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So far I held myself away from Seiko & Citizen movements, but according to some forum-members these movements aren't as bad as I thought. Parts availability was my biggest concern, but as a member pointed out, these watches / movements are made in the "trillions" So today I threw myself in the deep with this relative cheap (€110) Citizen Promaster NY0040-09EE equipped with an automatic Miyota 8203 movement. The watch was described as used with some signs of wear, no papers and with no watch-strap. On the pictures it didn't look too bad and compared to some (beaten-up) Seiko's divers in that price-range, it looks exquisite. We'll see what comes in the package

Fantastic Gert. Aw video it mate. Or loads of pictures and a walkthrough. I have to do my DD, I'm looking at a repivoting tool as we speak. On a different note Hector. I thought this might tickle you . It came by me in a job lot.

As per clockboys post. just adding try daveswatchparts.com in America he knows his waltham and elgin watches and may be able to help,

I have copied this to a file and stored in my REFERENCE folder...never to be forgotten! Thanks!

I have limited experience with the Miyota movements. I've only serviced a 9015, but it was a joy. Lots of parts but not a single little spring to ping as the springs are integrated into the parts, also, unlike the Seiko 7snn movements, no tiny cap jewels to handle. I don't know anything about the 8203 but I wouldn't be surprised if turns out to be a joy to work on. Let us know! Really nice watch BTW!

Balance staffs can be repivoted. Of course if a replacement staff is available that's the best; and in my experience there's no real time advantage to repivoting over making a new staff if no staff is available. Actually, I often make staffs even if there's theoretically a replacement available, simply because there are often more than one possible replacements, and you might not know which is the good one, and the supplier might send the wrong one, and by the time you've tracked one down and get it installed for me at least it's faster to make one. I'm not great at searching for parts, haha.

I see an Atmos clock on FB marketplace a couple of hours from my home. Owner admits that the bellows probably need replacing. Here is a picture. He is asking $500. I think I should get a better deal. Thoughts? I remember working on one of these for my dad but that was over 50 years ago.

It is not currently running due to a bent balance staff but I was able to find a donor movement on Ebay with the proper identification you supplied. I have a lathe and was considering turning a new staff but it is still a steep learning curve, thus the donor movement

That's a fine deal even it goes to factory or factory certified service.

Hello all, This build took me 2 months to finish; mostly due to the shipments delay from Europe. But here it is. A watch designed by me. Well at least put together by me. When I decided on this project it was very important to me that I used as many Swiss components as I can. This is just a personal preference. Searching for parts I found a NOS dial that at one time were used by Ollech & Wajs. I got super excited since they were used for vintage Unitas 6497s. The movement I planned to use. Speaking of which, I took a Unitas out of an old pocket watch from the early 60s. I found the perfect case for my project in Germany. As you can read on the case, it was a swiss made case also made for the Unitas. When I placed the dial on to the movement, it did not fit exactly into the case. I literally had to grind the edges using 600 grit paper until I shed enough around the edges to finally fit the movement flush. The hands finally arrived today. I chose these German made hands aviator hands as they were open blade hands. I wanted something that would allow the black of the dial come through. The Orange added a wonderful contrast. I think it all works. A watch that looks like I paid thousands for.

Old Rone Fifteen movement recently re-cased and ready for another 70 years’ service!

If you are in the UK, I buy it from Cousins. The L&R cleaner/rinse only comes in 3.8L sizes - hence more expensive.

I start will soft steel. I then, starting from upper pivot using a slide rest (or cross slide depending on your terminology): -cut the length for the upper pivot, leaving it 0.02 under the next diameter to cut (this sets the length, the extra material on diameter is good during heat treatment) -cut the next diameter, to size, collet diameter, to size, balance diameter, to size -cut the rest of the length to the hub diameter with another tool, essentially a parting tool: -cut roller diameter, leaving it 0.02 oversize of its largest diameter -cut next diameter (if there is one), to size, or- -cut pivot diameter to 0.02 under the last one cut, then part off to length Harden and temper. Holding on the roller diameter or hub, with hand gravers: -form conical pivot, leave 0.01 or 0.02 oversize -cut rivet, make chamfers, polish up with 1200 grit paste on pegwood Flip, holding on balance diameter: -form pivot -cut taper for roller -cut hub taper -polish up as/if needed Rivet to balance, burnish pivots to size in Jacot, round pivots in lathe. It's extremely rare for one to distort in hardening. If it's a really long staff for a really high end watch it's just a little more time to do the first steps leaving a tiny bit of extra material then finishing between centers after heat treatment, but haven't resorted to that in many years

You may have answered this once before, but I will ask again...do you leave the work in the lathe for the entire cut, versus parting off after cutting to the shoulder, flipping, and working the other end? If you weren't so far away...

Haha, re-pivoting is not something I'm likely to do soon. I'll just be replacing the balance staff. Getting that done while ensuring the balance is, well, balanced seems difficult enough already.

Can recommend L&R UF Watch Cleaner followed by L&R Ultrasonic Watch Rinse in glass jars in an ultrasonic. I usually put everything in apart from the face. clean for 60sec, remove and peg out jewels followed by another 30sec clean. Then 30sec in rinse 1, 30sec in rinse 2 and dried at 45c in a desktop drying oven. For the face I place it in a denture cleaning pot with a little warm water and a Steradent tablet and gently wipe with a cotton bud and dry in the drying oven.

