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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/19/22 in all areas

  1. You could use as many of the donor parts as required to get the watch running well, then as a longer-term project get down to restoring the original parts one by one. Swapping out the worn parts for better ones isn't irreversible, so that's what I would do to start with.
    3 points
  2. My GGF's watch has spent already many years (if not many decades) in a drawer. Now it's in my possession and I for sure like to have it to run and like wear it (proudly I would like to add) on occasions. I've already done up the silver case, changed out the mineral crystal and bought a nice old 925 silver chain to it. To me there is not point having a broken watch laying a drawer collecting dust. Next to that, the handed down watch has met a family-member who has a watch-hobby and can do something (hopefully good) about it. I see it as a "challenge set". It doesn't need to run like a Rolex, but it needs to be a reliable runner and, within respectable reasons, keep good time. I guess within +/- 60 sec/day should be achievable. Even though having circling around it for years, but this watch made me finally buying a staking-set so I'm able to do something about the worn (non-jeweled) holes. I was prepared, and set for, to pull all my skills out of the cupboard to restore this watch. What I didn't expect was that the donor-movement seems to be in a much better condition and it becomes tempting to change out more parts than just the balance assembly ...... but then "my dilemma" popped up; hence this post ....
    3 points
  3. I didn't get it. I am on a Levin lathe binge. Turning my small fortune into a smaller one
    3 points
  4. You realize that all of this is based on a assumption? The assumption is that because they look the same that they must actually be the same. In other words that you can swap the parts. Often times with vintage and howl vintage is this watch? Do we establish a timeframe of its birth? Often times with vintage watches the parts are hand fit this means swapping the donor into the original may require modifications. It's always a conceivability of that they may not swap at all. You should come and work in a modern watch shop they do movement swapping all of the time. Any time a watch doesn't work especially a quartz but some mechanicals now that you swap the movement and no one gives it a second thought is just a component of really big component with lots of subcomponents. This is an interesting idea because it would give you a running watch to carry and show Often nobody's I care whether it's the original movement or not you will. Then you can restore the original movement and put it back in again and nobody's going to know either way annual have a spare movement just in case.
    2 points
  5. I agree with Klassiker here. It becomes wearable much sooner and as your skills grow on other less sentimental pieces it can be a long term project getting it back on the bench every now and then to bring it a little closer each time to its former original state. Even with a few temporary different movement parts you will still be looking at the same dial as greatgrand pap to tell the time. Staring at the face of his treasured timepiece that he was over a hundred years ago wondering about his time and adventures as a train driver, and thats something cherish.. I have had exactly the same issue with what i think was my grandfather's watch, up to now a new stem and crown, escape wheel and soon to be barrel and mainspring. Go with your gut feeling mate regardless of anyone elses opinions, we are just here to give you ideas and guide you towards something you already know x
    2 points
  6. I agree with @Klassiker, keep as much of the original movement as possible, and use parts from the donor movement to get it running. In American pocket watches, parts are often stamped with the same serial number, as they were meant to stay together as the watch was manufactured and adjusted. If you can keep the original plates and bridges together, that will keep it closest to the way the watch left the factory. Everything else will have to be evaluated, wheels and pinions could be worn, and if you wanted to keep those you might be learning how to repivot train wheels, and then you need a lathe, and collets, and then it goes on and on I would consider this a long term project. I'd document everything I do, and keep everything, so that the "original" parts could always be reunited with the original plates, so it would be as you received it. Just try not to do anything that's irreversible. It's awesome that you have that picture of your GGF, this is a wonderful piece of family history. Good luck!
    2 points
  7. That's a ton of lock on the entry pallet. Like more than double necessary; that alone will eat 30+ degrees of amplitude. I did write a condensed but pretty thorough explanation of escapement checking here: If I ever get my hands on a demonstration escapement I'll try to redo it with photos.
    2 points
  8. Then it would still have been GGF's watch. Just not the same watch.
    2 points
  9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus I have faced this dilemma and it is tough. GGF rarely saw the movement, but always saw the case, dial, and hands. I think I would swap the movement and continue to work on the original.
