Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

I have thousands and thousands of unsorted watch crystals. Started to measure the first 100 of them but its a slow process. Not sure if this tool will help as it is just arrived and I am about to leave for holidays... (no watchmaking for more than a month...), will try to use it. Even if it is not going to be practical I still love it.

IMG_20210724_102224.thumb.jpg.5a909898a4e8816f97107b4561459ed2.jpg

IMG_20210724_102358.thumb.jpg.60653a389ac806371f04129642011a0d.jpg

IMG_20210724_102334.thumb.jpg.37c73fd3aa166d3c24c848ef05e721a5.jpg

IMG_20210724_102340.thumb.jpg.3390e1662535f8b2b1bc47b0a3ee2cbf.jpg

IMG_20210724_102246.thumb.jpg.96c3e0e77ba4d2ab5306147771b39f90.jpg

IMG_20210724_102905.thumb.jpg.81e1c14b6e9a9a6d9e18f232bc903fae.jpg

IMG_20210724_102852.thumb.jpg.1a7dbae7b65f7cda4f09cbefe46aa82c.jpg

IMG_20210724_102847.thumb.jpg.f35a4c6ecaf806b059c1c97b72364eaf.jpg

IMG_20210724_102836.thumb.jpg.37c153923807924071c7a58419d4e54f.jpg

IMG_20210724_102734.thumb.jpg.7a0c7b33b049ef4bcbfdd251036ec100.jpg

IMG_20210724_103023.thumb.jpg.6d7450ae5e4e0e619e460f09407e53d3.jpg

IMG_20210724_103006.thumb.jpg.32403d966b61e9bda69d76da2afe8f05.jpg

IMG_20210724_102927.thumb.jpg.5863ff6a31b05f71ac6a5ef28df4209f.jpg

IMG_20210724_112207.thumb.jpg.29b8a1207bdba3d2c243a01e55329017.jpg

Edited by luiazazrambo
  • Like 2
  • 2 months later...
Posted (edited)

Let me introduce my new light box: Behemoth No 1.

I got the idea from youtube where someone was converting broken LED TVs to provide realistic artificial daylight. I thought that it could work with photography - you actually can buy different sort of light boxes - so I could take pictures of watches and if it is a bit bigger then clocks too. So I went for a hunt for broken LED TVs on FB marketplace. After countless hours of work I ended up with this monster now I struggle to find a place for. The size was determined by one of the LED TV where I cut the screen layers into half providing light from the two sides and there is another LED TV screen on the top.  Power supply came from the skip, just like the plywood and the pallet wood. I had to buy the LED strips and the background. Considering the number of working hours, the trips you have to make to collect the TVs and to dispose the parts you don't want, the money I spent on the strips and the background probably you would be better of if you just would buy one of the ready made ones from ebay you can put into your backpack.  🙂 Of course you would not have the fun I had and the glory now. 🙂 Here you can see the details of my Behemoth, I bought black, white and red backgrounds (45 cm wide 1,5 m long felt). I can separately switch on and off the two sides and the top. For demonstration I actually used a galvanometer and a cat called Smudge. 🙂

IMG_20210926_134528_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134502_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134445_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134133_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134210_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134241_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134315_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134401_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134125_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134112_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_133955_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134537_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134552_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134651_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210926_134715_HDR.jpg

IMG_20210925_191553.jpg

Edited by luiazazrambo
  • Like 2
  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

It seems that one of my new 404 toy has an issue or two. Balance pivots bent, one slightly the other one badly. One of the pivot was a busy bee and dug a trench both in the jewel and the cap jewel:

IMG_0095.thumb.JPG.382d4c868e1696405a57aaf1a712124f.JPG

IMG_0100.thumb.JPG.20d9f9c6e9c24728e1ef9f0052f4bcb1.JPG

IMG_0099.thumb.JPG.1ce224c82de7feea74106cda01a15e32.JPG

IMG_0096.thumb.JPG.8b6f181660f924a243900a36c6b404a8.JPG

IMG_0098.thumb.JPG.476ac53f0af1a67cf4d9d9421254d9f5.JPG

IMG_0097.thumb.JPG.e2c78266fdb9eb2ff2b3d13cc44ecb11.JPG

  • Like 1
Posted

Those boxes are really nice, especially the one with the felt liner. I have some similar wood boxes that I use for watch stuff, but they don't have dividers and neat little tops with handles. Maybe I'll have to make some!

