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Hi all, I made a great fleamarket finding but as usual there is at least one issue. The subject is an old renova pocket watch with a built-in alarm. According to my searches on the internet, it was re-branded on the dial for various companies. Mine was branded with RENOVA (which matches the watch movement engravings) and a Brand of a local Jewelries dealer (Ed. Barth, Zurich). So far so good, as the alarm and everything was working, I could not set the time, so I had to disassemble it to find out how it is supposed to work and how to fix it. I found out that the usual technique for setting the time would have been just pulling the crown out. But there is one part broken, which prevent the mechanism to stay in place. See the following fotos: Next a picutre how it is supposed to look inside. For a better view I removed the piece and made a photo how it should look like. So my question is now, can you either help me to source this part for a swiss renova movement or do you know which caliber /replacement is identical? Or do you got ideas on how to make one by myself? I got very limited ability in making metal work by myself. If someone feels like in the mood on doing one for me, please let me know what would be the costs. I could spend some bugs but not a massive investment, as the watch itself is not worth so much money. I am happy to make a better photo with meassurements or provide a scan of the part with scaleing etc. And jup, that beast had grease allover the place and needs a cleaning. Greetings Max

Alright, just acquired this Waltham Vanguard from a local auction on the cheap and was told it was in working condition - it isn't. Turning the crown offers little resistance (a bit) but does not tighten the main spring and popping up the crown does not let me set the time (hands won't move). In fact, turning the crown won't make the crown wheel move at all. That being said, lightly tapping the balance wheel will give it some power and it starts ticking briefly and the seconds hand moves normally. The movement appear to be loose in the case as it almost pops out when I flip it over. What would the diagnosis be ? What I also find strange (and this is probably a stupid newbies observation is that there is a lever as well. It is listed as pendant (stem) adjustment and it "pops" accordingly but I wonder what the lever is for then if time is meant to be set in a pendant fashion ? Thank you!

Hi there, I have been privileged to get my hands on this lovely old Centre Seconds Chronograph pocket watch. This will be my first project to disassemble, clean up and oil, and hopefully get working. The balance wheel swings and ticks for a few seconds so feel confident it will work. When I checked by removing the face, the movement was smothered in quite high viscosity oil and was dirty. The hands can be set fine but I'm aware that the second hand is missing so will try and source one. The photos are of it as I received it from ebay at a bargain auction price of 99p!! But my main question is how can I identify the age of this beauty? You may just see that under the inner cover, there is the number 13 embossed (similar to a hallmark embossing but not a HM). Could this be 1913? Any ideas, and any other tips/cautions for disassembly, cleaning and reassembly would also be greatly appreciated as I am a complete practising beginner (My only knowledge/theory obtained from Mark's fantastic videos) so for sure, will no to let down the main spring first! Thank you, Adam

Hi everyone, I’m glad to have found this forum through the youtube channel, it seems like a very active and friendly community. I’ve always been fascinated by early technology, automatons, watches and antiques in general. My previous hobby (short lived but intense) was collecting/restoring trunks which wasn’t exactly practical living in a small apartment! I stumbled on my great grandfather’s pocket watch last month in parents basement while helping them clean things up and it has revived my passion for these. I was able (to my surprise) to find all about it within a couple of minutes thanks to google and pocketwatchdatabase and from there on well.. I’ve spent way too many hours reading, watching videos and now, bidding on auctions and checking the classifieds J At the moment my collection is limited to 3 watches but I intended to add to it and Iearn as I go. Above and beyond the collecting aspect, I want to understand and, if possible, maintain/fix them..down the road. I ordered a few books already, horribly cheap Chinese tool (knowing it is not a great idea but at 20$ it shall satisfy my curiosity for now) and if all goes well, I should inherit a few damaged movements that need to be looked into. Verge Fusées caught my attention (of course.. expensive stuff) and I’m hoping to find some experts on here from whom I could learn. If by coincidence there are some members willing to share their knowledge in the Quebec (Montreal) area, give me a shout! Looking forward to interesting discussions,

My name is Jim Haney. I just registered. I live in eastern TN. I am a NAWCC member. I do repairs. I have been collecting for 25+ years, mostly pocket watches. I have a complete Hamilton collection, all sizes & grades,including all the Military grades.. Look foward to helping in any way.

Hello, I got this vintage medana pocket watch with MST 12 movement. When I opened them I saw broken hairspring. What should I do ? I´m very new to these watches, I need some help/advice.

Hi, and Merry Christmas everyone! I could do with some help with this movement, the click has broken, and i have no idea what the movement is to see if i can find another one. The click slides through a hole in the movement and has a slot at one end for the spring to sit in but as you can see by the pics, one side has snapped off so it doesn't work at all. Do we have any pocket watch experts who can help me? Ive included a some images of the actual movement too. As you can see, the only identification there is, is the number 678427... .

