Leaderboard

I've been procrastinating work on the Pobeda (since it was working, I figured why work on it and fix it so it won't ever work again). My wife asked me why I haven't been working on "my watches" so I figured I'd better engage. So, from my job lot of junk I figured I'd work on opening/replacing Incabloc springs and selected a movement (which turned out to be a Felsa 4023) and opened up the spring on the top side of the balance, removed the jewel setting and split the capstone off of the setting. In placing the capstone back in place I was doing fine until I went to drop it back in the movement and proceeded to drop it on the bench where the capstone and setting promptly dis-assembled themselves and the setting disappeared. So, I closed up the top Incabloc and flipped it over and essentially performed the same magic trick on the bottom Incabloc/jewel (that is, I removed it just fine, split the capstone off the setting and then lost the setting). Closed that back up and noticed there was a movement number and logo so I removed the balance, figured out it was a Felsa and then lost the screw putting the balance back on!? Not a good day for success however there was much handling of small parts and (hopefully) some learning? Oh, and there was a 9 image focus stack photography exercise (that turned out just fine - maybe I should focus more on photography).

Hello Newish watch repair hobbyist here, programmer by trade. Decided to wet my beak by starting with Marks first three courses before deciding if this was seriously something I was interested in. Well, I've finished the courses, purchased tools, and started dismantling my own watches before shopping around. I picked a Junkers (Miyota 9132) as my first victim, many lessons learned. Next watch was a vintage Rospin (EB 1332), and now on to a Raketa which feels much more familiar. Here to share my successes, and failures that eventually turn in to questions and learning. See ya 'round! Best, Matt

$130 for a bunch of Chinese junk is a case of robbery. I would picture the poor items, pack, ship back and claim with PayPal - if that's what you've used. Even a partial refund would relieve the pain. BTW visors are not a good choice in watchmaking, better to get used to the traditional eyepiece, there are good reason why it's still used by professionals. Kits are generally a bad idea. Buy what you need, when you need it, at the price level that you are comfortable with. It will be probably still Chinese, but at least you can select and discuss to not get sc*ewed.

I use a piece of magnetic shower door seal. You get it with two meters of length. If you leave it that long you’ll be more effective

Welcome Fred. Keep us updated on your progress along this journey. Fear not. There are ways to deal with flying springs—baggies. For me, after 1.5 years, I don’t use baggies any more and never lose anything...takes time, patience, and attention to detail...

That’s the lower setting. The upper would be on the balance cock. I’ll go look for some pics of a recent service I did on one of these in the morning. Maybe it’ll help giving a little more detail

All - Manager by trade, and looking for a new hobby as my previous hobby became my full time work and I do too much of that in the 168 hours per week I am granted . Looking to expand into the mechanical engineering space and thought what better place to try something out than watch/clock repairing. Always learning, and ready to pick up something new! lookup

You maybe need to take the thickness of the levers down where they fit under the hands. Most dials will scratch very easily some even with a very soft sponge if they are laquered. Hand levers should always be used with either a poly bag or some kind of dial protector. Try to reign your keenness in, can be difficult i know when you are engrossed with a particular task. I've made some horrendous mistakes while rushing to get something finished. Never a good idea.

Hi When removing hands use a piece of poly bag over the dial when using the levers. No more scratches Cheers

Something I do. I align the mainplate on a stump by using the train bridge as a guide. Then, while applying light pressure, I hot glue the mainplate to the stump. I use as much glue as possible. Then I remove the train bridge and move the stump to Seitz tool to start reaming. I also glue the stump to the tool base. Of course there is a little play between the stump and the hole so it would be perfect if you could center it perfectly before gluing. I haven't reamed horribly oval holes but I believe this method might work. Hot glue is still a bit elastic but at least you don't have to hold the plate with hand while reaming. Let me know if this sounds real silly

Further to that, mark "completed listings" box in advanced search, and you will know how much people had actually paid.

Here is a side view.

That is the top view and production number of my Atmos. Looking at your earlier model and the later one in my last post it’s easy to see that there was some cost cutting over the years.

