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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/09/20 in Posts

  1. I am a father of four. And I am still coming 'round to the fact of my oldest daughter, Sophie, having turned 18. She will be the first of them to graduate high school, with honors at that. She has been offered "free rides" recently by a couple universities based on her grades, and has chosen Ball State for its computer science program. And, being eighteen, she immediately registered to vote so that she could (pardon the political post) vote the orange-haired fascist out. She and her friends and fellow classmates seem determined to undo all the injustice, unrest, and damage that has had such a terrible effect here in the states. Those whom I've met in this next generation have a real fire under them. It's been giving me hope.
    3 points
  2. As I said, the little pocket watch was what caught my eye. It is obviously far from perfect, but it does have a complete balance (with a slight hairspring issue) and it does actually run.. for a short while, so It has potential. It was filthy, gummed up with old oil and dirt, the hands were bent and the dial has a tiny barely visible crack, but following a deep clean of the case and dial, a partial straightening of the hands, which I'm still not satisfied with, and a quick clean of the mechanism, it is starting to look like it may have some life left in it. It is stamped inside the lid with K14, so there is a chance that it might have a 14K gold case. The inner mechanism protector cover is stamped Cuivre (copper/brass), and the outer does have the appearance of gold (which doesn't show up so well on the camera). Plated or rolled gold almost invariably ends up with obvious spots where wear causes the base metal to show through, and this has none of those. It does have some obvious hairline scratches inside, to the metal is presumably relatively soft. I have no idea what the caliber is (can anybody identify it?), nor do I know where I'm going to find a crown and stem for it, but I'll have a root through my extensive junk pile stock of spares for the stem, and if I find something suitable, I'll see if I can get it going, and then track down a crown. Presumably if the case really is 14K then I'll need to at least find a matching plated one. If nothing else, it does add a bit of late Victorian or Georgian bling to the 404 club.
    2 points
  3. Based on this rather fuzzy image, I decided to take a punt, mainly to find out what the pocket watch was. So I picked up all five for the heady sum of six and a half quid (plus 2nd class postage). The fuzzy blob in the bottom left turned out to be this rather attractive little watch. The biggest surprise was what was stamped on the inside. Perhaps today is the day for me to go out and buy a lottery ticket. I also think this makes it the president of the 404 club, for the time being at least.
    2 points
  4. I don't do the lottery, but my wife does, so I'll be sure to remind her to get a ticket tomorrow. You just never know. ?
    1 point
  5. I trust that you do have a lottery ticket for tonight? I thought the 9ct Rotary was a lucky find in a £6.50 job lot, but if that pocket watch does turn out to be a solid gold case too then...... well just WOW!!!!!
    1 point
  6. Problem solved. My initial lamp was not rated for dimming and worked for 10 seconds vs 45 Years on the box. Returned it and went to a different store where I picked up an industrial shop lamp and fixed to an overhanging shelve. Then I bought an inline dimmed switch that is where my desk lathe switch is and it all works like a charm. The light can be adjusted to 10% and at 100%, I could get a tan. Here is the box and shots of installed location.
    1 point
  7. I definitely agree with the above statements. I deal with vintage watches that have greater poise error than your demonstrating and is not an amplitude issue. having said the above statement statically poising isn't going to hurt anything. It's a easy way to find out if it really is the problem. Has a advantage that your balance wheel will be lighter and will run faster. this is where using an actual poising tool should help with that problem. Then make sure the jaws are clean free of oil and also the pivots. any kind of residue or oil on the jaw's or the pivots will show up and interfere with getting a perfect poise. Then it doesn't have to be super perfect. Initially the heavy spot will show up very dramatically. As you get closer and closer to poise will take longer and longer to finally come to rest of the heavy spot. You go far enough it eventually will just continue to rotate and come to a stop.
    1 point
  8. Not all Chinese sets are the same. For example, the Chinese set sold by CousinsUK.com, which is the same set mentioned by the OP @CaptCalvin and @BrianB here, is decent and IMO sort of affordable as long as it includes a winder for the calibre you're servicing. The set reviewed by @Mark seems unfortunately to be total junk (pardon my French).
