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Hi alll of you, I'm not sure my post is in the right place, but I wished to share ma latest (crazy) experiment : I have just finished assembling a watch, taking the case from one and putting inside the movement (France Ebauche 233-60) from another one, with the crown from a third one and one of the handles form a fourth one ... and I painted the original dial in purple ... Could we call the result a controversial watch ? By the way, the watch works quite well.

Today I took a crack at the three Jappy Beaucourt pocket watches I picked up around the start of the year. Arguably this one needs a replacement glass, but I think 150 years of scratches give it a bit of character. I may try to polish the scratches out some time, but successfully polishing glass is a lot more hard work than polishing acrylic. The one with the roughest dial became the parts watch, and I have this one running well (within a minute per day, which is acceptable in my book for an ancient cylinder movement), and a second one running, but still not quite in beat. In fairness the poorly running one had a pretty bad case of hairspring salad, so the fact that runs at all is pretty good going. It has an acrylic crystal, so it has obviously had some work done to it in the past. The one I am wearing is almost completely original, but for the winding click mechanism which was too far gone to be saved, so the donor (which also had a broken mainspring) provided that. The donor also provided a minute hand, following a minor calamity where the original one experiences some strange quantum entanglement event and winked out of existence. It may wink back in to existence again when I clean the area under my work bench, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for that. I've already crawled around on my hands and knees there for the required half hour trying to appease the horological deities, but nothing quantum related occurred. I grant you, the Beaucourt it is not quite as elegant as the "Defiant" in the previous post, but it is ticking away nicely, and I rather like it.

Someone will certainly tell you what is needed but I think that teaching on how to do by oneself is more valuable that serving the ready solution. 1. get yourself an eyepiece or at least a loupe. Very very important when dealing with watches 2. measure the old battery, that will give you right away the size because diameter makes the 1st digit, and height the 2nd and 3rd. And I am attaching a document to better make sense of that. 7009_Battery Cross Reference Guide.pdf 3. if no battery, measure the slot and proceed as as above. 4. if no watch, there are many websites carrying this information. Normally, in the first hits of a Google search result.

I was lucky enough to purchase a collection of watches/movements/parts from a watchmakers estate a little over a year ago (this is from the '404 club' post). I'm still going through all of them, there are a good 1,000 to 1,500 watches/movements/parts, all nicely arranged alphabetically by movement which makes it so much easier than it could have been to find what I need. Bulova is my main area of collection interest (my avatar is what got me started), so I set aside the 'keepers" and this is what I'm left with for parts and scrap movements: I want to keep those that fall into my 'wheelhouse', but the 10AE isn't really a movement that I see myself needing down the road so I'm happy to pass it along. I'm still coming across Bulova's that are sorted by non in-house Bulova movements (eg, a number of 'AS' movements). Another Bulvoa saved that was destined for the scrap heap and I'm happy. I just want to see a photo of the finished watch

Well, just to complete the loop - here’s what moved those screws in the end. A bit of heat and a bit more torque moved 7 of them. The 8th was very difficult. I tried heat, followed by cold, lots of torque applied bravely, but to no avail. In the end I used DeOxit applied with an oiler to the margins of the screw head. I presume capillary action drew it under and into the thread. I left it a couple of hours and then tried again - this time with success. Now all 8 are removed. I was sweating on the last one, because the slot was already damaged from where people had been in before and I knew I had a high chance of wrecking it. The heads are surprisingly soft. Anyway, mission accomplished. Thanks for everyone’s input.

Gosh! It's nice to know others like me are out there at roughly the same stage. I retried. Got bored. Get a hobby. Using Udemy. Learned Databases, then Excel. Photography using Serif Affinity. Completed a digital Photography course with Affinity Revolution. Then came Covid. Learned Video Editing using Vegas Pro. 2 years without leaving our parkhome site. All of these courses cost only about £15 each. Great value. Computing is ok, but does not give a sense of achievement. Trawling through Youtube, saw a tutorial on watches. Wow! Bought a book. Like Paaul 80, I'm dyslexic. Read and read and read and read. Have no understanding of what I have read. Visual is the way for me. This is my work area. The mouse mat has now been replace by a proper mat. The box saves 99% of the 'ping'. Recently purchased mobeus oils, 9010, D5,and Molykote DX from ebay for under £30. Keeping the faith. Regards Ross

