A Special Vintage Watch Restoration – My Latest Milestone - REVUE Cal 81

[dancad]

Finally, I’m creating this thread to share a very special watch that I recently serviced. Given that I only started learning this skill not long ago, I’m really proud of this milestone—especially since, over the past month, I’ve already serviced quite a few vintage watches as practice.

I bought this Revue Cal. 81 (cca. 1945-1950) at an eBay auction for a great price (under €100), and honestly, considering the movement, the vintage aesthetic, and its history, it could easily be worth more. The seller advertised it as a WWII-era watch from 1940, but I have my doubts about that claim.

Here are some before-and-after photos of the restoration process. I did some manual sanding and polished the case; while I’d love to have it chrome-plated at some point, this will do for now—perhaps in the future. I also replaced the crystal with a lower-profile one, brushed the hands, and swapped out the mainspring, which had a broken hook. Of course, I also fully disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated the movement.

The beat error is not perfect, but I'll have to check again after 24h if it will improve, but overall I am pretty happy with the results considering it's age.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Edited March 2 by dancad

[AndyGSi]

Nice watch and you're right about the date as the 81 wasn't made until the 50s.

[ColdWind]

You didn't notice that your setting level spring is broken?

[mbwatch]

17 hours ago, dancad said:

The beat error is not perfect

Unless it is wildly different in other positions from the one in your timegrapher photo, 1.0ms is just fine for a movement this age. You reach a point where perfecting it carries too much risk of hairspring damage and there is no shame in living with 1.0ms. Nice work, I love this dial.

[fellerts]

Beautiful movement! I love the aesthetic of separate cocks for each wheel in the train. I don't think I've seen that in a wristwatch movement before, but then again I haven't really seen that many.

Is the escape wheel end cap missing, or was this photo taken after you had started disassembly?

[dancad]

7 hours ago, ColdWind said:

You didn't notice that your setting level spring is broken?

Hi. No I did not, how can you tell from that photo ? 
But I did noticed that when setting the time and pulling the crown, it tends to jump back in quite easy…but the spring looks good from my point of view. 
 

Edit: now that I checked again, yes I see it. So that’s the reason the crown jumps back in while setting the time. Thank you ! Good eyes.

3 hours ago, fellerts said:

Beautiful movement! I love the aesthetic of separate cocks for each wheel in the train. I don't think I've seen that in a wristwatch movement before, but then again I haven't really seen that many.

Is the escape wheel end cap missing, or was this photo taken after you had started disassembly?

Oh no….I missed that completely !!! It came like this. 
I’ll have to look for that part now. Many thanks. 
 

4 hours ago, mbwatch said:

Unless it is wildly different in other positions from the one in your timegrapher photo, 1.0ms is just fine for a movement this age. You reach a point where perfecting it carries too much risk of hairspring damage and there is no shame in living with 1.0ms. Nice work, I love this dial.

There are some deviations on different positions and the beat error goes a bit higher but not that much.And I agree, especially at the learning level where I am right now…works decent ?! Leave it as it is   - but sure, later on the road I might work on these sensitive hairspring adjustments. 

Few more photos under the natural light

Found the setting lever spring. 
Now for the escape wheel end cap…

 

I found the lower cap jewel as well but it’s from a slightly different Revue movement, caliber 59…not sure if will fit. Looks like it will but still…

Edited March 3 by dancad

[Kalanag]

4 hours ago, fellerts said:

Is the escape wheel end cap missing, or was this photo taken after you had started disassembly?

Based on the Ranfft database there is no end cap missing.

https://ranfft.org/caliber/9331-Revue-81

Edited March 3 by Kalanag

[dancad]

4 minutes ago, Kalanag said:

Based on the Ranfft database there is not end cap missing.

https://ranfft.org/caliber/9331-Revue-81

That is very interesting. It looks like the lower cap juwel “plate” exists for older movements, as the part itself is available on eBay….I will definitely take a closer look. Thank you !

Edited March 3 by dancad

[AndyGSi]

4 minutes ago, Kalanag said:

Based on the Ranfft database there is not end cap missing.

https://ranfft.org/caliber/9331-Revue-81

Unclear from Ranfft but from another website.

Edited March 3 by AndyGSi

[dancad]

10 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

Unclear from Ranfft but from another website.

Hi Andy. This one looks slightly different the the one I have. The balance wheel end cap is different in this photo.

Mine has a shock protection spring…or incabloc 

The escape wheel end cap juwel can also be simply integrated into the plate right ?

Edited March 3 by dancad

[AndyGSi]

Yes it does look like there are different versions and it's just integrated in the plate.

