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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/17/18 in all areas

  1. I just thought I'd share this as it may be useful for another learner. By far the most difficult thing I've come across starting out in watch repair has been correcting bends in hairsprings. I've got the right tools, the right light, a powerful eye glass and a pile of scrap watches I've been practicing on. But I found time after time I was just making the hairsprings worse. I think part of my problem is that I'm slightly dyslexic and I find looking at the spiral really confusing sometimes. But I had a bit of break through last weekend which has dramatically improved my technique. Quite simply, I hold my eye glass up to my iPhone lens and take a close up picture of the hair spring. I then make a cup of tea and sit and look at the photo, zoom right the way in and really think about what I'm going to do. This is so much more effective than hunching over the hairspring and straining my eyes for long periods and losing patience. Once I've really thought about what I'm going to do, I go back to the hairspring with a clear strategy, ie, slight bend in, fourth from the centre at 3 o'clock. I apply the bend, take another picture and repeat. I know it sounds simple, but it's been a huge help to me and I'm finally having success
    5 points
  2. Looking at the data sheets, these indicate that the main ingredients are :- Trizinc bis(0rthophosphate) often called Zinc Phosphate - This is probably used as a corrosion inhibitor. Zinc Oxide - This is probably the carrier for the oil in this grease which could well be a 'white oil' ala liquid paraffin or synthetic oil. This is often used in skin creams and for automotive applications where a white grease is required for a 'clean' effect, and can be bought in these forms. Molybdenum Di-sulphide - This is a 'dry lubricant' which will tend to plate out on the surfaces and works by shearing when a level of load is achieved. Asphalt - This is possibly being used as a tacky/adhesiveness agent or as an extra thickener. Technically it sounds bewildering but these ingredients can be readily sourced. Obviously the proportions and manufacturing processes will define the finished product !!!!! Why so expensive ? Perhaps very small batches = very high manufacturing costs, and a heap of R&D and marketing/branding costs. These are my personal thoughts and I do not claim to offer professional advice or belittle the product.
    1 point
  3. Hi Guys finally got the sensor for the Horotec and got back on the job. The watch was dismantled again and cleaned, everything inspected under the digi scope and lo and behold the centre wheel has some teeth damaged caused when the spring broke, the wheel was replaced and the watch reassembled without lubrication firstly to check the amp. The amp is now upto 300+ Deg on watch o scope and the horotec, Beat error 0.03ms so lubed it up It is now running ok so left for a 24 hr test. RESULT. thanks for the input,
    1 point
  4. Hello All, New member here. This is my first post. I just recently got into watch collecting. I am wanting to venture into watch repair. I love the mechanics of how a watch works and the craftsmanship that goes into a watch
    1 point
  5. When it comes to H/S manipulation putting the spring on a white sheet of paper helps all to better see what the hell they are doing, are you putting us on? Even this fellow sees better what he ate , if put on a white sheet of paper. ha ha Regards joe
    1 point
  6. Like endeavor said; Some cover plates have a sort of spring to push on the clutch lever so to keep the clutch lever from jumping out of the clutch groove, however, the diagram he provided lacks the spring he talks about( very unusal coverplate) , the picture ranfft provides dose show . Show us the picture of the cover plate in your movement, If it dose have the said spring, I will mark it on the picture, we will discuss simple proceedure to bend the said spring to enhance it for keeping the clutch lever from jumping out. I will then hand draw some sketch showing positions the right stem show have, in very pariticulare the postion of stem groove. You are most welcome cduke, I awaiting to see the picture of the fixed watch on your wrist. Regards joe
    1 point
  7. I have heard people that are dyslexic find different colour can help. Have you tried that? I think what you are doing is a great way. If it helps you than keep up, the good work
    1 point
  8. from what I can see the 1182 is not very much different from an eta 1080. you can buy old neglected examples of these all day long as cheap as stinking mackerel on the internet.They might prove a very good way for you to learn your way around , and probably a good source of parts for this tudor... I am not 100% sure of parts interchange. BUT, I would say that the probability is good.
    1 point
  9. Vpn too is a moke here. I am rather experience with hairspring manipulation, to think how less painstaking it would be using USB microscopes is discusting. Your method is smart, making use of what is at most every body's disposal. Regards joe.
    1 point
  10. the screw can easily be backed out too far, to the point where it comes out of the lever. at that point you have to remove the face hold the lever down and tighten the screw. all things done gently!!!!!
