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Hi Attached below are just two of the special tools for removing case backs, once having done that they need to be re fitted again I have attached two examples. More often than not the back can be removed and re fitted esily enough but when problems occur you need the correct equipment.

I've been using a US so far and it's been doing it's job, but hell I think a proper watch cleaning machine would be so much more convenient. I just don't have the space in my mancave for one so is possibly the main reason I haven't made work of getting a proper machine. Truth be told, I don't nearly do enough watches to justify a proper machine but then again, all the money I spent on fancy tools so far couldn't be justified either haha.

So, I started a separate feed about this watch a few days back - discussing the state of the face and how it was literally flaking away at the touch. I thought there was no coming back for this watch but.. …some days later with some love and attention I have managed to sensitively restore the face as best I could and I’m really pleased with the result. It’s running really sweetly after a full strip down and service, with a strong amplitude and losing 4 seconds a day. I didn’t know what the movement was so I reached out to Eterna directly (with some pictures) and they tell me it’s a 1020 movement from 1944. I attach some pictures of the before (first 3 pictures) and after (last 3 pictures) Let me know what you think?

out of curiosity where in the world do you live? I find it interesting out there that there are other discussion groups one in particular were these people collect watches primarily. When the price of watch repair comes up there very unhappy. That's because they have collections of watches and having a collection of watches serviced will become very expensive and that is considered very unacceptable. Fortunately there are people in the same discussion group who will service watches for practically nothing because are doing it as a hobby. This perpetuates the myth that watch repair should cost practically nothing. the meaning of the above paragraph I usually get irritated with people who complain about the cost of watch repair because their total failure to grasp the repairing a watch should cost money. but $800 there's something not right with the story at all is that price is extremely unacceptable? but conceivably there are some factors that we don't know about. it be nice of a better description of where you took the watch to? like for instance jewelry stores often claim to have a watchmaker on premise unless you actually see the watchmaker they usually send the work out. If they send the work out then the pricing becomes interesting. Usually they double occasionally my triple the price or even more depending upon things. It's usually best if you can find the watchmaker directly. But if you're in a repair shop an actual watch repair shop and you can't get face time with the watchmaker I have no something doesn't sound right with your story not at all. then typically mainsprings do not break. Modern mainsprings usually come in packages that say unbreakable. But I've seen modern mainsprings break so they will break. But typically if you ever broken mainspring you're going to have other issues like when was the last time the watch was serviced? In other words typically it's not like I can change the mainspring of my watch and everything will be perfect again there was a reason why it broke and a full servicing is needed. at least you picked a nice movement to learn on? Looking on eBay right now I see you can buy an entire used movement for less than $50. So as a worst-case scenario you can get replacement movement and parts are still available. As opposed to working on some obscure watch that no parts are available or something expensive like Omega Rolex where things get really expensive really fast.

This first one arrived today. It's a nice Bur Walnut case shame it has two tiny marks that need to be sorted other than that it is in all round very good condition. The second one will be with me in a few days, it also is in very good all round condition. Both bought from ebay, both under £50 each. Got this one this evening its a WESTMINSTER & WHITTINGTON chime with platform escapement for just under £200 including P/P.

Yes. A transducer of 40kHz is just the mean value. It probably works at 38 - 42 kHz, +/- 2 kHz. The transducers are in an array, one of the transducers may have a mean value of 39 kHz or 41 kHz, this can cause hot spots and dead spots in the tank. By alternating the frequencies, it evens this disperency out.

Personly I would leave it alone as rubbing will destroy the surface glaze and expose the souft under structure. Fit a new glass and accept it as is.

No you haven't tried anything, as there are special tools that become especially useful in the hands on of unexperienced people (take no offense as this category also includes most high street jewellers improvising battery changes). You can see them searching this website, that being said what they do can be done with a sharp blade, a good holder, skills and dexterity,

Check for loose canon pinion also the movement's running when out of the case with and without hands.

