What mistake did you make today?

[oldhippy]

This is where the joys of repairing watches & clocks comes in. I had many times when watch repairs became awkward. I would give it a rest and work on a clock. Trying to catch up was a pain in the ass so I would work overtime or on my day off. When I had my own workshop I was working all hours that God gave me. If you are repairing and its your hobby then you can do what you want when you want.

[HectorLooi]

Arrgh....! It's past midnight now. I better quit while ahead.

I spent the whole afternoon and evening trying to take apart a Waterbury open Brocot escapement clock movement. 

I got this movement to practise on because I've never worked on an American clock. What a stupid design. It's totally watchmaker unfriendly.

I've captured the mainsprings with containment rings and removed plates with great difficulty. But I can't get the two great wheels off because there's another wheel in their way.

I'll probably take some photos tomorrow and seek help from fellow forum mates familiar with American clocks. 

Why can't the Yanks do things like the rest of the world? 

[oldhippy]

3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Why can't the Yanks do things like the rest of the world?

Ha Ha Ha. just take a few photos and I'll tell you how to go about it. 

[KarlvonKoln]

Despite my heritage, I was born in The States and count as a Yank, and I admit: I certainly prefer working on German and other European clocks.  

[fellerts]

I'd like to revive this thread with the tale of my recent descent into madness.

My friend asked me to service his '60s Longines Flagship. It had been sitting in his drawer for the better part of a decade as he wanted to start wearing it again. The crystal was yellowed and badly scratched, the stem had more rust than thread, and the watch would stop intermittently. No problem, I thought.

I ordered a range of crystals, a NOS stem, and fixed the centre wheel's tendency to rub on the barrel. Skipping forward a couple weeks, parts had arrived and I was delighted to see that the tension ring crystal fit the case perfectly. My problems began when casing the movement, though.

A movement ring is fastened to the movement with two tabs and rests in the case on a shallow lip. Above the movement ring, a brass tension ring shaped like a C is forced into a slot in the case to hold the movement firmly in place. Here's a picture from disassembly:

Although fiddly, the process of installing these components didn't raise any red flags... Not until I realized that the movement sits around 1 mm deeper in the case than I'd expect. This is obvious when looking through the crown hole -- the stem would have to jut out at an angle to fit into the keyless works.

Cue multiple days and several hours of fiddling and head scratching and, admittedly, some swearing. This small misalignment didn't make any sense, and I was starting to doubt my sanity.

Eventually, eureka.

I had picked up the wrong case from my drawer.

The case I had in my hands was for a Certina movement. Many stars must have aligned to mock me, because the crystal diameter for these two cases is identical to within 0.1 mm, and most of their internal features like lips and slots are very similar. If it weren't for the slight discrepancy in movement resting height between the two cases, I would've never realized that I had goofed up.

Lesson learned: stay organized. Label everything.

[oldhippy]

My mistake today was getting up. I have a cold, so I need lots of sympathy. 

[HectorLooi]

10 hours ago, oldhippy said:

My mistake today was getting up. I have a cold, so I need lots of sympathy. 

Take care OH. Drink plenty of hot tea and go back to bed. Hope it's not Covid. Monitor yourself.

I just recovered from another bout of Covid and it wasn't fun. There's another spike in the number of cases here. It happens whenever it's school holiday season and people go traveling and bring back all kinds of bugs.

Mask up and avoid crowded places. 

[Nucejoe]

13 hours ago, oldhippy said:

My mistake today was getting up. I have a cold, so I need lots of sympathy. 

A visit to Doctor is a must , a highly contageous flue is catching people these days, caught me and it lasts a month. 

 

 

[oldhippy]

Thanks both. I'm much better today. These past days I have had decorator in painting my kitchen, hall way and bathroom. I don't think the paint fumes helped.  

[VWatchie]

On 12/13/2023 at 2:47 PM, oldhippy said:

My mistake today was getting up. I have a cold, so I need lots of sympathy. 

Every day whether you have a cold or not, take plenty of vitamin C (5 grams of pure ascorbic acid mixed in water that you drink throughout the day), vitamin D (125 ug to 250 ug), and a bit of zinc (25 mg) to help the body absorb the vitamins. Also, when not having a cold and the weather permits it, take a 20 to 30-minute walk every day (getting sweaty is not required or very desirable). I started this practice a few years ago and minimized the days of having a cold from basically three months a year to a week or two a year. I have also had Covid twice (non-vaccinated) and got through it without any major problems although really sick for about four days. Without the supplements mentioned (and walking), I am convinced I would be dead by now.

Get well! 

[Neverenoughwatches]

7 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Every day whether you have a cold or not, take plenty of vitamin C (5 grams of pure ascorbic acid mixed in water that you drink throughout the day), vitamin D (125 ug to 250 ug), and a bit of zinc (25 mg) to help the body absorb the vitamins. Also, when not having a cold and the weather permits it, take a 20 to 30-minute walk every day (getting sweaty is not required or very desirable). I started this practice a few years ago and minimized the days of having a cold from basically three months a year to a week or two a year. I have also had Covid twice (non-vaccinated) and got through it without any major problems although really sick for about four days. Without the supplements mentioned (and walking), I am convinced I would be dead by now.

Get well! 

Years ago i used to take a lot of supplements when strength training and body building. Did it make a difference ? i honestly couldnt say. These days i hope to get everything i need from good real food, organic when possible, avoiding anything that promotes inflammation, we do need some inflammation but it is extremely easy to be harbouring excess and that is real bad for us causing so bany issues. I also haven't had any injections, have had the so called Covid twice with only mild symptoms.  I believe that is mostly due to genetics and how your immune system reacts, all that starts with gut health. I also believe stress plays a huge roll in our well being, a healthy mind without a doubt contributes towards a healthy body. 

[VWatchie]

8 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

These days i hope to get everything i need from good real food, organic when possible

That would of course be ideal, but if you know with yourself that you tend to be careless with a nutritious diet, it is better to supplement with nutritional supplements than to abstain. But of course, you should never exaggerate.

[Neverenoughwatches]

16 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

That would of course be ideal, but if you know with yourself that you tend to be careless with a nutritious diet, it is better to supplement with nutritional supplements than to abstain. But of course, you should never exaggerate.
 

Yes you really do have to be on top of a good balanced diet and that can take a fair amount of effort finding out what your needs are. Its a science thats constantly changing with new research, 40 years ago fat was the all evil for the last 10 years carbs have been the bad guys. Some truth in both views but its much more complicated than that and everyone reacts differently to food types. Being sensible is about the best we can do,by cutting out or at the very least reducing processed food in particular sugar and that isn't easy, its absolutely everywhere. Fasting has been a big thing for me this past couple of years, autophagy which has been strongly suggested helps to reset the body through a detoxifying process.