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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/24/22 in all areas

  1. I stand corrected thanks! I think I understand the cutoff you mention, if the pivot is work hardened the way I expect it should be, a fine "file" will no longer cut. And darn it, now I can't find my burnisher to check what I have. All this moving around ergh. Cheers! Found it. Vallorbe LP 3215 left handed. AF Swiss catalog calls it a double ended pivot file cut 000 to cut 8, when I bought it it was sold as a burnisher. Looking at it under the microscope, it's not very well made, or confusingly made. On end is definitely a file, and the other is a ground surface, pretty smooth. I don't have access to the stuff to check microfinish anymore, but it is pretty fine. The radius on the relieved edge is poorly done, inconsistent, and on both sides part of the radius is serrated and part smooth. Off to find a Bergeon burnisher! Thanks Aargh. Not now. Now I know why I bought the Vallorbe. Best US price, $130. Cousins is better, but they are out of stock on the left handed one.
    2 points
  2. Actually the textured burnishers used for pivot work can be seen as ultra-fine files. They do compress the metal, but they also remove some metal, that's the "black stuff" on the burnisher after some strokes. A really fine textured burnisher will have a cutoff point though where it won't really remove material any more. A more aggressively textured one would continue to cut (and burnish)... but, it won't leave quite as fine of a finish on the part. The Bergeons are pretty spot on right out of the box. I had a Vallorbe when I was in school last century but as VW mentioned the radius is too large for most watch work, and the file is useless for watch work (maybe for a center wheel or barrel arbor?). Ha VW posted while I was writing.
    2 points
  3. When you burnish a damaged pivot, perhaps it has been scored by a cracked jewel or has rusted, it will diminish the pivot diameter. So, it will remove material! I'd say the typical situation in my experience is that you will need to remove 1-2/100 mm but more may be required depending on the situation. Of course, there's a limit on how much you can remove from the pivot before the jewel has to be replaced. And there's a limit to how much you can remove before the pivot becomes too weak for its job. It depends on the original pivot diameter. Mind you, I do this with my Bergeon burnisher which, unlike the Vallorbe tool, doesn't have a file, just a burnisher. Please see the images in my previous post. As an experiment practising with my Jacot tool and Bergeon burnisher only I have reduced the pivot diameter of a 0.17 mm pivot to 0.07 mm. So, it works as a file too but the end result, if done correctly, will be a pivot with a (very near) mirror shine. I'd say the point is to remove as little material as possible.
    2 points
  4. So being still fairly new to the whole watch repair scene i'm curious what others out there suggest for what's the best solution they use for cleaning items in their Ultrasonic machine? Yes, I understand that it depends on what you are cleaning etc but in general i'm just curious to what the seasoned guys and gals out here use. Mainly i'd say for cleaning cases and straps for one use. the other use would be for cleaning watch movement parts? I've seen many videos where people use all sort's of mixtures so I would like to hear what you guys think as I trust the judgement of those on this forum the most. Thanks so much everyone for any anticipated responses. Graham.
    1 point
  5. I’m interested in all the tools and techniques involved in this venture, but as a hobbyist I don’t think a full Luthy tool is in my future. I did find a lower-tech tool made by Swartchild that allows you to suspend the balance and hairspring on a transparent plate, under which you can place a watch that has the correct BPH so that its balance is visible and you can use that as a reference. I realized that I could just as easily suspend the hairspring on an iPhone screen, if I could find a video or a simulation to run as a reference. On the amazing web page by Bartosz Ciechanowski dedicated to the engineering and physics of the mechanical watch, there is a balance oscillation simulation that worked well. Here's a link: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/ I grabbed an unknown spare balance out of the parts box, suspended it from a pinch point a bit away from the pre-placed stud, and by adjusting the parameters of the simulation it turned out to have a periodicity of close to 0.4 seconds, which would make it an 18,000 BPH balance. I then adjusted the pinch point until the balance was matched to that specific rate in the simulation (see video). The rate of oscillation in the simulation can be changed to provide other BPH rates, so it could be useful if this would work. My question is regarding the level of absolute precision required to place the stud, because the timing of a web-based simulation like this may not be exactly on the nose. The placement is certainly important to allow a full range of regulation, but knowing that the regulator will be used for the ultimate fine tuning, is a setup like this likely to be accurate enough to set a new hairspring into the functional zone? Video of this setup: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WH58LR0AL_4
    1 point
  6. Yup. Today was St Andrews. A quick stop off at the start of Old Course for pictures and then on to the front of the Old Course Hotel where there was a collection of Netherlands registered super cars. Somewhere around 25 of them, and if we guestimate that the average price was north of 100 grand a pop, there must have been easily a cool 2.5 million in shiny poser mobiles in the car park, not including the scattering of other fancy price machines that belonged to the hotel guests. From there we took a quick round of the town and sat outside in a cafe next to the bookshop and had coffee in the warm windless sunshine. Not bad for late September on the east coast in Scotland.