Could anyone help me with this pocket watch, there is no identification on the movement whatsoever, after removing all of the screws from the train bridge i still cant remove the bridge. It looks like the centre wheel or the canon pinion is stopping it. Ive attached some pics, can anyone see what it is i may need to do to remove it? ive tried prizing off the pinion but it doesn't budge at all.

Dear fellow watch enthusiasts, Here we have a senior patient whose only ailment is a broken centre wheel pinion (two of its ten leaves are missing). Please have a look by yourselves. The watch is a 1890s Straight Line 15 Ruby Lever Winder ('Ligne Droite Remontoir Ancre 15 Rubis') with a very large 24 ligne (54 mm) movement. The dial maker's ('Widmer') is the only maker's mark, concealed on the dial's back. My theory is that the damage to the pinion was caused by the sudden release of the barrel. A broken mainspring was lodged inside with unusual thickness and length (0.27 mm, 74 cm) for this barrel size (21 mm), which probably made it subject to too much tension. The replacement mainspring (0.23 mm, 64 cm) that has now been fitted is more suitable according to my calculations. The pallet fork and the impulse jewel were disengaged, but this was easy to correct (the balance wheel was repositioned as shown in the photo), and the going train is now back to working condition except for the centre wheel pinion. I took some additional measurements that could become useful: Centre Wheel outer Ø: 15.52 mm. Centre Wheel inner Ø: 3.33 mm. Centre Wheel arbour length: 12.08 mm. I would ideally like to obtain the spare parts to fit myself. I know some of you will say this is too difficult or too costly or not worthy. However, I also know there must be some connaisseurs out there who will empathise with my urge as a learning collector and watchmaker and hopefully will provide me with some practical guidance. I realise my interest in antique pocket watches may not be shared by a majority of members of this forum. In that case, if there is any other online forum or club that you can recommend then that would also be appreciated. Perhaps you know someone in the area of London who can help. Many thanks in advance for your valuable comments.

Good morning everyone. I am working on a pocket watch modification project and need some advice. January 28, 2017 I will become the master of the lodge I belong to. I want to present the outgoing master with a pocket watch with a custom made dial. It will have his name, years of service and other information. I have been searching the 'bay and have found some decent candidates. But I have been considering purchasing a more modern mechanical watch and replacing the dial. I have made a few runs using polyester paper on my laser color printer and I am pretty happy with the results so far. I am not very familiar with these new mechanical watches that are being produced and sold on Amazon and other sites. How feasible will it be to replace a dial on these watches? I am asking because most of the ones I have seen have skeleton dials where the movement can be seen and do not seem to have a solid dial.

Hi all, I'm looking for an old pocket watch minute hand with square hole fitting, square hole measurement is approx 1.65 to 1.70mm and the length i need is approx 19.0mm. Im happy to buy a pair if need be. Need ot be gold. Ive checked cousins and bought some off ebay, but they only seem to have 1.50mm fitting, and its too small to file. Can anyone help me out?

Hello all, For quite a while now I have been trying to find a pocket watch made by my my ancestor Benjamin Harlow, Lane End, Staffordshire. I have always managed to miss them in the auctions but found reference to them on the net. They would be Georgian ( George 3rd). Probably silver pair cased possibly fusee verge and the movement would be signed. If anyone can point me in the right direction it would be appreciated as I would like to possess one and pass it on to my son. Cheers, Vic

Does anyone have any info on these watches? I believe it's a marine pocket watch for timing from one point to another maybe. ive checked online and can't find much at all.

Hello, This is a 690 x 2 x 0,20 mainspring I found broken in a Rosskopf pocket watch with holes in both ends. I've tried with cousins but they say they don't have it. If you have tips for me how to do this ... most welcome

Dear friends, This small centenary pocket watch of my collection came to me without a crown as you can see. This is a pity, since the mainspring and balance test as working and everything else seems to be in good condition. The stem sits correctly inside the sleeve and can be adjusted to two positions (winding/time setting). I have taken some measurements in case any one has a spare crown of the correct size: Crown (base): 4.6 mm. Sleeve (outer diameter): 3.36 mm. Stem (length): 9.44 mm. Thread (length): 1.72 mm. Thread (width): 1.14 mm. Square end: 0.99 mm. This grandpa-watch really misses its old ticking days! Please have a look in your spares. Thank you in advance!

Back in high school, some 35 years ago, I discovered that my hobbies and interests tended to destroy any wristwatches I tried to use. So, I went over to using a pocket watch as my everyday timepiece and, since I fell in love with them, have been using a pocket watch as my everyday watch ever since. I hear some people say that they love pocket watches, but don't use one on a daily basis because they feel a little silly. For me, the bigger and heavier, the better! How many of you use a pocket watch every day? Do you have any fun stories to tell?

By trade I am an Optician, I have worked with equipment and have a little tinkering background. I decided to give watch repair a try. So I picked up some non running movements on Ebay. Figured it was cheap and would give me some background. My question: I have a Lonville watch company Extra pocket watch. Looks like it needs a new balance pinion. But I am having a hard time finding any information about the pocket watch. Any Ideas on a place to look? Thanks

Hello Everyone, I have a Waltham 16s Royal grade movement with a serial number of 12572623 and it is missing its windings stem. Does anyone have an idea as where to get the stem? Would any "16s" pocket watch stems work? Thank you very much.

