Beginning Watch Repair Questions

[tjb]

Hello All

I have started my watch repair learning! I have read a few online guides on how to repair watches. I have also acquired most of the necessary tools for watch repair. I have started out by cleaning two watches. The first watch I attempted to clean was a Bulova 10AK movement watch. This watch did not run before I cleaned it, nor after! Before I even took apart the watch, the balance wheel was wiggly. I could easily rock it from side to side. This is what I think was causing the problem. I cleaned it and put it back together but it still didn't work. Could someone explain why the balance wiggles like it does and how to fix it? This also happened on the second watch I got: a Hamilton 982 movement watch. This watch ran before I took it apart, but after cleaning it, its balance wheel has the same problem! I really do not know what to right now, so any help would be appreciated! A few more questions:

 

- How do professionals make their movements so clean that they sparkle after cleaning them? I used an ultrasonic cleaner for my second watch, but the results were good, but now perfect.

- Both watch cases aren't in very good shape. Where could I send watch cases to be restored?

- Where should I send a dial to be cleaned?

- Should I have professionals repaint the hands or should I do it myself?

- What kind of crystals would you recommend for each watch?

- What gasket should I get that goes in between the case and crystal on the Bulova?

 

Any help with any of the above questions will be very helpful to my learning experience.

 

 

Thanks!

[WillFly]

Hallo tjb and welcome to the forum. I'm sure other members will chip in with good answers to your questions, but here's my quick 10-penn'orth for the moment:

 

The balances may be rocking - and I take it you mean up and down as opposed to the normal swing - for a variety of reasons such as cracked, misplaced or missing jewel, damaged pivot, wrongly seated plates, etc.

 

Watch case restoration is very expensive. If the cases are not physically damaged, just brassed or pitted, then you could try some cleaning, polishing and buffing yourself. If the watches were bought as initial trial and error watches, then that might be a good exercise.

 

It's always possible to relume hands yourself - Mark has a very useful video showing his technique (which I've followed successfully). Dials are a different matter and you have to take care not to make matters worse. Full dial restoration by a professional firm is something in the order of £100 - plus or minus.

 

As far as crystals are concerned, you need to consider profile and material. Here's my web page on crystals, just for starters:

 

http://www.willswatchpages.com/watch-glasses-and-crystals.html

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[clockboy]

Both cases the balance staff is either broken or not seated correctly or the jewels are broken /damaged.

The cleaning is done either with an ultrasonic cleaner or a dedicated watch cleaning machine. The solution used makes a difference I use either Elma or L&R cleaning & rinsing solutions. There are dial restorers such as http://www.watchdialrestoration.co.uk but the watch needs to be high end to justify the cost. The dial hands again it depends on the value of the watch but re-luming is a simple task (see  marks vid) but some like to leave them as authentic. The crystals need to fit the watch (again see marks excellent vids)

[Geo]

A warm welcome to the forum tjb. You have been given some good advice already, can I just add look at Marks videos that are listed in "Videos and tutorials" and purchase a cheap movement that is running well to start with. This way you know all that is required is to clean it and lubricate it. Leave fault finding for later on.

Regarding cleaning, if you are doing it as a hobby and don't want to spend a fortune on cleaning fluids, have a read of my post in this thread.

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/2181-filthy-watches/?hl=priory#entry22041