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I don't get to post here very often. But I picked up an interesting specimen at a local flea market: a TruTime talking atomic watch - for a dollar. The vendor didn't know much about, except that he didn't know how to make it work. To be honest, neither did I at that moment, but I intended to give it a shot. I figured if I failed it would still be a cheap lesson. I happened to have a 2032 battery for it, still very fresh. As a precaution I cleaned the contacts and blew it out a bit. Put a touch of quartz oil at the very few pivots it had, and it just sat there at first. So I went online to search for the setup instructions. With their aid, I got it set and running. Now what? I don't need a talking watch. And I don't want to just sell it. My oldest daughter has a friend who is legally blind, and her sight is degenerating. So I'm giving it to her. Best use I could think of for it. I have to find the link to have a braille copy of the instructions sent out.

How many years of experience someone has is irrelevant if they have been doing it wrong for all of those years.

the only minor problem with using the manual using the meter are you using a Mercury battery? If you have a Mercury battery than your fine but if you using a silver cell you have too much voltage. For phasing I use what they described here. http://members.iinet.net.au/~fotoplot/accphs.htm

Update on hour wheel, I melted the solder and got the two parts parted. A quick measuring session and a wait for my lathe to be returned and a new one is turned. Just need to file the top and tap the hole for the hour hand screw. Customer is more than happy

I don't think so. Prior to the explosion of folks (of vastly differing ability, but often generally being perceived as competent to expert) posting videos of watch repair I don't think it occurred to very many people- i.e. next to none- to try repairing watches. When I see some of the videos, which are very popular, and the horrifying "technique" and the ooohing and ahhhing in the comment sections, I think the average affordable vintage watch is at much greater risk now. Just the comment section of the above video is primarily folks who are utterly impressed and making comments about the outlandish cost of professional repair. Then there's one YT channel, from pros who know what they're doing, that has half it's viewers believing that ultrasonics will hurt watch components. So... I've seen plenty of clock repair vids too, also from "professionals" (but far from expert), showing absolute rubbish technique. But if it's Joe from Joe's TicTocShop and he learned it from his father, and the viewer is a rank amateur, it probably looks like a great idea to punch around holes and fill things up with soft solder and use transmission fluid in the barrel etc. etc. etc. Probably going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but when I got into watchmaking I went to the library and read every book they had on it. Yes, DeCarle and Fried are a bit dated now (and were 25 years ago too), but when I finally made contact with some local watchmakers I could speak intelligently about different aspects and components, and I'm sure if I had been transported to 2022 to watch a bunch of the YT vids I would have a similar opinion as my future self. Also having read those books and yes, indeed, having worked on some flea market watches (with proper screwdrivers and tweezers, and they were also expensive then) I was way ahead in school when I made it there.

National Health Service

Both screws were reverse threaded and I now have it off! Thanks Mike

For me, eBay is a great source of knowledge.

Not much to report with the tuner. It just works.

I found a local dollar store where they sell these and too much other craft stuff, I call it sino-German. I stain and varnish them according to days taste and paint leftovers. In this case I also promptly shattered the glass and replaced with much stronger thin boards. So the baby lathe accessories can stay together in a decent manner.

I sorta see what you are saying. But deliver what exactly ?

Keeping with the somewhat rambling and completely off topic nature of this thread, I got a spare moment to work on my HiFi project. I started with the rebadged Akai R470 - Memorex SCT-88 tape deck. This was a bit of a mess when it arrived. Both belts had gone, and the tape counter belt had reverted to a thick black non polymerized goop, which had to be removed before I could even think about fixing any of the other issues. This is the ebay listing picture for comparison. It also had a broken clip in the transport mechanism which caused some weird load and eject problems, but that was a relatively easy fix with some supeglue and baking soda. After a fair bit of cleaning and lubricating and some cosmetic work to make it look clean and presentable enough to sit in the living room, it plays perfectly and looks almost new. After a little effort, I can now sit and listen to some of the large collection of tapes we still have lying around. Interestingly when I took a quick trawl round the local charity shops the other day, not a single one of them (and we have quite a few charity shops here), not one, had any cassette tapes. CDs, VHS tapes, Mini-disks, 78s, LPs, 45s, you name it, they were there, but not a single cassette tape. Very strange. I think I'll probably tackle the record deck next, then the amp. I'll keep you all posted with any progress I make.

