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Greetings from Sunny Arizona USA


barkerka

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Hello there and greetings from sunny Arizona USA!   I am very new to this hobby/sport and new to the Forum, but I am keen to learn..  Mark has inspired me with his excellent videos.  

I have a craving for historic military items, I mainly collect to keep the history alive and enjoy the hunt for missing parts and pieces.  In my search for various military items I have come across several old watches from the Great War and WWII which I have gathered in hopes of getting them back in service.  After paying a fortune to have one repaired and cleaned only to have it stop running I vowed to learn how to do it myself to save on future heartache.  Please have patience with me while I bumble my way along with newbie questions.....

 

   

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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone, I look forward to posting a few pictures and getting some expert advise ...  In the cigar box a few trench watches with shrapnel guards, several A-ll types, Bulova, Waltham, Elgin, and Hamilton, and a couple of 7 jewel type...

I have started buying a few tools for beginners, but I have yet to find full diagrams for parts and where to get said parts. 

I must say I am a little nervous about tearing into these old fellas.   I have no issue with ripping into and rebuilding an antique transmission but for some reason I am terrified of the those little screws..  :) 

Thanks again!

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A  watch is not unlike a transmission. it's just gear reduction and multiple  output shafts an engine that drive it , the mainspring  and a governor the hairspring.you need proper sized screw drivers, a movement holder and magnification to get you started.

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And if you like military watches, particularly American military watches, google:

TM 9-1575

It's the US Army technical manual for wristwatches, pocket watches, stopwatches, and clocks.  Long out of print, a PDF is readily available on the internet. 

It is written in the terse, clipped, formal "MilSpeak" you'd expect from an Army technical manual.  If you can get past that then I'd say it is, without a doubt, one of the best resources for learning how to inspect, troubleshoot, and repair watches.  It was the first book I read that showed how to interpret the results of a timing machine test.  So far only one other book in my (limited but growing) book collection touches on that.

And you can't beat the price.

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Great reference phydaux thank you - I was able to find a copy in reasonably good condition on Ebay..  It looks like it will have part numbers and parts /assembly diagrams.  For me knowing what to order is half of the battle, the other half is knowing where to find the replacement parts.  But just like my old Willys jeeps, the good parts suppliers slowly get discovered.

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    • That would be something! Which brings me back to;  
    • you think you're going to sleep tonight you're not, you're going to ponder the question of what makes you think those of the right parts?  
    • Does anyone knows what size case a need for a dial diameter 20.60mm?
    • Sounds like the story with my Rolex. Poor (expensive) job done by an official Rolex dealer with an "in-house" watchmaker, hence I learned watchrepair and did the servicing myself. Same story as I learned with the Omega 861, again poor job by an "in-house" watchmaker by an official Omega dealer. Once your watch goes through that back-door, you have no idea what is going to happening to it 🫣   Quite nice that they sent back the parts which had been replaced !
    • yes that's definitely not right at all. I have a picture one of my friends has a Omega coaxial there was having issues to lose asking me where he should send it. As that's a specialty watch I suggested the service center. When he got it back he sent me a picture so the replace the dial as you can see the hands the mainspring barrel and I think the price was really quite decent considering all the stuff they can replace. So I do know they do change the barrels but the other person I worked at the service center when I would ask questions and unfortunately I can't remember all the answers. I think a lot of the changing a parts is at the discretion of the watchmaker. Plus I don't know enough about the chronographs and whether that would be considered a vintage watch? I take some of the vintage watches may have been sent directly to Switzerland or another service center. Obviously with a watch like the one down below they probably have a infinite supply of parts is its relatively modern vintage stuff becomes more interesting even the watch companies don't have necessarily infinite supply of parts. But no matter what the watch shouldn't disintegrated six months that's definitely an issue.        
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