Cheers

Posted
5 hours ago, dadistic said:

Those boxes are really nice, especially the one with the felt liner. I have some similar wood boxes that I use for watch stuff, but they don't have dividers and neat little tops with handles. Maybe I'll have to make some!

Cheers

Yeah I thought about that too but it would take a lot of time and I am not sure if my woodworking tools are precise enough or if have the right tools and the knowledge to make them. Should I have the time, knowledge and the tools I would also make countertop display cases and a wood engineering toolbox. 

Posted (edited)

Failure, I cracked it, i was pretty close though. The internal voice was there but I didnt listen, I should have heated up some tools as it is advised, with that i would have had better chance.

IMG_0101.thumb.JPG.e932015440af641f2da722813d092a73.JPG

IMG_0102.thumb.JPG.3c88dbaf6385a7eaf80cf096c3636d0f.JPG

Never replaced a balance staff, it is beyond me...

 

Edited by luiazazrambo
  • 2 months later...
Posted

Ready for cleaning, already removed a good bit of rust. A Star staking tool from Switzerland with an unusual anvil, or at least unknown to me.

Depose 45595, 74203 and 45449

IMG_20220120_085639_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220120_085647_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220120_085702_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220120_132145_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220120_133730_HDR.jpg

Posted (edited)

I got this one from my friend, from Herr Rudolf Karl Wilhelm Flume. I had to clean it a bit because postman was a bit late. 😉

 

IMG_20220121_014005_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014036_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014107_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014142_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014159_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014257_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014314_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014329_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_014249_HDR.jpg

Edited by luiazazrambo
Posted (edited)

One step closer to become the "Crystal man". 🙂 These are also from Germany. Acrylic watch "crystals" made for Kienzle, Laco, Speidel etc. I kind of see burn marks on the tools. Does that mean that the tool was heated up to ease the forming?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kienzle_Uhren

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speidel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laco_Uhrenmanufaktur

IMG_20220121_134739_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134733_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134619_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134530_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134957_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134844_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_134836_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_135035_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_135043_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220121_135049_HDR.jpg

Edited by luiazazrambo
  • Like 1
Posted
3 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

Acrylic watch "crystals" made for Kienzle, Laco, Speidel etc. I kind of see burn marks on the tools. Does that mean that the tool was heated up to ease the forming?

Nice, they gave you the tooling to make as many crystals you wanted. The iffy alignment of the lettering and occasional spelling errors remind me of my own work. They made precise dies but couldn't make punch guides?

 

Posted
5 hours ago, jdm said:

Nice, they gave you the tooling to make as many crystals you wanted. The iffy alignment of the lettering and occasional spelling errors remind me of my own work. They made precise dies but couldn't make punch guides?

Yes, it seems that they sometime not found the letter "I" for India and they used the letter "J" instead when they wrote KIENZLE, and they forgot the N once, but then they squeezed it in later. 😄 It was probably not so important to make them pretty, thank you for the video though. I wonder if these dies wore out or not. There were many watch crystal makers in the UK in the past I don't know if there is any left, I would not think so.

Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

I kind of see burn marks on the tools. Does that mean that the tool was heated up to ease the forming?

Almost certainly. The most likely method of production was thermoforming, possibly assisted by vacuum (hence the holes in the dies) or blow mounding (positive pressure). 

Probably not on anything like the scale in the video below, but the process is similar. 

You can buy, or make your own small scale injection moulding and vacuum forming equipment.

 

Lots of other videos, but those will give you the basic ideas.

Edited by AndyHull
Posted (edited)
On 1/21/2022 at 1:57 PM, luiazazrambo said:

IMG_20220121_135049_HDR.jpg

Edited 21 hours ago by luiazazrambo

Interesting construction. From the picture, it looks like there are possibly multiple parts to each half of the forming tools.

If I am correct then there may be a hardened collar, to keep the wear to a minimum, pressed into a blank holder made from cheaper mild steel.

Also the form would probably make a crystal with a large brim a bit like a bowler hat, which might then have the brim turned down to an exact size in a secondary process.  31.7mm  diameter with a 0.9mm wide brim in this case.

Perhaps the idea was that you produce 31.7mm +1.8mm result and machine these down to 33.4, 33.3, 33.2 etc (334, 333, 332  etc crystals)

My suspicion is that these were intended for production of reasonably large volumes of crystals. Perhaps runs of a few  thousand per tooling. 


