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Hello all. I’m Graham from The Cambridgeshire/Suffolk boarder and have found this forum whilst doing a little research on clock repairs. A quick rundown, served redundancy notice at the beginning of the month following 35 years at my job. I need a change so have decided to look into clock and watch repairs and renovations. Mostly clocks which has led me to looking into the BHI distance learning course. Have had an interest in time pieces for years and have always enjoyed pulling apart and rebuilding things. I have around 20/30 old record players in various states of repair including old Garrards which fit in quite nicely here. Im currently servicing my first Smiths mantle clock that was given to me as a junk piece to get started on. Lovely piece with a Westminster chime. Just waiting on a few tools to arrive and some clock oil to finish off but from a dead scruffy old box to a cleaned beauty with a now working clock it has been a joy. Anyhoo hope to to join in whenever I’m able and looking forward to getting some valuable advice from you guys.

The arm is used as a guide. Take a look at this short video. The calipers are not the same as yours but it shows you what I mean.

The winding keys/knobs come off opposite whichever direction they wind. The setting knobs are almost always pressed on, unless you see a screw in the center. These pull off with firm force. If they're really hard, you can use a table fork as a lever with some plastic to protect the back.

Hi The dreaded knobs, The winding knob is usually screwed on with a LH thread the hand set knob is usually the split stem type, Have worked on a few of these and have some in my collection as examples of clock they are fiddly things but still repairable to me a clock is an ornament unless it works thats any clock regardless of pedigree worth repairing although of little commercial value

There is always enough residual dirt around the rim of the back plate, no short supply of dirt, So prior to removal of the back one should brush the rim, repeat half way openned and use bulb air blower to blow the dirt off. As for now, you should try to blow the movement clean, easy on HS and strong elsewhere . Best to take the movement out since dirt can get blown to the other side and on dial plate, also wash the case and demagnetize the movement when it is out of the case.

It should not be too dirty, but a speck of dirt in the wrong place can cause trouble.

Don't overlook the fact that the first watch was 14K and with the spot price of gold above $1300USD/ounce, that's a significant part of the expected sales price. It's only a personal preference but I prefer stainless steel over gold. Much more durable and after all, I'm purchasing a watch, not a piece of jewelry. That said, I like your second selection very much. It's a good example of a watch that's meant to be worn daily. If you're going to service it anyhow, then the gaskets in need of replacement aren't any issue at all. The minor amount of rust on the stem can be cleaned off or the stem replaced, whichever serves your purpose best. Set yourself a budget, bid, and either enjoy your new purchase or walk away and wait for another opportunity. Omega watches have been sold by the bazillions and they aren't in the least scarce. At least not the vintage mechanical wind versions. Just my 2 cents worth!

I would ask the seller about the health of dial feet, are both feet there? and in good shape, if dial is glued on the movement or he dosn,t know, I look into the next watch for sale, you are not buying glue rather a watch. The face appears much less questionable on this one, chances are so would the rest turn out to be. I didn,t get the size, obveously larger size Gents watches are more valuable. I buy one I can return.

The movement is in extremely good condition. I always look at the screw heads and they are all perfect, no marks on the plates. It probably has never been serviced. The case is a different matter, someone has said the case has had engraving removed and I agree, you do not know how thick or thin that back is and some very nasty marks due to removing the back. Looking at the market price and the damage done I would say around £700

I got this for you from cousins 3355_C6119,C0293.pdf

I disapprove on account of the dial paint, it's not shiny, dull, I would pay more for something you can enjoy the admirable glory and radiance of the dial of, The selling hallmark of this era and swiss painted the best. Dull paint also evidences moisture dammage, says the movement too has undoubtedly suffered. Apart from the gold, I would appraise the watch aprox at 40% of like new dial and would run where there is one on sale. Best wishes joe.

The only thing I would be worried about is that the case back looks like it may have had engraving on and has been ground down the wear is inconsistent to the rest of the watch if you look. The problem would be how far has it been ground down and how thick is the case back now.

It gets better, I hadn't spotted that the ultrasonics use a good old fashioned valve based oscillator. High voltages, messy chemicals, and the kind of noises that upset the next door neighbour's dog. What's not to like?

Nice! ... However if that turned up in my living room, it would most likely result in instant divorce.

Its as safe as houses to use the three jaw chuck to hold clock wheels. I prefer that to the collets. Yes that is the collet holder. Be careful of poor imitations from such countries as India and China. Watch out for high postage costs if you buy from the U S A.

