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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/13/19 in all areas

  1. It is for Barrels. Here is a photo of the type I had. The top gaps and bottom are for the width of the m/springs.
    5 points
  2. If it runs fine dial up but doesn't dial down high probability the balance jewel on the dial side is dirty. You need to clean/oil that again. Another issue you can check is if the hairspiring is out of flat. Look at the balance while installed on the movement.. it should be parallel with the balance spokes and the whole movement in general. If it is slightly tilted it will hit either the underside of the balance cock or the balance itself. This might only manifest itself in one position. Good luck. Anilv
    3 points
  3. Vintage watches tell stories. They are written in the dents, dings, scratches and wear marks we see on them. I try not to alter the story anymore than necessary when I restore them. Sometimes it can't be helped. To wit: this old Wittnauer 73 Revue. The dial was just too far gone, so I stripped it and gave it a little polish and there was a beautiful gold dial hiding under the paint. The watch value wasn't sufficient to merit a dial restoration, so I just left it alone. Either you like it or you don't, but it stays. Sort of a "Stealth Gold". The other is a beautiful old Elgin 18/0 484 that I am restoring for my oldest son. Hopefully he will wear it occasionally instead of the electronic monstrosity he currently wears as a daily. Maybe for those special dress-up affairs. RMD
    2 points
  4. Yes I know its not a complete set of jewels, but it still has a large selection of sizes and has the endstone I need to replace the broken jewel on a German WWII aircraft clock I'm working on and best of all it only cost me $80 USD plus postage. Sometimes you get lucky and stumble across a real jewel (pun intended) with a too good BIN price to say no....
    2 points
  5. Hi Nice jobs one can get over enthusiastic with the (restoration) I like to leave them with the marks they gained in life That IS the story. Restored to as new condition, well thats like triggers broom iTS HAD SIX NEW HEADS AND 4 NEW SHAFTS still the same old broom !!
    2 points
  6. Loosen the screw that holds the hairspring stud (the screw that goes in sideways) and try to move the stud up or down a bit...sometimes thats enough to get it level. Anilv
    2 points
  7. Hi guys, Managed to snag a watch that's been on my wish list for the last few years.... a Zodiac Astrographic, It has the original band but a few mismatched links have been added. The band reminds me of the ones found on Rado watches of the period (NSA) down to the sprung clasp. The crystal has been polished... but its still a bit dull... looks like the did the coarse polish but forgot the finee grades. Will need to work on that and see if I can improve it, these crystals are not easy to get hold of and cost a bomb when they do come up for sale. The case has also been polished and has lost the radial brushing which is a big part of the attractiveness of these watches..I am not able to replicate that so it has to stay polished! The watch keeps time well.. (+4 secs/day) but I may open it up and give it a service anyway, these hi-beat movements need to be kept clean with fresh oil or they will wear out pretty fast. Not so much because of the high frequency but more because the mainspring is stronger than normal and this puts a lot of stress on the train. Here's some pictures. Anilv
    2 points
  8. Depends on how badly rusted, pictures would be better. Most stuff is repairable, but what it needs is hard to say. Be a shame to spoil it with a quartz.
    1 point
  9. I have been a member of the group in Facebook for a couple of weeks and decided to register here as well. I am sure that I can find good advice to beginners. Attached the tools I have just received from Cousins UK to open hostilities
    1 point
  10. Hi guys, I buy a lot of old watchmaker's tools and yesterday I got another 15 kg worth of old treasures There's one that I don't recognize though. It looks like a brass plate and it has circles with numbers in them on both sides. Does any of you know what this is? Best, Melvin
    1 point
  11. Hello and thanks for having, no wait...not knowing you invited me to join this forum. I have been a watch collector since I got my first watch in 1978 when I was 8 years old. It was a Mickey Mouse watch and I immediately fell in love with watches. I’ve owned hundreds of watches over the years, but I’ve traded, sold, lost, broke, all but what makes up my current collection. I mostly traded or sold many of my watches because as much as I’d like to be a centipede and be able to wear them all, I simply cannot. So now I’m down to a mildly responsible assortment, though there are still quite a few on my radar. Seiko is my favorite brand and I’m particularly fond of the late 60’s to the mid 80’s era of Seiko offerings. My collection isn’t full of Seiko watches, it’s well spread out. What I am most excited about is after all these years of looking up repair tips, I finally found a place that has the answers. I have one pressing question that led me to join, but I am also in the midst of repairing some others and I’m thrilled I have a place to get some help, and maybe offer some too. Anyway, greetings once again and I look forward to meeting as many of y’all as possible.
    1 point
  12. Hello everyone. Thank you for accepting me as a member. I like all types of watches and clocks and am mostly interested in ones with mechanical movements. I have taken a few apart and put them back together and some of them are even working. I am looking forward to share and learn.
    1 point
  13. 1 point
  14. What price can you put on your health
    1 point
  15. Did you remove jewels to clean? Peg the jewels? How do you know if all dirt is removed? I guess not. If you will, just drop some naphta on top of both shock springs, and fork pivots. you are likely to witness excellent amplitude, whcih means jewels are not clean enough. If the cause of poor amplitude is not found right there, we move onto checking other possible causes, like impulse not in beat, HS rubbing etc. Regards joe.
