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I use cousins alot, and yes i have had a couple of issues (you get this with most companys) but they have always replied promptly and have sorted things out quickly and efficiently.

Replace "Swatch" with any public corporation, and "customer respect" with shareholder confidence and you've got the formula for the situation we all seem to be in at this point in time. Unfortunately to most corporations the customer is simply someone who is standing between them and their profits. In the policy decision making processes of most corporations, consideration is given in the following descending order: The company, the shareholders, the law, and finally the customer. Think of it this way. What does Swatch get out of it by restricting parts and information? People will still be buying their brands because style, luxury and status tend to outweigh irritation and inconvenience. Moreover, when one of their products is in need of service, the customer has fewer options and faces the choice of expensive repair or replacement, either of which add to Swatch's bottom line keeping the company and shareholders happy. Whether the customers are happy or not is less relevant. What would Cousin's make/save by not facing accountability for a problem? They might save the cost of replacement of the sale and the cost of service, but that's a one-time 'benefit' with the potential loss of future business. While it might not prevent people from buying from them, it would tend to shift their hierarchy of sources so that Cousins might become that last choice rather than the first. So back to the idea of Cousins is being hypocritical for suing Swatch but having a customer unfriendly policy in their TOS. Swatch policy can be explained by greed, but Cousins would be of little benefit.

Thats good to know watchie. I have had the same experience with ebay. I spend a lot of money there and out of the half a dozen times I've had an unresolvable issue with a seller, respectful discussions with ebay help staff they have always landed on my side.

I've never had a problem with Cousins, and I take my modest business to them as often as possible. I've had a couple of incidents but they were well taken care of. A bad idea as a hobbyist/independent buyer would be to demand cousins refund you. I've never done that. Instead, I have provided pictures, a concise and humble description of my predicament, and asked (rather than demanded) for help, and each time they came to my rescue without being obliged to do so. You never know, but so far I have only praise for Cousins.

Superglue on the tweezers to stick the chamois leather. You can buy the chamois or a faux chamois at most auto parts stores for cleaning your car. When the chamois has had its day, soak the tweezer tips in acetone and start again with fresh chamois.

Amazon sell a lot of products and regardless how happy the majority of the costumers are with that product, there are always some "one"-stars. One can look at the happy crowd and make up you mind, or you can purely focus on the "one"-stars. It doesn't matter what Cousins incentives are, the fact that they stand up and are willing to spend all that time & money to fight the Swatch-group is in my opinion highly praiseworthy. I'm concentrating on the good, which, IMHO, outweighs the "one"-stars by miles.

Hi guys, As many of you are aware Roland Ranfft passed away earlier this year which is a massive loss to the world of watchmaking. I used his database of watch movements on a weekly, sometimes a daily basis to gain info on mainspring sizes, hand pipe sizes, and the like. I've also bought a lot of watches from the auction part of the site and when I say a lot, probably close to £5000 worth of watches over the past three or four years. I found buying from the site was a lot more pleasurable and friendly than some eBay deals I've done and was never disappointed by what I received and a lot of the time absolute bargains. What I've found over the last three or four years is that chronograph watches, both hand-wound and automatics have increased in value about three-fold in that short space of time, as well as some automatics I've bought from the site, as well as from German and Swiss eBay. Some Valjoux 7750s I bought four years ago for about £150 from the Ranfft site will now fetch close to £400 to £500. Not sure why chronographs have risen in price so quickly. I bought some Landeron 51s and 248s chronograph watches in working order for £90 four years ago and now they'll fetch at least £300 to £400. What on earth has happened for them to increase by so much? Does anyone know? Watchmaking tools have gone the same way. I was buying JKA Feintaster bench micrometers from Germany and Switzerland three or four years ago for £90 and now they'll go for £400 to £500. I saw one go the other day for over £1000 from a seller called 'watchmaker-lathe' from the Czech Republic who seems to have an endless supply of quality watchmaker tools. I think he's got a magic bag he pulls them from!... lol. Worth checking out what he sells, although they go for top dollar prices. Anyway, I feel I'm rambling a bit and wanted to tell you all if you didn't already know that the Roland Ranfft website, 'Pink Pages' is available as an archive at this address: https://web.archive.org/web/20230305223353/http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk The search box doesn't work, but all 221 pages of watch movement details are available which is a bonus. Hopefully, someone will pick up the baton and run with it and resurrect the website, let's hope. Until then, at least the amazing work that Roland achieved hasn't been lost. Share the love and spread the news this is still available. Much love and respect to Roland Ranfft, you'll be sadly missed! RIP Roland...

