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Well I guess if quartz isn't your thing, then maybe a little bit of a Timex treat will brighten up your day.

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A 1977 Timex Marlin (26160 02477) joins the club following a couple of hydrocarbon baths and a lot of scrubbing and polishing.

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I also recently picked up a job lot of of NOS 1970s watch bands. Some were perhaps beyond saving, but there were a couple of denim straps that really ooze that 1970 vibe, so what better paring can you think of. 

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7 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

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Well I guess if quartz isn't your thing, then maybe a little bit of a Timex treat will brighten up your day.

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A 1977 Timex Marlin (26160 02477) joins the club following a couple of hydrocarbon baths and a lot of scrubbing and polishing.

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I also recently picked up a job lot of of NOS 1970s watch bands. Some were perhaps beyond saving, but there were a couple of denim straps that really ooze that 1970 vibe, so what better paring can you think of. 

Lol hydrocarbon baths Andy ? Is that something a timepiece technician uses. 😅.

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Its a Timex. Apparently the prescribed method of cleaning them is to drop them into some lighter fluid. I kid you not. Furthermore it works. 

Slightly alarmingly the mechanism actually keeps on ticking even when its in the lighter fluid.

I'm sure all of this would give the modern health and safety gnomes a fit of the vapours.  😋

This one needed a couple of prolonged dunks, to remove all of the dried up oil and bring it back to life, followed by some fresh lubrication.

This particular model is actually a front loader, so removing and refitting the crystal is the only way to get the mechanism out. Both processes are somewhat stressful as the scope for damaging things is pretty high, however it survived and is now ticking away nicely. I'll revisit it some time tomorrow to regulate it once all of those replacement hydrocarbons have settled down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That right there is a 404 poster child!

In other news, I just had a brainthought... This started as £4.04 in 2020. Lots of things have happened to world currencies in the last few years. It did work out to right about $5.00, and today the equivalent is $5.76... At some point, there should be some nod to the economic realities of inflation, especially when war and disease really kicks it into gear. Anyone feel like discussing what should constitute a trigger point for shifting the barrier to entry, as well as to where it should be shifted?

Edited by spectre6000
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6 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Well since the completely arbitrary entry fee for the 404 club is based on  the 404 HTML error code, perhaps we should select a slightly higher number as time goes on.
There is always the 418 error which allows for a little inflation, and which might prove be very appropriate.

Haha thats a bit tight Andy 14 pence increase. What is our UK inflation rate for this last year  9 % ? Any error codes in this region of inflation ?

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Well... When this thread started, it was $5 to £4.04, and 500 is probably the second most common HTML error code (internal server error). The current inflation adjusted equivalent to the original £4.04 is £4.70. Call the 30p buffer for the next few years' worth of inflation, and keep the numbers round?

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I love the blue dial on this Westclox. The FE 140-1B was a joy to work on. All bridge screws, including the pallet bridge, and even the setting lever screws, were the same screws. Even the dial feet screws took the same size screwdriver as the bridge screws. I love that the calendar guard plate has a cutout for the date jumper spring so you can place the spring after first securing the guard plate. I wish every movement had that.

 

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Edited by GuyMontag
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Screw uniformity and servicing considerations are always nice. I hate the movements that were designed to be assembled once with what I imagine are specialty jigs and such, then thrown away when they've worn out to the point of not keeping time. Just as bad as the movements that require special tools and other weird considerations. 

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Hi what you must remember is that uniformity and conformity only exist as far as the manufacturer goes. Watch movements that use multiple screw sizes and special tools and single plate movements are designed to be serviced by the manufacturer or their appointed agents, not by enthusiasts/hobby and like wise interested people. So in the interests of protective trade  they make it difficult by introducing specialities like the screws differ for several  plates, or you need a special tool to adjust the rate, or a special screwdriver to remove the dial, calendar plate. The Chinese tool trade has in most cases managed to clone  most of the tools required and the tech sheets are available,  so maybe their work was all in vain.

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Another potential candidate on its way for the 404 club.
Judging by the case and case-back style and similar watches on the web,  this is probably a Poljot 2414 and possibly from the mid to late seventies.
Described as "overound" it may be suffering from rusty keyless works, which are a common issue, or just generally gummed up with old USSR era tractor oil.
 

Edited by AndyHull
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/17/2022 at 12:46 PM, GuyMontag said:

I love the blue dial on this Westclox. The FE 140-1B was a joy to work on. 

