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I've been following the standard array of Watch repair youtubers for a while now, getting interested and excited about this new hobby. I've collected some tools: Magnification sources, good quality screwdrivers, poor quality screwdrivers, some decent tweezers, etc. The basics -- no mainspring winders or any of the "big" tools like a press or anything. Finally, I've been trawling ebay, filtering out the plethora of frankenseikos and replica rolexes. I found a nice looking, likely candidate in a Benrus automatic. It's a bit beat up but nothing super serious. I don't hate a we bit of visible wear. Once I received it I found that the only way to get some activity on the dial was to give the machine a bit of a gentle spin to activate the Automatic works. Great news that it runs and I don't have to call the seller a liar, bad news is that the manual wind either doesn't work, or doesn't exist. I can pull the crown out and set the time though, and the day/date turn over at roughly the correct time. I decided to put the thing on a timegrapher to see how well it runs. I googled "Benrus Automatic Lift Angle, and the most recent thing I came across seemed to list all Benrus' as having 50º of lift. That's.... not amazing. While I'm no expert at reading this stuff, I think that gaining 30m a day, and having no detectable degrees of rotation on the balance wheel seems bad. I should note that I did try throwing in different bph and lift angles. This was the best it got. To make a short story long; I learned what a split crown meant, and got the movement out of the case after employing my crystal claw. And this is where I'm nervous! It looks like this movement has not seen the light of day since its original installation, the beautiful ranfft.de site seems to list all Benrus movements as some sort of ETA variant, and this does look very similar to the pictures that I saw on the site, but the reversing gears on the Auto works look different than all of the automatics that ranfft has listed for the benrus. Googling the Model "HH 1D1" doesn't seem to give me the kind of information that I know how to parse. I guess what I'm asking is for help determining the actual model of movement I have here. I'd like to read up on or find a service guide for it before I get too rammy! Please let me know what more information would be useful, I'm happy to provide.

Hello, I'm absolutely pulling my hair out finding a replacement crystal for this watch. Case says style # 6810. The original crystal was fine but I made a big oopsie and took a huge chunk out of the edge of it, and so have been trying to replace it. After searching my inventory I found an original PA429-40 Crystal for the "Benrus 276-6810 Elegance"M" and "P" Wristalarm series for reflector ring" but when I went to put the old reflector ring into that new one the ring was too large and I cracked the rim (dang it). Since the package wasn't sealed I thought maybe it was a fluke and someone had put the wrong crystal in there. So I went online and bought a new sealed PA429-40 crystal and it too is too small to fit the ring. Measuring the original vs the new one, the original is overall larger. I can't figure out what the actual correct crystal is though. (Photo of crystal with a big chunk out of the edge is the inner diameter of the original, other crystal measurement shown is of "replacement". Without the exact right crystal the case will not stay closed because it's pressure fit. I'm out of ideas and really could use some help on this.

Picked this guy up from a local jeweler who said he didn't deal in used watches, but had this lying around. For $30, I had to take it home. Non-runner, turns out the upper escape wheel hole jewel was badly cracked and destroyed the pivot. New escape wheel, mainspring, jewel. I also bought the mainspring sliding attachement, not realizing it came with the mainspring. As well as the ratchet wheel, when I meant to buy the crown wheel. It's a learning process Getting the new jewel in the right place was quite the test of patience, but in the end I think I won. The timegrapher reading is right after I got it back together, just to get an idea of where I'm at. I know the amplitude is a little low, but I'm hoping an overnight run to let everything settle in will help. I'm also waiting on an Elma antimag from Cousins to demagnetize the movement. But overall I'm really pleased with the results and kinda proud of myself, and thought I'd share, maybe to inspire other newbies like myself. I'll post up once I get the case cleaned and all back together!

Hi, Picked this up in eBay for $15 and overall a pretty nice restoration project. First problem however is getting the movement out. I've looked under magnification and don't see any way to slip even a razor blade between the caseback and case, so I'm assuming the movement comes out some other way. I've tried lifting the cystal off with my crystal remover but abandoned this for fear of scratching the case. I've looked through the forum for advice, did see one thread about Benrus in general but honestly couldn't follow it and not sure it applied to my particular watch. Any help would be greatly appreciated since once opened and cleaned and returned to the case, this shoudl be a sweet little vintage piece (the band is original as well, mark Benrus 1/20 GF and in excellent condition).

