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It's been a helluva journey of learning and frustration but my first watch is done. Scratched the dial on my first day of learning but that's ok. I bought this...rather ugly and cheap watch as the sacrificial lamb for this but I'm definitely gonna cherish it forever as the first watch i ever worked on. Very pleased with how it came out. I even treated her to a sapphire crystal.
Thanks for all the help everybody. I super appreciate everybody who helped me out. Gonna do a service on my Orange Monster next then onto my first true project watch.
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Edited by Birbdad
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23 minutes ago, Birbdad said:

It's been a helluva journey of learning and frustration but my first watch is done. Scratched the dial on my first day of learning but that's ok. I bought this...rather ugly and cheap watch as the sacrificial lamb for this but I'm definitely gonna cherish it forever as the first watch i ever worked on. Very pleased with how it came out. I even treated her to a sapphire crystal.
Thanks for all the help everybody. I super appreciate everybody who helped me out. Gonna do a service on my Orange Monster next then onto my first true project watch.
690875687_IMG_20220828_0222112.thumb.jpg.fd0d13d15513d2d1491a754c4ca6752d.jpg
IMG_20221204_033327.thumb.jpg.888626f16127ccfc1e35c57ca1f97e22.jpg410757655_IMG_20221204_0301422.thumb.jpg.b95f3b40d1ddb75deef8b4f1e95fcdd6.jpg

Very well done Col.  You have a solid determined attitude and good spirit young sir. 👍👏

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Just now, Neverenoughwatches said:

Very well done Col.  You have a solid determined attitude and good spirit young sir. 👍👏

Somebody told me to try my first time with a 7s26 only if i'm insanely stubborn, i think it might have been you. I definitely am stubborn.

Also fyi i'm not young, i'm 41. Maybe i'm young compared to the rest of you 😛 

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4 minutes ago, Birbdad said:

Somebody told me to try my first time with a 7s26 only if i'm insanely stubborn, i think it might have been you. I definitely am stubborn.

Also fyi i'm not young, i'm 41. Maybe i'm young compared to the rest of you 😛 

Haha no it wasn't me, I'm not into relationships with seiko yet. Possibly our Gert told you that. Thats young to me young fella, wish i was back there. Again matey 👍 for sticking with it, a lot dont, come here try it,  maybe cant do it and never come back, shame. Daring to jump in at the deeper end of the pool has always been my philosophy. After learning to swim and dive there, makes playing volleyball in the shallow end much more relaxing and enjoyable 😉 

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7 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Haha no it wasn't me, I'm not into relationships with seiko yet. Possibly our Gert told you that. Thats young to me young fella, wish i was back there. Again matey 👍 for sticking with it, a lot dont, come here try it,  maybe cant do it and never come back, shame. Daring to jump in at the deeper end of the pool has always been my philosophy. After learning to swim and dive there, makes playing volleyball in the shallow end much more relaxing and enjoyable 😉 

Whelp i'm expecting a running but in dire need of a service bellmatic coming in, aka mechanical alarm watch. That will be like the marianas trench compared to the deep end. Definitely gonna do a number of projects inbetween now and then. 

And yeah i really enjoy this, i'm gonna stick with it. I"m always browsing ebay looking for good deals on project watches. THinking of getting something swiss which is more your wheelhouse. Got any ideas of how i can get a cheap but nice swiss in need a service? Really don't know what movements and brands to look for. THe prestige stuff is more than i want to spend currently. Just looking for something quality that will be a good project watch.

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1 hour ago, Birbdad said:

Whelp i'm expecting a running but in dire need of a service bellmatic coming in, aka mechanical alarm watch. That will be like the marianas trench compared to the deep end. Definitely gonna do a number of projects inbetween now and then. 

And yeah i really enjoy this, i'm gonna stick with it. I"m always browsing ebay looking for good deals on project watches. THinking of getting something swiss which is more your wheelhouse. Got any ideas of how i can get a cheap but nice swiss in need a service? Really don't know what movements and brands to look for. THe prestige stuff is more than i want to spend currently. Just looking for something quality that will be a good project watch.

Ooh mechanical alarm nice. Already branching out Col good for you. I have a nice Schild Secura version, the Memostar, still quite basic in construction. So much to choose from with swiss, depends what style you like. I  personally like Oris, kind of ok middle of the road brand circa 40s 50s and 60s. They made some nice divers, the Oris 65 has some character and been around since er well 1965.

