the bezel as it is stuck. Probably lots of dirt and rust in there. Maybe i can see better when the crystal is off.

I use a stool, I found a local company that makes commercial furniture and bought myself a dentist stool, it has a ring around the underside of the seat for raising or lowering so you don't need to hunt for a leaver when you want to raise or lower the chair. It cost more than a stool would of cost at the local furniture shop, but it is better in every way. I like your bench too

You said it. Well almost. May I add section 9 and.. Don,t lean over work bench or the piece. Instead hold your head as if looking streight forward and hold the piece up. Have a CT scan of your neck taken and ask your physiotherapist for thorough neck examination. Make sure you got the right and good quality tools. Take pictures at each disassembly stage if working on unfamiliar piece. If ths piece is givng you a hard time, leave it alone till later. Don,t lend your good tools. Get a new H/S if the old one reminds you of macaroni sauce.

LOL. I'm with you on point 2 and a gree with you on point 4,5,6 and 7 too. I've been far too many clocks and watches butchered by so called professional watch and clock repairers. The best one just last week which had been at a high street shop andamongst all the otehr things wrong with it they tried to put it in poise by soldering lumps of copper to the bimetallic balance.......

looks really nice. Very tidy! What height did you make the table?

Hi Rick, looks good to me !. I like the handy top shelf.

Yes. As the power runs down, eventually the balance amplitude reduces to almost nothing, but its neutral position with no power is with the roller jewel in the middle of the pallet fork horns, with the pallet fork centred. In this position, the pallet jewel angled face rests against the face of a tooth on the escape wheel, and a little torque on the escape wheel will push the pallet fork away setting the watch in motion. When the roller jewel is disengaged from the pallet horns, the pallet lever mechanism is essentially bistable and should flick to one side or the other where the pallet jewels just lock the lever in place. For this reason, it is important to set the hairsping on the balance wheel so that in its neutral position it would hold the roller jewel in the centre of the horns as described above, otherwise (amongst other problems), it will be necessary to shake the watch to move the balance and set it in motion. in practice the neutral position is best tested with the watch in motion. A timing machine can listen to the noises the escapement makes and reports any misalignment as a "beat" error. This is resolved by rotating the hairsping attachment (collet) to the balance or to the balance cock, depending on the watch.