Hi guys, I have started a project in Github to generate all the possible types of mainspring winder sizes from a single base design using a Python script. https://github.com/vishnu350/rs-mainspring-winder The STL files can be downloaded from the release section: https://github.com/vishnu350/rs-mainspring-winder/releases This project is a 3D printable "Rising Sun" watch mainspring winder for hobbyists. Mainspring winding for hobbyists has always been a problem, as most of us cannot afford the $1000 Bergeon set. Or sometimes, the appropriate size just isn't available. This forces most casual hobbyists to resort to handwinding or other similar stunts, which is not ideal. This mainspring winder is designed using FreeCAD to be easily 3D printed with no post-processing/finishing required. It will approximately cost $5/set by most 3D print service providers (use eBay to find someone near you). The design is parameterized, allowing you to dynamically change the size/dimensions of the winder and the entire design will be recalculated accordingly. The RS mainspring winder is a pleasure to use when constructed correctly, and can wind in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. I have uploaded a video describing the 3D printed RS winder parts and how to use it. Will appreciate any help or feedback as to further improve the design, as I actually do not own a 3D printer (I pay for each print). I also do not know the complete range of sizes that is required to be uploaded into the release section. Also, the optimal design parameters may still not be perfect, but it seems to work pretty well for me at the moment. Thanks.

6+ months since I stared this hobby Thoughts Rewarding? Yes. Frustrating? Yes. Learning curve. Easy, because of YouTube videos. Hard, as a result of physical expertise. 'Ping' and 'Slip' make for great skill retention. Cost. Cheap but expensive. Cheap, in that the tools are not all that expensive. Expensive in that a lot of items are needed to gain expertise. Maintenance of expense. Initial purchase of tools to keep cost down does work, only a few need replacing as more experience is gained. However the need for explicit tools makes the expense demanding. Biggest expense. Watches and movements. Watches to be worked on, movements and spares to repair the watches and to replace the 'pinged' parts. Biggest benefit. Mark Lovick's course. Comment Watch Repair Talk forum is excellent. All the help I could need was freely given. YouTube videos make learning enjoyable. My mistake is the amount of knowledge and skill needed to service even the easiest watch. Too many watches. Had watches as a youngster. I'll get another one of each and do them up. Wrong. I've owned number of Swiss watches, Didn't realise that movements were not specific to the name of the watch. Could I help a beginner? Not in learning, as I am still a newcomer. However I would like to make an observation. It would have helped considerable if the 'trainers' offered this advice. Hello, welcome. It's a great hobby. Consider beginning on one watch only. Don't get to many. All are the same, but vastly different. There are many YouTube video'ers who offer great tutorial. But stick to one watch. 6 months down the line. What would I do different? As above, but would have made a note of the watches I owned. What ones were working and those that were not. Keep a log of the watches that I have worked on. Note what is damaged and what is replaced. Saves duplication in purchases. Why buy a movement when you already have an old watch with the same movement. Keep a note of expenditure. My watch purchases were double my tools??? Will I stop? Heck, no. Beginning to understand the rudiment. Long way to go. Started to have learned earlier? 73 yrs young and I've still got plenty of time left. Onward and upward. Regards to all. Ross

Oh well.... i have to confess, i am also in this Club, but i started more than one Year ago and have not yet disassembled any Movement, i have too much Respect until now. But by assembling my own Watches (only 3 until now, two of them running well, the third needs a little bit Attention....) i killed 2 Movement (Clone 2824 and 2836) and will have to find out what went wrong. As i have enough Spare-Movements at the Moment, i am not in a hurry to try it and disassemble them. And yes, i like Tools, you never have enough; buy cheap, realise its too cheap, buy again better Quality or try to make the Tool yourself (oh.....). I have a Lathe (180x300 Class) and a Mill (100Kg Class, a BF20) with a selfmade DRO on it, so basically i have the Tools to make Tools (my other Hobby is building Live-Steam-Locomotives in Scale 1:22 thats the Reason for Lathe and Mill). But in the World of Watches, everything is so tiny and my Fingers are so big, but i will be able to gain Practice and Patience and Trust. Yeah, i am retired, Age 67 now, short on Time due to other Reasons....... regards, Ernst

I love watching this thing run. Kinda like watching paint dry.

