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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/17/22 in all areas

  1. Haha. No mate i dont think so. Doigt is finger, finger on the staff . Yours has an impulse jewel. Maybe getting confused here , so lets go through it again. There are 2 fingers, a guard finger on the lever and a staff finger instead of a roller and impulse jewel. You want a roller = plateau. . This is what avec doigt looks like.
    2 points
  2. Did some scraping at the start of my mech. eng. training over 30 years ago. Haven't felt the urge since.
    2 points
  3. I'll be curious if the head fits your other Levin bed, and if the tailstock lines up with both heads. In theory they should, but I have seen enough Levin stuff that wasn't interchangeable that it put me off them in spite of the high quality (except for their cross slides, being head and shoulders above all others I use Levin there). Levin based their design on the WW or Webster Whitcomb 50mm center height lathe, made by the American Watch Tool Company (later Derbyshire). WW made all the heads and tails to a specific standard, to make sure they were all interchangeable. Other makers tried to do the same (I know Leinen succeeded). I have a hunch that certain eras of Levin lathe parts are interchangeable and then there might have been a shaky period and then who knows- though I would hope that the much later machines were better. One of the most ball-breaking tasks I've done is hand scrape a set of Levin head/tail/bed that were all made at different times to match each other. It was a favor for a friend too, I think I got a bottle of something for it, haha.
    2 points
  4. Hi Ammar, These two variants differ in that the old one has fixed stud holder and the new one got mobile stud carrier ( beat adjustor). I go with the newer version and replacing the gears bridges should technically make no difference. Good luck.
    2 points
  5. Vintage Bulova's are my main collection interest. I just today received my first vintage Bulova chronograph, a 1971 Deep Sea Chronograph. I don't really collect any Bulovas post 1970's though. I'm not much of a fan of most their modern Chronographs but I do like some of their other more recent watches, but to me their designs from the 1950's thorough the 1970's are some of the best looking watches of that era. And their in house movements are quite nice too.
    2 points
  6. You might have fitted the wrong screw for screw No 51482. This is not an easy movement to work on. Rgds
    1 point
  7. To be honest i have not come across a staff with a brass finger as yet. As far as i know the guard finger on the lever is above the fork with this. So a quick recognition as soon as you look at the lever to say " oh no can i get a new staff for this if i need one "
    1 point
  8. Aaaah so many new terms to learn This is why I put up photos, thank you. Andy
    1 point
  9. Hi Mike, A test to release possible pretension in a bridge, loosen each screw one at a time to see if it makes a difference , next do the same with two screws at a time. Do you usually check if the crown wheel turns freely after assembly& lube or any part for that matter. A hole jewel which looks oky may be seated unlevel in its relevent hole. Are you sure barrel lid isn't rubbing on mainspring? Rgds
    1 point
  10. I would have looked but you guys have been up for hours and John took care of it...
    1 point
  11. We had a guy come in and scrape the ways on a horizontal boring mill. I forget how long he took but I was astounded.
    1 point
  12. I would expect a Swastika and or Krigsmarine as labels for that era. Bod
    1 point
  13. It's a basic process (hand scraping) that can generate very high precision; on its most basic level you can get a surface very, very flat, on average, and very well aligned, absolutely. It gets really tricky when more than two surfaces need to make contact and be aligned at the same time, like a WW lathe bed, haha. For this project one of the two (head/tail) was loose on the bed, the other tight. That's the angular sides' contact. I scraped the bed down to obtain good contact with the loose one (I don't remember which was which), then I scraped the tight one to have good contact with the bed. I made a reference flat that could contact the base of the head and tail (for blue spotting) and had another bed I modified so it could only contact one side of the angular ways to use as a tool as I was bringing the alignment in. It's hard to explain, but you can imagine that you get "one shot"- if you suddenly have full contact, but the (let's say tail here) is pointing away from the head, there's no easy way back.