19 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

 

 

Edited by Neverenoughwatches
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1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Ooh mechanical alarm nice. Already branching out Col good for you. I have a nice Schild Secura version, the Memostar, still quite basic in construction. So much to choose from with swiss, depends what style you like. I  personally like Oris, kind of ok middle of the road brand circa 40s 50s and 60s. They made some nice divers, the Oris 65 has some character and been around since er well 1965.

 

I've looked for old oris's. All i find are fakes or pieces that seem real overpriced for how beat up they are.

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Just now, Birbdad said:

I've looked for old oris's. All i find are fakes or pieces that seem real overpriced for how beat up they are.

Aye col avoid the Mumbais, pretty easy to spot. Maybe not popular and low import volume in the US. Plenty here in the UK. Longines were heavily imported though. Depends what you want to spend. 

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2 hours ago, Birbdad said:

Got any ideas of how i can get a cheap but nice swiss in need a service? Really don't know what movements and brands to look for. 

Anything with an ETA 2824 - they're still being made by the millions and you can actually buy parts for it. In fact, in some cases, parts for Sellita SW200's will also work in it, plus it's cheaper.

They're actually simpler to work on than the 7S26's you've been messing with.

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Have to agree with Gert. I've been busy with a few AS206x movements lately and they're very finicky compared to the 2824 plus the parts are not as easy to come by. Just built a project watch using a 2824 from an old Rotary and it was a very straightforward build with lots of case, hand and dial options available.

Just one thing to bear in mind. Whilst most of the parts are interchangeable across the 2824 revisions, the keyless works is completely different on the original 2824. Best looking for the 2824-2. As an example, the winding stem for the 2824 is around 3 times the price of the 2824-2 and other parts of the keyless works are just not available.

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2 minutes ago, SpringMangler said:

Have to agree with Gert. I've been busy with a few AS206x movements lately and they're very finicky compared to the 2824 plus the parts are not as easy to come by. Just built a project watch using a 2824 from an old Rotary and it was a very straightforward build with lots of case, hand and dial options available.

Just one thing to bear in mind. Whilst most of the parts are interchangeable across the 2824 revisions, the keyless works is completely different on the original 2824. Best looking for the 2824-2. As an example, the winding stem for the 2824 is around 3 times the price of the 2824-2 and other parts of the keyless works are just not available.

Cool, good to know. I'll do the other 2, possibly 3 seiko watches i got here then i might branch out and try something else. What did you mean by as206x?

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58 minutes ago, Birbdad said:

Cool, good to know. I'll do the other 2, possibly 3 seiko watches i got here then i might branch out and try something else. What did you mean by as206x?

As206 series 2060, 2061, 2062 etc. Have a skeg at Movado and Zenith can be a bit pricey but lovely to work on. Accurate reliable simple and solid. I picked up a beat up Movado for 30 quid, dial took a lot of sorting and still not great and rusty inside. The main parts withstood a lot of cleaning up and the setting lever was built like popeye's right forearm, I would've had to take a lump hammer to it to cause it damage. Also look at Meyer and Studeli (MST) essentially Roamer, uk branch Medana were also  Meda. Nice quality movements.

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9 minutes ago, Birbdad said:

I think whatever i branch out to it's gotta be something i can find parts for fairly easily whether new or off cheap donor movements. that's actually one of the reasons i started with 7s26.

Helpful when parts are available new and still made. Problem with ETA are we sure that Swatch are not going restrict even more parts than they already do. Not sure where Swatch and Uk parts suppliers such as Cousins are with their law case. Different countries have different vintage donors available depending on who sold what to where over the years. Donor Seikos here in the Uk do not come cheap. 

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25 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Helpful when parts are available new and still made. Problem with ETA are we sure that Swatch are not going restrict even more parts than they already do. Not sure where Swatch and Uk parts suppliers such as Cousins are with their law case. Different countries have different vintage donors available depending on who sold what to where over the years. Donor Seikos here in the Uk do not come cheap. 

Well you can get nh35 movements from china, genuine ones for only 30 bucks. Most of the parts appear to be compatible with 7s26. I actually just ordered 3 because ti's somehow 15 bucks cheaper to buy a whole nh35 movement than it is to buy just a balance complete for a 7s26 or nh35. The watch i finished in the OP i scavenged a center wheel, balance and cannon pinion from an nh35 and they work perfect.

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I wish I could go back in time and have my first "service" be on a purchased ST36 instead of the whole range of junk that I purchased on ebay. I still haven't gotten one running! My next attempt will be on yet another ST36 - one that I won't soak in IPA too long.

