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Heya! Figured I might as well go and  join here now (As i'm sure i'll need the knowledge here in the future.) as after I post this message I will hit the buy button on amazon for a timegrapher 1000, 4x loupe, air blower and case back opening ball and i'll be able to get started on mission 1: Regulate my two 7s26 seikos that are running pretty nicely and test my 3rd one that's running terribly despite being  Only 7 years old or so. I'll probably over the next month or two acquire the stuff I need to disassemble, clean and service my watches then i might buy a cheap old swiss watch that runs and desperately needs a service and just tinker with it and see if i can get it running or do a full strip down and service of what I have, get them running in tip top shape.  I enjoy watches and this looks fun and the 7s26 movement is cheap enough if i really screw something up i can just buy a new movement or part out another old beater 7s26. Also sadly watchmakers seem to be going extinct, there don't really seem to be any around central texas anymore that anybody can recommend so if i'm into mechanical watches I might as well learn how to take care of them.

If anybody reads maybe i could get some very brief answers on a few questions about where to begin while you're here if you would be so kind!

1. What are the places to generally go for specific parts for movements if something has to be replaced? Some time ago I ordered a full replacement gasket set for my orange monster gen 1 and it was....surprisingly difficult to even find them and I had to order for 4 different places including ebay. I spent more on the shipping than the gaskets.

2. Are parts for common low cost swiss movements from the 50's 60's and 70's still easy to find at  wherever is the places to go for spare parts? My Orange monster had only been out of production for a few years and i had a hell of a time finding just gaskets for it and this was a very popular watch and gaskets are a part that should be regularly replaced!  Also are gaskets generally generic (As in you buy based on size.) or do you often have to buy gaskets specific to that model?

3. With cheapie watches like 7s26 seikos, do you generally service them when they need it or is it a good idea to do regular servicing so it never needs it?

Thanks and look forward to pestering you all with noob advice!

Posted

If you look under RESOURCES at the top of the forum page you'll see a series of country flags. Select the flag of your country (or of a close country) to find a list of links to suppliers. Most horological tool suppliers also sell parts.

Welcome to the forum!

Posted
6 hours ago, grsnovi said:

If you look under RESOURCES at the top of the forum page you'll see a series of country flags. Select the flag of your country (or of a close country) to find a list of links to suppliers. Most horological tool suppliers also sell parts.

Welcome to the forum!

Cool thanks!

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    • Interesting, thanks for the detailed post. I saw one of those Swiss Nano machines a while back in another youtube video from  the Weiss Watch Company.
    • Hello and welcome to the fo4um. Enjoy
    • Welcome to the forum, enjoy.
    • You're asking a pretty broad question and you didn't specify the machine but yes it's simple especially if you have the right machine. The question has problems but I'll take it as it is. Is it really that simple yes especially if you have the right machine. So in the video below he's making a screw and yes it really is that simple but pay attention to the machine it is not simple at all probably wasn't cheap but it is small it will probably fit in your garage. Unfortunately wouldn't fit in my garage as it's far too cluttered up with things. In the video he talks about making a screw and pay attention to the machine. The machine has lots and lots and lots of cutters and lots of things to do lots of machining all-in-one machine conceivably one step after another all programmable. If you look at his channel lots of CNC's stuff and there are several other videos related to this machine. He goes to the factory where they talk about it and show all the other machines they make in Switzerland.  I did look up the specifications the machine I don't recall the price it's not going to cut wheels I think it has a maximum diameter around 11 mm basically it's really good for making small diameter watch parts. Then in one of the other videos he goes to a factory that used to make parts with waterpowered machinery been in business for 100 years and everything they now make is made with CNC machines including this one. What was interesting with the factory photo was that when they make some parts they can put them on a optical comparator comparator compares with whatever the reference is and the machine can be programmed to adjust its cutting to make sure everything is actually being made to specifications. Oh and then somewhere in all of this there was at least one picture of a balance staff can't have a CNC Swiss machine without making balance staffs.   It would be really nice if we had pictures of the machine. Then yes if you look at the page for wheel cutting you can enter parameters and it will generate a G code but he left out things? Notice he has a picture of a complete wheel but the G code isn't making a complete wheel it's only cutting the gear teeth I don't see whereas the program for crossing out the spokes? Typically when you see people cutting gears once the teeth are cut most the time the spokes are cut by hand. Occasionally someone will mill them out but typically not with the program which seems strange if you have CNC capability for instance one of my friends fill it used to design assembly line equipment or things to make things. So his hobby was to continue to make tools to make things like clocks. Very interesting and clever clocks but his true fund was making the machines to make the clocks. Then machine is not controlled by G code like we would typically find today as the stepping motor controller he has was made a long time ago and the individual controllers used a textbased program. So the company had a editor you could write a program to cause each the stepping motors to do something. So basically once you figure out how to cut a gear he would just change the parameters for different size gears so here's an example of a gear as you can see we have the teeth and the spokes. Then we have a picture the machine which sucks because it would've been so much nicer if I could've taken a picture when it was cutting a gears so we can see things better. Then yes there is a worm gear stepping motor indexing this is a mini lathe and the indexing is at the end of the lathe head hiding. The basic operation of this machine would be brass sheet not cut to a specific diameter size not even round mounted on the machine. Then it turns and a milling cutter will cut the diameter. Then the gear would be cut with a gear cutter. The same mill cutter for the diameter although conceivably change the size I don't know but basically the same milling for cutting the outer diameter would be used to cut the spokes. I really can't remember how he did the center hole but whatever it was was very precise.          
    • Yeah I know the site and the creator of it.  the two video clips are good examples of the quicker method and a full tear down.  the quick method will work in many cases. But not always and not for all the different movements.  I strongly suggest to not bend the four tabs as was done in the first clip.  Instead there are three tabs that insert into the top plate, Much saver way as to not break a tab.
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