[fellerts]

10 hours ago, AndyGSi said:

Yes it does look like there are different versions and it's just integrated in the plate.

I imagine that whether or not the escape wheel is intended to rest in the hole jewel vs. riding on a cap jewel would affect the shape of its pivot (and shoulders). In other words, could the pivots of the escape wheel tell us if the cap is missing or not?

[nevenbekriev]

The cap stone plate here is not missing. The hole stone is put in a manner that the oil sink is faced outwards, so this for sure means the stone has flat side inwards, the EW is not meant for cap stone on this side.

[Neverenoughwatches]

16 hours ago, fellerts said:

Beautiful movement! I love the aesthetic of separate cocks for each wheel in the train. I don't think I've seen that in a wristwatch movement before, but then again I haven't really seen that many.

Is the escape wheel end cap missing, or was this photo taken after you had started disassembly?

Plates are sometimes manufactured with upgrades in mind. Capped or uncapped  lever, escape and fourthwheels, often some plates appear to have all three missing.The jewel hole orientation and pivot design will dictate if a plate stone is missing. This can be picked up by checking caliber variations with their jewel count.

In this photo hou can see the jewel hole is placed ready to accept oil, uf it were capped it would be dome up.

[dancad]

Thanks a lot guys, really really helpful and I appreciate your inputs.

The setting lever spring has been ordered and will be replaced soon. I will then take a closer look at the plate and hopefully I can take a few higher quality photos with it.

Meanwhile I am fully enjoying wearing it even on this cheap strap, until a new and more suitable one is arriving

Edited March 4 by dancad

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 minutes ago, dancad said:

Thanks a lot guys, really really helpful and I appreciate your inputs.

The setting lever spring has been ordered and will be replaced soon. I will then take a closer look at the plate and hopefully I can take a few higher quality photos with it.

Meanwhile I am fully enjoying wearing it even on this cheap strap, until a new and more suitable one is arriving

Proper old looking quality watch matey, well done

[dancad]

The straps arrived today. What a difference a nice high quality strap makes ! 
 

I personally like the vintage Beige the most. I also tried with black leather but no….doesn’t suit the style of the watch. 

[dancad]

Quick update: The setting lever spring from Italy arrived today, and I’ve already installed it.

I also took some close-up photos of the lower jewel on the escape wheel—it looks just as it should, ready for oiling.

 

[mbwatch]

On 3/4/2025 at 2:16 PM, dancad said:

The straps arrived today. What a difference a nice high quality strap makes ! 

I have still never spent more than about $8 on a strap. I have to force myself to sink the money when I know I could get something passable but not great from Cousins or Aliexpress for a few dollars.

[Neverenoughwatches]

7 hours ago, dancad said:

Quick update: The setting lever spring from Italy arrived today, and I’ve already installed it.

I also took some close-up photos of the lower jewel on the escape wheel—it looks just as it should, ready for oiling.

 

Yes the jewel ihole is the correct way up for being non-capped. The next set lever bridge you can make rather than buy.

2 hours ago, mbwatch said:

I have still never spent more than about $8 on a strap. I have to force myself to sink the money when I know I could get something passable but not great from Cousins or Aliexpress for a few dollars.

I know what you mean Michael,  but I've bought nice looking job lots of straps in the past and found that they break or delaminate at the lug fold. 

[dancad]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

The next set lever bridge you can make rather than buy.

Sounds easy if you have the tools and the knowledge, which I don’t at this stage.

As for the straps, I would be careful what to wear on the wrist, especially when you wear the watch for a lot of hours. Dust, sweat, in combination with a synthetic strap might cause some rashes no ? 
I either use stainless steel bracelet or some natural soft leather like Suede, which feels very comfortable especially on colder days. 
These straps were 45€ each, but because it’s Suede, the calf leather is around 35€ which in general can be less than 5% of the value of the watch

A good watch that you love so much should deserve a quality strap I believe!

[Neverenoughwatches]

34 minutes ago, dancad said:

Sounds easy if you have the tools and the knowledge, which I don’t at this stage.

It's just a matter of time

[mbwatch]

3 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

It's just a matter of time

Also money. Start setting some aside because by the time these guys are done with you, you'll have a full machine shop and be manufacturing your own hairsprings.

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, mbwatch said:

Also money. Start setting some aside because by the time these guys are done with you, you'll have a full machine shop and be manufacturing your own hairsprings.

Oh come on Michael,it was just an iddy biddy lathe. You enjoyed restoring it , you know you did .

[mbwatch]

15 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

it was just an iddy biddy lathe.

I had a sweet set of step collets and a screw thread plate arrive yesterday, though I lost an auction on a jacobs chuck.