This is a sweet looking watch, all those red accents really work. I just wish they had left off the Westclox emblem or made the wordmark a lot smaller. It's the same symptom that usually puts me off of Orient's offerings; too much logo.

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If you have ever wondered how much Girard-Perregaux you can get for under four quid, the answer is... not much.
However I couldn't resist.
I mean .. a Girard-Perregaux .. for four quid... what's not to like?

Its just a little bit of a shame that it missing... most of the watch, but then again.. did I tell you, I got a Girard-Perregaux for four quid.

No idea if it works, but if it does, I feel a Franken-Girard-Perregaux may be in the pipeline.
I have some really nice dials and a case or two that might do it justice as a dress watch.. or maybe I'll put it in an exhibition case... but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

I need to make sure it works first of course.

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The dial on this 1970 Bulova Sea King 'FM' is a real looker. The blue is so deep you could take a swim in it. The 11BLL movement is quite simple but it gave me fits. The watch came with the loose stem and after servicing it the stem still kept coming out. It took me a good 6 or 7 disassembly / reassembly attempts to finally figure out that the yoke spring had originally been inserted "flipped", so that the long leg of the spring contacted the yoke, but that ended up exerting too much force on the yoke so that when the setting lever screw was loosened, the yoke would kick the setting lever cockeyed. Flipping the spring fixed it. I supplied a new crystal and a Duchess band which suits it nicely. Not too bad for about a $1 watch 😃

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14 hours ago, spectre6000 said:

Keep us posted on the GP. Looks like a women's watch movement judging by the size of the balance related to the rest of it, but should be fun all the same.

It is indeed a smaller movement. 8.25"' to be precise. -> http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk&Girard-Perregaux_88U
I'll post some more details when it arrives.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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I had a quick look at the 8.5"' GP I posted about above. It runs, but it has issues. I'll take a closer look soon. In the meantime here are 'a few I prepared earlier'.

These are all 404 club watches or items from job lots, so basically free. The third from the left is a 1930s enamel dialled, blued hands, 15 jewel swiss ladies movement in a 1930s case from a very similar scrap watch. As well as a service, it receivd a new stem, crown and strap. I hesitate to call it a frankenwatch, as it is all authentic, just not all the same watch as it were. I still need to knock about 1/2mm from the stem of that one to neaten up its appearance.

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Its on the bench "running in" at the moment, and looks fairly reasonable all things considered.

The others all run fine, including the one in the movement holder.

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If you want to pick up something to hone your skills with small stuff on, you can get orphaned mechanisms in non running condition for next to nothing. Ladies movements are not particularly popular, and a lot of them end up orphaned when the watches are scrapped for their gold or silver cases.

Edited by AndyHull
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A trio of low cost beauties for you today, not only that but they are an international bunch too.
The Westclox is made in Dumbarton, Scotland, probably in the 1950s or 1960s.

The F. Hinds is German, probably from the 1960s or 1970s and the little pocket watch is Chinese almost certainly made within the last 20 years.

Edited by AndyHull
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On 1/23/2023 at 2:17 PM, spectre6000 said:

What do you do with all of these once you get them looking as clean as you do?

Quite a number of them are in display boxes, or on watch stands, however since my wife is somewhat less enthusiastic about cluttering the place up with them, a lot of them are stored in the drawers of my writing desk. I rotate the ones on display from time to time. Some others have ben donated to a friend of mine who runs a charity to help the blind, and he is in the process of flogging them off to make the charity a little money. 

I'm just hoping the government doesn't have any plans to reintroduce the Duties on Clocks and Watches Act 1797 otherwise at whatever the modern equivalent of two shillings and sixpence per watch,  I suspect I'm going to end up in the poor house.

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I've just finished this Citizen quartz Alarm. I picked this up a while ago and it went on the "take a look at it later" pile. 

The alarm bleeps rather than playing any strange tunes, or rather this one *now* beeps, since the fault on it when it arrived was that the alarm didn't work.

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The reason it wasn't working, which I totally missed the first time I looked at it,  was that the round battery contact was touching the piezo speaker, and effectively shorting it out.

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The quick fix is that triangle of masking tape.

I was going to cut a dainty half moon out of kapton tape, but I can't find the kapton tape anywhere, so the temporary fix may well become permanent.

It shows little sign of ever having been worn, so perhaps the alarm never really worked in the first place, and it spent its life unloved in a drawer. I'm not sure of its exact age, but the metal rather than plastic construction of the movement, and the serial number suggests it is possibly from the late 1980s (1989), but it could be a little later.

Edited by AndyHull
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