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I recently gave information about Timegrapher. I thought someone might be interested in my approach to homemade tools. I made a mainspring Barrel press from two different sized shampoo tops. A small hole in the centre of each makes a gap for the arbour. A £4.99 presto tool. Cutting a groove with a dremel makes it useable for 5 spoke wheel removal. Spring saver whilst washing. Centre of a suction cap. Outer edge cut away. Inserted into the mesh basket, placed on top of springs means they do not get caught in the mesh. Just loving the hobby. Ross

I've been looking at ways to check my watches, and a timegraph seems to be the way to go. The cost at this time is inordinately expensive. May be later. however, I made a startling discovery. I can have a very good system for free. My watch holder can hold a watch and be turned in many directions. Placed against the microphone of a spare webcam Timegrapher 0.5.0 for PC. Works a treat. See the results Saved over £130

Problem solved in a rather unusual way. Since the old crystal is in good shape and fit the movement perfectly, I did this. Took a piece of aluminum foil and covered the crystal and over the module (capsule). Then I pressed that into the bezel. Using a surgeons scalpel I cut away the foil. It is a very tight fit and you cannot see the foil. The foil, incidentally, is 20 microns thick. That is all it took. My method is easily reversible (i.e., I can press the movement out without harm).

Using the accompanying dvcap software on my pc, if there's any lag it's a millisecond. One issue is there's no automated zoom so you need to manually raise/lower the scope, I'm placing it on a small box to get some height, but it works okay. It's not a real alternative to a "good" microscope by any stretch, but definite bang for buck with the bonus of being output to a monitor.

Haha, ain't that the truth. Friendships have been lost, marriages annulled and brothers turn to being sworn enemies because of lubrication. Not unlike Politics or Religion. I've got a whole tube of DX paste as well. But I wanted to be like the cool kids that used the blue stuff hehe

Yes please. Ifibrim. Studying hard. Really itching to have a go. Nucejoe. I'm very happy with what I am doing. I'll get there, never fear. grsnovi. I have an occount with CousinsUK. Didn't say I was a company. Lucky I guess. Restricted might mean I could only purchase from FHF, but they are eta. Ah well. Looking on ebay.

A jeweler friend always cleaned rings etc in warm water, dishsoap (FairyLiquid) and a little ammonia Spoonful in the U/s for a min or two brushed with a tooth brush, swore by it , he never had any problems, thorough drying and a polish with an impregnated cloth.

Much depends on the condition of the case and the plating to stsrt with. An us can do a very good job of removing debris and grime from a case quickly and efficiently. But i have in the past had pitting occur on an old worn case that has been subject to a particularly bad skin acid attack. The plating if in good condition can generally stand up to the untrasonic. Play it by ear if the case is worn then limit the cleaning to a good proprietary case cleaner and a soft tooth brush. Always thoughly dry. I like to polish up with autosol then maybe brasso which is finer. Machine polishing is also ok but a thin plate layer can quicjly be removed if not careful. Look for a 10 micron plate stamp to feel nore confident.

I’m quite sure ultrasonic cleaning will cause more plating to flake off, if there’s already some damage. Elma Red 1:9 is a good water based watch cleaner that will brighten up (make shiny!) any brass, gold, gold plated surfaces. It doesn’t need any specialised equipment for use either. However, if you leave items in it for too long it can damage the surface.

Actually, since the oiler tips on the Horotec are removable, you can grind the oiler tips by holding it in a pin vice.

Hello Luke and welcome to the forum. Have a look at the "watchfix.com" site for the online courses run by our administrator there are different levels and its self paced for you to fit in around your lifstyle. attached a couple of documents for your interest. 1612608791_ToolsfortheHobbyist (2) (1).pdf TZIllustratedGlossary.pdf

Hi Ross Nifty ideas thanks for the share.

I like this program too and use it in parallel to my Weishi 1000.

Hi Luke, Welcome to the forum. Happy to have you here

Welcome to the WRT forum.

Finally finished installing banking pins. Pins are 0.030" in diameter and 0.050" in length. Knurled the pin between two files for a little surface area to hold glue. I tried Red Loctite , JB Weld and supper glue. The supper glue held the best. In order to install the pins in the holes I tacked the pin to the end of a straight pin with supper glue. Needs a little clean-up then start reassembly to see if t works.

It looks like a pop off caseback, use magnification and you will likely find a notch for a case knife Tom

Like Marc says. I had one like this a while back. Actually, I still do because I'm having the opposite problem and haven't gotten around to dealing with it. You need a crystal that's a bit thicker around the waist. In my case, after digging for a silly amount of time, I found a crystal that was ever so slightly too chubby, and I need to take it down a bit. I just haven't figured out a clean way to do so that won't likely make it look off, or be asymmetrical, etc. You're well tooled up, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I ended up calling whichever crystal manufacturer I found that seemed like they had something close, because their catalog was missing some critical dimension. The lovely woman on the phone dug out a few part numbers that looked like they might work sans the missing dimension, and measured them over the phone. Unfortunately, that was quite a while ago, and I couldn't tell you who that was if I had to.