    1 point
  14. Ask youself this, if it is a genuine WW2 U boat clock, would it have "made in Germany" on the dial in English
    1 point
  15. Stopping almost imediately indicates something rubbing, my guess is the balance rim rubs on the fork cock screw. Rgds
    1 point
  16. If it hasn't been cleaned and oiled it's a fun guessing game but you will never know. The horizontal positions are the "easiest" for the watch to run in. Now, if the balance is swinging at 270 degrees dial down and then stops in other positions there probably is a fault other than dirt and lack of lubrication. Judging by the thumbprint on the ratchet wheel I'm going with dirty and lack of lubrication .
    1 point
  17. I have this book and can recommend as @Kalanagdoes Tom
    1 point
  18. Diafix doesn't have to be a struggle. Use two tweezers for the star-shaped and keep the tips of one constantly touching the cap jewel. You'll never lose another spring. For the "tuning fork" shaped spring you can make a tool, I have pics in some thread. Using a stereo microscope makes things easier too.
    1 point
  19. This book is great for beginners and also available as pdf:
    1 point
  20. I don't see anything broken or missing, but it is in dire need of a service. I can't tell on this one, I usually see Speedmasters (what model is this?), but there are usually some goofy looking bits that interface between the case pushers and the chrono mechanism through the case ringl; if there has been water intrusion these can rust badly and bind up in the case ring. My gut says it's a safe bet at that price, just going on what 321 movements go for, but I'm no price expert.
    1 point
  21. While I don't recall seeing one exactly like that, it is calling out LeCoultre to me (the setting parts look very LeCoultre). They supplied movements in ebauche or finished form to many different makers 100 years ago, from Patek to anonymous. Sometimes on an otherwise unmarked movement you will find a tiny stamped "LeCoultre" somewhere on the underside of the barrel bridge. Worth having a look.
    1 point
  22. Bulova is a pretty interesting company and made excellent quality movements. As far as I know from quite early on they had production facilities in Switzerland, but also had extensive production capacity in the U.S. One of my mentors worked there mid 20th century in the prototype department, I wish I could remember all that he told me about those days. An interesting thing is they made a lot of small machinery in-house, very nice stuff easily on par with Swiss machines. He joked once that they closed down because they wore out all their toolmakers.
    1 point
  23. Most likely your balance staff has a broken upper pivot. If you delicately lift the rim of the balance wheel, does it tip to one side, or is it constrained on its axis? How much play is there?
    1 point
  24. https://www.ebay.com/itm/203944725549 free shipping and a us seller
    1 point
  25. Here people like Swiss watches more. I had a brand new divers watch from Bulova last year from my work as a gift for being 15 years on the job. As I work for an American company they always have Bulova's gifted for long term employees. I never ever wore it once even do it was a expensive piece. In the end gave it to my dad as he needed a new watch. It was a good quality watch but it is just not nice enough design wise somehow. Maybe this is why.
    1 point
  26. Lol Col . Knock 30 bucks off that and you have a bergeon one that doesn't have 30 bucks worth of Bergeon lettering spelling out the name Bergeon.
    1 point
  27. I have 3 (all quartz) that I just love. The one on the right gets worn more than any of the rest of mine (now that I'm not going in to an office).
    1 point
  28. Had a flector on the bench today and took 2 pictures which may be helpful for others in the future. First is the closed situation. As said turn the spring anti-clockwise about 45 degrees and then just fold it up (pic2).
    1 point
  29. Haha i think only you and me get it Gert. Big tools for big boys . Actually not a bad idea considering it has water inside it.
