Leaderboard

Hi All- I just rescued a lot of old watch making tools and supplies. I don't know how old they are, but I'm guessing pre 1960 based on some box dates I found. My mom was friends with an old guy that passed away. His children had a garage sale and sold a lot of his stuff. For some reason no one touched his watch making desk and tools. They were going to throw it away, but my mom asked if I wanted it. YES!!! I don't have an interest in watchmaking, but I do have huge respect for the types of trades that are slowing leaving us as these craftsman pass away. I also love old tools in general. I'd like to post up pictures here to get an understanding of what some of these tools are. Sadly, I have no room for his old desk. Here are some of the tools, I have lots more. Thanks, Chris

China ML7102 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello everyone. I started watch collecting just a few months ago, and I'm loving it so far. I've made myself into a decent starting kit to maintain, and maybe in the future even mod some of my watches. I'm using some cheap'ish tools I found in Amazon and eBay, I know I'll need to invest in better gear as I get more into serious modding, but for the time, I think I can manage. At least I got a Bergeon spring bar tool, which seems to be the must have. So, I already got a few homages from Aliexpress and eBay, most of them have popular movements, like Miyota 8215, Seagull ST1612 and Mingzhu DG2813. And I'm very happy with those. They seem to be pretty reliable and precise. The Miyota spinning rotor is driving me nuts, but that's the extent of my grieves. Until today that my brand new Corgeut Spectre homage arrived, which I was waiting for so long since is one of my favorite Bond designs. Is so beautiful and works great, but it has one annoying issue. It came with a Seagull ST1612, and apparently there is something wrong with the date wheel, or the movement itself. Some days are completely out of wack, like today the 27th, for example, but others are dead center. There are like two waves, from 7-13 are off and then from 23-29. The rest are centered. Any idea what might be happening here? I'm still waiting for the Corgeut Aliexpress store to come back to me and see if they will honor the warranty and send me a new one, or just a new movement, I feel pretty confident to swap the movement myself. As I mentioned, I have all the tools and know how to use them. I made a quick video of the issue: https://youtu.be/plTyZ0qAWaA Thanks for the help!

I got around to doing the "glamour-shots" photography of this watch. I love it. Thanks all for walking me through the caseback opening process, and encouraging me to work through a local/DIY solution rather than sending it to the Zenith factory for an expensive and lengthy repair.

The problem appears to have been fixed by the barrel clean and grease with 8217. Went walking today for 2 s and then for another hour later in the day while monitoring for any time gains. The watch kept good time all day without any rapids gains. Will keep an eye on this to see if the fix is permanent.

Nothing to be seen there, Seiko unlike the Swiss does not stamp in inconspicous places.

Seiko watches have their reference stamped on the caseback. Anyway you Seiko 5, just like most others, isn't worth much really. Please be aware that you wrongly posted in the section dedicated for repairers to expose their projects. Owners are welcome to post instead in the chat about watches section.

Hello and welcome to the forum If you look under the 6 O Clock marker there is a number, the first set are the model number 7xxx-xxxxxxx altenativly remove the back and look under the balance wheel or on the train bridge for the caliber number.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your reply, your welcome, and the good wishes. I'm really loving all of this already. Regarding the watch, I don't mind replacing the wheel (it might even be a good exercise) or the whole movement, so I might request Corgeut to send me a new Miyota, of if they refuse, I'll simply buy a new one a be done with it. The watch is gorgeous, it has great lume, and it screams for a crystal replacement with AR coating. Best

I'll second JDM. It's a quality control issue present in a lot of homages and cheap/fun watches from China. Welcome to the forum! I have had a great time here and learned a lot. Some of the people here are extremely knowledgeable and it's a valuable resource for me doing this professionally alongside jewelry and gemology. Hope to see you around!

Maybe it has been printed, or cut poorly. Do not expect quality from Chinese watches, Seagull or not, unfortunately is just not their thing. Welcome here and I wish you a pleasant evolution from owner to modder and finally to repairer.

Right on and well done!

Another example below. There are more, including self built ones. The principle is the same anyway. Many videos on YouTube searching "dial feet".

Nice one @hpekala The finish of the movement shows it's Chinese, the open balance on the front and the "moonfase" tell a bit more...Startimesupply or Ofrei sells them or Cousins in the UK

Who needs schematics when you have nitric acid? https://zeptobars.com/en/read/Luch-quartz-wristwatch-IC-at-sc-tuning-fork Generally they do have a clamping diode or modified transistor junction across the coil, otherwise the chip would fry.

Barrel wall was not worn. Cleaned, lubricated and reassembled by hand, 'tut tut'. After putting it back together I was still able to induce the rebanking with the screwdriver on the barrel. The only odd thing I did notice was that the outer turn did not follow the circular shape of the barrel wall perfectly. That came away from the wall a bit over about 120 degrees. It looked to be caused by the shape of the bridal that I don't think was curved enough to follow the barrel wall, too straight. That might be causing the spring to dig in a bit and not slip, that's all I can think of. I will see how the watch runs in use.

do the hands move in set position? Does the seconds hand move when the movement is running? if no to both that yeah they have to come apart and I'd be surprised if just a cleaning gets them going.

Look and contact the guys that sell modded watches in your city or country. And if they are unreasonable, take it in your hands.

It's a common mistake many pros make as well, but it's rebanking. Overbanked is when the safety mechanisms of the escapement are faulty and the fork can cross to the opposing banking at the wrong time, stopping the watch. If it's rebanking after fully winding it could be too strong of a braking grease. 8217 is considered a soft braking grease, I didn't quite get if you've serviced it and used that, or will service it and use that? If the former, maybe try some Kluber P125? If the latter it could be the grease is hard and useless a and a service will do it. It's highly unlikely the watch became more efficient through wear, haha.

Sweet.

New toy just turned up. Watch dial feet soldering machine. Looks really well constructed. Review coming soon IMG_0587.MP4

Cylinder escapement discussed here

Sorry for not answering before. A generous, incredibly experienced Master clock and watchmaker is occasionally teaching me and few others. I need to drive 3.:30 hrs to get to there, so is unfortunately is not happening all the time. I know he has no problem having his name published but I will refrain from doing that until I can put together a good posting with pictures and more details.

Depends on the mov’t. If it looks like balance might get hung up as I lift the cock away I’ll gently hold both together. Otherwise I’ll, gently lift the cock away and let the balance dangle beneath. You dry a balance and hairspring by hanging the cock on a tack and letting the balance dangle without harm, so as long as nothing gets hung up upon removing the balance and cock this way I don’t see any harm. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It has gained mythical status and can only be accessed by those who roll up one trouser leg and know the secret handshake.

It's not a story of repairing, and its not a watch but a clock! Tried to escape from me, but I caught it, to make my life more difficult it tried to disappear in pieces. We had heavy wind today and my clock was placed on the window sill, seems it teamed up with the curtain and with a little help it went trough the window. I managed to collect every piece with the help of a ladder and even though the case suffered a bit it is still going. ? ? VID_20200925_195604.mp4