@VWatchie i decided just to go the cheapest way for the volume and work I am likely to do, it’s not like it’s a lapping machine. More important are the buffs, have a look on cousinsuk there are some good examples of what buff for what purpose and importantly the pastes to use with each. It’s just a spinney thing, what you put onto it is much, much more important as well as how you use it. Tom

I've encountered superglue a number of times. Not always bad either- that's to say things worked pretty much as they should- not to say it'sacceptable. Last staff I had like this with my loupe I was like "oh God they peened the hole in the balance to fit the wrong staff!" But it was just glue. In this case it was to get the hairspring collet to hold. Really interesting chrono with two vertical clutches.

The steel spring would slide along the brass barrel wall but the friction would be increased. Probably damaging the barrel wall and contaminating the barrel with microscopic brass filings.

The confusion for me came from the comparison between a dry barrel wall and a greased wall. In contradiction a braking grease will allow a spring to slide along the wall being it at a set moment of force applied as opposed to an ungreased wall that i expect wont allow much slippage at all. The term breaking i guess just comes from the comparison between different greases, they coud just as easily be known as different slippage greases.

Thats the explanation i was hoping for, a few upset customers is not going to outweigh hundreds of happy customers as long as it stays that way . No company cannot afford to have too many of the few, but affluent companies tend to get too big for their boots when business is booming, peeing off a few irritating customers can mean nothing at all.

I think capillary action is the term you are looking for. Get ready for some fancy words .. A materials lubricity is measured as a function of its coefficient of friction, or the amount of resistance between two surfaces under specific force. The concept of a braking or anti-slip grease is to provide a fairly high coefficient of friction without becoming an adhesive. This permits the bridle to move against the barrel wall under quite a bit of force without damaging either. While braking grease is still a grease, it's not a lubricant.

probably factory made but they could also be made by students in watchmaking schools. Often times for lathe projects stuff like this would be made. Then yes they are the jewel pushing tools for pushing out balance jewels. for instance here's an example of what the Elgin College was having the students make. At the bottom are the jewel pushers I just gave you the whole page

I have no doubt that Cousins written policy is to be a primarily B2B company and that does leave potential risk for the hobbyist/independent buyer, but the proof is not the paper but how they implement it. I've never had a need to return or place a claim with them, but my orders rarely top $100. I have place one order over $300, but no issue with the product or service. IF Cousins does in both policy and practice fail to account for errors or damage that is not the customer's fault, then by all means, hand them the hypocrite badge of dishonor. I would point out, even if it were true, Cousins will only lose customers since they do have some competition. The Swatch group (and many modern corporations) is restricting access to parts to force customers to use their services which most assuredly will be more expensive than a local or independent watchmaker. Moreover, customers will be at their mercy for what Swatch deems necessary. Let's look at a pretty close analogy. If you drop an iPhone and send it back to Apple to replace the screen, they will not only replace the whole assembly, rather than just the glass, they will most likely wipe the phone back to factory spec's. If you choose to not have Apple make the repair they will charge you for the evaluation and the shipping. An independent repair shop will have a next to impossible time getting the parts and it certainly won't be from Apple. If I take a vintage Seamaster to an AD with a broken crystal and they send it back to Swatch, they may require a full service with replacement of anything they claim is damaged. And, they may refuse to replace the crystal only. However that crystal that they maintain replacement stock is not available to dealers to sell to independents to do the repair that I wanted. As to the subject of unhappy customers, I agree with Endeavor that there will always be people who can't be pleased. Those folks also tend to be the most vocal about their dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, for a business to have a good review, more times than not they will have to provide exceptional service above and beyond what most would simply consider good.