How powerful is your ultrasonic? 10 mins is probably more than enough. I use 5 mins for cleaning, and 3 for rinsing. Yes, lighter fluid does leave a residue, you should use IPA for rinsing. When I used IPA I did 3 mins in the ultrasonic, and just 1 min for pallet and balance. Do NOT worry about dissolving old shellac ! After years of using refined Naphtha, IPA, I switched this year to proper cleaners - Elma WF Pro cleaner and Elma Suprol Pro rinse. I got the Elma as you can buy it in 2.5L size, so not too expensive, and it will last me years. (For each watch I use about 40ml of fluid in a glass beaker sat in the ultrasonic. So the total cost of cleaning+rinsing is about £1 per watch) The WF Pro cleans much better than naphtha, and leaves parts shining. And with the rinse there's no need to worry about dissolving shellac.

Hi Tim If you are truly interested you could do no better than enrol in Marks Online courses (information on this site). Mark will take you through from the basics to being competent in repair and handling. "Watchfix.com" will also take you to Marks courses. I have attached two documents for you to peruse to give you an idea what its all about. Hope you find it helpful. In the mean time find an old pocket watch and get some good screwdrivers, tweezers and a loupe and have a go, best get a working one so you know it was ok to start with and should work afterwards. good luck. if you need further information just post the questions we are all here to help you suceed. Cheers 1612608791_ToolsfortheHobbyist (2) (1).pdf TZIllustratedGlossary.pdf

Hi Watchie, yes they can be repivoted as far as i know. I have watched it being done quite successfully and also quite unsuccessfully on youtube. And also there are specific traditional tools for that particular job. I will post one up soon along with my many failed attempts with it and eventually a successful one lol. And yes I'm sure it is much better and much much easier to replace the full staff if one is available which i would think it will be in Gert's case. But where is the fun in that ? I thought you might like it. I did think it rather odd. I cant see many being sold tbh. I will open it up and see what is inside it. I cant imagine anything but a miyota quartz if that.

@brunomartins welcome to the WRT forum. You're among many who know what screw goes into what bridge. Enjoy!

Thanks!

Hello and welcome from England.

Welcome to WRT forum.

Hello and welcome to the forum, have a study at the attached, It will give you an idea of whats what TZIllustratedGlossary.pdf

Indeed!

Nicely put Watchie sir. Surely ( stop calling me Surely ) it cant take long for a watch breaker to realise that hes no good at fixing watches and cant make money from it. Half a dozen maybe, but thats still half a dozen down the drain i suppose. Maybe something nice as well, like the DD I've just aquired. That was sent to a jeweller to have a new mainspring installed and then he ended up shafting the balance staff pivots.

In short, the natural rate of oscillation of a (flat spiral) spring is largely independent of the amount of motion (amplitude). Think also of a musical instrument string (even the name is different only by changin p to t), no matter how strong is hit, it plays the same note. You may find this interesting to read: https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/IsochronismofBalanceSprings_10290824.pdf

@grsnovi is right! It’s an AS 340: http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk&AS_340&

Without Youtube, or should I say the Internet, I would never have gotten into servicing/repairing. So I guess you're right about that. Nevertheless, it wasn't that I just happened to see one of those watch repair videos that got me started. It was a strong inner urge to be able to service a watch (long story) that drove me to actively research the Internet for information about it. Being well over 50 years old, having young kids, and doing fairly well in my profession, going to a watch school just wasn't an option (something I mourn quite a lot). I remember watching some of the videos on the Watch Repair Channel but having zero knowledge of watch repair, those videos basically just made me feel intimidated and confused. I should say that these days with all the knowledge I have obtained over the years I appreciate the Watch Repair Channel immensely and there's basically only one other repairer that I respect as much as Mark and perhaps even more. That repairer has a member name on this forum being a combination of one transition metal and one precious metal Eventually, I found a Youtube channel named "Ratfaced git". It was hosted by a retired car mechanic named Dan. Naturally, his approach was much that of a car mechanic, rather than that of a skilled and experienced watch repairer. Dan hardly knew the names of parts, didn’t care much and was proud of it. It inspired me endlessly and gave me - at that time a complete mechanical idiot - the courage to try it myself on one of those Vostok movements that could be had on eBay for a few dollars. Honestly, without those videos, I’m not sure my interest would have taken off and that I would be writing this post. I have now taken several online courses and I have some of the books by Fried and DeCarle, and I have learned tons on this forum, but without that retired car mechanic, I'm not sure that would have happened. Have I butchered any watches? Well, butchered is a strong word, but to be honest, some of the watches that I have been working on would likely have been better off in the hands of a pro. For that, I apologise to the watch gods and the pros. Yes, they all make it look so easy, don't they? Complete and perfect service and repair of a Rolex 3135 in under 40 minutes, and for that, "the pros have the audacity to charge $500 or more". Having some personal experience of what it takes to just service a watch without doing any repairs, I'm personally amazed that the pros can even survive at those rates, but I guess they're really good at what they're doing. Nevertheless, I think these Youtube videos are great for promoting watches in general and that means more people will want to have "a real watch" and that is a good thing for the trade on the whole. Sure, some of those affordable vintage watches will be butchered in the process, and however sad that is, there are millions and millions of them out there. And, although there's a lot of ooohing and ahhhing in the comment sections, I rarely see comments where people express that the video gave them the confidence to service/repair the family heirloom themselves.

Now you know why nobody is punctual in Asia, with the exception of Japan and Singapore. C'mon, admit it. You're hooked.

But it does take a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’

I'm shocked! The Pobeda showed up today!

£2.20 so I don't care if it is rubbish.