Leaderboard

I bought a nice vintage chronograph watch with a 7733. Nothing fancy but the watch was just appealing to me and a good start in jumping into the topic of servicing a chronograph. So far I did only one, which was a Heuer pocket watch. So I wanted to open the case back with a very trusty old stainless steel opener called Vari-Matic. It did not open, when I tried to clamp the case into a vice and use force with both hands... the HANDLE of the steel opening tool was breaking away! Watch still closed ! I was desperate and after a while chatting with a friend working on cars he explained me that he was wielding nuts to cracked parts to use a ratchet..hmmm..ok wielding might not be feasible but i was trying it with superglue. I took a 23 sized nut sanded it flat an glued it on the back using superglue and let it sit for a couple of hours over night. This is how it looks like: Next i clamped everything in my large vise and used the ratchet: Voila it was open: And the best thing was that i did not even need massive heat to remove the superglue but dropped the nut and caseback into acetone for about 3 hours and it was gone. No residue just wiping of the back. See the pic below.....now i can service this watch. I hope this helps someone if he has no other option beside damaging the watch - give it a try - it worked perfectly. Am I nuts or are there others out there doing this?

I've been a mechanical watch fan for decades and would like to know more about maintaining and repairing them. This forum is the best thing I have found on the internet and I'm looking forward to learning more about this fascinating hobby. I'm in the process of acquiring the necessary tools and a practice movement and will begin the course work shortly. I can't wait. I'm a retired electrical engineer (hence my login name) who loves taking things apart to understand how they work. My current collection is only one watch, a Ball Engineer II Ohio, but I hope to be adding to that very soon. Dave

With Long case clocks they are under considerable force by their weights. It is normally wear that will cause them to stop. So you look for wear in the wheel holes and wear to the pivots and the pallet faces. It is extremely dirty and dry due to lack of oil. The lines need replacing. Sorry I do not give recommendations on who could repair clocks.

These Longcases clocks with painted dials are called White Dial Clocks. The hood of this one has what is called a swan neck, pillars going up the side of the case with a decretive full door. A well-proportioned case. The bottom part of the trunk (red arrow) looks a different colour wood to the rest of the case, it might be the photo, if not then this has received repairs. It is not unusual to find the bottoms missing, in those days it would have been standing on a stone slab floor, the floor would be washed with a bucket of water and the bottoms would turn rotten due to the wet. The movement is a four-pillar movement with rack striking and runs for 8 days. It has an anchor escapement and strikes on a bell. The style of the clock pillars are from around the 1800, the same applies to the hands. The dial is well painted and shows good detail, it has breaks in the painted corners so they do not run into one another from the tops to the bottoms, This means it is not from the very late 1800 but from the early part of 1800. So we know the movement, dial and case are correct. The seconds on this dial tells me it is no later than 1830. I for got to post the picture. Here it is.

#24 parts on left and #25 on right.

Beautiful job, I've done it myself several times. You get -1 demerit for leaving out one important detail.....You neglected to post a picture of the movement! J

Can anyone help me in identifying and valuing this pocket watch? I’m baffled about its origin. Thanks.

Hello everyone, I'm thinking about starting watch repair and servicing as a hobby and this looks like the best place to get some tips. I've just bought a Revue Thommen Diver's watch and was thinking / hoping that in a couple of years I might be able to give it its first service - am I being too ambitious? I've looked at courses specifically the BHI Technician and the TimeZone ones but can't decide if it would be just as easy to learn from a book? The BHI course is quite expensive and the TZ one seems to get poor reviews! Is it worth joining the BHI? Sorry for all the questions, grateful for any comments. Regards Bob