I make a pair of greasing tweezers with chamois leather on the inside. The chamois is greased with 8200 or 8300 is best in hot climates and the entire length of the spring is lightly greased. You know when enough has been applied as it is the feel of the grease on the spring and how easily those greasing tweezers slide over the spring. If you have greased the spring too much you'll see excess on top of the spring when you use your winder and it is within the barrel. If you haven't greased the spring enough then put a few small drops of grease on the top of the spring like Kalle Slappe does. There are many ways to skin a cat here. I can only say what works best for me. After you've greased a few mainsprings you'll get a feel for what the right amount is on the spring. If it is too much and you see pools of grease on the spring when in the barrel, then mop up the excess with some rodico. The great thing about making these greasing tweezers is you can get into the innermost part of the spring without risk of damage! Moebius 8201 contains Molybdenum bisulfide which improves its lubricity and improves its resistance to pressure well. It is similar in function to graphite and it has a black appearance. Some watch manufacturers use this as standard mainspring grease. When you open a barrel and the remnants of the grease is black then it was probably used. This grease is used only for the mainspring, not braking grease

Thanks Jon , i really love your sideline posts about the community. As regards to the prices, even in my short time of 2 years I've noticed a dramatic increase in both new and pre owned watch related items. We know the price tag of everything in the UK has gone through the roof, but i think that watch repairing is the new in-thing .

Metal galling. Lol dont tempt me, you know I'll give it a go. Thixotropic ? Some are

Shooting fish in a barrel, try that one.

Pretty sure the step rotor does not go back and forth, it should revolve around continuously in its bearing, turning at every magnetic activation of the stator. The rotor is the basically the driveshaft of the train, the equivalent of the barrel in a mechanical watch. If you are correct and it is jumping out of it seating then its pivot is either broken or the pivot bearing is damaged, the bridge is loose or the rotor has started to disintegrate. A picture of the rotor and its adjacent parts would be in order really.

Hi joes advice is good but be very careful with the probe you can damage teeth if you are rough?

Hi. Superglue a brilliant innovation and a downright pest used correctly and in the right place no problem.

The term is somewhat oxymoronic (as opposed to me, who is usually just plain moronic ). Think of it like giving parts a final dip in IPA to absorb any residual moisture. You have to wet it to make sure it's dry. Ain't chemistry grand?

I am a cowboy! All back together and running nicely.

I seem to be on a chronograph binge. I just picked up two on eBay. A Baume & Mercier formula S And a (lord help me) another Tissot based on the ETA C01.211 (LOL) I can't wait to hide them from the wife get working on them.

I still haven't made up my mind, but I think I'll go with @Waggy's setup. After all, I live in the land where IKEA was invented What type and diameter of buffing wheels would you recommend? If there were little or no price differences between the various options I presented I would have gone with the machine I call the "one-speed" polisher in my first post (last picture). I was in touch with the manufacturer (HAJET, China) who informed me that it can take 6" buffing wheels. However, trying to order this machine I realised it would cost me somewhere between $350 and $500 depending on delivery time. Shipping is expensive for such a heavy machine, at least if you don't want to wait for a couple of months. Anyway, I'm just an enthusiast and I just can't justify spending that much money on a polishing machine. Especially as I'll probably only use it a few times per year. That is a nice idea, and one I would want to try to implement should I get to polish frequently. For starters, I'll be wearing a face mask and some protection for my eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if getting polishing compounds and possibly microscopic pieces of metal into your lungs is a pretty bad idea.

Makes perfect sense watchie, you could always just not coat the outside of the last coil, but how finicky do we want to be. I know how particular you are watchie, nothing at all wrong with that attitude.

You really think this was a watchmaker??

Glued?

Yes just found it documented elsewhere. One the two registered rebberg calibres known as Aegler rebbergs. I'm pretty sure i have the other calibre stashed somewhere train bridge looks rough as does the balance pivot bearing.

Yes, front of the movement has 'REBBERG' and '268' written on it.

Thanks. After a bit of research within this & other Forums, I thought the K&D Inverto facility was a key feature along with the reasonable availability of stakes & stumps, K&D's reputation and, as you say, the available documentation (e.g https://archive.org/details/KDStakingTools/page/n17/mode/2up & at https://kanddinverto.weebly.com/junior-inverto-600.html). With no real idea about value for money (although I know there are other watch repairs I'll be using it for) but assuming it might be an appreciating asset in the long term, I paid £268 (inc P&P) for a set with 76 (out of 100, judging by the 'holes') stakes and 15 (out of 20) Stumps with a box albeit missing 2 handles & original latch but otherwise in apparently good condition. I could have bought a new, Indian-made boxed set for £375 with 120/20 items or waited for a complete K&D set to turn up but I feel, as you imply, that I've made the right decision- as they used to say of a Rolls Royce purchase: "the Quality remains long after the Price has been forgotten".