Dear friends, I had the chance of experiencing first hand the antique watch fair held at Brunel University (Uxbridge, London) last Sunday 6 September. This event does not seem to be widely advertised, so perhaps reporting it here will alert other fellow enthusiasts. Let's begin with the location. For those living closer to Brunel University, the official fair's website still announces that the next event (13 December) will be held at the Sports Hall. This information is not very precise, as the university campus has several sports halls, some quite far apart. The actual venue is the basement of the Sports Centre. This is the building housing the 'More Energy Brunel Fitness Centre' and here is a map for access. The last thing you want is wandering lost on a Sunday morning. The fair run from 9 am to 2.30 pm but I only needed over an hour to thoroughly check all stalls and I recognise this is considerably more than any returning visitor would require. The number of stalls was far less than the 100 mentioned in the official website. In fact, the number of sellers was probably below 50. For those closer to Birmingham, I understand the Midland fair is bigger in size and it also occurs more frequently (five times a year against three times only). Access to the fair is granted prior payment of a fee which decreases every two hours. So from 9:00 to 11:00 the fee is £5, but from 11:00 to 13:00, £2.50, and, finally, from 13:00 to 14:30 it is £1. My view is there is no need to rush in early. After all Sundays are for slacking. I would not be too concerned about someone else being there first as every collector has a different eye and a different target. Once you pay, they stamp your hand like they do in night clubs and you can get in. Inside there was no disco ball but luckily for me most of the stalls had some pocket watches to train my eye. There were less clocks and less wristwatches. As far as tools and spares are concerned, there was not much stock at all (no mainsprings for example). I would say part of the sellers were retired collectors and part were professionals or semi-professionals. Some were friendly and helpful and some were not. As for the sellers-collectors, their obvious aim is to offload some of their less desired collection items, even selling watches from friends. Other sellers, the semi-professionals, mostly offer irretrievable and overpriced junk, no actual knowledge and bad manners. The professionals have top quality and top prices and they know it. In the end I bought from two of the nicer elderly collectors, an English silver full hunter key wind lever fusee pocket watch and, surprise, a German Kern anniversary clock (exactly like the one in the photo attached but gilt colour), none of which work but they tick and hope to restore to full working condition eventually. These two may be the subject of separate posts in the future. I would like to hear if you have any experience about this or other similar fairs.

Dear readers, This is my first post. I hope we will get know one another and with your co-operation we will trade the pleasure of learning for the satisfaction of sharing one's knowledge. To illustrate my story I have added some pictures below. You can see some basic tools, a partly disassembled antique 19 lignes (42.8 diameter) lever movement and the removed parts. I had never disassembled a movement before and this one seemed like the perfect candidate to experiment, but now that I have learnt to assemble/disassemble this movement, I want to fix it. After all, we are talking of a fully jewelled movement from a century ago. On close inspection several issues are revealed: broken mainspring, broken balance staff... ...and missing roller jewel. I have not been able to identify the maker, but the dial and the case (935 silver) confirm it is Swiss. The balance cock bears a factory symbol consisting of a five-pointed star connected to three lightning bolts that come out the star each in a different direction. I am aware that getting spare parts is going to be hard work, but I want to learn to solve these issues. I have measured the broken mainspring with a Vernier caliper but I cannot find a replacement in Cousinuk.com. Perhaps someone could check for me in the Générale Ressorts catalogue? These are its specifications: Height: 2.2 mm. Thickness: 0.22 mm. Length: 24 inch (61 cm). Barrel: 16.5 mm. End hole type. Any advice, guidance, comments, support, contributions, collaboration will be greatly appreciated. I will be watching this space!

Hi everyone :) My very first post here on WRT and im hoping some of you clever chaps out there can help with a few things. I have an Omega pocket watch ( well actually its wristwatch size but pocket watch movement ) which im currently stuck trying to repair, the issue is not whether its fixable ( luckily ) but rather which caliber it is. I need to order a stem that will fit the watch but it is proving difficult as without a clue to the exact caliber i can not reference the right stem. I can provide photos if needed but the movement is just like a scaled down version of the 40.6 Omega that is well known to most in the business. To give a better idea the movement size is below ( measured with Vernier ). 15 Jewel Lever Escapement ( Dated 1915 ) Inner Diameter - 26.00mm Outer Diameter - 26.90mm The watch it belongs to is a WWII ? officers trench style watch. I have tried various similar omega pw stems with some success ( a cal 38.5 stem was closest ), but im still perplexed as to what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated :) Also does anyone know of a book or somewhere online with good info on Omega pocket watch calibers ? ( i love restoring them but don't always know which cal they are :( ) Thanks in advance for any answers MrBeat