    1 point
  11. No , the face has nothing to do with set/ wind works. All stem functins are totally independent and free of the face.You should visually test/check all functions with the face removed. The set lever pin is to remain in stems groove in all stem positins. Once the set lever screw is tightened, the set lever is to move freely for each function setting, it should be level in all stem positions, not rub/scrtch on mainplate. Regards joe
    1 point
  12. Happy to explain and you're at no risk of appearing stupid - none of us were born knowing this stuff. Forget about whitworth, metric etc for sec, they are just convention. Start with what defines a thread. Its a helical shaped groove and Its defining properties are 1) its pitch 2) its diameter and 3) its thread form. Pitch is the distance between crests, diameter is the diameter and form is the shape of the groove. There is more like direction, tapers on pipe threads, multistart threads, class of fit etc but just worry about those main three for now. A thread is a rather useless thing unless it properly mates with another. We can single point a thread of any pitch, diameter and form (and sometimes we need to), however since the whole point of a thread is to mate with something, the majority of threads we encounter today are done to some standard. The standard defines the three things; pitch, diameter and thread form. So if one plant makes the tap and other makes the bolt, the bolt fits the tapped hole. A 1/4" National fine thread is a 1/4" major diameter, a pitch of 28 tpi (actually that is the thread count, but in the vernacular its called the pitch as one is function of other: thread pitch - 1/thread count) and a form that is 60 degrees. An M8 - 1.0 is an 8mm major diameter, pitch of 1mm (distance between crests) and 60 degree form. There are many different standards, maybe hundreds, but all it is is convention, a standard defining those three things, pitch, dia and form. There is no law that if I make a product it has to follow convention. Too bad perhaps for lathe collets, one standard size would have been nice. The maker of your lathe made the thread 40 tpi and 5.5mm OD, likely not to any convention (they did that back in the early days, each lathe maker coming up with their own collets). Their collets fit their drawbar, all they thought necessary. More recently made stuff will almost for sure be to some standard (there are dozens maybe hundreds of standards), but it doesn't have to be to a standard....and the odds of an odd thread increase when you go back in time. What is it? Could well be a hybrid never seen before or again. All we know for sure is it has the three defining characteristics: a pitch diameter and form. Where does Whitworth and your gauge come into it? Whitworth is just one of hundreds of standards - a convention of diameter, pitch and thread form usually in a series. Unified National Coarse, Unified National Fine, Metric, Acme, BA, etc. One of the threads in the Whitworth series is 1/8" diameter x 40 tpi. The thread form for Whitworth is 55 degrees with highly rounded crests and valleys. All just convention. What your gauge actually measured was 40tpi pitch. For example, put your gauge against a #6 UNF bolt, which is also 40 tpi,and it will fit like it did the collet. But doesn't make the #6 screw a Whitworth, its still and UNF with a different diameter and slightly different thread form (55 vs 60 degrees, at 40tpi that might be visible with a loupe, ie the 55 gauge not perfectly fitting a 60 degree thread) SO....a thread standard like Whitworth is defined (basically) by three things diameter, pitch and form. Your gauge measures one of these tpi (or pitch). Your collet happens to have the same pitch, 40 tpi as a 40tpi x 1/8" Whitworth, but this is the extent of it, they just have the same pitch. For your collet to be a Whitworth thread (which its not) it would have also have the same diameter (for 40 tpi W = 1/8") and thread form. Its like if you had a set of Mack truck colour paint chips, and you spotted a BMW the exact same colour....the paint chips let you identify the colour (or the pitch of 40tpi) but it doesn't mean its a Mack truck. Ask away if not clear
    1 point
  13. Re. the screw filing ... could this be of interest: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Bergeon-No-1999-Watchmakers-Tool-Filing-Balance-Screws/312264313157... ?
    1 point
  14. When you mentioned bronze I called a friend who makes clocks to verify something? I had seen a reference before to someone else who made a clock and they used bronze for the plates because it be really really hard. Unfortunately the bronze they picked wasn't suitable for plates and cause the Pivots to disintegrate. So you just have to be careful that you picked the right bronze suitable for bushings. Then you may not actually have to use bronze at all? If you look up the age of the watch it's roughly 50 years old so it's taken a very long time to wear out its brass bushings. So at a 50 year replacement interval brass should work just fine. Especially if you drill the holes undersize and use a smoothing broach to harden the inside of the hole. Then the other thing is you do need to verify that the pivots that go in the holes are not rough.
    1 point
  15. Thanks Joe, What happened is that the watch stem, which I believe to be original was properly fitted in the watch, however the stem collar was stripped. I replaced the collar but apparently did not remove the stem while in time set position but rather in winding position. When I went to reinsert the stem, it would not go in all the way as it had before. This movement must be sensitive to this issue as Endeavor so kindly pointed out. With the watch face off, I was able to trip the lever back to time set mode and inserted the stem to see that time set was possible, however after reassembling the watch, it must have gotten tripped out of position again. I will again remove the face and try next time to assemble the watch without tripping the mechanism. Does this make sense to you? I want to avoid getting in the keyless works if at all possible. This is above my pay grade.