Offer crown HC0132 on ebay Update: The Boley price is €29,50 + VAT Listing Boley: I assume that Ref. CJF1312 and Ref. CJF1314 share not only the crown but also the tube which is listed with Boley:

One of the unfortunate realities of running a business is you do have to make money. If you have employees you have expenses people expect to get paid so that would mean cousins has to make money. Then the discussion is interesting because there seems to be a caution about the policy and then there was a discussion about how many people were affected by the policy and you are obviously keeping score how many people suffered from the policy versus how many people were happy with cousins?

Yes, oil always spreads as far as it can to any surface it can reach - I believe there's a fancy word for it which I can't remember - unless we take measures to prevent it like using epilame. But epilame is not an option as it should never be applied to a mainspring. So, using oil we'd have to be more careful with the amount applied. Grease also spreads if applied excessively, but is perhaps not as prone to spread as oil?! Anyway, dabbing on thick oil like HP-1300 is faster and more convenient, but getting the right amount could be more difficult. I agree, greasing the spring seems more controlled, but is it worth the extra hassle, and purchase of grease? (Open, honest question, not rhetorical).

I got round to measuring the second hand pivot and it was 0.2mm

I have this tool, same idea. So the hub receives pressure from both sides.

I hope you are right that their written policy is rarely implemented. Why they have it in any form at all if thats the case ? As pointed out in the other discussion regarding cousins, legally unlikely they can pass the buck to a manufacturer or a courier more like delay of a resolution or just a general fobbing off tactic, still not a pleasant experience for a well paying customer with a genuine issue. Always somebody that is not a happy customer moreover lifting the leg of a supplier, I tend to look first at negative reviews and feedback, weeding out the ones that are obviously after a freebie. For now I'm happy to buy from cousins but that doesn't stop me listening to someone with a different view and a different story. Good debate though.

The thing you need to be careful with and only applies if the case has a glass is the length of the center spindle make sure it isn't to long other wise the hands will rub the inside of the glass and the movement will stop. You need to sort out the hands as the ones you have might not fit so buy the hands that come with the movement normally you have a selection to pick from something near the length of the old movement and style. They all fit by a center fixing nut.

You could improve it further by cutting a hole in the back of the box and adding a ducted fan to vent to the outside or to a shopvac.

I had a strange thought strike me that maybe the lugs were designed to be tapered in, but then on closer inspection of the picture they seem to be uneven and not a deliberate designed look, just to be sure I just looked around the web and it seems you were 100% right and they should be parallel: Great work!

I agree, I purchased a Robour press from them and it siezed half way down on the first use, I was unable to move it up or down. All they asked for was a video showing the problem and once they reviewed it they (CousinsUK) agreed to replace it. They initially asked for me to return the damaged tool (also at their expense), but as shipping out of (but not into?!?!) the UAE is so expensive they agreed to let me keep the damaged one and just shipped a new on to me. Initially I was dreading reporting the problem, but pleasantly surprised by the level of customer service and the whole process was resolved in under 1 week - now I'm a loyal customer. Also, I have constantly compared their prices to the likes of eBay and Ali Express and found them to be extremely competitive and often cheaper. Technically contract of sale is made in the UK, i.e. you offer to buy the product from wherever you are located in the world and they then accept your offer, as the acceptance of your offer and, therefore, the creation of the contract is made by CousinsUK in the UK, hence, UK law (technically English law) applies no matter where you are in the world. Thus, the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies which states that your contract is with CousinsUK not with the original manufacturer (they have a contract with the manufacturer, not you) and they (CousinsUK) have a duty to replace or refund (at your discretion, not theirs) if the goods are not of "satisfactory quality" - See section 20 ss 7 of the act. There are some caveats for perishable goods, sanitary items and time limits etc. Unfortunately, Many retailers will try it on and fob you off to the manufacturer hence avoiding any liability/risk/cost, but they are relying on your (and probably also their) ignorance of the law, once you remind them of this they will usually back down and do what they are required to do, or you can take your complaint to the Trading Standards office (free of charge) and they will force them to comply. Basically, you just don't accept any nonsense about sending to the manufacturer, or "store policy states we only issue store credit..." or any other BS and insist on your consumer rights as per the law...the law trumps their "store policy" every time. Also, the principal still applies that 'you cannot contract out of the law', so any comments they try on about you accepting the stores return policy when you bought the goods is just nonsense. However, I fully agree with @VWatchie that the carrot gets you much further than the stick and a nice polite conversation will often get you what you need much quicker and nicer without having to argue the technicalities of the Consumer Rights Act. Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, but I have studied the Consumer Rights Act as part of my DBA, so please treat the above as friendly advice only.

