Endeavor

Yes, I'm "scared to dead" for that one too

If I only for once would listen to myself !! Looks like it's getting X-mas My wife doesn't know yet X-mas surprise

Interesting to see & to read something about the Swedish watch history ..... I knew about the Swedish standing clocks, but Swedish wrist-watches, not so And yes, a "cool" design

I have to stop looking on eBay !! Just stumbled over this CCCP 3AKA3 Komandirskie. It looks in excellent condition and original. For $25 it seems a steal to me !

Hello Michael ! Good to see that you got the "bug" at such an early age Watch Mark's video's carefully, as there is a lot of information given and therefor a lot to learn. There is also good information on this forum, but as usual, use your common sense as you would on any forum. I'm not sure where you are located, but reading your intro, English seems to be your native language. If you are in the UK, I found another young watch-maker who I found very inspiring, perhaps it is worth to read his story? http://www.great-british-watch.co.uk/ Wishing you lots of suc6 !

I also found out something more about the dial and my suspicion was right. According to the seller: "These watches were released specifically from the USSR State Committee on Physical Culture and Sport in the 1980s. For rewards athletes along with medals". 100% authentic.

I couldn't resist and added this diving-watch, anti-magnetic with the classic 420 model SS-case, 2409-movement to my collection ........ How much more Soviet does it get !?? I haven't received it jet. The bezel is new and perhaps I leave it like that, perhaps a SS-green numeric bezel and a fresh seconds-hand? ........ we'll see what suites best. I'm after the more rare dials out of the CCCP-period and after many years, this is the first time I've seen this dial. Has anybody any idea what the symbol in the dial may mean? A certain Sports event related? It has the original anti-magnetic cover under the back-lid;

Thanks a lot ! The dials are the least of my worries; dials feet off and double sided sticky tape should do the trick. Perhaps my assumption that some of these watches were, at the beginning of the quartz period, converted wasn't correct. I think I may indeed wait for a small cheap quartz flee-market find and try to make a conversion. If that doesn't work, well that may be the end of the line for these Laco's. Searching the net, I found more of the same NOS Laco ladies watches, makes you wonder why ! Perhaps the factory produced a whole batch of junk? Anyway, thanks for thinking with me and suggesting solutions

Yes indeed, it does ....... If quartz is not available, I have to think long and hard before trying another one of these type of mechanical movements. Seems a bit Russian Roulette which ones works well. Thanks for you help and I will keep this option in my mind !

Okay Gents; For the people not familiar with the Laco story; here a reminder: https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/9735-ive-ran-out-of-ideas-tricks-help/?page=0#comment-88847 Behind the scenes I (with the assistance of @JohnR725) , continued working on the Laco 501 & 503 ladies movements, trying to find out what causes the beat-error and the wild fluctuating daily rate. A new spring was bought and installed, but no real improvement. In the end I started, in logical sequence, swapping parts between the two 503 movements (jeweled) and the balance & pallet fork of the 501 movement. Even though I ended up with a movement which runs for over 30hrs and with a reasonable amplitude (about 230-260 degrees), it still performs terrible; a beat error of 9.5ms to 10ms and a daily rate from - 60 CD to +340 sec/d CU. Not something I stand behind giving to a relative. Even JohnR725, puzzled by what's happening, purchased a Laco (Durowa) 501 and he too observed to most weird behavior of his movement. The new watch-cases are of 20-micron rolled gold and the dials and hands are fine. The idea was that these watches were going to be used as dress-accessories and the receiver doesn't care for mechanical, probably prefers a quarts movement as substitute. I would assume that when quarts watches became popular, some of these mechanical ladies watches were converted to quartz (?) My search so far for a quartz substitute at CousinsUK didn't yield matching results. Has anybody any idea's which (cheap) movement I could made to fit? Here are the dimensions: movement body 12.8x19.2mm x 3.5mm high (excluding dial) and the hands diameter are 1.10 mm (hour) and 0.55mm (minutes) I know, not something we like to see on this forum, but one can't win every battle to win the war, so any help to salvage something of the watches is appreciated

It's a great idea and it works well for Vostoks Amphibians who do all share the same back-lid connection. However there aren't that many watches who are so versatile and have this luxury, that you grab a back-lid-tool which fits many different (style) housings. Plus spare Amphibian back-lids, to make a tool, are cheaply available & in mass.......

BTW; I think you should make another post under "Watch repair tools & equipment" and show & explain your idea. In this thread your idea gets most likely lost ........

Ah, now I get it It literally "speeds up" the process ! I'm going to build one; thanks a lot I always knew the WUS had a big Vostok fan-base unlike, I'm said to say, on this forum. But, so far I haven't discovered on WUS that they go in-depth into watch repair, what they do on this forum Am I wrong in my observations?

A smart idea ! What do you use inside the back-lid to polish with? The 2409 (no date) and the 2414 (with date) and not hard to get. If possible try to get a new Komandirskie, the whole package comes (with a bit of luck) cheaper than just a movement. My experience with used watches / movements is that they (nearly all) never been serviced and therefor their timekeeping is not as good. Most of my 2409 and 2414 run within 5 sec/day. VWatchie is also into Vostoks and here a link to our collection; And yes, the Amphibian hands will fit on the 2409 and the 2414. Broadly speaking the 2415 and 2416 are 2409 and 2414 with additional automatic winding. Quite a few, not all, parts are interchangeable. Hands and dials are. The 2409 and 2414 movement with fit Komandirskie and the Ampibian housings (different spacer rings). The Amphibian housings do have 3x different winding stem-length; the 420-housing the shortest and if I well remember the 110-housing has the longest winding stem. Long stem length; Medium stem length; Short stem length; Through time I have a drawer full of movements, parts and housings. I'n not so keen on the Komandirskie housings as I like the 200mtr waterproof of the Amphibians and they are Stainless Steel, so you can polish them without problems

The microscope and computer cost are peanuts compared to what you need in other to achieve clean results; Can't see my wife agreeing with the conversion ...... Anyway, back to earth .......