    1 point
  30. One of the problems with asking prices are who's purchasing? For instance if you're purchasing this for yourself that you'll pay a higher price then if you are purchasing it with the thoughts of fixing it and then selling it. I was looking at eBay and a variety of silly asking prices so then you look at the completed sales prices and some of them are less than $2000 you'd have to read the description of why which I'm not going to do. Some are more than $2000. Oh and when you're looking at eBay you actually have to read the listings because they're misleading. One of the watches that came up for a very very cheap price says pre 321 Which is why it was so cheap. Then there was another one that one of the components like the bezel was supposed to be on a 321. So you have to read to make sure it actually is a 321 movement. I did find the interesting link below from Omega you can see some nice colorful pictures of the movement the only thing as a reminder is because it is an Omega watch if you've never worked on a chronograph you don't want to make a mistake on this one because parts are going to be very expensive. https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watches/speedmaster/heritage-models/calibre-321/product
    1 point
  31. I read somewhere that 9010 was good for pallet jewels/pins/escape wheel teeth on movements running at 18000 and below but for 21000 and higher 9415 was superior because it would not "fly off"
    1 point
  32. 883329 is the serial number. First digit is the year of the decade the watch was made, second digit is the month, 3-6 are the sequence in production. 7853 is the movement family, -8000 is the case model. I'm not entirely familiar with the 7853 but I think they are 1970's or 1980's production. So, 1978 or 1988. and August. Here is a link to the julesborel parts database for your watch. Not a lot of parts listed for this model. They may have them in stock or it will give you a part number to start you on your journey to find the part. http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=sek+cs%237853-8000&submit=Search Seiko crystal and gasket part numbers give you a lot of information that could be helpful in finding a generic part that may fit. The crystal part number for your watch is 300WB4GA00. It is 30.0mm, W usually means water resist, B4 means something-maybe what it is made of, the last two numbers are usually a sequence number. I can't find my crystal and gasket decoder right now but there is a Seiko document that decodes all of the information in the part number. Before you get all excited about dropping any 30mm crystal in, be warned that these older Seikos use a somewhat complicated arrangement and the bevel on the edge is critical for correct seating and sealing.
    1 point
  33. Eyup fuss, something got me thinking about the lever. i have an update on this for you. Just been looking though the bestfit catalog. There are balance staffs that have a finger as opposed to a roller, non relative to a gaurd finger on the lever. Never seen one of these on a movement so you might want to look into that first. A staff with a roller has the guard finger of the lever on the bottom of the fork as in all modern modern and all old movements that I've seen up to now. A staff with a finger instead of a roller has the guard finger of the lever facing uppermost with the fork underneath it. Something before impulse jewels. Hope this makes sense
    1 point
  34. Welcome to our little group! I also can say I have encountered a few watches in my time that tested my patience. And I tend to have a rather mild temper. All I can think of to say is: be prepared. Some watches can be difficult. I always try to remind customers up front that some repairs take time and must not be rushed. More mistakes happen when we hurry. I try to take a break when I begin to feel rushed or frustrated. I also try to prepare in other ways. One of the most aggravating things that can happen is when a click spring, in the process of being removed for cleaning, goes "ping" and shoots away so quickly that you have no idea where it went. So, I now place the movement in a clear plastic bag when removing them, and I have stocked up on a large variety of click springs of all kinds. I have done the same with screws, because they can go missing too. I have lots of screws. I have learned that if the part is small, and cheap enough, it is good to have many in stock, because they are often the things which go missing most. That really is all I can advise: go slow at first, do not rush. And be as prepared as you can be for what may happen. That, and some very good screwdrivers and very good tweezers solve a lot of problems up front.
    1 point
  35. This is an issue for me as well when working on a movement I have no previous experience with. I've taken the shortcut of replacing screws after removing the part for cleaning, that way when the plates go into the cleaning machine there are few if any lose screws. This obviously won't help you now so I'll also pitch my "Plan B" to you. Plate screws are often the same length and there are usually a few of them. The screws for the bridges typically have no chamfer and are cut to a length that limits them impinging on any moving parts beneath. Counter sunk screws often go in the keyless works and sometimes are used on the crown wheel, you'll also find these in areas where moving parts need clearance directly above the screw. Lastly, shouldered screws will be used for any levers which require movement- these are the ones that can become problematic if you have more than a few of them. Many watches I've worked on have screws that are in the wrong place or have been replaced with "best fits" so you are in good company. The watches usually work fine despite this.
    1 point
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