    1 point
  9. If you can't get the green sheet a good substitute is green blotting paper.
    1 point
  10. "How to refit (Seiko) Etachron" - often asked, you should use the search function. There is a section with pictures in the attached document. 7S26C_36C.pdf
    1 point
  11. one of the things really nice about the Internet is a lot of times you can look and somebody is already answered the question like at this link. then specifically were only looking at static poising. as you're reading to the text at the link below you'll notice that a modern balance wheel from the factory should have been poised in the first place. But the question always is how closely is it anyway? Then he also makes a reference to other things can affect poise. This is why statically poising is a good way to start as we can see if it really is a poising issue or not. Because one of the concerns I have with the watch above is the amplitude is dropping below 200° and that's definitely a screw things up. Things like poising errors look much worse is amplitude drops. then looking at the link you'll notice with his poising tool that the level can be placed on the jaws make sure that their level. you'll notice a lot of the tools will have the level built in the base and that's not the most desirable place to have it. Then you need to have a separate level to check the jaws. then as to how much weight you need to remove that's going to be determined by how bad the balance wheel is. If you look at the example at the link he just takes off a tiny bit which is the most a modern balance wheel should need. unfortunately if you're dealing with a vintage pocket watches like I typically see. All sorts of strange things have happened to them over the years and it's possible sometimes with poising to take off so much weight that you have to put timing washers on to make up for the weight loss. https://www.great-british-watch.co.uk/how-to-poise-a-balance-wheel/
    1 point
  12. I see that hairspring is pinned into stud, so cutting the hairspring shorter is another approach to speed up the oscilator, much easier task requiring no special tool.
    1 point
  13. as you're running slow you can poise these balance wheels. If we knew the watch was running really well which it's not you could try dynamically poising it. Otherwise you can take the hairspring often statically poise. A carbide drill will takeoff weight on the bottom of the balance wheel. As you're running slow you're going to speed up if you go too far your going to need a new balance wheel. I notice I'm not paying attention but did you tell us what the beat error of this watch is? it would be nice to have a picture of the balance wheel in the watch.
    1 point
  14. I think a lot of watch repair people fail to grasp just how complicated perpetual calendar watches can be. I've attached the service manual it's broken into a whole bunch of pieces. Even talks about replacing the hands it's a very complicated procedure. The hands are supposed in a very exacting position for all of this to work if they are not where there supposed to be it's going to be a problem. 7D46-7D48_Eng.pdf 7D46A,7D48A_4.pdf 7D46A,7D48A_3.pdf 7D46A,7D48A_2.pdf 7D46A,7D48A_1.pdf
    1 point
  15. Hi, I am certain that this these settings can be individually adjusted unless someone has already played with the hands. Maybe the watch was repaired at some stage. Anyway you could remove hands and replace at the right adjustment. Take a photo of what you do in case your not happy with result. Also be very careful of the dial on these seikos do not apply pressure between 9 and 3 hope this helps.
    1 point
  16. That looks like a nice one.
    1 point
  17. The coils on the left of center seem to be compressing much more than those on the right of center. The terminal curve seems to be running straight and true (as far as I can tell from this angle) between the pins. I don’t think it’s gunk; I think the spring is running oddly. Based on the way the reflections look, it’s as if it’s rocking in and out of flat as well, which I suppose could cause the terminal coil to jump out of the pins under certain conditions. Another video looking at the coil from the side would be good. This is a candidate for hard core spring manipulation. Last thought- is it possible the stud is lose somehow? Maybe the end of the spring rocking in the stud?
    1 point
  18. Hi have a look ar http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&69&2uswk&TD_1393 contains a bit of infornmation.
    1 point
  19. Best of worldly wealth and joy of life are healthy good childeren. Sounds like you are blessed with this. Enjoy it to the max. Best wishes.
    1 point
  20. got it. And I've got just the thing for that. Oxy-Cleen! perfect.