So I ordered some 270.03 shock springs and some luminous powder. Should be here in 7-10 business days. I will let you guys know how it works out.

Something like this G for a magnet. I think it cost me about a fiver from epay. I use it to locate timber studs behind drywall boards. Its about 1 1/2" in diameter. But you can get bigger, i do have a 4 inch diameter one for magnet fishing. You can just loop some string through the eyelet and then hover it around the carpet while standing. Saves on carpet burns , ( erm no I'm not even going to go there, i could but i wont lol ).

The free length of the spring defines the beat rate. To get the beat rate into the ballpark you have to loosen the screw, pull the tapered pin that holds the upper end of the spring and give or take some spring length. Then retighten.

Looks like shock spring 270.03 is a listed application for the tissot 784. Thanks for the tip! As far as the glue in the incabloc seat i will just have to be thorough in my cleaning and verify under the microscope.

Have you realised you are getting the same thrill out of the repairs youR Dad did all those years ago and he made a living from it which was a great thing to do. Carrying on the legacy albeit for free is walking in his footsteps and standing in his shadow. Good for you.

At first I did not realize that the wooden blocks at the top (not shown in this photo) were access portals. Not realizing this, I figured it would be challenging to get the line to run over the pulley. Once I removed the blocks, it was trivial. Secondly, there is another pulley on the strike side. Designed to guide the line on the strike great wheel. I made the mistake of winding it without getting it aligned on the pulley. This resulted in winding the line on the wheel axle itself rather than the winding shaft. This took some effort to undo. When the clock came to me, the pendulum bob was wedged in between the left brace and the cabinet and the striking weight was resting on it. The other weight was rolling around on the bottom along with the keys. Little to no attention was paid to this clock for many many years. It is still running nicely this morning, so other than regulating, I think I am in good shape. As with many of my repairs (watches and clocks)...they come to me knowing that I am servicing them for free. If the owner really wanted their timepiece operating, they would have paid real money to have them fixed. In most (but not all) cases, I expect the timepiece will return to a dark closet or a jewelry box. That is fine by me because, I get the experience, get to see some beautiful ancient timepieces, and the joy of bringing them to life.

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum. We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement.

A warm welcome to you both enjoy the forum. It’s a frustrating but rewarding hobby.

This is the first post I read on this forum I read killerfred's intro and that increased my confidence, then scrolling down I read grsnovi's reply and I was promptly bought back to reality. Flying bits! I'll intro later, but I am also seeing if this is something I want to continue on with. Sounds good.

Even the very small bottles of oil last for ages. I oil everything i work on even movements that are really poor quality that are causing me grief just to get a reasonable amplitude. Some of them i should just put in the bin, but i prefer to give every movement my best shot. Its the best practice you can get, can be a little disheartening with failing attempts but when i manage to get a poorly made watch running well its then a huge uplift. Ive been stuck on one for a few weeks now, going backwards and forwards with it inbeween other little repairs for people (its amazing once folk get to know what you're up to they start handing you watches to fix ). Which is ok as long as you make no promises, I've not had anyone not say dont worry you cant harm it, it doesnt work anyway. So far I've been lucky, and because they've not been around the block a few times on ebay they generally just need a service. If you still having tweezer ping Gary, you just need more practice. But there are other ways of carrying parts. I used rodico quite a lot for doing this in the beginning until i got to grips with my tweezer handling. Also try Ross's idea of fencing off your work area. Old tme watchmakers wore an apron that they pinned to the edge of the bench as well. Some light coloured lino cut in around your bench so you're not having to search through carpet and a good sized magnet is very handy for finding metal parts and a torch for jewel finding.

Due to just practicing you might not have oiled the capstone before putting it into the setting? That makes a huge difference because the capillar forces hold the cap stone in the setting!

Welcome to WRT forum and good luck with your forey into horology.

Ah, you paid a good price, and to have free updates without a monthly subscription is very rare these days!

I'd say most likely 1870s to almost 1890s. I have a Swiss key-wind/set dating to 1867. I have lever-sets as early as 1887. Most pin-set watches evolved after key-sets, but levers came after the pin-sets and gained popularity. Considering a degree of overlap, that's how I arrived at my rough guess.

