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A cheap source of spares......


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I have a few Camy watches and couldn't resist this Camy 'Silver Cloud' on ebay despite its non running description (it was cheap, £11 inc p&p:P)

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On arrival it was soon obvious that the movement was the old faithful FHF96 and balance spring was FUBAR'd:thumbsd:

I had a quick check around and found that I could get a new balance but couldn't justify paying the £30+ on this watch.

What I did find though that I could buy a 'good running' FHF96 equipped, re-cased and dialled 'Oris' from India for £13 inc p&p....

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Well the 'Mumbai Special' arrived and I was suitably surprised with the obviously totally rebuilt movement in it (probably a new Indian built copy)

Not wanting to 'sully' the Camy with this movement, I settled for just swapping over the balance assemblies. I fitted the Camy with a nice new genuine alligator strap from Vietnam and the result is one nicely running vintage Camy and lots of FHF96 spares, total outlay, including the new strap, less than £35 including all carriage costs:D

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Did that with a Seiko diver that I once bought but came with a movement in a very bad shape. Managed to find a cheap Seiko 5 with the same movement...

I wish I could do the same for really old watches as I just managed to break the arbor on a wheel of a watch I was working on and I can't even find parts. (and they'd be pricey if I did)

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52 minutes ago, Chopin said:

Did that with a Seiko diver that I once bought but came with a movement in a very bad shape. Managed to find a cheap Seiko 5 with the same movement...

I wish I could do the same for really old watches as I just managed to break the arbor on a wheel of a watch I was working on and I can't even find parts. (and they'd be pricey if I did)

Did something similar with this Seiko 7548-700F (Stormin' Norman)...

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Rebuilt the movement using a 7546 dress watch movement as the basis...(one of these days I'll probably fit the original movement bridge back, to get the jewel count, at five, correct again..)

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And cleaned the dial as  best I could and replaced the hands and bezel insert with OEM Seiko SKX 007 parts...

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I find resurrecting basket cases very satisfying:thumbsu:

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