Leaderboard

Its 4 o'clock in the morning here in the Uk, i cant sleep, i dont sleep, not much ever really. My brain never shuts off to rest, I'm just a constant thinker, i have to be very tired to be able to sleep, i guess eventually it will be my undoing and my health will suffer because of it I'm sure. But while I'm here i want to get as much out of life as i can, and give as much as i can, to help,maybe to make a difference to someone's life if that is within my capability,recent events have made that need even more clear to me. I'm not sure where I'm going with this or why i bring it up , or if its relevant to want i want to talk about its just in my head right now. What i do want to talk about is something thats been on my mind for ages. I like to be prepared, I'm not fond of surprises because surprises take control away and i am a bit of a control freak at times. This forum, Our Forum if i can call it that, is here because of two reasons. The guy that created it and keeps it funded and the people that joined it. Without either, it would not exist, and lets face it one day it won't ( I'm a realist and i talk about things others dont or who are afraid to in other words folk that dont particularly prepare for the inevitable). How many of us visit here regularly ? How many among us almost depend on the forum as a way of socialising because they are stuck at home and how many of us has it become part of a daily routine to check in and see if they can offer advice or get help with something they are working on or just to have a chat and engage in some banter. The members here are in the thousands and thousands have disappeared over the years many had just a fleeting visit. But there are a good few of us that know each other quite well and visit regularly. I dont know about you but i wouldnt want to lose that communication with you all, in all honesty it has become an important part of that side of my life and helps to feed my passion for all things watches. Some of you may think differently and thats ok, some of may stop and think # what would i do " Without Our Forum " #

Like losing Ranfft. That was a wake up call. We took his website for granted. Miss him terribly.

This forum is a big part of my life. When I retired from horology many years ago due to poor health I missed what I had trained for. On here I can still do my bit in helping and advising others and have a little fun as well.

Hi guys, the question is what is a forum, a place for discussion and passing on information, idle chat and a bit of fun and I for one are the richer for it. When in Hospital last year with the Covid being force fed oxygen and feeling total sh1t and close to the pearly gates a daily look on the forum to see what was going down helped to keep me focused on the job in hand took my mind off the problem for a short while but it was a lifeline for sure. We chat to friends for that is what they become around the world read their posts help where we can post information where we can. I like @Neverenoughwatches some times think of members past and wonder if they are still at the watches or given up, some drop in for advise and drop out again never to be heard of again. The forum reminds me of Yorkshire hospitality, The door is always open and the kettle on the stove. Long may it continue. My two bobs worth.

Never and others. Yes, like you I do spend a fair amount of time reading the contents of this forum. I find it better that any other. Clear, lucid, no Prima Donas, and most of all an easy access without adverts. All thanks to Mark. God bless you mate. You give so much to many of us. What if? No Mark? Hypothetically. A forum. I did run a forum for a few years. Really enjoyed it, but became so engrossed that it did affect my health. I gave to to others to run. Not been back. It was very successful and rivalled a number of large paying sites. No adverts, no others but me. I did ask and listen to members comments and it worked well. Costs Having a domain name, £10 annually. Register the site with a forum company, free. Build the site using the forum company guide lines, free. It looked and ran almost the same a Mark's. All the same facilities. The cost was only £5 per month, but counted visits (views). If I recall, it was that price for 5,000 views. Each extra 5,000 views increased the price by £2 per month. Success was my own personal undoing. From £5 per month initially, it rose to £60 a month and looked like increasing. This was 10 years ago. I could not afford that, and asked it anyone would like to take over and someone did. I would assume that this is the price that Mark is funding for us all. His return is our continued comments on the internet about his course, and the fact that many of the big names on YouTube mention him as their Tutor. Those of us who have done, and are still using, his course, benefit. In comparison to other courses, I can't believe how cheap it is, and the value is exceptional. It is the structure that gives the value. Long may Mark reign. Ross

My email address is in my profile, feel free all to drop me a quick hello.

Yup watchie you are entirely on my wavelength with this , you actually said what i was hinting at, what if something happens to mark ? Will someone be able to take over ? Its not that long ago that the forum was down and Mark had to step in and fix it. And you are right a wealth of information that does not exist as a whole anywhere on the planet will be lost. Can that be archived elsewhere? It would be an absolute shame if the plug was pulled without warning, i would like to think Mark wouldn't do that to us. And like i said in my first post i talk about things other folk might be affraid to. So lets not skirt around anything. It might be nice to have a place where we can all drop our emails just in case so we always have that contact. Can you make that happen Old Hippy ? i kind of think of you as the pops of the forum

Funny that you should bring this up. I was thinking about it just the other day. What happens if something happens to @Mark? The social bit is fantastic and I would miss it dearly, but I worry even more about the content. Together we have created a gold mine of information which would be more or less irreplaceable if the site should disappear. People (often with a lot of knowledge) come and go. I sometimes wonder what happened to them and miss them. We have no idea unless we have some private contact information. When I was new here I saw a lot of posts by @Lawson. He had a true fire in his heart for horology and was asking for an apprenticeship in his signature. I found that very inspiring and often wondered what happened. Is the fire still burning? Did he get an apprenticeship?

@Neverenoughwatches Rich, I can only agree with you wholeheartedly. I spend a lot of time here learning all sorts and trying to make any little contribution to help others I can. Nothing can last forever and I wish I could do more to contribute to the forum financially and any other support I could. Tom

First thing this morning, make coffee, second, check the forum. I would really miss the forum, not on any social media, not interested in telling the world what I had for breakfast!!! I do consider most of the regulars friends and would wonder what had happened if they stopped posting.

