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Here we have a mechanical wind Timex Camper that has a broken mainspring. Over the next few days I will post pictures of its progress. So here we go -

After about 6 months of working on watches I feel I have reached a point I where its time to take stock, make plans and spend more money. here are my thoughts. The tools My original tools acquired over the first few months were: Bergeon screwdrivers 050, 080 and 160. Bergeon movement holder. A quality pair of tweezers. A loupe I had already cheap but it works fine. Rodico, oil pot Moebus 8000/4 and the red Bergeon oiler twice as I snapped the first one using it to try and remove a broken pivot. A canon pinion puller found cheaply by luck on the net. A blower A cheap and useless Presto type hand remover which I replaced with a cheap pair of lifters also useless. I am awaiting a set of Horotec ones. Cheap tools really are the false economy that people say they are. Pegwood A demagnetiser and ultrasonic cleaner I use closable 8 compartment plastic trays, one for the movement side and one for the dial side, having more than once dropped parts containers and spilt the entire disassembled watch onto the floor. The victims I really would advise against buying cheap movements as I have found them hard to work on due to poor quality. I have obtained a number of decent movements, well jewelled for a few pounds at a time with AS and ETA movements among them which are more forgiving to work on. Its worth getting two of the same movements to prrovide reference and spare parts for the bits broken and lost. Which leads on to The mistakes All the usual problems here, flying springs, snapped pivots and mangled hairsprings. Patience, practise and experience have helped reduce these. Taking photos as you go along is essential but some extra notes are needed to recollect which way up parts such as jewels go in reassembly. I have also crushed and lost parts under my hand when concentrating. The successes I have a rotary watch which I took apart and runs well all the others are in various states of disrepair. The next steps I need to fill the gaps between screwdriver sizes, add to my tweezer collection and learn to sharpen screwdriver blades. Develop a proper oiling regime with the appropriate oils. I have not done anything with mainsprings, crystals, gaskets or regulation. Any suggestions and comments most welcome.

Brass keeps the heat it doesn’t spread the heat outwards. Some people use brass filings. This is the way I used to blue screws. Remove the entire burr with a needle file and use various grade of emery, I used sticks, sometimes cloth. Wash out the screws in my old watch cleaning machine. I had an old copper penny (copper is as good as brass when it comes to heat) that was bent at an angle and held in a mini vice which was held in my bench vice. Sprit lamp underneath the penny, when the penny got hot I would put the screws one by one on the penny and blue them, as soon as the screw was blued drop it in clean oil, I used 3 in 1 this will add a shine to the screws. When all done wash them in the cleaning machine again. All nice and blued (the same colour blue for them all) ready to use when assembling the movement.

Lucky you got the right HS length on the first try, good reading on timegrapher. Congrat

I have not taken pictures - sorry normally I do but this job required 120% concentration and a lot of lateral thinking the very small pin was very difficult to remove that was holding the HS end in place. Eventually I got it moving and out, but it was not very tapered. i ended up taking ages to reshape it slightly with 2000 grit paper. it turned out it was easier to cut the HS and remove the pin then. obviously I had to estimate the bend to put back into the spring, and then shape it again slightly when back in situ and pinned. the pin was fiddly as hell to get back into place, thank god for No5 tweezers. then checked the shape of the spring again and tweak accordingly I ended up refitting the balance complete and moving the adjuster to give me a visual line for working out the orientation of the pallet jewel, taking it off and turning the collet until I was happy, did that a couple of times. overall about 4 hours

Could you tell us a bit more about the repining you did? Was there a boot-leg to be redone? I mean in theory is so simple, but practice kill us all... Some pictures would be much appreciated!

How is the amplitude? And the positional error. If those are fine, you nailed it!

I have blued hands & screws and I found the key is absolute cleanliness. To absolutely make sure after rubbing down I use methylated spirits which works great for removing all grease. The slower it is blued and the more even the heat the better.

Shortening the hairspring dose increase frequency, the problem however is, if the fault is somewhere else, you havn,t cured rather just a relief, if unsure I avoid cutting the extra length off of HS. Regards

Night two - reassembly. oil the pivots, drop in the barrel and set lever. *tip - to help hold the set lever in place I smear a little grease on the plate.

the HS, u mean

Another from the same seller as the Wenger Commando. This is a brand new, Casio Edifice Chronograph. I'm pretty sure that I'm the first person to even have it on my wrist as all of the tags were still on it including the hang tag on the bracelet. I sized the bracelet by removing 3 links. I can't find a mark on this watch anywhere. The seller purchased it, placed it in his safe and let it sit until he noticed that the battery had perished. He listed it for sale on another forum. Cost to me? $30 delivered to my door. These are excellent watches for the price. They aren't rare or collectible. Japanese movement, China 316L stainless steel case, stainless steel bracelet with deployant clasp, signed crown. It's a lot of watch for not much money.

Maybe the movement is being flexed when you attach it to the case lossen off the screws 1/4 of a turn and see what happens.