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Hello all, This build took me 2 months to finish; mostly due to the shipments delay from Europe. But here it is. A watch designed by me. Well at least put together by me. When I decided on this project it was very important to me that I used as many Swiss components as I can. This is just a personal preference. Searching for parts I found a NOS dial that at one time were used by Ollech & Wajs. I got super excited since they were used for vintage Unitas 6497s. The movement I planned to use. Speaking of which, I took a Unitas out of an old pocket watch from the early 60s. I found the perfect case for my project in Germany. As you can read on the case, it was a swiss made case also made for the Unitas. When I placed the dial on to the movement, it did not fit exactly into the case. I literally had to grind the edges using 600 grit paper until I shed enough around the edges to finally fit the movement flush. The hands finally arrived today. I chose these German made hands aviator hands as they were open blade hands. I wanted something that would allow the black of the dial come through. The Orange added a wonderful contrast. I think it all works. A watch that looks like I paid thousands for.

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The keeper plate or gear bridge may have been previously shimmed up, the shim gets washed away during the clean and you wont notice it. A bodge solution that works but you can hardly take pride in it. ALSO, I take another look at cap jewels on both side, are they flat or concave,if flat a concave one may save you the trouble of pivot shortening.Bridge lay out looks similar to fhf28, I think you may find concave cap jewels out of fhf28. As said moving end stones is a bad idea as they are known to fall off and wonder loose inside the movement in a couple of month.

You need to look at the pivot and cap 5 times before you decide to shorten the pivot. If after much examination and a good night sleep, you still feel a need to shorten the pivot, then use a Jacot tool with the right lantern and hole size on the end. Or a lathe and measure, measure, measure.

Hello everyone, today I'm showing another watch of my collection : my Lip Chronometer. Brand Lip Model Chronographe Movement 7730 Valjoux Case material Gold plated Year ? I don't know anything else about this watch, so if somebody has some infos I will be glad to hear them ! I can't do a summary of the history of Lip because the story is tooooo long. Idk if the brand Lip is known in other countries in the world, but in France Lip is a symbol. Lip is the french watch that your grand parents had, and gave to your parents etc... Lip exist since 1867, and since that date there has been some issues with the worker, even taking them to block the factory and sell the watches themselves so that it doesnt close during the quartz crisis ! If you want to know more about that brand, I suggest you to go to : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIP_(company) A. Nogues, watchmaking student.

Until I lost a few click-springs myself I never paid attention to the plastic bag technique mentioned above. Since I have used it, I haven't lost one click-spring. I cut a sandwich sized baggie down the sides, put the spring near its final place, cover it with the single layer baggie and manipulate the spring, through the plastic, with my tweezers. Works every time. Good luck. On finding getaway springs, I have used the magnetic bottom on a bolt-holding tray that is used for automotive repair. It's about 6" in diameter, with a 4" magnet on the bottom. I pass it over the area under and around my bench. And it has a very good rate of success. Good luck.

I have the eTimer escapement analyzer software and do understand the basics. However, I would like Mark, who I know has this software as I saw it in his shop review, to do an instructional video on how to properly use it for diagnostics of watch problems. A big “Please” is in order here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

OK, It is best I have found is to take as many measurements as possible from the old balance before ordering the wrong one, which I have done so many times !!!. Then use this site which gives the staff dimensions. https://www.balancestaffs.com/elgin.php Another site that is a really good source for staffs is: https://www.vintagewatchparts.net/?s=elgin&post_type=product&product_cat=0

Hello John. Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed reply to my topic. I do have a timegrapher, but seriously you don’t need it to diagnose this issue. Poor amplitude is resolved by simply slackening the escapement end stone keeper plate. Immediately this is done, amplitude is restored. As already detailed I have swapped the end sones around (dial side to balance side) no difference. If I can find the official length and tolerances for the escapement, I will bet myself it’s within specification. That means the bridge is bent down. But, I’m not going to guess, I’m going to properly ascertain the root cause. You asked how the watch came to me.... it was a non runner, not running at all and the main spring was incorrect for calibre. There are poise issues which I will tolerate for now - my learning will not happen in a day [emoji3]. Keep safe John and thank you for your helpfulness Kind regards Deggsie Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You remind me of my dads words... always measure twice and cut once. [emoji846] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello Nucejoe. This topic has really taken off again all of a sudden. My route forwards is buy another movement, exactly the same calibre, and start to swap out one-by-one the following parts:- 1. Top and bottom end stones 2. Escapement 3. Bridge One of these absolutely must correct the problem, when it does I can investigate the difference and politely identify the fault. This may not be the way forward for an expert with all the tools to his hand, but to an engineer the logical approach will certainly isolate the problem and I will learn from it. Fortunately a second ‘running’ movement will not cost the earth. Stay safe and keep well Deggsie Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

