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Here a little walkthrough the servicing of my Rolex 5513, calibre 1520. Sorry for the funny english, I'm no native speaker. I'm not a professional watchmaker, this is only amateur-work. I start by opening the case, taking off the automatic device and disassemble it. Now I remove the movement and take off hands and dial. Removing the cannon pinion. Now it's time for the balance and the pallet fork. Continuing disassembling with ratchet and train wheels. Next one is the barrel bridge. I decided to use a new mainspring. Now it's time for the keyless works. On the other side of the movement the spring for stopping the balance. Removing the screws for the movement and the dial. And reassemble the balance for protection reasons. Ok, everything taken apart, ready for cleaning. Best regards Erik

I am currently working on a small pocket watch which has a cylinder escapement. Dis-assembled and all looks ok. To get at the balance jewels safely, I decided to remove the hairspring from the balance (forgot to make refitting marks/refs of course!!). I have seen Marks video on how to position a hairspring to be in beat when refitted to the balance of a lever escapement. Is there a similar method for aligning the slot in the balance staff for a cylinder escapement? I have seen literature of how to set in beat, would this be practical for refitting hairspring? Any advice would be most appreciated.

Ok, customer brings in a pair of identical ladies citizen watches. Neither of them are working and she states they have been in a safe for extended period of time. I check batteries and they are dead. No sign of oxidation or corrosion in either. I replace batteries in one and it begins to run. She says to hold on the other and leaves. The following day she returns and the watch with the new batt has stopped. I check batt and it’s fine. Reinstall it after cleaning the terminals, set the time and off she goes. Following day she returns, same issue and decides to try the other identical watch this time. Amazingly, this watch does the same thing. Neither of them run for 24hrs. I make sure case and stem are demagnetized and free of debris. No change. New movement ordered, Miyota 5R21 as a direct replacement. Movement arrives and is installed. Amazingly it runs until it reaches 12:20 and then stops. I remove it from the case and remove the stem, still stops at 12:20. I can’t wrap my head around this. Anyone experience anything like this before. What am I missing? I am going to install hands on original two movements and see if they stop at a specific point as well. Any ideas would be helpful, thanks

The beat is adjusted by adjusting the drop of the escape wheel against the side of the cylinder. this should be about 3 - 5 degs. take the spring barrel out, and move the wheels with your finger back and forth till you can get it about the same each way.it may have three dots on the underside of the balance, and one on the lower plate. these show the 5 degrees each side of centre, but as for setting up the watch, this cant really be relied apon, especially if it has had a new staff fitted. will show how far it needs to move anyway. you adjust it by REMOVING THE BALANCE and altering the hairspring collet the direction you think, untill the watch is self starting, or untill you cant stop it in any place.

It would seem a little late for this, but Lubeta v105 is what 've used for the reversing wheel. You dip the reversers in v105 and it's like a sort of wax after you them let them sit and dry. There is no spreading. J

I've given you a "like", even if it was only already for your perseverance !!

So when you’re doing an hour hand does the tool that you’re using slide over the post of the hour wheel? The hole in the tool needs to be big enough to slide over the hour wheel post or canon pinion depending which hand you’re fitting? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ich have many of these wheels in my store, just need some time tomorrow find the right one! It's not so easy to glue it in plastic! There ist not enough Material to put screws in!

A few weeks back I spotted a unique display case from Timex history on Ebay. Yes, it was the 1959 display case where a watch is dropped on and anvil to show how good the watches are shock proof. Now what made this even better is that I already had the catalog page showing this case. So of course I had to buy it. Main issue was that the mechanism that raised and lowered the watch was missing perhaps the most important part. Which was the part that would trip the lever. With a little bit of consultation with a my watchmaker friend a plan was drawn up on how to make the missing part. So with a bit of spring wire solder to a hex nut and some chain, the display is back in working order. Now the next one on the grail list is a display that dips a watch in water to show they are water proof. MOV08666Trim.mp4

I would have expected the black residue to be metal oxide, but it's hard to prove.

Quartron? My research indicates the name was copyrighted in 1969 by Timex. But, I've never seen the name on any watch dial other the 5 I have in my collection. I acquired these some years back via a large lot of watches and parts from the estate of a former Timex engineer that worked in the "Electric" watch division. Once I got around to opening one up the first issue was how to find a button battery that would fit. It wasn't until a year or two ago that I learned the size was a 355, which of course is no longer available. The second issue was that the electronic circuit board had no components on it. After some closer inspection I had saw that the board design was very similar to that of those used in the model 85 electronics of the same era. With a little bit if fiddling and the use of a micro soldering iron I was able to refit a 85 board into one of these prototypes. ( I will get around in another post oh how this was done) As for the battery, it just took some Rodico the fill in the gaps and off it when running for the very first time. The case is very large at 46.5 MM and I've matched it with an NOS 1970's bracelet as well.

I HATE the generic clamp type movement holders. I have gone to dedicated ones as much as I can, and I will make those I can't get. It seems the clamps are always in the way of something, don't secure the movement well and are a general pain in the @$$ to use. Yes, it is a bit of an investment, but if you are working on Eta 28xx or Rolex 15xx or 30-31xx movements, new and used dedicated holders are not that expensive. By NOT dropping a freshly worked movement due to falling out of the "clamp" you pay for it. I didn't like spending that money, but it was WELL spent. I've wasted more on lesser junk.

Here we go with part 2. Now it's easy to note, that I'm not a professional as the cleaning equipment is only... ehm... semi-professional. Special treatment for the balance and the pallet fork. The equipment for oiling and grease. Inserting the new mainspring. Reassembling the train bridge. Surprise: Much easier than on other watches, the parts fall into correct positions by themselves. Nice. Barrel bridge and ratchet system. The keyless works. Assembling and oiling the Pallet fork. The return of the balance. A drop of oil for the balance and escape wheel stones. Winding up and...it runs! Oops, some adjustment needed. Better. Reassembling the automatic device. Inserting the screws for movement and dial. Time for the cannon pinion and the hour wheel. Bringing back dial and hands (oh, I love those Maxi dials). Back in the case... ...and completed with the automatic device. Some grease for the gasket. Got it. It's called a wrist watch, so it's for the wrist not for the safe.

Try this site, get a brand new Seagull Chrono mvt for US$132.00, cheaper than buying a clapped out chrono on eBay, for about $200 you can get a complete watch and it looks good. as has been said better to learn on a working movement and this one won't break the bank. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Seagull-TY2903-ST1903-mechanical-chronograph-movement-/271925441406?hash=item3f5004f37e Max