Restauration dilemma .......

Endeavor · November 25, 2022

On 11/24/2022 at 8:17 PM, grsnovi said:

Were you able to cannibalize balance screws from the donor?

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I will be. Just now the GGF's movement gets taken apart / assembled a "thousand" times a day, so I'll wait until (hopefully) the movement runs fine. The donor (which is a younger movement) has indeed most of its polished screws in nicer condition

The donor runs actually quite nice, but if I decide to use it for parts, having learned how hard it is to get / find the right timing screws, for sure those are to be kept

Edited November 25, 2022 by Endeavor

Waggy · March 7, 2023

This is a classic Ship of Theseus dilemma - I guess if there were a solution then it wouldn't be a famous thought experiment.

My approach would be that I would say you are on safe ground and that it remains your GGF watch if you replace the parts that are normally replaced, like the crystal and main spring etc. In addition to this if you replace any missing parts then you are adding to it and not taking anything away so it would be your GGF watch +.

Broken (beyond repair) parts need to be replaced - there is no way around this other than keep the watch as a paperweight. So your conscience will be clean that you had no option with these parts.

Now when it gets to parts that can be repaired, I think you should give it your best effort to do so and only replace parts if it turns out that they are (or become) broken beyond repair. Parts that can be repaired to a reasonable level should be original and kept.

I would avoid replacing parts in the GGF watch that are functional with ones from the donor that are in better condition or add to the aesthetics of the watch i.e. 'nice to have'.

I think that if I were in your position and replaced anything but the bare minimum of components I would always have that nagging doubt that it was my GGF watch, but if I replaced only the minimum I would be content to know that it is as much as is possible my GGF watch.

Like I said, this is just how I would approach, it good luck!

Endeavor · March 7, 2023

@Waggy I'm pleased to say that the watch has now been fully restored and running within 5 sec/day.

Even though the donor watch had a similar looking movement, 99% was not interchangeable, so I had to repair what was broken. The biggest problems were replacing the chipped / broken soft Garnet pallet-fork jewels, the missing timing-screws (timing & poising), the mangled up Breguet hairspring and general wear & tear.

The watch received new jewels, some new timing screws, a new main-spring and a new mineral glass crystal. Apart from that, the watch could be kept as original as possible.

Initially I didn't think I could do it, but with help of members on WRT, it has been restored & saved

The watch has already been worn on two special occasions.