I dont think mine is. Its an idea to have them all in one place if possible, then a quick screenshot will have them saved. Unless anyone has any other ideas of how to reconnect

Hi all Thought I'd show my small and trying to keep under control watch collection! Apart from the Enicar all were under £12! At least if I destroy them in the process then I won't be too worse off. A few pics to start off with First of all my first attempt. A Thuya pocket watch. It was only running face down and would stop when vertical. So now it still works face down and only slows down when vertical so at least an improvement! I only have a generic watch oil at the mo so that won't help but I'm hoping to get some more appropriate oils in a couple of months for my birthday. I did have to get a crystal for it since it didn't come with one. It didn't look as though it would friction fit (and I don't have a crystal press in any case) so I glued it to the case with PVA. So far so good. Next up above are a sekonda and citizen automatic. Both non runners. Both with broken balance wheels amongst other things. I'm hopeful the citizen will start when I get the new one I ordered but the sekonda is being kept for spares and trial of new techniques. And finally the Enicar and the timemaster. Both running when I got them. I wanted to get running watches so that at least I stood a fighting chance of still having a running watch after the service! It was all going well on the Enicar until I dropped the balance wheel during reassembly.... Unfortunately they are quite expensive to get so for now I'll won't do anything with it but I would like to fix it at one point. The timemaster is still running (yeah!) but I managed to break a dial foot during the deassembly. First repair attempt failed so now I am looking at soldering it back on... So there we go. My initial foray into this great hobby. Thanks for sticking with this tale so far. I'm hoping that once the balance wheel arrives for the citizen I will be able to say I bought a non runner and fixed it! So fingers crossed. Thanks for looking, Nick

I dont like to give up things that i enjoy Tom. So my next question is how are we going to prepare for that inevitability and what are we going to do about it. Its not just about funding it but I did pick up on something that Mark said once. It doesnt run on fresh air , what if it becomes a burden or an unnecessary cost or for any other reason that i wont get into. We all know life can change in an instant, my life has been so up and down for about 8 years and was only just beginning to level itself out.

What I especially like is that this forum is not full of ads. There are some but they're not interfering. No ads between posts like one certain big watch forum. Browsing is also very easy and light for a mobile device. I'm glad there's still room for old school forums like this. I'm a member in many facebook groups but there's really no long term discussion and if you see an interesting post you might never find it again if needed.

A perfect example Hector, with the forum we would lose so much more My sentiments exactly Richard, i have experienced that loss already, Tiny, Gert, Galilea to name but a few all of which i enjoyed conversations with. I imagine it keeps a lot us sane OH.

Recently picked this guy up, and took it apart for cleaning tonight. Looks super clean inside as far as wear and tear goes, but there are puddles of oil everywhere! Hopefully a good cleaning will bring the amplitude back up. I did learn that the automatic bridge is spring loaded, which you can see below in the yard sale of wheels and gears all over the place. Sorry in advance for all the pictures and if some aren't in perfect focus. I take a lot of progress pictures through my microscope, and I figure if someone is here looking for help, they might be useful to them. And this is where I stopped, since I got into the wine.

Get someone local to tig it ,very easy fix and should only take a few minutes so probably wouldn’t cost much ,or failing that get it very clean and silver solder it. Dell

Thanks VWatchie! I did spot your walkthrough thank you. And you are spot on about the movements too! Nick

Hopefully if the issue is running costs, Mark would let us know and suggest ways of raising finance. If it's the other issue, which we are skirting around, sites can be passed onto others. PS because I know you're all interested, I had a bacon and mushroom sandwich for breakfast. Hehe.

Hey, Nick! Thanks for sharing your beginning attempts in watch repair and welcome to WRT. I am familiar with the Citizen and the Sekonda. Likely the Citizen houses a Citizen cal. 8200A and the Sekonda a Poljot 2614.2H. I have serviced several of both and made a service walkthrough of the Citizen which you find if you click here. There's a lovely story about the Poljot movement on TimeZone.com called Jessica’s Cornavin Dolphin. Good luck!

Well done, let us know how you get on with the citizen.

Naptha appears to be a general name and its content can be varied depending upon what it's specific use is. Lighter fluid as an example can be light or heavier also with other ingredients to help it burn. Try sesrching for benzine ( as opposed to benzene which is linked to causing health issues ) . There are other fluids such as ethanol that you could try and also methylated sprirts, mostly ethanol with a small percentage of methanol added. Experiment with any new chemical to see how quickly schellac dissolves in its presence. I have tried a few things but hexane is not one of them, i understand it does evaporate very quickly. Be sure sure to check out any safety data on chemicals you try. Toxicity of fumes and flash point information, ultrasonic machines can heat up fluids even without a heater function. And of course always ask here for personal opinions when trying a new substance.

I recently bought this but not on ebay. I figured if I want something Japanese I better check Japanese auction sites since these don't seem to pop up on ebay. I paid 83 € plus shipping & taxes. I think it was pretty reasonable for a complete set in good condition.

This little story was very comforting to read for a "bungler" like myself. That success isn't a given even for a pro. Thanks for sharing! Plus the added foresight not to buy a watch with an AS 1012 inside it.

The 11AN/11AO family is probably my most worked on movement (working on one right now). I've had the auto bridge spring into the ether myself. Bulova tells how to wind down the mainspring in their tech sheet but I've never had success following their instructions. There are definitely some quirks with the movement: oiling the upper sweep second wheel pivot and the dial side pivot of one of the auto works wheels which is inconveniently placed between the spokes of the escape wheel. the Date Corrector Setting Wheel has to be placed in the exactly correct orientation or the quickset date change will not work. the setting wheel that interacts with the sliding clutch goes chamfer up. I've made my own 'tech sheet' for it and shared it in case it's of use to anyone. Bulova 11AOACB.pdf