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Homemade Watch Parts 2016


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Very limited in time at the moment but want to try and do semi-homemade watches for me and the wife before the autumn ends. First day this year in the garage. Starting with the wife's as this "should" be the easier as it must be a quartz. Total hobbyist at this, and although I have a rough idea of what I am trying to achieve, making a lot of it up as I go along. Hope to share progress on this forum for anyone who is interested 

Dial 0.2mm brass sheet

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Cut out and superglued onto a brass 3mm disc (machined from 10SWG sheet)

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Drill centre hole 1.1mm (was going to be 1.0mm but I snapped the drill bit)

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Swap onto the smaller lathe

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Mark out the dial diameter

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Aldi today selling routers for £24.99. Perfect to fix an old Gravograph I bought ages ago on ebay with dead motorIMG_3198nnn.jpg

 

Test piece which will go on the watch box as a plaque. Can now do engraving on the case back of the gents watch (later project still in the head)

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This is movement for my wife's watch. Ronda 1042. Smallest I could find which suites what I think I will need. Beside is a 5pence piece to give scale. Had to be a quartz as winding and setting the time was an absolute no no for the user

 

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Showing with dial in position. Decided I will try to attach with dial stickers rather then solder on feet (more chance of disaster and no time to keep scrapping)

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Trying bath repair enamel. Will leave this for a week to set. Hopefully not too high and works ok

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Square lump of silver. Starting the casing

 

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10mm hole to start things off

 

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I've always wanted to build a watch from 'scratch', or at least start with basic movement and embellish accordingly. I met a watchmaker, (sort of, on line) who started with ETA 6497/8 and had a variety of dials and hand combinations you could "customize" your own watch. Below pics from his website. I'm not promoting his efforts, just showing what can be done.

Good job on your efforts! Can't wait to see more.

Some of the many parts available for your custom design.

All cases have display backs. These are the plain movements.

Lineup of hand options.

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More progress today, getting close to finish line ......

Make the case back ... fit rubber o-ringIMG_3352small.jpg

 

 

 

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This is not finished, but getting close, so just laid things together to see roughly what end result will look like

 

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Cubic zircona finish

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very good lathe  work !   as far as snapping drill bits,  " vary feed and speed"  to produce a "proper chip".  drill bit sharpening and dubbing is another  vast subject.   keep up the good work.  vinn

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Thank you for positive comments. Glass is on, all the zircona was glued onto silver setting strips with Araldite Crystal Clear. There is plenty of things not right which I would do differently, but I suppose that is the problem when no prototype to try things out first. Anyway, I learnt a lot doing this project, and I know some of the areas that need to be improved

 

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    • Have you ever seen grease spread?  I use Molykote DX on the keyless, cannon pinion, etc and cannot imagine it spreading. Similarly, HP1300 should not be a problem, as long as you don't splash too much about.  9010 does like to travel though. I've recently re-serviced a couple of my watches I first serviced about 5 years ago. I was a bit too liberal with the oil and grease back then, but it hasn't spread everywhere. I only epilame on balance cap stones, escape wheel and pallet stones (and auto wheels if they need it).   If you use it all over, the oil might bead-up and travel even further - think of using RainX on your car windows.
    • Polish it where the old part cracked as well. Get rid of the stress-raisers.
    • Sounds great! And yes, I would use grease for the keyless as well although treating the parts with epilame would make the grease less likely to spread in the long run. Not critical but won’t hurt. My current strategy is to epilame treat all parts getting in contact with oil or grease.
    • Hello everyone, for what it's worth, here is my approach: 1. Escape wheel submerged in Epilame, then dried quickly with a hairdryer. Then the final tip of the pivots are cleaned by poking into pithwood. The logic being that the Epilame is removed at the intended contact point (to avoid any residue that may mix with the oil), but remains in the areas where oil is not supposed to spread to (further down the pivot towards the wheel). The escape wheel teeth also benefit from having Epilame to keep the 9415 in place.  2. I use a syringe to treat only the pallet stones. I suspend the pallet fork with some Rodico so that the stones hang downwards. I notably use a rather thick needle where a drop WON'T form, but rather where the Epilame liquid stays in the needle tip, which I then dip into the pallet stones. It requires some practice to get the right amount of Epilame into the needle tip, but it works for me now. This way, no drop will "jump" onto the pallet fork and potentially go all the way to the pivots.  3. I let the movement run for a few minutes without lubricating the pallet stones... to scrape off the Epilame in the intended contact "channel". Then I remove the balance again and lubricate the exit pallet stone with 3-4 successive drops. See the "channel" that forms on the pallet stone in the picture -- not so easy to see, but it's visible.       I am conflicted about the use of Epliame in balance jewel settings. My impression is that the two jewels sufficiently suspend the oil (even 9010). Apparently Rolex recommends NOT to use Epliame there (heard from a former Rolex service center watchmaker), as it could cause additional wear. Apart from that, I follow specific instructions where I can find them. E.g. the infamous Rolex reverser wheels or sometimes (parts of) the seconds wheel. Exception: I'm currently servicing an Eta 2824 and will probably ignore the service sheet that recommends treating the whole keyless works with Epilame and then using HP1300... I'll skip the Epilame and use 9504 grease.        
    • I'm going to give this a try today/tomorrow on my UTC33/Seiko 66, thanks!
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