That looks pretty good. Take a look at the guide HSL linked above, it gives a bunch of very useful tips. Did you remove the jewels prior to plating, or leave them in situ to avoid the holes from closing due to the plating solution? I suspect that leaving them in, but blanking them off with a wax plug to avoid any unwanted reactions or contamination might be a good option.

Copper plating turned out well on the main plate. Thanks for the acetone tip. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

It's so impractical to do it makes no sense. If you want better positional rates than poising alone can give then dynamic poising comes in.

I have a selection of the unimat collets and use the unimat collet holder. I do tend to use the three-jaw chuck a lot, not so much the four Jaw.

yes, not so easy on the unimats. The U3 is going to be great for clocks but doesn't serve the same function of a watchmakers lathe, at least collet wise. There is a spindle mounted (screws on like any other chuck) ER style chuck you can get as an accessory. I've got one, it works, but while ER collets are great for holding tools, they're less so for work holding. With the older db200 unimats there was a ww spindle accessory, basically you swapped spindles out for it. They're somewhat rare, I've not seen one, and it won't work with the U3. Spindles for the db200 are magneto bearings in a tube, the whole tube is easy to swap by loosening a clamp whereas the U3 is deep groove ball bearings contained with the headstock casting with snap rings and bellville washers - not swapable. (Still, you got the better lathe, by a good margin imo). For concentric work, turn between centres or dial it in in the four jaw. The 3 jaw is also a good little chuck with not too much run out

Hi All, Thank you to OldHippy for all the help and advice and to Nicksilver and Vinn3. All the help was much appreciated. I have now collected my lovely old Unimat3 lathe, well please with it, all that is needed is a repaint. It was full of metal shavings, etc, I gave it a good clean out, I will strip it later and repaint to tidy it up a tad. The Unimat3 that I got, has the improved drive in the way suggested many years ago by Rex Tingey?, in that the supplied motors on both lathe and vertical column have been replaced by powerful dc motors using toothed belt drive..I must say it works very well, I got some extras with it, including 2 more brand new dc motors, a speed controller spare belts and the original Unimat drive pulley. I have had a little play with it and considering I have not used one before, pleased with what I have achieved, I have made my bush for my contrate wheel, a couple of new tommy bars as the old ones were a bit tired, and a couple of drill centres, apart from the tommy bars, rest made out of recycled clock parts!!!. Now on my way to restoring my Chiming carriage clock..Need to sort out the platform next before I strip and clean. Once again thank you all for the help and advice.. Len

While out shopping last week, I stopped in at my local Goodwill Industries store and browsed their watches. For non-US residents, Goodwill is a business that provides work training and employment for handicapped individuals. They fund a lot of their programs by accepting donations of everything from clothing to furniture to jewelry and then selling it in one of their stores. It's a great place to pick up an odd bargain plus, it helps the community. I was delighted to spot a Seiko perpetual date 8F32-0019 on display. It was offered for $21 as it wasn't working. It hasn't been two weeks since I viewed Mark's excellent YouTube video about how to change the battery in one of these watches, then reprogram it. I bought it and brought it home. To begin with, this particular example was manufactured in May, 1998 which places it near the end of the product cycle. That caliber has been discontinued for some time now. This particular watch was a game premium at the Big XII football championship which was sponsored by Dr. Pepper, a soft drink brand. They were given to each team member, coaching staff, trainers, important alumni, etc. What makes this one unique is that it was never worn. That's right! Whomever receive it placed it on a shelf in the closet where the battery (10 year battery life on this model) died and the watch lost its program. It was donated recently to Goodwill where I found it. I replaced the CR2014 coin cell battery, then reprogrammed it according to Mark's instructions. Thank you Mark. The inside of the watch was basically untouched. At some point, the company that supplied the watches to Dr. Pepper removed the original dial and replaced it with the commemorative one it now sports. The only other issue noted was the date changed at 9:30 each evening instead of midnight. I suspect that whomever replaced the dial didn't bother to properly set the hands when reinstalling them. Additionally, the sweep second hand was off by half the width of 1 second. I corrected those by removing and properly reinstalling the hands. Were it not for Mark's original video, I wouldn't have had the knowledge to buy this watch, replace the battery, reprogram it and reset the hands. This is an absolute little jewel of a watch. Additionally, since it operates at 196 Khz instead of the more usual 32768 Hz, these models are incredibly accurate. The factory spec for a model of this type that is worn 12 hours/day is +/- 10 seconds/year. Wow!