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lubrication


berniethebolt

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Be very careful when it comes to buying from ebay. I see that BHI oil comes from China. Most Chinese watch tools are very poor. Myself I would leave it alone.  

 

Lubrication is very important for watches, you must use the correct one’s if not you will end up with a movement giving poor performance. Buy a recommended brand from a watch material supplier.

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22 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Be very careful when it comes to buying from ebay. I see that BHI oil comes from China.

A lot of poor quality power tools made in China are marketed by US sellers with very US sounding names, cities often.  i.e. Pittsburgh or Chicago.  imo its an unsavory practice.  I mean, essentially you are trying to trick people.

is this whats going on here?

there is a UK listing for British Horological Lubricants that uses the acronym BHL that is fulfilled out of London

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BHL-WATCH-OIL-SET-OF-3-FOR-ANTIQUE-MECHANICAL-WATCHES-/250824334708

Then there is a US listing for BHL fulfilled out of China, that does not (that I can see) use any reference to Britain, and certainly the packaging etc does not hide the China origins.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BHL-WATCH-OIL-CLASSIC-FOR-ANTIQUE-MECHANICAL-WATCHES/323429074210?hash=item4b4de00522:rk:1:pf:0

Is first guy repacking and 'putting on airs'?  Two different products?   Who knows.  Personally I'd just go with the known quality stuff, Moebius, so as to not get 'tricked'

Edited by measuretwice
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1 hour ago, measuretwice said:

A lot of poor quality power tools made in China are marketed by US sellers with very US sounding names, cities often.  i.e. Pittsburgh or Chicago.  imo its an unsavory practice.  I mean, essentially you are trying to trick people.

is this whats going on here?

there is a UK listing for British Horological Lubricants that uses the acronym BHL that is fulfilled out of London

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BHL-WATCH-OIL-SET-OF-3-FOR-ANTIQUE-MECHANICAL-WATCHES-/250824334708

Then there is a US listing for BHL fulfilled out of China, that does not (that I can see) use any reference to Britain, and certainly the packaging etc does not hide the China origins.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BHL-WATCH-OIL-CLASSIC-FOR-ANTIQUE-MECHANICAL-WATCHES/323429074210?hash=item4b4de00522:rk:1:pf:0

Is first guy repacking and 'putting on airs'?  Two different products?   Who knows.  Personally I'd just go with the known quality stuff, Moebius, so as to not get 'tricked'

i agree with you all.sounds dodgy! must put Moebius on my Santa list.thanks all.merry xmas.B.

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As Watchtime says ' It will last your years' which is true but I recently purchased some Meobius oils from Cousins which had an expiry date of nine months. Now no way am I going to use it up in that time. What actually happens to it after the expiry date?  Does it change its lubrication qualities? I see some companies selling genuine Moebius as 'reconditioned' Anybody tried that? I dont think I would use Chinese oils but some of the Chinese tools after a little 'fettling' are quite serviceable. I think I've adopted this attitude after someone in the know told me that one or two famous Swiss watch tool manufacturers can only survive with a massive markup and actually outsourse work to China. No different to the UK getting Toshiba to build our reactors for the nuclear industry I suppose. 

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16 hours ago, chrisdt said:

As Watchtime says ' It will last your years' which is true but I recently purchased some Meobius oils from Cousins which had an expiry date of nine months. Now no way am I going to use it up in that time. What actually happens to it after the expiry date?  Does it change its lubrication qualities? I see some companies selling genuine Moebius as 'reconditioned' Anybody tried that? I dont think I would use Chinese oils but some of the Chinese tools after a little 'fettling' are quite serviceable. I think I've adopted this attitude after someone in the know told me that one or two famous Swiss watch tool manufacturers can only survive with a massive markup and actually outsourse work to China. No different to the UK getting Toshiba to build our reactors for the nuclear industry I suppose. 

   if  the container is sealed,  should last for a life time.    when in the watch,  exposed to air.  it may gel (set) depending on the oil"formula".  OR  set up by dirt in the oil.   whale oil was used originally because it did not set up.  vin

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18 hours ago, chrisdt said:

Everything has to be tried and tested sometime otherwise we would all still be on horses

Thinking of the quote I have above I don't suppose someone wants to purchase the BHL uk ver oil? I was tempted but between the cost of the oil and added in shipping to the states its way too expensive.

Personally I'm really curious as to the lubrication properties and how well it works? For instance another popular oil is anchor oil equally unknown specifications but with the desirable hobbyists characteristic of it's really cheap. So because shipping was free and oil was relatively cheap I have a bottle. it's an interesting lubrication in that it's the thinnest watch oil I've ever seen. I found the physical characteristics interesting because any time anyone complained about this oil it was always that it  basically was a nice glue with time. my experience was different than what I was expecting in that the oil just disappeared. I'm guessing because the oil was so fluid it just spread and is no longer lubricating.

at least dates on the bottles give you a clue of how old the lubrication is. Previously when you purchased your oils you had zero idea whether it had been sitting somewhere for the last 20 years or whether was a fresh bottle. Now you have a clue and unfortunately the concern of what happens when it expires and the world comes to an end. Because even the expiring date is misleading in that if you service a watch at the end of the expiring date what does that mean? so I think the expiry dates or more of a guideline.

http://www.moebius-lubricants.ch/en

 

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