I placed my first order with CousinsUK in 2017. Since then I have had two problematic products delivered. The first was the Bergeon cannon pinion remover, advertised as able to extract cannon pinions of any size, but in reality only cannon pinions with a diameter >= 1mm. Cousins contacted Bergeon about it, changed the description on their site and refunded me my money. The other situation was a pallet fork for an ETA movement. The package was opened and the exit jewel was missing. This time they sent me a new pallet fork stamped "chronometer" which was not even listed on their site. Through the years I have learned that the most efficient way to resolve a situation is to ask for help even if you're entitled to demand help. So, so far I have only praise for CousinsUK and through the years I've probably spent an amount close to a Rolex submariner on them. No worries John, we all are, the only difference most of us are fortunate to get over it

when the problem is when people asked questions on the message board in order to really get a proper answer you should give us pictures otherwise we will give you generic answers not necessarily helpful for your particular situation so if you still have some of the pivot left yes you could shorten a little bit providing you can actually move the jewels. Sometimes the jewels are flush with the plate and you can't move them in any farther they will fall out other times there recessed and they have a lot of room to move around. All things that conceivably would change our answer. Now as I migrate up the messages I see your picture and what exactly is wrong with that pivot now? In other words it looks like you have quite a bit of the pivot left so much so that did you just move the jewel now? I thought we were talking about no pivot or very tiny pivot but that's quite a bit of pivot left? often times you have to soften the steel. It also be very careful with drills not to burnish the hole you're trying to drill as it will make it basically impossible to drill. typically all carbide drills are bristle. The general rule is if you drop one on the floor there's no point in picking it up basically cause it's going to be broke. Carbide drills work really well if you do not twist or bend them. As long as they're running at the right speed and they go straight into the work they do a beautiful job. actually that's something my father used to do depending upon the carbide drill some of them only have the carbide drill part others basically the whole thing is carbide. So he would silver solder that into something and grind it and make it into a cutting tool for the lathe. Oh and just to clarify not a watchmaker's lathe but a machinists lathe

It can work, but you will end up with a shorter than normal pivot, and you may not have enough movement of the jewels (you will almost certainly have to move both) for clearances for the new position of the wheel. If you have a lathe capable of holding the wheel to cut a new pivot, it's not much more work to drill it and insert a new pivot. Eternal Tools sell individual carbide drills, though it's worth learning to make simple spade drills as they are more forgiving if they break during drilling- easier to remove the broken drill.

The secret is using a brand-new mainspring. Doing that takes away the possibility that the mainspring has created a helix shape slightly, so it won't sit flat when on a flat surface, that could happen when removing the spring, but not usual when refitting the spring. Replacing the spring also ensures that the most amplitude is gained from the movement. You may want to check the wall of the barrel for scratches and/or scores which might rob some amplitude, as well as the correct amount of braking grease. I tend to use 8217 for all barrel types. The more you use, the quicker the spring will slip but don't over-grease. Under greasing the used mainspring can have a detrimental effect on the amplitude and feel a bit scratchy when winding the watch. It's also not the best idea to manually wind an automatic watch often, as that will add more wear to the reverser wheels over time.

If the bridle of the spring is bent you will have slipping too. Here is how it should look like:

That is not too unusual, and I don't think that indicates a problem or that something is wrong, but I'm not perfectly sure about that. If it is a Swiss movement you should definitely be using braking grease on the inner barrel wall as indicated by @RichardHarris123

Have you put breaking grease o n the barrel wall?

Previous link didn't work, lets try again