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Always in love with watches since I was a kid and with fixing things as I grew up.

10 years ago I bought my first mechanical watch, the Invicta Pro Diver 8926. Recently it started not keeping time at all and when I made an attempt to regulating it I messed up the balance spring.

So I decided to go for it and do the following: replace the NH35 movement in it and get the parts to try to fix the original movement. Turns out I should have gone for the balance complete, I just purchased 2 balance wheels. The first one was a disaster, the second one I was able to attach to the stud holder and even install in the watch, but I was definitely doing something wrong as the hairspring got tangled and bent out of place by too much. But by now I know how to install the balance complete. Also decided to change the bezel insert for a green one to freshen it up. But now I'm thinking about either going back to the old danged up insert or keep replacing parts (sapphire glass and another dial, since I lost the "Invicta" letters while cleaning the dial from dust).

The invicta has actually sentimental value due to it having seen me go through shit in my life, I'm never going to part from it. I am just debating whether continue freshing it up or putting it back to it's "original" status with all the scars of the old bezel.

Parallel to that I made a "build" (watch on the right), putting together a NH34, dial, hands and putting it in a case. It was actually my practice watch for the hand setting. The seconds hand was a terrible nightmare, when I finally got to insert it then the watch wouldn't start. Turns out that the paint job was a bit too thick, shaved a lump with a razor blade and it solved it. Installing the invicta hands on the other movement was a walk in the park in comparison, I'm very happy I practiced with an "aliexpress watch" first. But the thing is that I got it down to around 0.5ms beat error and +6 s/d, so I'll probably gift it to a dear friend as a "tool watch don't baby it at all".

Anyhow, cheers to you all!

34o35un45o0f1.jpeg

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