    1 point
  16. Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum. Members on this forum use this supplier a lot. https://www.cousinsuk.com/ I always advice people that want to start up in horology to spend what you can afford. Buy cheap and they won’t last. Good tools will last you a lifetime providing you look after them. Here are few of what I had and I still have them today even though I retired from watch and clock making years ago. Dumont tweezers Bergeon screwdrivers Eyeglass you will need various strengths Case knife I would also recommend starting on a pocket watch, there a lot bigger but are very similar to a bog standard wristwatch. Just practice taking it apart and putting it back, it doesn’t matter about getting it going. Get to know the names of the parts. This will give you good practice in managing to use your eyeglass, tweezers and screwdrivers. Don’t touch fusee pocket watches, as these are very different to what I call normal pocket watches.
    1 point
  17. Huge selection on ebay. Don't believe the magnification claims I recommend getting one with a stand that holds it vertical.
    1 point
  18. Good work. Looks like digi microscopes are great tools, I am planing to get me one.any advice?
    1 point
  19. Here's one of my latest restorations ,....this one was stubborn to get running consistently . Seiko 6106-8060 Sea Lion.....
    1 point
  20. Latest restoration today - well actually it is built with mostly all NOS parts except for the case and case back.
    1 point
  21. Fellin' Good this morning so I'll go with my Max Bill design Jungians Automatic...
    1 point
  22. i figured it out. the date wheel i had was just not fitting as well as it could. i took some 1000 grit sandpaper to the spokes and to the bottom to remove any hint of flashing and it fit much better. all put back together now and working great.
    1 point
  23. Honestly, for jewels I think you need a microscope. That's what I would use and I do plan on buying one soon. You can find cheap usb microscopes for as little as 10$ and they seem good. They don't have a very high resolution but still usable.
    1 point
  24. I was asked to have a look at this family heirloom just handed to me from a friend of a friend as it was not working and they thought it may have some value. The quality of the movement did not inspire, to say nothing of the identity of the watch !!! As I had never done a pin-lever before I decided to have a go and get it running again. On inspection I found it be in reasonable condition but very dry and the balance was very stiff and not working. Once the balance and lever were out all ran freely, so I reckoned a good clean and lube would solve the problem. For those interested I have done a walk-through for the assembly as the strip-down is just the reverse basically. After a good clean of all the parts in lighter fuel (I'm only a hobbyist) and a strip and relube of the mainspring, the assembly followed First the gear train, block for stem gears and intermediate wheel were assembled and lubed Next the barrel was installed (sorry for quality of pic) Then the train wheel bridge/plate was added and checked for free running from barrel to escape wheel, and lubed The keyless works are added and lubed, note the yoke also acts as a spring against the setting lever and action checked The winding wheels and the unusual click spring are added and lubed and action checked. I forgot to take pic of this next stage but the assembly can be seen in the dial fitting below. The pin-lever was added and checked for kick The pins and escape wheel where epilame treated and oiled with M941, and the fork was wiped with M941 on a wedged end of pegwood, this is because they are all metal to metal contacts. Even the balance table jewel is metal !! The balance was added, lubed and checked for function. There are no balance pivot jewels (in fact there are no jewels at all !!!) just holes in the main plate and balance cock. The holes lie under the round plate on the mainplate and the regulator on the balance cock. These were removed/lifted to lube with M9010, the cock plate being a bit tricky/delicate. The canon pinion was added and lubed. This is not a friction fit but is driven by the intermediate wheel. The minute wheel and dial washer are added and lubed The dial has split posts which are just spread open (what technology !!) so this was fitted very carefully so as to avoid damaging the balance or lever which are very close by as shown in pics Stuck in on my timegrapher which showed a very noisy trace (not surprisingly) but managed to get it reasonably regulated despite iffy beat error and rates in some positions. I aimed at a reasonable rate when worn and it actually keeps fairly good time within 1 minute a day on average. The hands are fitted, and the movement put into the case-back and case-top/bracelet are refitted. AND NOW I CAN REVEAL THE IDENTITY OF THIS HIGH END WATCH Yes its a really awful 1970's fake !!!! So no family fortune here then !!
    1 point
  25. Good question :) I have this saved on my computer and i printed it out on the printer . Have you guys and girls seen it before ? .http://www.bhi.co.uk/Documents/certificate/Tech/PractLub.pdf
    1 point
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