    2 points
  10. Today I stripped down a decidedly Breguet-esque pocket watch mechanism that I picked up from the usual suspects for a pound. It is of course in a terrible condition as you would expect for that price. However underneath all the filth there is a rather fine, high grade movement. The finish seen in the ebay listing suggested it was going to be well made. The pallet fork turns out to be a work of art, all be it a rather grubby one. This is the part that perhaps more than the rest has me thinking Breguet, or someone closely associated with Breguet. There are issues with the thing of course, not just the usual half a can of WD40, but also the hairspring has broken off right at the stud, so I will have to see if I can re-attach it. More worryingly there are a couple of cracked jewels which I do not currently have the wherewithal to replace. I sense I may be about to purchase some more small but expensive tools. Here are a few more images for you all. There is a letter, which looks like a P or possibly a P superimpose on an R, and a serial number (23606), on the dial side. Oddly some of the wheels are "signed" with four dots in a diamond pattern. I doubt if this sheds much extra light on the maker, but you never know.
    1 point
  11. Thank you for the info, I'll keep an eye out.
    1 point
  12. I think that we slowly can distill an answer out of the above replies. My initial intention was to keep working on the original movement. Reduce the non-jeweled hole sizes (arbor / barrel, arbor / main-plate & bridge and center-wheel) and try to find the correct timing screws. Poise the balance wheel and get the watch ticking again. Now with the new nice donor movement, I don't feel that, if it has to be, changing out the balance assembly (wheel & hair-spring, excluding the bridge) would be a crime but see it more as a necessity. The donor movement is to be kept as spare-parts back-up in case something more / else goes wrong with the original movement. I think my aim is now to keep the movement as original as possible until parts replacement becomes a necessity. It's of course already quite nice and a luxery to have an identical movement for parts. That's already a positive contribution to my GGF's watch story It's going to be an exciting & educative project Thanks all for your contribution and hopefully, in the not to far future, I can show you my GGF's watch in its full working glory again Thanks
    1 point
  13. Try something like this https://www.amazon.com/Gikfun-Analog-Ceramic-Vibration-Arduino/dp/B0829SZFBL/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?hvadid=73873687407212&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvqmt=e&keywords=piezo+vibration+sensor&qid=1668883620&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1 Well, that one is not active. Might work...I will keep looking for a turnkey active one. Look for guitar piezo pickup, or active guitar piezo pickup https://www.ebay.com/itm/165748872025?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vGFFpphfRT2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=YDhp0AUHTjC&var=465257700870&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
    1 point
  14. Clearly you have your answer! Cannibalize the donor and get your GGF's watch going again. At some point you can pass it onwards knowing it has been in your family and restored by yourself.
    1 point
  15. I can follow your idea in so far that it would have been my GGF choice and the new movement would have been in his pocket in that period. But now I've, as far as I'm aware of, the original parts in my hands and I (as a temporarily custodian) have to make these choices. I have a kind of verbal provenance where the watch has been after my GGF, mainly stored by family members. Not 100% sure, but there is a real possibility that while the watch was in my fathers possession, that he had the watch "serviced" by a known friend who did among restoring steam-trains and other big mechanical objects, also knew something about clocks. I think that this would have been the only time that the watch has been out of the drawer / family. Looking at the state of the watch, most likely my farther got it back with a "sorry" and the watch went back in the drawer until he passed away and I received it. So, I think that the watch has still most, if not all, the originals parts from my GGF's time. I like to make the best choices, so that it remains my GGF's watch.
    1 point
  16. Looking at the readout the problem IMO it is loss of power.. Without going through all of the above replies checking for worn barrel bushes could be a start.
    1 point
  17. I agree with Klassiker - swap out just the parts you need to get GGF’s watch running and work later on restoring the original parts if possible. Keep as much of the original as possible. My 2 cents.
    1 point
  18. Further investigation is needed to reveal whats causing the barrel to rub on center wheel's bridge, most common causes are as follows. 1- Incorrectly seated barrel lid, The lid should be seated flush level in the barrel , if tilted or not flush ,it can rub on the barrel bridge or center bridge or center wheel. if seated too deep in the barrel it rubs on the mainspring. 2- Bent bridge( barrel bridge or center wheel's bridge ) or bent center wheel. Turn the barrel while observing the center wheel, if the wheel is bent it wobbles as it turns, unbend it to streighten the wheel. Streightening a bent bridge is kinda hit and miss game, I would just shim the bridge to free whatever rubs, cut a shim out of real thin aluminum foil to place in between the bridge and mainplate so to raise the bridge, you need to find which bridge to raise and the location the shim should be placed. 3- Damaged barrel teeth . Good luck pal.