    1 point
  21. Hi Steve If you have checked and are sure of jewels on lower and upper balanace pivots, there remains the question of pivots bent, chipped or dirty as well as shakes on the staff. I am affraid not much can be done to poise these anulare wheels as special tools are needed and I guess some skill to poise em.
    1 point
  22. Hi there MechanicMike, they say that the Elgin 328 is an st96-4 movement. I have checked on ebay and there's plenty of parts available, including what you need. Hope that helps http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?12&ranfft&0&2uswk&FHF_96_4
    1 point
  23. Insanely cool. Migraine inducing but very good. I'll be following. I'm trying to remember where i've seen the fordite before....I read that you got into heat bluing hands...most excellent.
    1 point
  24. Yes that's what I am talking about. As soon as you take the balance out especially ladies movements the corners of the bergeon slip into plate and it shifts around loosely. One other movement holder I use is the old marshal one with rounded plate clamps as in the photo below.
    1 point
  25. I try selling it at flea market, if no sale, spray it on fleas.
    1 point
  26. I agree. I really wish I could get steel Seiko watch hands (either pre-blued or to blue myself). For what it's worth, Vostok actually sells really high-quality blued steel watch hands at a very reasonable price: https://meranom.com/en/amphibian-classic/hands/vostok-watch-vostok-amphibia-original-blued-hands.html
    1 point
  27. Absolutely stunning, and inspiring to boot. I have encountered "Fordite" as a concept a while back, and thought the effect was remarkable. It looks like very "trippy" agate, but is relatively easier to work with than agate would be. I even toyed with the idea of producing some home made "Fordite", because I didn't realise you could actually obtain it from car manufacturers. I wonder if the local car body shops would also have a build up of this sort of material. I'll need to ask. When I read about it initially, it reminded me of my dad's work when we were kids, as it looked like something highly complex in structure that had been very thinly sliced. He was a biologist and geneticists, and in the course of his lab work he would from time to time have samples of trees and other organic material prepared for examination in an SEM or for optical microscopy. One of the tools they used for this work was a microtome. Often the samples once stained had a remarkable beauty which wasn't evident until you prepared them. Actually there were several different types of microtome at the university, ranging from saws, similar to the one you describe, down to hand microtomes, which could prepare thin slices of pretty much anything, so long as the hardness wasn't too great. Something similar to the very basic microtomes I have used is available on ebay for not much money, and I suspect it may be capable of dealing with Fordite. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hand-and-Table-Microtome-with-Planoconcave-Knife-and-Table-Clamp/284067507629?hash=item4223be2dad:g:ei8AAOSwuxJfoiH3 Typically the samples they produce are smaller than a watch dial. However they produce very thin samples. In fact you can dial the thicknes down to produce slices of the order of a 0.01mm. So thin in fact, that many normally opaque objects become translucent. There are even 3d printable microtome designs. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2178524 You might be able to adapt this idea to your material if it isn't too far up the hardness scale for a razor to cut. Alternatively you might look at using a plane to produce something akin to Yosegi plane shaving veneers, perhaps from stacks of fordite sticks. As I say, your work is inspiring stuff. More pictures please. EDIT: One other trick I remember was to "entomb" the sample in wax, epoxy, clear acrylic or some other medium before slicing it. This might apply here too, since you could prepare your dial medium almost like a stick of rock prior to slicing it. You could drill or punch holes for your accents, fill them with a contrasing material or a soft precious metal, or even lume and then slice.
    1 point
  28. Please forgive the poor quality snapshot, but it all came together. I am over the moon! Here's my first completed fordite-dialed watch: I'll provide a more complete write up, better photos, and another completed watch example ASAP.
    1 point
  29. You have my sense of humour.
    1 point
  30. I did not said it would cause trouble, I mentioned few facts to support the use of a proper, pure product as opposed to a surrogate which is also more expensive. Below a referen to benzine from a 1904 book, do De Carle or any watchmaker school recommend lighther fluid? Do we use spectacle screwdrivers? Or eyebrow tweezers?
