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This watch was the score of the decade for me. I always liked the Tudor “snowflake” hands and block markers better than the 5513 Rolex for sure. This gem was an eBay score. I checked it over carefully- the crown was worn; crystal was horrible; bezel didn’t rotate. It was sold “head only” and was scarring a lot of buyers away. I grabbed it for a very good price. Not Y2K good price (when these were trading VERY cheaply) but for the time, well below average. Based on what I could confirm as genuine, I would break even as a parts mule. Got it home and popped the hood- Tudor marked 2784. One set of service scratches on the case back. Popped the bezel and crystal- correct silver date wheel; correct dial. Hands I had confirmed before purchase, and reconfirmed. Case markings and bracelet wear indications present and correct. No corrosion on the case! All good. De-funked the bezel assembly- all original and correct. Insert is original and correct, although the “Pearl” was missing. I installed an NOS Tritium Pearl and that was about it. The crystal was replaced with an NOS paper bag (early) T-125 “top hat” crystal, which is correct for this watch. I see a lot with Rolex 1680 T-127 crystals, which fit, but are wrong. I think the crystal is the most critical element in preserving the original “look” of the watch. Soon after introduction, they started beveling the top edges of the crystals, due to chips. They don’t look the same. I also installed an NOS 702 crown, onto the original tube (which was perfectly fine). New gaskets throughout of course. Picked up a 93150 bracelet with almost no wear for it. Not the correct year but I do have a correct year 9315 (folded link) clasp squirreled away, if I come across a decent bracelet that I can afford. So, that’s the story. Keeps good times but needs service. I may tackle it soon. Loved it so much I started collecting parts to build a blue dial one, and that’s almost done now too... another post perhaps.

Sorry yes you are correct. I was looking at the one in the link I posted. Looks like I'm going to have one of those days.

Thank you for clearing that up.

Very Rare "Mystery Dial" battery powered and never needs winding. Only 3 easy payment of $19.99 but wait there is more! figured it was time to decompress ?

Looks like it will clean up well.

Genuine ones on eBay should not be too expensive either.

Many variants to fhf70 with different bridge layout were made, namely inderctly driven min hand, then this with center second cock and your regular sweep second with min wheel incorporated inside ebauche. Its ancestor fhf30 and on, were mostly sub second versions. Almost every manufacturer put some versions in their watches, some were in-house and high grades , Rolex did too.

So that is pretty bad. Mainsprings are generally problematic and mainspring winders even more so. Mainsprings are what has given me the most headache during the few years I've been doing this. Are you sure you're not mistaking the dirt for the dry lube which I believe tends to form white specks that look like dust? I could be wrong about that! Beautiful watch! I agree, especially as the dial doesn't have any lume dots.

Agree. Here is the Ranfft link. http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?12&ranfft&0&2uswk&FHF_70

That’s a pretty awesome piece of woodwork there.

Rolex and Tudor shared crowns up until the mid 70’s or so; then Tudor ones got the shield in place of the coronet. A Rolex, or aftermarket, 5030 tube should work. Wholesale outlet 990 on eBay sells decent ones cheaply. Do you have the tools to remove and install the tube?

Success! Here's my procedure: spline tool: fail, splines stripped penetrating lubricant cutting broach: fail, just widened internal diameter more penetrating lubricant several hot & cold cycles (soldering iron & freezer) cut slot (carefully drilled sideways with 1/32" bit) & 4mm screwdriver FTW Thanks for all the suggestions! @rodabod, the slot cut was the winning tip (and most accessible without buying more new tools), I was getting ready to try epoxying in a rod or screw as a next step. The outer spline flange was already in bad shape and I didn't have the 3.5mm thin-blade screwdriver it really required, but I had a cruder 4mm that did the job. Ultimately it made a mess of the spline flange but still got enough purchase to get the job done. The case may have acquired an extra ding during the process, fortunately it has a lot of pre-existing company.

This is the Solar movement

And the image below is more evidence that Waltham specified two different strength springs for your model. Your movement came in 17 and 21 jewel varieties and my take is that to compensate for any slightly greater frictional load in the 17 jewel variety, Waltham specified a slightly greater strength over that for the 21 jewel. The stronger (thicker) variety is the one I would opt for.

Could you inject tinted clear acrylic into the inclusions, or fill with some other material. This might allow you to then slice it without loss of structure.

It's hard to describe, as it's basically fossilized paint. It's really great to work this -- I can't really compare it to anything else as I've never worked with anything else -- but it's easy to cut, easy to grind/polish, and holds together really well even in very thin (0.5mm) slices. At my final working thickness, it feels like paper -- it bends and has some elasticity, but can fracture along the paint lines. DM me your name and mailing address, and I'll send you a scrap of it to check out.

No milk, no sugar? I was looking at another option: Yellow (Light Green) - (Bergeon 5680.J.07) Should be a perfect match with the centre of the dial.

You can also use a white lume and dip them in black coffee when they are dry to age them.

? Thank you! Poljot 2616.2H was the first watch I repaired and serviced several years ago when I got myself involved into this wonderful hobby. It's worth mentioning that I was the one who screwed up that watch many years ago :-). Now it works like new. I also got myself deep into 30mm Omegas. Simply love them. I find that due to age, 75-85 years, many of these watches look vintagely-tired (perhaps a new word), but the movements inside still look like they were manufactured recently. I did some calculations to find a suitable mainspring replacement for older Tavannes / Cyma & Omega watches when I realized that someone improvised (used whatever mainspring was available) many years ago. Then i compared my measurements and calculations with GR catalogue and was unpleasantly surprised to see that GR catalogue mainspring barrel ID was often wrong by 0.5mm-1.00mm, which makes difference. I find that GR would show 12.5mm when in fact three watches of the same caliber on my desk would be 11.5mm ID. Thus, 0.155 or 0.15 mainspring would be too strong for these watches. But like you, I trusted GR catalogue and ordered one mainspring for 30 caliber Omega. That mainspring was way too strong, and it was not very clean (we see lots of things under microscope, right? ? ). When i removed it for cleaning (a brand new mainspring), shape-wise it looked exactly as my 41year old one... Far from being S-shaped. And it was stronger than needed (even winding did not feel right - too mach resistance). I simply riveted a new bridle / hook to the old mainspring and put it back. I asked about lume as at some point i wanted to apply it on Omega 30 hands and was looking for a suitable colour. Perhaps Yellow (light green)?. It is always a dilemma with vintage watches To Lume, or Not To Lume?! ? For now i decided to leave it as-is. I am afraid that that lume will look out of place. What do you think?

out of curiosity why did you replace the entire setting? normally the above answer would be fine except this is a Rolex watch. Rolex is obsessed with end shake so often times they will have procedures to make that adjustment easily especially on the balance bridge. rather than explaining the procedure I'm attaching a section out of the manual. You'll notice there's a screw specific for adjusting the end shake. If somebody had zero idea what that screw was for an rotated it that would be the problem.

I just had an AHA! moment: I have found a use for all my cheap screwdrivers that are chipped, bent and who knows what else....use them to practice your screwdriver sharpening skills!

I am working on an Elgin pocket watch grade 312. It was an estate sale purchase and was not running when purchased. I assumed that it was not running because it was very dirty and thought cleaning would solve all the problems. I completely disassembled it and ran it through an ultrasound cleaner and rinse. It came out bright and shiny and when I started to reassemble for the first time I saw that there was NO roller jewel! So, what now? Can the roller jewel be replaced by a person with very modest ability? I am including two pictures of the balance and roller plate. I do not see any sign of where it was attached. Thanks in advance for any guidance. Bill H.