I think plating damage can only occur with loose plating. The cleaning fluid is getting under it. I'm going to stick with the ultrasonic, buy a better one. I bought a cheap one to start with, need an upgrade.

A one dip in lighter fluid to get rid of any grease, give it couple of hours to dry then a rubber pencil eraser.

Remove the canon pinion before you try to fit the center wheel into mainplate's center hole, canon pinion fits on center arbour from the dial side.

This was taken from Cousin's webpage of luminous compounds. https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/luminous-compound-refills I guess sometimes when someone has been doing the same job for a long time, they tend to forget that a "genuine question" with an obvious answer is not a "stupid question", and that every customer has to be treated with equal respect. I have to keep reminding myself of that frequently too.

I also have both of them a national watch cleaning machine MK5 and an ultrasonic. I have the feeling that the MK5 only makes the parts wet and useless but I must say that I have not made experiments with different cleaning fluids I am using Elma 1:9 at the moment and I also believe that my baskets are not fit for the purpose because they dont let the fluid flow trough them efficiently. These are the screw-type cleaning baskets where the surface of the sphere are "covered" by the screw and not by the mesh if it makes sense: Plus they tend to roll and I am not sure if that is a good idea. I put Elma 1:9 in the ultrasonic too and it works a lot better. None of them would remove stubborn dirt though. Ultrasonic also "ruined" one of my old PUW movement by removing the surface treatment of the main plate (nickel or chrome plating). You can also play with the time a little bit having the parts in the ultrasonic too long might not be a good idea. Some say that the manual clean is the best and safest. But of course you can make mistakes with all methods time to time. You also might want to read the threads opened for this topic already on WRT.

Hi I have both, an Ancient National Ultrasonic where the transducers are cracked and dont function but is still used for rotation cleaning mainly for clocks and a small ultra sonic for the watch work and have no problem with either. I use priory polishes clock cleaner (ammoniated) in the national and IPA in glass jars in the ultrasonic.

Ultrasonic cleaning should be superior to rotational. The cleaning machines give convenient and as discussed many times the cleaning solution makes all the difference.

Hi. I suspect when done properly or dirt loosened with pegwood etc that there is no practical difference between each method. Personally I use Ultrasonic and my parts come out nice and clean with no sign of any dirt or oil/grease left so cannot see a rotational cleaner doing any better. Just my 2 pence worth, those who have a rotary cleaner will obviously have a different opinion on the subject

Hi matey . I get this often on vintage swiss as well. As anilv has said remove the balance. Carefully undo the stud screw a couple of turns only as it is tiny. If it comes out you may have a task getting it back in or worse still lose it. Ease the stud out of its hole paying particular notice of how it fits back in, and then store the balance and its relative parts somewhere safe. You may be nervous about doing this, but it is something you will at some point have to deal with and learn. If so much so then put it aside for now and practise this procedure a few times over on something of little value first. Now you can work on easing up the bal. Cock pins without risking bal. pivot damage.

Was the balance bridge hard to remove when you took it off? Could be a simple case of tight fit. I would remove the balance and try to install just the bridge and sand a smidgen off the pins if too tight. Anilv edit .. just realised you mentioned you can remember if it was hard to remove the bridge.

If it always stops in the same position remove the dial and inspect the teeth of the hour wheel, minute wheel and cannon pinion for wear, distortion. A loose canon pinion will have practically no resistance when hands are being set. Anilv

I've worked on a few Indiglo watches. May I ask: - if you place the battery in the movement, does it still continue to glow while not in its case? - Does it only do this while the movement is cased? Basically you're looking for a short or a jammed-closed contact. If it misbehaves only in its case, it may be a stuck pusher or push-in crown. If you can rule those out, then you may be looking at finding a replacement circuit board.