    1 point
  7. Aw mate gutted for you but really well done on the rest of the repair, the thing is not to let it set you back. It may not have been totally your fault, an old watch so could easily have been an old weak pivot that has given years of service. Lets have a gander of the watch and movement matey, i dont think we've seen it yet.
    1 point
  8. Three for 99p - The 1977 Marlin was the one I was interested in, but the Pulsar looks wearable too. Not sure what the W&W contains. Time will tell.
    1 point
  9. You can certainly do it like that! You can even do it with a stopwatch just counting the beats of a suspended (but supported on lower pivot) balance, I've used that technique for odd beats like 20,222 or 19,444. Though in my case I have a Luthy tool, which makes it handy to set the balance in motion and adjust the length of the spring. With a flat hairspring you would generally stud it with a bit of extra stickout in case you need to let some out when it's in the actual watch. With an overcoil you really have to get it bang-on when vibrating as lengthening or shortening might mean the overcoil gets thrown off. In any case you want your balance to stay synced with the reference balance (or video) for a good minute or you will be playing around a lot in the watch.
    1 point
  10. One very useful website is JulesBorel : http://www.julesborel.com/ Select "JBC Watch Parts Database" then " Search for parts for manufacturers from A to F", Citizen. Find " CIT 8280A" , then any part you select, it will show which other movements use the same part. Unfortunately it doesn't list mainspring or complete barrel. So, I'm not sure
    1 point
  11. Yours is downright fancy with the stamped numbers! The one I have only has scribed labels.
    1 point
  12. The original dial fittings are bad, yours look much stronger.
    1 point
  13. I was going to say they are friction tight, but in the end you found that out. So now all is good and ready to go.
    1 point
  14. If you have a Seitz jeweling tool with a 3mm hole on the base, it’s going to be very difficult to drill out the 3mm hole to 4mm accurately. If you did try to do this, you would have to ensure that your new 4mm hole on the base is perfectly centered to the spindle of the jeweling tool; if the newly drilled hole is a bit off, it would render your entire tool worthless. I can’t see how you can do this drilling without access to some pretty expensive tools. On the other hand, if you were to make a new metal table as a base, with a 3mm plug on the bottom, and a 4mm hole on the table face for your stump, this would be a lot more feasible. The only drawback would be that this table insert/adaptor would reduce the working distance between spindle and stump. In both cases, ensuring all holes and/or plugs are exactly 3.99mm or 4.01mm is critical for fitting, so you would have to have some pretty precise tools… However, if the 3mm hole is on the spindle, you can easily buy a replacement spindle with 4mm hole. I believe that the Horia spindle sold on Cousinsuk can fit the Seitz tool. However, you have to check with other members on this for confirmation, if the Horia and Seitz spindles are interchangeable, especially with regard to the head and overall length of the spindle. Another possible issue is that the hole on the Seitz tool for the spindle has been known to vary slightly by up to 0.01mm, depending on the age of the Seitz tool. This could potentially affect whether the new Horia spindle will fit into the Seitz tool. In other words, a Horia spindle may not fit your Seitz tool (depending on its age), as the new spindle diameter may be marginally larger. It may also be cheaper and more economical to buy a second hand Seitz 4mm spindle, compared to a new Horia spindle.@nickelsilver may be able to advice you on this!
