Tmuir

This website will date your watch to within a few years and if you lucky you will match it to one of the photos, else as said above email Longines. http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/longines.php

A lot of movements have the brands logos on then, but annoying not always where you can easily see them. Just keep browsing this forum is a good place to start.

Mostly USA, for British Military Timepieces you need funnily enough 'British Military Timepieces' by Konrad Knirim, just be prepared for a price shock as Whitney's book is not cheap, but Konrad's price is out of this world, but they are the best reference books for British and USA military timepieces, Konrad's is full of great colour photos, whilst Whitney's book is filled with exploded diagrams and service manuals.

Looks like a Waltham CDIA aircraft clock. I've got one sitting no more than 1 foot from me now waiting for me to clear some other projects before I work on it. I've got the parts list and a diagram of parts, but its one of the few Waltham aircraft clocks I don't have an exploded diagram of. I've got a small collection of WWII aircraft clocks and have in the post coming to me my first German aircraft clock. If these clocks interest you for made in USA Military timepieces I recommend the book 'Military Timepieces' by Marvin E Whitney

Welcome, similar to what I did, but being my course covered clocks too, it didn't go into mechanical Chronographs, only quartz Chronographs. You will enjoy it and start saving for all those tools you will need for your final year.

Welcome, where are you studying your course? I just graduated for my 3 year (and a couple of extra months) watch and clock course last month.

I will add I'm aware of Christopher S Barrow's book, 'The English Fusee Lever Pocket Watch : Its History, Development, Service and Repair' but I've seen several less than enthusiastic reviews of his books, although I do already own his book 'The Pocketwatch'

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good reference book for helping date English Fusee leaver and verge pocketwatches. I find the English Fusee pocket watches interesting, but there is very little reference material on them. There are a couple of good websites and Archie Perkins gives a lot of good information on how to repair them in his books, but on dating them I've not found much. Yes one way if by the maker names, but I'm looking for a good general reference book on the progression of the watches as I know the pillars on the plates and hands are useful in helping dating them, but I would like to know more. Anyone got any good recommendations for a book to buy, or out of print one to hunt for? Tony

Glad you got it sorted, do you want to post some pictures of your work as the old fusee watches do interest me?

I cant ID it in my Ebauches S.A book, what is the diameter of the movement as that will also help to identifiy it.

This weekend is the 3 in 1 market at the Claremont Showgrounds, with the most important one being the antique fair. Usually a number of clocks and watches for sale and some even for a reasonable prices. The last market I picked myself up a Waltham CDIA 8 day aircraft clock up for a reasonable price. I will be there tomorrow manning the stand for the 'Master Clock and Watch Makers Association of Western Australia'. We have the stand really just to raise awareness that watch and clock makers / repairers do still exist and promote our school, but we do also offer free watch testing and a cheap battery change service. People are really amazed when they find out there is still a place in Perth that is teaching people how to repair watches and clocks, and not just 'part swapping ' but actually manufacturing some replacement parts. I had one person that wouldn't believe me that we actually made some parts until I showed him a balance staff that I had made for a pocket watch and the bar of blue steel it came from. I'm always amazed at what people bring up to us, a couple of shows ago we had an older couple show us a 1920s gold Rolex that they found whilst digging in their garden! Yes the watch was dead but the case was fine and so was about half the movement, so great for spares. If your around come drop by our stand and say hello.

Especially when you fill it with whiskey. But in seriousness it is a generally accepted practice to use a shirt glass shut as a whiskey tumbler to cover the movement if you haven't bought a domed cover to keep the dust off.

You must of read my post as soon as I posted it, as I realised and edited it only seconds after I posted it, clearly just before you quoted me as its correct in your quote. :-)

The finest guitar string is the 'Extra Super Light' E string which is 0.0008 inches which is 0.02032mm , so yes if you need finer guitar strings won't cut it I'm afraid.

I've got the Flashforge Dreamer 3D printer. I've not really made much with it for watchmaking, myself, but have used it for many other things including making parts for my 1970s electro-mechanical pinball machine that were not obtainable any other way. A very important thing to think about when buying a printer is the size of the print bed as this dictates the biggest thing you can make, usually cheaper machines have smaller print beds that will limit the size of things you can make. Try and buy a printer that is fully enclosed as it eliminates the problems of cold drafts cooling the print too much between layers that can lead to print failure. You want a printer that can print from an SD card not just from your computer. That way you don't need to leave you computer on when you are doing an 8 or 12 hour print. Choose a printer that parts are readily available for and that has a big user following, as this will give you more help with finding the best settings. Look at what software comes with the printer and think about what other software you might use. I design most of my parts on the free software sketchup, but purchased simplify3D for doing my slicing as it produces better results than the software that came with my printer. Printers are somewhat noisy and do give off plastic fumes so best if you don't need to leave it running in a small enclosed room. That should give you a little to think about.