I’d use the grease Moebius 9501!

See personal message!

I'd be the last to point fingers; I just got done doing the same thing a few days ago. Had an FHF 96 in perfect condition. Had a 14k case that was a perfect fit. Added a no-name dial, hands, a mesh bracelet of the same color of gold. Just to see how it would turn out. I kinda like it. And it's as accurate as any other mechanical watch I have. Maybe even one of the more accurate ones.

Ooooh a franken watch, some may find this controversial, i hope for you that you dont receive a temporary forum ban.

Could not have expressed it better. 'And now it seems the hard opinionated man of Yorkshire has become an emotional wet lettuce'. We will follow you 'Cos' you are the man with the wind in your ... er... sail. As Neverenoghwatches said, looking forward to more from beginners like us. Makes for interesting reading and keeps the inspiration up. The more experienced do the videos, and thank goodness for you. It's why we are where we are. Back to my 4th attempt on the ETA 2789. The 3rd attempt on the ETA 2789-1 will be after that, then the ... well, you know what I mean. So enjoyable. Regards, and thank you once again to all. Ross

Thank you Ross for starting this thread and i hope more of us add to it. I also have what i would call a now controlled and self imposed ocd if there is such a thing. It made me the skilled tradesman that i became. I'm around 9 months in now with this hobby, i study extensively as i have to know the far a end of a fart with everything i do lol. But you guys and the rest of the beginners out there yet to speak up inspire me, especially the older ones of you that have to overcome sight difficulties and others with health issues that impede with this hobby. I'm proud of every single one of you and love you all and hope you all keep at it and accept the challenges it brings and deal with them head on to stick with this amazing rewarding hobby. We are all unique and special in our own way and no one can take that away from us. And now it seems the hard opinionated man of Yorkshire has become an emotional wet lettuce

That is incredibly kind of you GuyMontag.

Thank you! Message sent.

It would be the mainplate, winding stem, setting lever and setting lever screw. No charge for those, I'll just pop it into a letter envelope. If that works just pm your address.

I definitely think you are right that this is the problem. The stem has too much jiggle for comfort. A brand new setting lever is hard to come by. I’ve ordered another movement in hopes to be able to salvage both together. Thanks to everyone who helped on this!!!

Any contribution that anyone makes will always help at least one person so that in itself makes it worth doing .

Greetings Ross, I could sense that you've been frustrated. You've been at this a month or two longer than I have and I don't feel like I'm where I "should" be but I'm OK with how it's going. One thing I did was to keep a running spreadsheet of everything I spent (including shipping) and it's been quite a bit more than I would have imagined AND I haven't purchased a time grapher or mainspring winders. I think rather than suggesting that we start with a pocket watch (because they're larger) the suggestion should be to start with a watch that is running. When we start with a 100 year-old pocket watch: You first have to diagnose why it isn't running - as beginners we don't have the skill to do so. You often have to find parts, the obvious way might be to purchase but that doesn't work on a 100 year-old watch so you're left with trying to find a donor movement that is EXACTLY the same (even then you need to know about variations that may have been made over the production years). There should be some way to get 50 drops of he right oils needed to do the first watch you're working on. Spending $200 to get 5 bottles of Moebius is stupid. Hang in there! - Gary

Welcome Joe, I too am the son of a watchmaker. While a young boy he taught me what I was willing to absorb. Did his clock work for gas money as a teen. Like you, I returned to watchmaking later in years. I only wish I had done this before my dad died because he would have given me a wealth of insight. I inherited all of his tools and bench, so he gave me a good start. But now I must rely on the good folks on this forum as surrogates for my dad. There are some uber-bright watchmakers on this forum who are eager to help. I do not count myself among them at this stage, but maybe in 10 years or so...who knows?

Welcome to WRT forum.

Welcome to the forum! It would seem that four years at the foot of your father would have provided you with a great education. Hopefully you'll enjoy this place. Cheers!