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I was trawling the "Ending Soon" filter on eBay and came across this Mumbai Special for $32 AUD. inc shipping. Instantly I knew it was gonna be garbage, and I had to have it. Aftermarket window caseback with no make/model marking. The dial is way too good looking and slightly off center, so the feet probably broken. There's a good chance it's going to be a junkyard inside this thing. After it arrived it sat in my drawer for a few weeks while I busied myself with learning the ropes on my basketcase 7009a. Today, I finally felt the urge to pull it apart. The first thing I noticed is this is 100% not the watch I bought. Different rotor, different crown, different strap, the case is absolutely covered in shmoo. They must have a barrel of these things that they just dip into and throw into the post. Gross! So my hopes are already quite high that this is going to be a great movement. I opened it up and removed the rotor. To my surprise, this is a clean looking movement otherwise. Trying to remove the dial, and one of the dial feet screws is missing. Not a great sign. Of course the dial is aftermarket for another movement, with the feet removed so it can be glued down. They also managed to get glue onto the movement ring (but I'm happy it came with one!). Otherwise the date dial and day disk look pretty decent. After that, disassembly went quite well with no obvious missing or broken parts. The barrel looks a bit scored up but I'll see how it cleans up. The mainspring is in good condition otherwise. At first glance the barrel arbor hole in the mainplate doesn't appear to be worn or ovaled, but I'll know more when I do a better inspection later. All the screws are in individually labelled ziploc bags so I don't mix them up, I'm still not great at keeping track of those, but otherwise everything is ready for a clean. All I really need is a dial foot screw, otherwise (pending inspection of jewels etc) this movement should be good to clean and go back together. I think I might try and find another 6309a movement with a decent dial and case. I can't find this particular case anywhere else so have no idea what case model this is. The front bezel is kinda beat up too, so I'm happy to put this movement into another case. EDIT: Pulled the trigger on a somewhat decent-ish looking retro styled 6309-4020 non-runner. It will need a new crystal but that can be sourced. The case and dial seem in good nick, and it will be good to have spare parts if needed. Gonna be a couple weeks before I get that.

But a beep in both directions ? Thanks for the offer and help. It only cost me £27 including postage, so no great loss, and not worth trying to change the chip. It only lasted an hour, but has given me hours of entertainment.

Looks like he's using OneOf Accuracy2, it's an app that works with their sensor (275 pounds at Cousins). https://h2i.ch/products/accuracy2-watch-acoustic-measurement/ https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/oneof-accuracy-2 It's a simple sensor, no positioning (probably why he's using the Chinese machine later), but good software. Praezis (Frank) here on the forum can also supply excellent software, with a simple sensor (or it can work with old positionable mics from Vibrograf and similar machines) for a better price. I have it and it's really good. I use it with a Vibrograf mic plugged into my computer. You can pic up the mics for 50 bucks or so on Ebay. The only difference I can see between it and my 7500 buck Witschi is the Witschi has an automatic mic and printer (you can easily print the results with Frank's gear, and fill in caliber and other info for future reference- and also store it as a file). Something it does the Witschi doesn't do is tell you where the heavy spot is on the balance when doing dynamic poising!

This video is a diagnosis of a problem with the Keyless mechanism of this vintage Waltham. The owner stated that it would set the time but not wind. He said that he brought it to a jeweller who tried to wind it with a screwdriver. Ahhhhhh! Enjoy

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&2&2uswk&Parrenin_95 The illustration on Ranfft doesn't the beveled plates but apart from that it looks like everything else matches up, and the fact that it is stamped 95 is a bit of a clue

The gentlemans name was John Senior, and as far as I know he has retired and is no longer trading. John was always a good source of second user spares and a great loss to the trade. There are others like speedtimerkollection.com in Europe and welwynwatchparts.co.uk, both sellers of second user spares and well worth looking at. They may well be others but these have always been my first look up .hope you find this useful

I've used this in the past with good results on 6309A - worth a look Equivalent Mainspring ETA 2892a2.pdf

Here is some info on going about it. You are right the higher the k in gold the softer it is so if you want it to last go for a low k. https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/metals/how-gold-plating-is-done-step-by-step/

Just remember it this way. Diashock = OK Diafix = Evil - especially these:

I know it's not much. I feel quite chuffed. I would like to inform that I have completed a full restore of a watch. Been a while in learning, but a good feeling. Seiko 7S26. Working well.

Ah yeah that makes sense! So it takes an hour for the day display to change. The Seiko 7009a's I've been working on do the same, but it takes 3 hours. I've set mine to change date at midnight, and the day completes its change by 3am. I'm not sure about the 6x series of Seiko's but I'm about to start on a 6309 myself. They might be similar.

As John says, the cheap set definitely matches bores to shafts. I've got a lathe in the shed, been contemplating making some left/right alternative winders for some of these. Mostly just to see if I can...

Is the spring impinging on the barrel cover? If you put the barrel back in the mainspring winder, can you wind it with the crank?

Diafix (oil retention and contamination prevention) rather than Diashock (shock absorption)

Welp. The next 6309 turned up in the mail, and now I need to figure out if there are different versions of this movement. The barrel and train wheel bridge at the bottom is out of the eBay watch and has a broken transmission wheel pivot jewel. The one at the top is from the movement that just arrived from SpeedTimerKollektion. The transmission wheel jewel looks fine but it's missing the two diashock settings. Why are there diashock settings for what I assume are just the third and fourth wheel pivots? I'm guessing it won't matter so much if I use the top bridge instead of the bottom one. EDIT: I just figured it out, the eBay 6309 came with a 6319 bridge (complete with broken jewel). I'm thinking I'll flip this restoration on it's head and use the speedTimerKollektion movement primarily, with parts from the eBay one where required. The newly acquired movement was okay otherwise. Wanted to run and first inspection looks good. The mainspring is a mess and someone put a screw for the minute wheel bridge in the wrong spot, but hopefully I can turn these two piles of parts into a working, enormously heavy dive watch.

Hi Willow, looking at the barrel with its lid off does it follow the 1/3rd rule, the spring in the barrel un wound occupies 1/3rd of the barrel leaving the rest of the space to work in can you post a pic (sorry) of the barrel with spring fitted. As Nicklesilver said. cheers

I was searching for new & other challenges and I found that older, but in "good" condition, pocket watches can certainly provide these. Like the 1951 Molnija I posted above had next to being very dirty, escapement issues; hairspring out of shape, pallet jewels and the balance wheel was grosse out of poise. To me all very interesting challenges. Anyhow, I hope to get this end 1920's silver-case Artdeco Omega, with a 35,5L-T1 movement in tip-top condition again. ETA early next week

Haha, welcome to the world of those less fortunate that lives in the sticks of the world. Royal mail was never a reliable option for me due to our local joke of a postal service. So I generally build up a cart over a few weeks till it makes sense to ship items here using UPS.