    1 point
  16. I agree that Dumet isn't the cheapest. It's probably not really suitable for a non-professional watchmaker.
    1 point
  17. Thanks very much for the offer! I did get a quote from Dumet, which was reasonable, but the used bench worked out a lot cheaper.
    1 point
  18. Hello all Thanks to all the constructive advices - I removed the pallet fork (no lubrication in the top/botton jewel, but moebius 9415 for pallet stones on the way) and installed the balance and it has the same slow swing rate. I re-cleaned the diashock jewels in isopropylalcohol (any better cleaning alternative)?. Now it´s swinging freely and much better! + - max 10 sec per day when laying down but loosing 1.5 minute per when upside down according to my clock tuner app. I think the hairspring is few degrees out of level, see attached image.
    1 point
  19. I already mentioned Dumet to our friend @JBerry Bud Jan had problems with his website, so the quote question came in very late, don't know if hé answer yet. Prices starting from about 1250 euro ex VAT ex transportation. ( He bring the bench to you and put it together ) If you want prices, just let me know what you want, I have login's fo manny suppliers.
    1 point
  20. Found brac107, drop me your address with the list of parts you need. Best wishes
    1 point
  21. At a young age my father explained that swear words were actually incantations passed down to us from the druids ,they were only outlawed by the church because they worked. I suggest waiting until the full moon to adjust the stone.Or out of an abundance of caution until the autumnal equinox.
    1 point
  22. Gentle tap with pegwood might do the trick
    1 point
  23. Thank you very much... I hope to make a lot of happy...
    1 point
  24. Hi and welcome to the happy factory
    1 point
  25. Do you have a jeweling tool to adjust the height of the jewel? I would think it should be flush with the mainplate
    1 point
  26. CousinsUK quoted me £250 just for shipping on the Durston bench! So I started looking at other options... Just bought this bench on eBay from Germany! Absolutely delighted with the find
    1 point
  27. If you remove the pallet fork, and put balance back in, does the balance run freely. I had a similar problem with one of Jewels to the Balance Wheel was dirty, even though looked fine at a glance.
    1 point
  28. Probably not directly related to the lack of amplitude you're experiencing, but if you are talking here about the balance wheel I recomend you not to use alcohol to clean it nor the pallet fork, as it might melt the shellac that glue the impulse jewel and the pallet stones in place. Low amplitude can be caused by quite a few things as others have mentioned, also wear or faulty pivots, dirt or improper oiling. I hope you didn't oiled the pallet pivots/jewels, did you?
    1 point
  29. Works on this project are done. Here're the results below. It's my second project of the 8110A movement. I am very impressed about japanese design and engineering. What was done: - dissambly movement, cleaning, oiling - repaint bezel and fit new glass - repaint all hands -relume hands - new gaskets and springs for the pushers - new signed crown - little case polishing - assemble Now it's time to enjoy and wear it on the wrist. I'm verry happy cause this watch is small timepiece which fits to my narrow wrist just fantastic. Cheers
    1 point
  30. Check ths staffs endshake, endstones may be pushing on pivots. Observe the hairspring from the movemsnts side view, see if it rubbing, fouling itself , , , the coil should be level, concentric. Regards joe
    1 point
  31. Thank you, and sure... first I used cotton buds to very gently wipe dirt off the dial face. Then, for the metal hour markers at 12,3,6,9 a little simichrome was used with a cotton bud. I had to be super gentle through the process.
    1 point
  32. 1 point
  33. I have found that many ETA calibres have no release button but the screw beside the stem needs to be loosened a turn or so...but just until the stem is released. I suggest being very careful of pushing on anything if there's no embossed arrow pointing at it...the electronic circuits are easy to damage. Sent from my BBF100-2 using Tapatalk
    1 point
  34. Yes, the pin actually started out as the pin that holds a door in its hinge. Then I used this style of pipe cutter to add the two grooves in the pin. I do not have all of the correct tools I made the mistake of using one that was brass plated steel. Why is this bad? The steel can become magnetized and in turn magnetize your watch. Where are you located? If you are in the US and somehow have a hard time finding brass rod (it's pretty cheap), I can send you a 6" piece if you want to cover shipping cost.
    1 point
  35. UPDATE: The seller has since refunded me for the faulty machine! ...lesson learnt I think.
    1 point
  36. Hello very recently I decided to purchase direct from the manufacturers a Janta / Pearl watch cleaning machine having read a few comments online with users saying they were ok. I checked the site out and it says the machines are all tested before dispatch. I received mine and it arrived dead on arrival. No damage - just not working. So I just checked over for loose wires and quickly decided I needed an expert to look at it. The conclusion from a qualified electrical engineer is that it is actually dangerous for several different reasons and ought not to be sold in this country. Mine sadly has a heap of problems, just very poorly made from top to bottom. The seller (director of the company ) hilariously just kept telling me to hit it with a hammer! I bought it for approx £400 and never have I felt so ripped off. The seller will not help and has stopped communicating and so now I am trying to claim through PayPal (wish me luck!) I will keep you updated with another more in depth post with photos in the coming weeks showing this embarrassing mess - but to those guys still reading that have one of these machines please be SUPER CAREFUL when using it there are parts very easily accessible to fingers that are wired to mains voltage without any wraps or shielding !! James L.
    1 point
  37. Hi, i have been repairing watches for some forty years now, and still going strong, I have spares for watches in use before I was born, boy do i feel old !!
    0 points
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