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1 hour ago, Birbdad said:

Well you can get nh35 movements from china, genuine ones for only 30 bucks. Most of the parts appear to be compatible with 7s26. I actually just ordered 3 because ti's somehow 15 bucks cheaper to buy a whole nh35 movement than it is to buy just a balance complete for a 7s26 or nh35. The watch i finished in the OP i scavenged a center wheel, balance and cannon pinion from an nh35 and they work perfect.

That seems like a better option than repairing Swiss. I think we initially find our own genre niche, our own favourites, a lot of that developes early on with our first successful accomlishments that we attach to and always see through rose gogs. Then it takes something interesting and exciting to turn our heads, but we  never forget our firsts. Maybe thats just my take on it, i look at most thinks that way, lol women included 😉

1 hour ago, grsnovi said:

I wish I could go back in time and have my first "service" be on a purchased ST36 instead of the whole range of junk that I purchased on ebay. I still haven't gotten one running! My next attempt will be on yet another ST36 - one that I won't soak in IPA too long.

It will come G, just keep at it.

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1 hour ago, grsnovi said:

I wish I could go back in time and have my first "service" be on a purchased ST36 instead of the whole range of junk that I purchased on ebay. I still haven't gotten one running! My next attempt will be on yet another ST36 - one that I won't soak in IPA too long.

I've followed some of your exploits and i'm sure you've seen a few of mine. Watch servicing is like a minefield that's almost impossible to navigate till you find out the locations of the mines it seems haha. I've serviced two 7s26 movements now and at a bare minimum i ruined one perfectly good balance, one salvageable balance, scratched a dial, scratched a case trying to remove a bezel, ruined 2 expensive plastic gaskets, ruined a center wheel, lost 3 shock setting springs, ruined one balance shock jewel, and ruined the needle on a brand new auto oiler i hadn't even used once.

That said I did all that on my first movement i serviced. It took me about 2 months, about half of that was spent waiting for replacement parts for stuff i broke or tools i was never told i'd need. The second service i did took about 6 hours and i didn't even need a service sheet or video on how to assemble and lubricate the thing and it came out better than the first. 

You got this! get that first movement serviced and working and a lot of things just click.

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At least with this pending ST36, I'll have a complete set of spare parts (except for a balance spring which came un-glued in the first attempt - so I actually do still have it but deemed fooling with it beyond what I felt like dealing with).

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9 hours ago, grsnovi said:

At least with this pending ST36, I'll have a complete set of spare parts (except for a balance spring which came un-glued in the first attempt - so I actually do still have it but deemed fooling with it beyond what I felt like dealing with).

Yeah that's good. I just kept an eye open for junk movements on ebay i got like 7 of the things now for practically nothing. I can probably make 5 complete movemetns between them. Keep us posted!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Watch service/repair two done! I don't have timegrapher data cuz i just got it back on the wrist with low windbut before i cased it it was getting -1s/d, 272 amplitude, .1ms beat error.

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This was always my beater watch and one of my favorites. The only casualty of the repair was i scratched the case trying to get this f'ing friction fit bezel off. How on earth does a watchmaker remove those? it's never come up in anything i've seen. The only vid i found was some modder who stuck a box cutter blade in the crack in 4 places and it would pop off. That did not work for me and it took quite a bit of prying to get it off which scratched and gouged the case when i slipped a couple times 😕 I might look into buffing it at a future date. but the thing is already pretty war torn. The space between the bezel and the case is SO tight there's no way a case knife could get in there.  Is there some sort of bezel removing tool for watchmakers?

The only other issue i ran into was trying to use my cheap crap chinese lever crystal press to set the upgraded sapphire into a new OEM gasket. It took so muhc strength it actually bent the handle and even then it's about 100% in on one side and 97% on the other. I'm a big guy and all my strength cannot get that crystal to seat that last little bit. I will definitely need a serious crystal press. If anybody has a budget one that's really good i'd love to see a link.

 

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18 hours ago, gbyleveldt said:

These are all chinese copies but they work well without breaking the bank. It's what I personally use

Bezel remover:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/watch-bezel-remover-including-rolex-generics?code=R19381

Crystal Press:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/screw-closing-press-with-even-pressure-spreading-disc

Oh cool you use the red chinese press too. I think i'm sold and i'll pick one up. Also interesting in my searches about bezels nothing like that ever came up. Did not know that tool even existed. Thanks!

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23 minutes ago, Birbdad said:

Oh cool you use the red chinese press too. I think i'm sold and i'll pick one up. 

What's cool about it is that it uses standard threaded dies, so you can use the alu type screw in dies with it as well. These are handy when you need to work with tension ring crystals.

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/die-sets-threaded-aluminium

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