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Newbie from the Midlands

Juniorp72

By Juniorp72
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Juniorp72 New Member

Juniorp72

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Posted

Hello, new member here from the Midlands.

I've been a keen watch collector for some time and I like to wear a nice watch and have a small collection of modern watches. Then a few months ago I started looking at vintage watches and bought a couple, one specifically for my birth year (1972). Then.... this happened! I became a casualty of Covid and I have been made redundant. So with plenty of time on my hands and the need to keep myself mentally active i've decided to engage in the hobby further. I don't have transferable skills directly from my career but I am willing to give this a shot and see where it takes me.

I ordered the equipment required to get started and completed Levels 1&2 of Mark's courses.

My first major frustration was when removing the balance end stone the shock spring some how didn't hinge and came out, I picked it up with the tweezers and away it flew! So after an hour (or 6 :chainsaw:) looking for the spring and trying to find one to order I felt quite demoralised and gave up looking. The following morning whilst having a coffee at my work station I could not believe my luck, there it was blending into the work top. So all ended well this time but a real test/realisation for me as I embark on this journey.

I've now started practising and yesterday dismantled my first project, which appears to have gone well with no flying parts... but there is a date complication so will be a new challenge in reassembly. I've added a little more equipment and today I should take delivery of a watch cleaning machine (without a manual :unsure:).

Happy to be here and look forward to learning more and progressing my skills.

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Posted

Hello and welcome to the forum    when working with small parts which are prone to flight cover the area with a clear plastic bag or work inside the bag errant parts will not escape then. As you get more profficient with the tools etc and your confidence increases dispense with the bag.  do not get frustrated put down the tools and walk away to try later when calm. Bear in mind I should like to guess that 95 Percent of us have been in the same situation more than once, I certainly have and freely admit it . You are not alone.

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      Oh nice. I have a similar wedge style stump for my staking tool, so I'll give that a shot. Thanks!
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    • GuyMontag
      1972 Bulova President "E" Sea King 11ACACB movement

      By GuyMontag · Posted

      Yeah, I saw that in the tech sheet but I don't see how it can be adequately cleaned with the friction pinion still in place. I've accidentally pulled the arbor right out of the wheel once when I used a presto tool to try and remove it. Mark shows how he does it with the Platax tool. Those are a little too pricey for me so I got one of these from Aliexpress and I just push down on the arbor with the end of my brass tweezers. That usually gets it most of the way out and then I just grab the wheel with one hand the and the friction pinion with the other and gently rotate them until it pops off. Probably not the best way but it's seemed to work for me so far.    
    • Zedster
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      By Zedster · Posted

      Thanks, Jon Sounds like a plan. Obviously I'll have the face on so do you think gripping with the holder will create any problems, but I will check in the morning to see how feasible it is but I assume it only needs to be lightly held. As for holding the movement instead of the holder won't be possible in this scenario as one hand will be puling on the stem while the other pushes the spring down. That was my initial concern is how the hell can I do this with only one pair of hands. All the other times I've had to remove the stem hasn't been a problem, apart from the force required to release the stem from the setting lever, but now I need to fit the face and hands its sent me into panic mode. If it had the screw type release things would be a lot simpler but that's life 😀   Another thing I will need to consider is once the dial and hands are fitted and the movement is sitting in the case I will need to turn it over to put the case screws in. I saw a vid on Wristwatch revival where he lightly fitted the crystal and bezel so he could turn it over, is this the only option or is there another method?      
    • nevenbekriev
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      By nevenbekriev · Posted

      Hi Jon, do You think that relation spring torque - amplitude is linear? I would rather guess that the amplitude should be proportional to the square of the torque. I had once idea to check it, but still haven't.
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