    1 point
  31. I thought I might offer to buy it for £1 then I looked at the postage and then declined.
    1 point
  32. Good point, thanks. Ruipai is one of the main Chinese watch tools brands (the other is Chainda), it could be that they make better specifications to the actual factory than others which try to price undercut. I don't own a winder set yet but let me clarify something about that. First, the windind direction issue is not unique to Seiko but exists with any mov't having the barrel lid on the upper side (and likely the teeth on the bottom), for example the Enicar 1040 and its Chinese copies. I am mentioning only the ones I have direct experience with, but I think there many others. That is easily solved as per above. The other more important problem is that one needs a winder that has BOTH the correct arbor AND the barrel size. My understanding is that for common / current Seiko none of the Bergeon or Chinese winders has that. I gather that the design of the set prevents using a cranking arbor with a different holding barrel, so for certain calibers at least what is immediately available may not work at all. Of course if I'm not correct on the above someone will certainly correct that.
    1 point
  33. Thanks Mark for that very informative video. As you know I’m retired. I feel that this day and age you only get what you pay for. If you want the best tools for the job then you are going to have to pay for them.
    1 point
  34. Very nice video by Mark - as usual. I recently decided to spend the money to get a set of mainspring winders. I really weighed the option of getting a set of these Chinese winders and almost pulled the trigger on one. They don't all have brass arbors/hooks by the way. This set (link) appears to be a bit better made, having stainless arbors, and some other components made of stainless instead of brass. Well, I assume it's stainless. It's a silver colored metal anyway. That said, I ended up deciding to buy a used set by Favorite. I've heard mark mention Favorite favorably in his videos. Looking at this set it looks like it has seen honest use, but it is in fair shape. It also looks nearly identical to a set I've seen with "Bergeon" on it. Though there is an open/empty position in the box I don't think it is missing anything as the winders are numbered 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 - same as the Bergeon set I saw a picture of. Speaking of which, here's a picture I grabbed off the web and saved for the size chart - this is not the set I bought. It was a big investment, but I think I'll really appreciate having the set. Since it only has one handle I assume they are all right hand wind. I am a Seiko fan so I realize that'll be an issue for me at some point, but someone here mentioned the trick of making a dummy to load the mainspring into with the right hand winder and then just flip the dummy (containing the mainspring) over and load the spring into the barrel. I have a lathe so making those dummies to whatever size I need will be easy.
    1 point
  35. Totally agree with Colditz. If you want a luxury watch beit 3000 4000 or 5000 bucks go and buy it while you still can. But see my earlier post (Make it a gold watch) because as soon as you leave the smooth talking salesman and walk out the door it is immediately worth around 25% less than what you paid for it and it will continually drop in value until it becomes a vintage watch. Of course gold drops in price and fluctuates but will always recover and historically will always edge up. So your luxury gold watch could be worth more in 10 years than the price you paid for it. My idea of a luxury watch is a Roger W. Smith but I know I could never afford one unless I live in a tent for my remaining years. Would'nt be much fun looking at a 110 grand watch while the rain drips on your head. Even his website ouses class.
    1 point
  36. I think isopropanol is safe to use if cleaning by hand for short periods, but I wouldn't use it in the machine again, the information given to me is probably correct in that 30 min exposure to isopropanol has little effect but at some point beyond that it softens the shellac, and once it's at that point it would attack it very quickly in the cleaning machine because of the constant agitation.. Why the shellac on the Swiss pallets was not effected I don't know they had exactly the same exposure as the Russian ones. I cleaned last week a Sekonda pocket watch a Cyma pocket watch a Regency wristwatch with FHF movement and a ladies Lanco the exposure they received was 15min each rinse and there was no problem. The only conclusion to be drawn from the test is avoid its use in a cleaning machine and don't soak or rinse beyond 30mins as a max which wouldn't happen any way if cleaning by hand unless you where distracted or forgot and left them too long.
    1 point
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