So, I thought I’d update this feed. I managed to sensitively restore the face as best I could and I’m really pleased with the result. It’s running really sweetly after a full strip down and service, strong amplitude and losing 4 seconds a day. I didn’t know what the movement was so reached out to Eterna with some pictures and they tell me it’s a 1020 movement from 1944. I attach some pictures of the before (first 3 pictures) and after (last 2 pictures) I’ll start a new feed with this also

Indeed some snap back cases are so tight a press is needed to get the back to snap so to speak

Hi and welcome to the forum. If you use the search function ( top right) and type in "indiglo" then search the term there are 55 answers which have been previousy discussed. If you find no nswer to your problem let us know for further help. cheers

I avoid talking to Cousins for anything as they’ll take the time to give a snotty reply, but can’t take the time to answer a genuine question. To answer you, I got a set of SS dauphine hands from them this week. It is white in colour but glows green.

If getting the caseback off is that difficult, getting it back on will be equally challenging. Usually for small, ladies watches, you'd need special tools for opening and closing the caseback. If you're only going to do this once in a couple of years, it'd be better to bring it to a jeweller or watchmaker.

Thirty days hath September, April, Tuesday, and November. Bidding on ebay ends soon, so if you want it you better be quick. If badly printed dials are not your thing, then perhaps this will float your horological boat. Have you just spent a fruitless few days fighting through the crowd of fanbois trying to get the latest and greatest Omega Moon Swatch, only to be beaten back by the zombie hordes. No matter, just trawl around on ebay and you can have the next best thing. A Swatch Irony in a bundle of tat equally desirable quartz watches for under a fiver for the lot. This is the latest potential entry to the 404 club. Before you ask, yes you probably can take this one apart, unlike the "Moonswatch" which I believe contains a completely un-servicable swatch chronograph movement, with a crystal laser welded to the (plastic, described as something space age) body and a debased Omega logo on the dial. Just my opinion however, the Moon Swatch may be the best watch ever invented, since I haven't actually seen one in the fanboi zombie dripping flesh. This particular Swatch was accompanied by an Accurist, a Ravel, and a "GMT London" (not actually as terrible looking as it sounds), one or more of which may or may not work. Time will tell. I will of course post pictures of any that I restore. NOTE: The author of this remark has a love hate relationship with Swatch, and may not be the best judge of all things Swatch related. So with that in mind, here is one I prepared restored earlier.

Yep thjat looks like the correct case opening position, provided its the same or similar watch most but not all snap back watches I have seen seem to have something similar.

Should be this watch. The red arrow shows the point where the case back can be pried off most likely.

Part repairs can be a pain. It doesn't take much to upset the workings of a watch. I advise you to clean and oil the whole movement. Treat it as a new repair.

Are you sure it's a pop-off back? It could be a screw-in. Screw in backs don't all advertise themselves with a half dozen indentations around the circumference (and I don't know what Tommy Hilfiger watches likely have). I suspect you have a department store nearby where they change batteries? You will also likely get better help by asking your question here. This INTRODUCE YOURSELF area is intended to actually introduce yourself - the assumption being that you're interested in watch repair and are planning to stick around. It is possible that the back will simply unscrew using one of these. Some years ago I tried to replace a battery in a pop open back and broke the crystal when trying to pop it back on. I ended up replacing the watch - it was cheaper (and less embarrassing). Good luck!

The difficulty with this is to maintain absolute centre and that requires the broach to be absolutely vertical. Achieving it by hand is not easy and no second chances with that repair. Using a reamer with a Seitz jeweling tool or similar would be my option.

Hi Terry, No help on the gasket (likely no help on much of anything). This is a good place. You might want to post your question in one of the forums as the general population doesn't seem to visit here very often. Welcome!

Welcome to the forum. All those memberships. You have been busy. Living here in Australia, about one of my only real options is to do the BHI course. Just have to get my butt into gear.

Hello and welcome to the forum. What you could try is putting it on a line release tool. (available online, Ebay, this is essentially a coil and as current is passed through it it creates an electrical field and spins the watch at speed and frees any particals jamming the train. If this fails to restart the watch It wtll need further action, dismantling and repair (if possible or replacement). Best to post some pictures of the back of the movement with the cover offo determine its make and caliber.