That‘s exactly what I think too. In my view there are „How To“ and hidden „How not to“ videos on Youtube. People with a basic technical understanding will learn to do it right from both just seeing the difference.

I picked up the Ansonia today. And while it is a strike, instead of a nice musical chime, you get a more musica............<doonk> noise. I also put the pendulum on it and gave it a nudge, ticking away but that is not right either. Tick, tock then a longer pause before the next tick, tock. So there are things for me to look for. The hammer doesn't strike the number of times as indicated by the hour. The hammer stays in contact with the gong after it strikes. And the tick,tock,,,,,,,tick,tock reason needs to be found. Some tools arrived today. One of them being a set of C ring spring retainers. Have got to get my mate up the road to laser cut the wooden parts to make a Joe Collins mainspring winder. Have got everything I need, so then I'll be able to do a bit more than look at them. I also have the Enfield coming from Darwin. My wife said after I picked up the Ansonia today, "Let's make this the last clock until you move some along". I'm going to be in strife when the Enfield gets here.

People like him should never be aloud near a watch. This is a good example why there is so much wrong with Youtube. Watching this fool others will have a go and end up damaging watches. I have seen it with idiots and clocks.

Back in these years the Swiss made some variations on ana-digi, e.g. ETA 988.333, 900.231, more famous is Breitling or TAG Huer CAC11D. According to the Internet this one is a Longines Conquest Dichro Calibre 195 and could be worth perhaps €250.

It’s like driving past a car crash. You know you shouldn’t look but you just can’t help yourself

I guess I shouldn't talk because I've been known to throw originality out the window in favour of looks. But it's one of those things where either you go all out or you leave it. Having pretty hands but tired lume on the dial and bezel pip will look worse in my opinion. and the thing is, bleaching might work on one dial but will ruin another - you can just never predict these things. Personally? I'd remove the old bits and keep them somewhere safe and replace with new parts. If you pass the watch on, the buyer can decide what he wants without you potentially ruining original parts. EDIT: Just removing the lume on the hands and polishing them won't work out like you hope. The plating on the hands have been compromised, so you'll have to replate them as well. This from my own experience, YMMV

I have refinished the top and made new rails. Obviously, I could not remove the stains that are deep into the wood, but I sanded it down, stained it, and put on a poly clear coat. It is not a perfect job but it is a major improvement. I am debating on whether or not to sand down the front. It is in the garage now and I do not have a place for it yet. My watch room (The Little Watch Shop) is full with five watch benches and one electronics bench. Not sure what to do...I will ask my therapist.

It will save you a lot of time and playing about. No you are not a cowboy. You are learning and we all had to start somewhere. When I started I'd never seen the workings of a clock or watch.

With all those static poising tools you can get better results by slightly vibrating the tool. This removes the last remaining resistance. You can often find homemade serrations by filing - moving a screwdriver over it will vibrate the tool. That is what I used for static poising, before I eventually turned to dynamic poising (static poising is good for coarse poise errors, but will still leave a small positions error). Frank

Those tools should work to get the back off. Battery is a 344. But- and it's a big but, Simone, these watches work in reverse of normal mechanical watches. They build power to move the hands and date from what becomes a very high torque source. So they will grind through rust and wear until parts literally fall apart or disintegrate- and run to that point, keeping time. If it hasn't been serviced in the last 5-10 years, best to do a full service, or get in line for the rapidly diminishing parts and a more costly service.

You should watch this video. He'll show you the proper way to use the abovementioned tool. @LittleWatchShop, if you think you are a cowboy, what would you call him?