Welcome Matt! With a couple under your belt and Mark's first three courses you should be good to go (unlike me, still struggling with shooting jewels and screws into never-neverland).

Whatever they state if PayPal was used for payment they must abide to its terms of buyer's protection, beside any applicable consumer regulation. A restocking fee is never applicable for a non elective return. All you have to is to ship it back, open a claim with PayPal and include the tracking number. No arguing with the seller is needed. You will receive immediate credit pending the final decision by PayPal, which normally sides with an honest buyer. As I mentioned PayPal Canada also refunds the return shipping, including to the US: https://www.paypal.com/ca/for-you/shop/refunded-returns That's why it's always recommendable to use it for online purchases. I believe the above is most effective and correct way to deal with a brand new of a item that is faulty, then of course you can decide to do differently.

Thing is, when OP opens the watch he’s pretty much married to it. So as others have said, try and get it sent back if possible. If that doesn’t work out, then he gets to learn the fascinating hobby of watchmaking

Greetings and Salutations! Thanks for the intro, and good luck in your watch repair journey.

I'm with dadistic. It's an American company, the expectation should definitely be that they aren't hawking defective goods. As inexpensive as the watch is, they might not even want it back... If they do, my expectation as an American would be that they cover it. COB. Just because their website says so, doesn't mean whoever picks up the phone will say the same. Pretty sure the website doesn't say "defective" anywhere in their return policy. It's at least worth a phone call. If you're concerned about international rates, I had a bunch of dealings in Canada recently, and I used the Google Voice app. It's free. I believe I found the best price to my door last time I bought a Seiko movement from a random seller on eBay. It wasn't an NH35, but same family. That specificity might have cost me a few bucks more than the cheapest seller out there. From memory, it was on the order of $35 shipped.

Get your money back. If the seller won't take back the watch and give you a refund, then dispute the sale with your credit card company or PayPal, as the watch is defective. The problem could be anything from loose hands to a defective movement, no way of knowing without taking apart the watch, and it's not worth buying a new movement until you know what is wrong with the watch.

Over the years I have picked up a few of those little Chinese pocket watches. You probably know the sort of thing. Pictures of trucks, trains or aircraft on them, often sold by the likes of "Atlas Editions" and aimed at the "Collector". These are certainly 404 club watches as I tend to put on a very low bid, typically 0.99p or a couple of quid. I realised that you can actually remove the picture from the front, and substitute your own, so here is my wife, looking very young, and holding my niece who is now also considerably older, married, and living in the US. There really isn't much more to say other than the method for removing the front "glass", which is actually an acrylic crystal, is simply to attach a large lump of blue-tack, and pull hard. Tie the watch to a string, and loop that round your wrist, to avoid it flying across the room while performing this trick. You may need several attempts before it pops off, allowing you to remove the original paper picture and substitute your own. Print your images at around 38mm in diameter (check the size first, to confirm this) and trim to fit inside the crystal, then pop the crystal back in and you are done. There is an engraving on the back of some of these watches, so you may need to do something artistic to cover that.

Hi Paul Attached a couple of sheets on the 6365. Will give you the part numbers. Unitas 6360, 6365.pdf Unitas 6365N, 6480N, 6487, 6488.pdf

That's a Unitas 6365N http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&2&2uswk&Unitas_6365N

Haha don't feel silly. We've all been there fella. Keep posting things up and ask questions. A raketa 2609 ha was my very first watch. A different crown wheel arrangement. Watch those left handed screws. # 3 lines #

Hello, Yes, I saw that after I created the thread. I felt so dumb. LOL Anyways thank you very much.

Just check around the case rim edge my friend , the bezel pops off along with the crystal. There should be a fairly long shallow groove on both the bezel and the case to allow a case knife in. I have an late 60s raketa. They are the same Russian manufacturer.

Avia Matic - FHF 905 with an interesting patina and a strange reflection from the magnifier I was taking the picture with, just in case you thought I had turned into some weird cyborg with LEDs under my skin.