Jump to content

Little talent, lots of ambition


dirkdiggla

Recommended Posts

Hi all my names Luke but everyone calls me Digs or Diggla. 

I've always been mechanically minded and worked on cars and motorbikes for most of my life, I've also been really into watches (admittedly for looks) but the movements always fascinated me. However, the thought of working or repairing a watch had never crossed my mind, until that fateful night, 3 weeks ago.

I was just minding my own business watching some YouTube videos and up pops "The Watch Repair Channel" I thought, 50 minutes, about watches I'm sure I won't watch it all. How wrong I was! 

 

The history, the engineering, the innovations, the precision, the ingenuity and thats just the watches themselves. The repairing and servicing of watches opened up a whole new world I had never even thought of as being that interesting. 

 

3 weeks later, £100s in tools, a desk full of old broken movements, some books and far too many hours on YouTube..... Here I am. 

 

If you've got this far good on you! I will try to be regularly active and the vast array of movements I have to tinker with means I will no doubt be bothering lots of you with questions! 

 

Luke 

 

*Current movements working on: BFG 866 (anyone know how to swap a balance out lol), AS970 and ETA2452 (who doesn't love a joblot)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Digs, 

welcome to the forum. You and I are alike.. Lots of ambition.. so little talent.. for now. I have to tell you that this hobby is a lot of work, but very rewarding. Looking forward to hearing more about yours. 

-Drew

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Enthusiasm, that's what I needed to see after a long hard day at work.  Great to have you involved.

5 hours ago, dirkdiggla said:

BFG 866 (anyone know how to swap a balance out lol)

There is an excellent write up that was posted here on the 866 here.  I don't think I found all the instalments but read every one I did (thank you Jon for all the effort).  Search on this forum for "Baumgartner BFG 866".  Sorry I don't know how people link shortcuts to other pages.  If this doesn't answer your question, let us know and someone will be glad to help.

Shane 

Edited by Shane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for all the replies, feel very welcomed already! 

I am currently reading Mechanical Watches a Practical Guide by Mark Wiles and trying to read Practical Watch Repair by Donald De Carle (but his writing style is quite challenging I'm finding), next payday MArk's courses are next on my list! 

Yes the challenging nature of the hobby is what fascinated me I've actually managed to take apart my BFG 866 and put it back together but the hairspring was damaged when I purchased, so waiting on some new tools and a bit of courage for hairspring disassembly & re-assembly lol

Thank you Shane, I actually used Jon's guide to strip the watch down, and it motivated me to join sp here I am :D. 

Any advice on good movements to cut your teeth on (I'm a little addicted to finding movements/watches on eBay)

 

Digs 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • yes the things we read in the universe I did see some where it was either difficult to clean off or it contaminated the cleaning fluid there was some issue with cleaning. I was trying to remember something about grease where as opposed to a substance of a specific consistency they were suggesting it had a base oil with something to thicken it. That conceivably could indicate that the two could separate and that would be an issue. But there is something else going on here that I had remembered so I have a link below and the description of the 9501 notice the word that I highlighted? Notice that word appears quite a bit on this particular page like 9415 has that property all so they 8200 mainspring grease and that definitely has to be mixed up when you go to use it because it definitely separates. just in case you didn't remember that nifty word there is a Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thixotropy   https://www.moebius-lubricants.ch/en/products/greases I wonder if what you're seeing is the boron nitride left behind after cleaning. In other words it's the high-pressure part of the grease and it's probably embedding itself into the metal which is why it doesn't clean off and shouldn't be a problem?
    • Yes and no. I use Moebius 9501 synthetic grease and it is significantly runnier than the Moebius 9504 synthetic grease (and I assume Molykote DX) that I previously used. I haven't seen 9504 spread and it is in my opinion the best grease money can buy. However, my current method of cleaning doesn't remove it from the parts, so that's why I have decided to use the 9501 instead. I believe I read somewhere that Molykote DX too is difficult to clean off. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure my 9501 grease which expired in June 2022 is runnier now than it was when it was new, but whether new or old it always needs to be stirred before use. So, that's why I treat the parts of the keyless works, cannon pinion, etc. with epilame. That was very thoughtful of you and something that had completely passed me by. Not sure what the epilame will do when it wears off in a non-oiled hole. Anyone?
    • Hi not found one either yet,  close relative is the 436 and 4361 according to ranff.db.   It gives quire a lot of detail but not as good as the old site.      RANFF.DB.
    • No problem to replace the setting with the staking set. Press the new setting from inside, use flat face punch with hole. The punch must be wider than the setting, the hole to be as not to press at the stone, but only on the bush. Press by hand until the setting gets flush with the plate surface, so the punch must rest on it.
    • Yes, the arbor usually makes about 3 to 3.5 turns. But usually spring takes 2/3 to 3/4 of the free space in barrel, not 1/2, so take it for the calcullations. This way the change in torque is smaller. I have a picture for You, this one is little older, but no mater
×
×
  • Create New...