I wonder if this stuff has a shelflife I hope not. Because of course I have a tube of it which is largely not used. was trying member why exactly I purchased it? There must then some reason for it it wouldn't of been for the normal keyless works because at that time I was using something else. conveniently looking online I can't seem to find PML stem grease which is what I used use previously. Conveniently right now looking online I can't find anybody selling which is sad it actually is a really nice lubricant. there are some discussion groups where basically the subject is forbidden to be discussed just because of that. That same discussion group I'm reasonably sure we lost a member because silly me thought you should lubricate the Canon pinion. I never know what quite to expect on that particular group but I was surprised that everybody else thought it should be lubricated also and despite showing tech sheets that much it's lubricated this person absolutely positively refused to accept that. Just because some books said not to do it but the problem with the book is the author is no longer with us and no way that I know of to talk to the person.

Take the pallet out, and give the balance a good blast with a puffer. It should oscillate for at least 30 seconds. Have you checked for end-shake? Looking from the top - is the hairspring centred, and not bunched up on one side? Look side on - is the hairspring flat, or is it rubbing on the balance wheel arms, bridge, centre wheel? Is the pallet fork rubbing on the roller? Some pics would be helpful

i so love your enthusiasm Ross, very inspiring. Its doable mate, try the loupe if you feel confident with them. I'm just not and cant get my depth perception as good as i would like. You have nothing to lose while waiting for a scope. How is it to work under lex, is there any time lag ?

Pretty much the same as I use for all movements. Except I use Molykote DX for grease (you can buy a large tube quite cheaply), and I use 8213 for strong breaking grease. Ask two watchmakers about lubrication, and you will get three different opinions !

Heyo, here's a still and a gif of the balance jewel on a seiko taken with the cheap digital microscope. Mine has an inclusion near the center that is causing some issues as stated, but unless you can get a decently priced proper microscope this would be an okay alternative. I'm still going through it and the software, but at the moment I'm not unhappy with it. If you can get a halfway decent proper microscope for twice the price of this I'd go for that instead though.

Hi other Ross, I actually just bought a cheap 1600x digital microscope on AliExpress that turned up today. Unfortunately mine has a slight defect (a minor inclusion on the lens) but otherwise it was just plug and play to get working, and the result was better than I was expecting for something that cost $20AUD inc shipping. I'm trying to do everything on a tight budget too, and I think as far as budget tools go this is a pretty good one. I'm at work at the moment but I can upload some demo shots in a few hours if you're interested in seeing how it looks.

I use the same lubricants on Seiko as I use on Swiss. 9010 as thin oil HP1300 as thick oil 9501 as grease 9415 for pallet forks 8217 as braking grease Lubricants have evolved since 6309’s of the early 80’s so don’t fret too much about finding the oils mentioned in the service sheet.

You should never store any battery powered equipment for long periods of time without having removed the battery. Batteries can leak after being stored for long periods, which will destroy the electronics.

At this stage in your watchmaking career, I think it’s much easier if you remove the hairspring stud pin from the hairspring stud, clean the hole in the stud, put the balance wheel back on the cock, and re-thread the end of the hairspring through the stud hole. Make sure that the hairspring is concentric when the end is threaded through the stud hole: you may have to bend the end of the terminal curve slightly. Using an oiler, place the smallest amount of long-setting epoxy into the hole, allowing it to wick itself into the stud hole by capillary action. Then allow the epoxy to set. It may be possible to use the hairspring stud pin to pin the hairspring, but I think that’s a far more difficult procedure.

Weasol is right Ross. A 20X loupe is your mini microscope. I am beginging to feel guilty of first degree for recommending these Mumbi specials to you for practice and like to see one ticking on your wrist. Regds

Some of my Ingraham "dollar" pocketwatches. check out the Radium.

Are you sure the mainspring is correct too strong will cause the clock to gain. The same applies to the suspension spring it must be the correct one.

It just looks as though the hs needs repinning Ross. It maybe a little short mate but you may still be within timing regulation. If you have a scope give it a go .

I feel with you! Watchmaking can be very frustrating. There are few other activities where small mistakes are punished that severely…

I just Googled this topic and learned that "almost every watch between 1917 and the early 1970s used a form of radium paint", and that "the easiest way to tell if a watch is radioactive is to pick up a simple Geiger counter". However, the article also mentions other ways or hints to determine if a watch uses radium. I didn't realize how dangerous radium is until I read the article and considering that many of the watches we enjoy working on are pre-1970s, I'm going to be more cautious in the future. Here's the article.

Hi The way I store my quartz watches is to remove the battery all together and attach a label with the battery details on it, that way no leaks no problems other than ageing oil so best to give then a run once in a while.

on a quartz watch if you put the watch in setting mode it stops the drive for the hands but the oscillator continues to run so it is drawing a very tiny quantity of power. But how long of storage are we talking about? Because if the storage time is long enough the battery will finally exhaust itself whether power is being drawn or not and then there's always the possibility it will leak. In other words once it gets through consuming its internal chemicals it will start to consume its case and then leak out and make a mess of your quartz watch.

Can you post a pic of the whole bracelet please?

Made a fixture to drill out existing blanking pins. Fixed to movement and drilled new holes. Inserting pins next.

I too have a Vostok Komandirskie, with two rockets on it ! (and two cannon as a bonus)

Maybe this Vostok Komandirskie might be more to his liking.

I believe when you see restricted on cousinsuk site it means that the manufacturer, in this case is ETA a swatch group member has decreed only their authorised service centres can order.