    1 point
  19. hmmm, difficult choices! Do you >>need<< your GGF's watch to run? Do you need to feel like you restored his watch? If so, cannibalize the donor and hope that you get to the point where your GGF's watch runs. Do you plan to catty it? A lot? Ever? Would there be a male heir in your lineage who would be interested in having a running watch that had been owned by his GGGF? If so, that's the way to go. If you don't plan to ever carry it and only plan to keep it in a drawer, I'd say leave it alone and service the donor - get it running great. - Gary
    1 point
  20. Oh dear. I hope you didn't mix up the gears from the going strike and chime trains. Well anyway, I found a pdf from Cousins. https://www.cousinsuk.com/document/category/hermle-movement-parts-search
    1 point
  21. Yeah, that resonates with me...
    1 point
  22. No, This is not what I was talking about( though its a possibilty) . In general a fault can be anywhere. Stopping and running again as you add power to the barrel, INDICATES A FAULT WITH GEARS/ PINIONS OR CAMS or ARBOURS. but gears and cams engage with yokes, so I examine the yokes as well and polish them where I deem needed. Rgds
    1 point
  23. I must admit i was thinking the same thing, Gert also. I was going to say great minds think alike but then thought more accurately # thats two skilled repairers and erm ? me #
    1 point
  24. Only one of them had a visible maker's mark on the rachet wheel. Hopefully the rest of them have more under the bridges or under the dial. Yes that one is very Empire state buildingesk. I'm ok with that, had to do it a few times on a little Oris when i first started, it broke twice at the stud. I must be odd as i quite enjoy hs manipulation. Its not actually that difficult when you get going. Its about picking just the right spot, knowing what to take out and what to leave till last. Do some of your external bends first otherwise it folds in on itself. I found it much easier to do most of the horizontal bends first and the odd vertical bend to pull it flat. The vericals are the hardest to do, your tweezers need to grip perfectly and in the right pllane or you have another horizontal bend to sort out. Good fun though, just remember not to tense up to prevent that hot knife in the back of the neck feeling.
    1 point
  25. Nice job. You should be able to get it even this weekend. It might be easier to unpin the stud to work on it. But that would be an adventure in itself.
    1 point
  26. Time consuming. Unless you are those guys I worked with, who had been doing it for years and years. The other thing I've thought about trying is the three plate method to make a polishing plate. So far, I've resisted the urge
    1 point
  27. Nice haul. Top row third from the right has an interesting case. Does it have a make? Looks a little like a 1930s Bulova I fixed up a while back. Its looking pretty good considering the plate of noodles you started with.
    1 point
  28. Hi Tom, Mine too but I laid a steel rule across the top and then used the extended end of my caliper but I just eye-balled it and figured 1mm was close enough for gov't work - Gary
    1 point
  29. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Cheers!
    1 point
  30. Yes, the hole through both pieces is 3mm. The depth of the concave was "estimated" to be 1mm since I don't really have an exact way to measure that. Based on the design I doubt there would be a functional difference between a depth of 1mm v. a depth of 1.3mm. I used to have a routine that would allow me to calculate the radius required to cut a diameter based on three points but I wasn't in the mood for trying to dig that out. Not sure how the 1.3mm was determined since there is no material at the center point of the depth. Also, I didn't measure the ID of the upper piece as it will need to be 21.5mm plus whatever the nominal slip fit clearance needs to be. Again, if the top doesn't have an exact slip fit it will not impact the function of the design.
    1 point
  31. and now a new one to the collection an all stainless steel case with original bracelet. had crack in crystal and crown had snapped off the stem. I replacement crown with a longer tube did the trick and I swapped the crystal from a non-runner. Need a little more cosmetic touch up but for now it is an awesome addition.
    1 point
  32. It's a roller table remover.
    1 point
  33. T that price its worth a shot, as for restoration a good clean and lubrication would make it look a lot better
    1 point
  34. It's so cheap, less than $10, but what do you think about the condition? can it be restored?
    1 point
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