If you only need a handful then you could have used a single part construction as wear would not be a factor.

I envisage an electrically  heated tool, with perhaps a vacuum hose or air hose to push or pull the material in to the mould, with pre-heated (with hot air perhaps)  square blanks cut from sheet being presented to the machine individually, and pressed between the tool halves with a small hydraulic press. A bit like a die stamper. The vacuum or pressure hose may not be required as the acrlic blanks would be small and relatively thin.

The pressure of the tool alone may be sufficient to get good results.


Not a very high volume production process perhaps, but good for one crystal every couple of seconds.

You could maybe replicate the stamping with a drill press and suitable tool holders as the pressure wont be very high when dealing with softened relatively thin, pre-heated acrylic sheet. 

Don't be tempted to simply roughly line them up and whack them with a hammer however as if they are hardened steel they may not survive the process.

Edited by AndyHull
Posted

Next is a restoration project, i have cut some pine pieces and ordered velvet fabric, I would like to know what is that leather like paper and how did they glue it on, the edges are very sharp.

IMG_20220122_130153_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112319_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112227_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112201_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112155_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112142_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112112_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_112104_HDR.jpg

Posted

Another topic. Ronda RL 1223 with alarm function. Got a few of these NOS movements in protective sponge cover. 🙂 Most of them are relatively clean and most of them even start in this state, of course all need a service. I need a case a dial and a set hands now, anyone want to swap these for a movement?

http://thewatchspotblog.com/?p=215

IMG_20220122_110658_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110728_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110735_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110756_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110715_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110748_HDR.jpg

IMG_20220122_110831_HDR.jpg

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • it would be nice to have the exact model of the watch the or a picture so we can see exactly what you're talking about. this is because the definition of Swiss watch could be a variety of things and it be helpful if we could see exactly the watch your dealing with then in professional watch repair at least some professionals they do pre-cleaned watches. In other words the hands and dial come off and the entire movement assembled goes through a cleaning machine sometimes I think a shorter bath perhaps so everything is nice and clean for disassembly makes it easier to look for problems. Then other professionals don't like pre-cleaning because it basically obliterates the scene of the crime. Especially when dealing with vintage watches where you're looking for metal filings and problems that may visually go away with cleaning. Then usually super sticky lubrication isn't really a problem for disassembly and typically shouldn't be a problem on a pallet fork bridge because there shouldn't be any lubrication on the bridge at all as you typically do not oil the pallet fork pivots.  
    • A few things you should find out before you can mske a decision of what to do. As Richard said, what is the crown and all of the crown components made of . Then also the stem .  The crown looks to have a steel washer that retains a gasket. So be careful with what chemicals you use to dissolve any stem adhesives or the use of heat. You might swell or melt the gasket unless you are prepared to change that also . The steel washer maybe reactive to alum. Something I've just used to dissolve a broken screw from a plate. First drilled out the centre of the screw with a 0.5mm carbide . Dipped only the section that held the broken screw in Rustins rust remover. This is 40 % phosphoric acid. 3 days and the screw remains were completely dissolved, no trace of steel in the brass threads. A black puddle left in the solution.
    • I suppose this will add to the confusion I have a roller jewel assortment. It lists out American pocket watches for Elgin 18 size and even 16 size it's a 50. But not all the various companies used 50-50 does seem to be common one company had a 51 and the smallest is 43. American parts are always interesting? Francis Elgin for mainsprings will tell you the thickness of the spring other companies will not even though the spring for the same number could come in a variety of thicknesses. But if we actually had the model number of your watch we would find it probably makes a reference that the roller jewel came in different dimensions. So overlook the parts book we find that? So it appears to be 18 and 16 size would be the same sort of the arson different catalog numbers and as I said we don't have your Mongol know which Log number were supposed to be using. Variety of materials garnered her sapphire single or double but zero mention about diameters. Then in a section of rollers in this case rollers with jewels we do get this down in the notes section Roller specifications but of course zero reference to the jewel size. I was really hoping the roller jewel assortment would give us sizes it doesn't really. But it does show a picture of how one particular roller jewel gauge is used  
    • Seems to still do it through my mobile data, I use an android phone almost exclusively, but I'll double check it. Thanks mark Strange, I'll try my laptop that utilities edge. I've been on site half hour since I got home, it hasn't done it yet. Thanks John
    • At work, I'm on MS Edge, not through chose, on my phone, chrome, no issues with either. 
×
×
  • Create New...