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Posted

Hello everyone, 

today I want to start with the restoration of my first ever watch, I can’t manually wind the watch anymore since last year so I bought a restoration kit from

Amazon EDIONS Professional Draagbare... https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08VJ9TRJQ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

So I can start my journey, I know nothing of watch restorations however. The reason i want to restore my watch is that It was my first and I loved the see through dial. The watch movement is probably pretty shit but I don’t care as they say you  should never throw away your first watch so that’s why I’m here hope you can all help me out so I can take you along this journey! 
 

all things I want to do with this watch: 

1. make sure the watch runs by taking it apart and making it run properly. 
2. get a new stainless steel case and a new inner ring or whatever the plastic but is called.

3. I don’t know about the dial I’ve searched for a see through dial or something in that bracket but can’t find specifically what I’m Looking for. 

hope you can all help me!  

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Posted
1 hour ago, Corstjens1 said:

What exactly7 is a junker never heard of it ? 

A cheap piece possibly not  even running. 

Your Chinese watch can be difficult to repair because no spare parts are available and they break very easily. I have not fully identified the mov.t ype but they can cost $20 and then you can practice on the replaced one. 

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Posted
32 minutes ago, Corstjens1 said:

If anybody can also point me to the right new inner ring, new watch case ? And how I could solve this problem that would be very helpful! 

This class of watches is mass produced for the most economy. There are no specific casing parts available. If you want to modify or change you will have to improvise on your own. 

Posted

Hi Corstjens,

I'm a bit confused as to why you want to replace the case and the movement spacer (the plastic bit), and the dial too. Those are major parts of what makes it your watch, and why you were attracted to it in the first place, I would have thought? Anyway, tastes change and it's your choice of course, I was just wondering.

If it is important to you to keep the movement as original as possible, then take the advice you have been offered already, and practice on something else first. There is a high chance of destroying your pride and joy otherwise. It sounds like something is worn in the keyless works though, which might mean complete replacement is your only sensible option. As has already been mentioned, spares for these Chinese movements are hard to come by.

Have a look at this for an idea of what goes on inside the movement, and for some basic terminology. https://www.hodinkee.com/watch101

 

Posted

@Klassiker it's not so that i want to replace it but i noticed the case is'nt that sealed of and there is a lot of dust inside of the watch. ( it's also a pretty weird material.) So for the longevity of it i wanted a new case. Since you mentioned the junker i've found the exact same movement, but this now raises the question do it throw away my old movement and use the new one. Which makes me think it would rather just keep it not working and leave it as a reminder... 

Posted
20 minutes ago, Klassiker said:

If it is important to you to keep the movement as original as possible, then take the advice you have been offered already, and practice on something else first.

While it's just sensible that beginners avoid working on valuable or sentimentally unreplaceable pieces, the easy availability of these $20 watches pretty much sends away many of the worries.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32653203805.html

Unfortunately they are not a good candidate for learners because they break easily and after being taken apart there is no warranty they will work again when put back together.

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Posted

Don't throw away the old movement. Good for practice, although jdm is absolutely right. These were never designed to be service-friendly and they break easily. So now you are restoring your first-ever watch by replacing the movement, dial and case!

Posted
6 hours ago, Corstjens1 said:

I can’t manually wind the watch anymore since last year so I bought a restoration kit from

so you really were able to manually wind the watch at one time? The reason I ask is I have a skeleton wristwatch that you cannot wind manually at all and the reason you cannot do that is because it was never designed to manually wind.

6 hours ago, Corstjens1 said:

1. make sure the watch runs by taking it apart and making it run properly. 
2. get a new stainless steel case and a new inner ring or whatever the plastic but is called.

3. I don’t know about the dial I’ve searched for a see through dial or something in that bracket but can’t find specifically what I’m Looking for. 

starting with number one is a problem which is your toolkit. Looking at your toolkit it was designed for somebody to change bands and batteries on quartz watches. It's not designed for somebody to repair a mechanical watch. I do see it has a few screwdrivers that's good but you need the complete set. Then there's the tweezers don't see those you have to have  You need some form of magnification watch parts are really tiny. Then we'll need cleaning supplies who knows when was the last time this thing was cleaned. Lubrication and the tools to apply the lubrication's. Timing machine would be nice for diagnostic purposes. Then all of the stuff's been covered somewhere else on the group so basically you don't have enough tools to even get started.

number two and three is not recommended. That's because normally we repair what we have. You'll have to figure out why the case is not keeping the dust out and see what we can do to fix that. As far as replacing them we have a problem. If you look on like eBay for instance typically watch cases go with specific movements specifically Swiss movements. If the Chinese clone the Swiss movement it will go in the case but an unknown Chinese movement getting a case to fit is problematic. Getting a movement ring to fit probably requires machining skills to manufacture a new one. So basically you're going to have to fix what you have.

may I make a suggestion, notice I've attached an image?

my personal recommendation for starting watch repair is a new watch. In particular a 6497 or specific the Chinese clone of that. The Swiss version is nice but it's expensive the clones are inexpensive and their decent watches. The advantage of this is the physical size is bigger it's been manufactured for a long time it's very popular and there is all kinds a help out there including technical bulletins to show you how to take it apart and put it back together YouTube videos etc.

if you go to eBay search for 6497. The clones have another number but everything will be listed with 6497. If the search for 6497 skeleton you'll find out they have a lot of those. there is another advantage to this movement it's also very popular for people who like to make their own watches. That means the cases are available both wristwatch and pocket watch. Of course dials to go with those and hands. I even noticed a dial for skeleton watch what I was looking for the skeleton.

reason I specify a new running Chinese watch is? The Chinese watches are inexpensive if you're going to break something breaks something inexpensive. Probably should buy more than one move but when you're getting your movement just in case. Ideally be nice to have a timing machine Chinese 1000 or 1900 are both outstanding machines. The reason for the timing machine that used for diagnostics and timing. You can verify that your new movement indeed is running correctly. Then the most important lesson of all successfully disassembly and reassembly without losing or breaking anything. They can go back on the timing machine verify that you've been successful. Then you need to practice this a lot.

If you start learning watch repair on a broken watch more than likely it will still be broken because you don't have the necessary hand eye coordination and because you don't realize this you will always blame the broken watch for being broken because that's what you started with. This is why starting with a new watch and verifying its condition if it's not running when you're through practicing with it it really limits who you're going to blame for that problem. But don't worry everybody loses and breaks things until they practice enough that they minimize this hopefully.

 

 

6497 skeleton movement.JPG

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