    1 point
  15. The balance! And yes that's normal with these I think. The movement is not self starting if a good battery isn't installed because the balance needs to be swung to one side or the other in order for the electromagnet to be repelled back. The center is a neutral position and it may not kick up when the battery goes in until it gets a little flick of the wrist.
    1 point
  16. I would be tempted to stick with something that reduces size,and shapes at a steady pace. It's so easy to overdo it with something of a too course nature. You can't put back what you've taken off. We quickly learn with experience though how far a tool will take us before we need to switch to a different method. Appreciate the info on the burnishers Watchie. I've heard of jasper stones being used as a finish. I used to use Arkansas and washita stones for fine joinery chisel sharpening. I also have an extremely fine Welsh slate stone. I was thinking of taking a thin slice off them and dress them up to a good square edge. Tomorrow's project maybe. A bit to think about on a staff pivot, to keep within its set dimentions. Diameter, length, conical shoulder, it's finished end shape.
    1 point
  17. Dear forum members here a introduction. My name is Willem from the Netherlands and inherited a seiko arctura kinetic from my father. Couldn’t wair it because of a broken watchband than my journey began in the world of seiko arctura kinetic watches designed by Jorg Hysek. Because the rubber watch strap was not available anymore I came to the idea to 3D print it after buying some donor watches with original straps which also didn’t last for long. Here some proto types!! I discovered this forum because I have a problem with a 5m42-0e39 and found a YouTube video related to this forum about a kinetic which doesn’t hold charge. The watch was send to seiko and they said the watch is using to much battery instead of repairing it they want to replace clockwork. A new updated capacitor won’t solve the problem. So does someone have any idea what could be the problem.
    1 point
  18. As others have already stated, yes absolutely. It’s one of the primary functions of the Jacot tool which allows you to burnish a kind of polished hard skin onto the surface of the pivot after shaping which in turn makes the pivot more durable. The lantern is used for this purpose - if you have a dual purpose pivot file/burnisher you can shape and burnish within a few strokes. It’s doesn’t take much. By the way - anyone considering buying a Jacot set should look closely at the lantern or lanterns in the listing pictures before buying. They are often broke. A friend of mine had to buy (and send back) three sets before he actually found a good set. Some sellers attempt to hide the broken lantern in the listing images and if you’ve never used one before you might not realise until too late.
    1 point
  19. The bezel around the crystal pops off (there's a slight opening at one end between the lugs to fit a case knife). Once it's off, you can gently pull the crystal away as it's held in a v gasket. It's not immediately obvious though.
    1 point
  20. if I look at your picture it looks to me like to escape wheel is way too far down because the upper pivot is visible. It should be farther up in the jewel. if you did a escape wheel end shake testing in other words you attempted to move your escape wheel up and down I have a suspicion you going to find it has a heck of a lot of play. unfortunately to get a proper assessment you're going to have to take the watch a part. then you can look up the lower jewel properly and see if it looks like it's been knocked out of alignment. then an unfortunate problem of watch repair is the initial investment in tools and things is relatively inexpensive. But you do end up needing special the tools conceivably an infinite quantity of them that none of us can afford. So yes they do make tools to relocate the jewel if it's just been pushed down and it's not broken or something else.
    1 point
  21. I just use distilled water with some dish soap for cases and bracelets and Elma Red for watch parts with a rinse in 99% IPA, Obviously not putting the balance and palette forks in this solution, they go in Essence of Renata.
    1 point
  22. I am very new here as well but here is my take on the problem. I use water and my wife's stuff that came with the small ultrasonic cleaner for the case and bracelet. I use alcohol (91 % isopropyl is what I was able to get) in a small jar in a water bath in the small ultrasonic for all the watch parts. Larry (Midazolam)
    1 point
  23. 1 point
  24. Welcome to the forum Jack. Enjoy.
    1 point
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