Tmuir

The wonders of the Internet. I could only find a rather beat up set of the Bestfit books so will keep looking, likewise for the Paulson Master Key catalogue, but on ebay US found Part one of 'Catalogue Officiel' but with postage it would of costed me $120 AUD, then found part 1 on ebay UK, this one would of costed me $90 AUD. Then went to ABebooks and have just ordered and paid for part 1 for $39 AUD including postage, very happy.

Thanks, I will keep an eye out for the other books too. I already have the E & J Swigart Co Illustrated manual of American Watch Movements which is great for American pocket watches, but have nothing for Swiss movements at the moment which is a gap I do need to fill

I believe Bestfit made the best book / catalogue to help identify old watch movements, which is something I really could do with. Before I start my hunt for a copy can anyone confirm which is the best Bestfit book to look for? I'm guessing it is #111 Part 1 and Part 2, but can someone confirm.

Link to technical information on movement https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1002179/Citizen-6000a-00.html#manual

Even on friendly forums only allowing editting for a set period is needed. I help manage a forum about toy steam engines and we had 2 incidents that made us change from allowing editting for ever to about 15 minutes. The first one was a refernce thread on screw sizes used on brands of steam engines. We had a regular forum member that managed that thread. People PMed him the screw sizes and he then editted his post and and added the information. One time when editing his PC crashed and somehow it deleted everything from his post, about 2 years of work lost. The other time we had a reasonably active member for what ever reason got upset and decided to leave, but must of spent a good hour or two editing every post he did and replaced his posts with either emojis or swear words, an extreme case of pettiness especially as we never even found out what upset him. Either way only allowing editing for short periods stops this problem.

Welcome Dave, there are plenty of people here willing to share their knowledge

Interesting. I have a jar of jewelers rouge powder which I'm assuming would work the same as a dialux red stick

Just keep a close watch on everyone's favorite auction website. I picked up a set which is aclone of the bergeon watch mainspring winders quite reasonably out of Queensland earlier this year. The trick is to check every day and hope to be the first that spots the reasonably price BIN item. As a tip to find them I regularly search using just the term 'watchmaker', and then tick 'used' items but today I would suggest you search using the phrase 'watchmaker tool favourite'

Very nice, If you ever feel like posting how you created the dial I would be interested in that too.

Thanks wls1971. I looked up AS922 and got the spring size of 1.45 x 9.0 x 0.11 x 260mm which has made me happy as my calculated thickness and length based on my measurements and the K factor was 9.0 x 0.11 x 270mm. It's good to know my calculations were correct. I've now added the mainspring to my next Cousin's order.

No unfortunately I dont know the movement manufacturer, I haven't been able to identify the logo. No logo on the dial and I forgot to take a photo of the dial side of the movement until it was mostly dismantled, but I've attached a photo of the dialside for what it is worth, the dial and case if it helps. The case has a logo of a hand inside it with the word Handley

I was given a ladies watch which I'm guessing is circa 1930s to practice on and I can't identify. I do like the cross hatch finish on the movement, I've not seen it before on a watch. Below is the logo and a photo of the movement, it now stripped and cleaned and ready to be assembled with the exception that the mainspring needs to be replaced as it is currently fitted with one that was modified to fit poorly. If anyone can identify the brand it would be appreciated.

The shaft actually snapped. I'm sure a master watchmaker could fix it, but it beyond my skills at this point in time. I'm aware of who you are talking about, I've not bought from him yet, but have spent some time in the past looking at his website. I'll first try the NOS from my supplier as I need to buy a number of other items and adding a centre wheel to the order will add nothing to the postage. Recently postage from the USA has got expensive for small items. Compact but heavy items are quiet reasonably price to post from the USA to Australia, but small light things seem overpriced.

That is true, if you don't try you don't learn. I've still got a long way to go, but I know I'm better than I was at the start of the year

I'm about to place an order to cousins for other items and they still have AS340 center wheels in stock in stock for a few pounds, so I will take my chances and order one. This is why I still only practice on 'cheap' movements so my mistakes aren't too costly.