Love the rough grain suede strap, compliments the watch perfectly. I will add a bit of my own Soviet flair today. Komandirskie manual wind in a Amphibia case. The patina on the dial is almost as attractive as a blue dial would be to my eye.

Poljot 55g

Hi Knut and welcome to the asylum

A file won’t quite solve this as you will lose the jump between the 2 positions. You need to swap the set lever spring (445), for one from the list of movements here http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=X`_DXGUL ETA restricts the part, so Cousins won’t sell it, but it looks like Jukes Borel has it in stock, or you can get one from eBay. Swapping the movement complete would be an equally complex job, and more expensive.

I don't know, but I agree with @jdrichard that a jacot tool is the way to go. I haven't got a jacot tool (yet ) so I can't say for sure but as I understand it, it can be used to reduce the diameter of pivots (increase side shake), polish pivots, and shorten the length of pivots. Of course, I would expect the top of the pivot to be rounded (as a balance staff pivot) but have no idea how this would be accomplished and if the jacot tool somehow can assist with this too? Perhaps @jdrichard can enlighten us some more?

Wonderful! I dig the Washington Post!

Seconded. It's out of my budget for now, especially considering I'd also need to get a microphone and a Windows machine (or a license at a minimum). As a mechanically savvy luthier, the ability to analyze waveforms like that seems incredibly powerful.

Hi Knut - Timex really? ha ha

@Knut Welcome

Hi val. In the beginning when you're working on a movement, it really helps to take pictures as you disassemble it so you can get it back together again. As for the second movement, Check out the third or fourth wheel (intermediate wheel) and you might find the pinion spins freely (stripped from the staff). Easy to do and not realize that's where the train has come apart. It's also easy to think all the drive wheels are seated in the jewels before you screw down the bridge only to find that the whole thing grinds to a halt when you do. The most important thing right now is to develop your fine motor skills and become familiar with the parts.

I have the AF French and Bergeon Swiss screwdrivers. The AF are just as good in my opinion, and better value.

Hi I recieved in the mail today Cousins uk monthly mag It contains a section on tweezers , tools etc. I have attached a copy for your reference hope the information is usefull to you cheers screwdrivers Cousins.pdf

It appears that the jewel is "rubbed in", although in a more modern way, i.e. it looks like the steel was crimped around the jewel likely in a very automated process. That would mean the hole at the top side of the jewel is smaller than the jewel diameter- thus no chance of adjustment, although a good chance of cracking the jewel. This method if securing jewels in steel parts persisted quite some time after friction jewels became the norm, as the interference fit between steel and a jewel needs to be something like 0.002-3mm, rather than ~0.01mm for brass. With this method the opening for the jewel is made for a free fit, then the metal moved to hold the jewel, less chance of breaking the jewel and less precision needed in manufacturing.

Mayby I can bring some light into this quest. The Original partnumber for this one is 289852 which is ETAs way to say it is equivalent to CS 78004.231 The Novodiac springs at cousine comes labeled as 231,232,240. So 78004.231 might be = 231 = 1.65 mm. Someone might actually orderd a bunch and can confirm this elaborate theory...

I saw this video in my youtube feed too. I just thought: nope. Even if it did look good, I'm bound to make a mess! And then there's the moment in the restaurant when the oil leaks out all over the table...

That is because it's over £25, so tracked shipping is made mandatory as explained above. If items prices allows you can save by splitting the order and select "untracked", which invariably gets there in a week or less.

I saw the video, which inspired me to maybe try it as well. I was just wondering if someone had any experience with hydro-modding a timex Mk1 Aluminum. And whether it might have a bad effect on the acrylic crystal?