Thanks for the kind welcomes in the introductions forum! Also for the advice, but now I must post what the problems are but no diagnosis and the causes. I appreciated the information on what battery would replace the Watch Battery 343 which was on the last battery I had in the watch. It would have been a mercury battery and those are no longer sold. One kind soul suggested an AG 10 would work, and I went to Batteries Plus to pick one up. They assured me a 389 RENATA is the equivalent and it's listed as a Silver Oxide 1.5 watch battery. The dimensions were the same (diamter and thickness) as the 343. I was excited to see if it would produce movement. But it did not. I also moved the hand with the stem but no movement happened. I attached a photo of something I noticed about 25-30 years ago when I set the watch aside, which could be a clue. There is a 3-pronged electrode inside the case, that sits almost flush to the inside atop what looks like gold colored mylar. I suppose that's an insulator. But, the electrode can swing side-to-side. I moved it carefully to one side for the photo. The 3-pronged electrode on the battery cover is mounted in the center. It occurs to me that the electode inside the caseing could be the issue but I have no experience here. I also took a photo closeup of the BENRUS case. Two lines below the stamped name it is stamped "OPEN THRU CRYSTAL". Maybe fools rush in where angels fear to tread. I have seen watch crystal lifts, but don't own one. I know I would need that and some tools to begine this. It will of course have repairs beyond my newbie abilities. ShouldI gather a few tools and learn now? I'm not in a hurry and I certainly know a tool or tools is not part os the repair cost. But if buy the tools and treat this what like a medical cadaver to learn some things is that worthwhile? And maybe, just maybe, I can bring Frankenstein back to life. Mark

I found a post from Feb 11, 2020 in this forum about this Benrus watch from PaulnKC. I have the same model and want to replace the crystal (which is cracked in two places) with one that has a magnifier. The photos in the old post show the watch, but the conversation was about removing the movement. After reading it a few times I could find no reference as to whether the crystal had a reflecting ring or not. I found a GS crystal PA462-70 with a magnifier that seems to be the replacement, but I don't understand whether it has a ring from the catalog info. I haven't removed my crystal yet as I wear the watch daily and want to wait until I have the replacement on hand first. Does anyone know if these have the ring? I presume that if there is a ring it could be used again with the new crystal? I also wondered about the spacing of the magnifier, hoping that it would center over the date window at 6. It seems that crystal is made for the Benrus automatic and F015 whatever that number means. Any info or suggestions welcome. Thanks. Homer

Greetings all. I recently acquired a moderately old Benrus 3-Star Automatic wristwatch. It's a #7026 Series. I believe these are from the 60's - though I don't know much about them. On the back of the case it says "open through crystal". Which makes me think that the Crystal should be removed using a Crystal Lift - and the movement lifted out through the bezel. Of course, the stem (presumably two-piece) would have to be separated prior to - or during the operation. BUT - after some googling - I have also heard tell - that the case-back should be pushed out by pressing on the crystal with thumbs. These seem to be incompatible methods - but I really have no idea - as I have never seen a case like this. Does anyone have experience with this type of case from Benrus? I can post pictures after I get home - if they are needed. Many thanks! -Paul

Hello, My name is Matt, screenname MattHH. I was asked to look at someone's watch because it needed a battery or capacitor IDK. Anyway since I was successful I caught the fix every watch that is broken bug. I started with pocket watches,then watch tools e.g. staking device, and then wrist watches. I got a lot of practice buying boxes of watches on eBay and working on them and if I messed it up it still a learning experience, like reverse engineering and some common sense go a long way. I play hell getting the balance wheel in anything though. To save money I am focused on the Benrus watches because I think they are cool looking and cover most of the bases e.g. dive watches, military, formal, informal, amazing, and the weird. It would be nice if the manufacturer of watches made repair manuals like cars, that would be paper gold. Here is a few Benrus watches on my wish list. Going from fixing diesel engines to watches is heaven on my back. I had to learn the hard way going from gorilla to butterfly on the screws of a watch. Glad to be here! Matt from Clearwater, Florida

Hello All, I am new to this forum and relatively new to repairing watches (so please don't bite!). I have repaired a couple of cheap watches before and both have worked out fine so decided to try my hand on Benrus I have had for a couple of year and am quite fond of. All was going well and then I had a pet related incident whilst opening up the mainspring barrel. By the time I had found the barrel (cap, arbour and mainspring conveniently ended up in my lap) it had been damaged and some of the teeth destroyed. I have tried to identify the movement in order to figure out what part to try and find (picture attached, apologies for the poor quality) but really struggling as it doesn't look like any other Benrus movement I have seen anywhere online. The watch has 1974 on the back (looks like a "length of service" gift awarded to someone by the inscription). I bought it from ebay and the seller doesn't know anything more about it. If more picture of any more of the parts would be useful please let me know. I'm just hoping that someone will be able to help. Thank you in advance. G