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Rolex and Illinois watches.


mrcardigan

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Hi all,

Our two vintage watches - more will definitely follow...

1 - 1931/2 Rolex Silver Prince, identified for us at antiques roadshow UK, needs a bit of work, but family heirloom so probably leave as is for now and just love looking at it.

2 - loved look of Rolex so much that wanted vintage watch to wear every day, but don't have budget for another Rolex, so have found (from my amateur research) what I hope is a lovely 1934 Illinois Ensign. Again needs a bit of work i.e. second hand, new crown and stem, new crystal, but hopefully can all be done fairly cheaply so that I can start wearing it - no idea on value (seen prices from low to hundreds online) but not bothered...as I only paid £8.50 for it (about $10-12 dollars!)

I'm hoping that I'll be able to use this forum to help track down the parts that I need so can fix and start wearing this lovely watch. I normally work on bigger machines (gas/heating engineer by trade) so going on other advice on this forum, I'm planning on buying a few cheap pocket watches to have a go with first. And no, I'm not stupid, I won't be touching the Rolex! 

Andy.

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Personally I wouldn't have the dials restored, they might look newer, but would be worth less.

 I would just give them a very gentle clean with a cotton bud and very dilute washing up liquid or just leave well alone.  If you search the forum you'll find quite a few articles on cleaning watch dials.

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Thanks for comments everyone, appreciated. Yes, I think I will go for softly softly approach to dial, as want to retain patina if I can. first things first, need to check if it runs, and that means tracking down a stem and Crown. Anyone know how I can identify what stem goes with it? 607 movement. Anyone have any good contacts?

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    • I used to just remove the stem pop the movement in its case then put the stem back in check everything then back on the timer. 
    • That's the right technique Mal 👍 If you are ok with a loupe ( which I'm not ) then pick up the dial in your left hand and make a tripod holder out of 3 fingers and then exactly how Mal and me described with your right hand, press and flick out the stem at the same time. You need three fingers to do this, i use my ring ring finger , sounds like mal uses his little finger, just whatever you feel comfortable with. The key point and dangerous side to this is the tweezers or driver slipping off the release screw. Stablise your left arm by resting your elbow on your bench, so that you can hold the movement horizontally flat, use a x5 loupe to view  and good light so you can see well and have a good tight fitting screwdriver to push the release down. Or as suggested a pusher mounted solid upside-down somewhere then all you need to do is push your movement up to it. I'll rig something up in a bit to show you what i mean. Something like this, but tbh its better to just learn to do with your fingers.
    • Thanks Michael, shes a real soldier, it would take a tank to knock her off her feet.  Shes surprised even me and i knew she was a tough cookie.  Good for you Michael, you keep at it. I've been reading your posts re. your watchroom they're inspiring and it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there its about the journey. Rome wasn't built in a day, our watchcaves are our solitudes, our own little empires where we can shut ourselves away from the crap that goes on around us in the world. I look forward to seeing you progress, I have my own ideas how i like to do things. But in answer to your questions on that thread, just let your workspace evolve around you and how you work. You wont figure it out straight away but you will know when to change it and when to leave it alone. But most of all just enjoy it.
    • That can be tricky. Sometimes I hold the movement from the edges in left hand and with right hand I push the release with tweezers and simultaneously pull the stem out with right hand pinky or something. 
    • I see what you mean. I must admit I’m not entirely comfortable with that but I can’t see a better method than what you suggest. I’d like to see something like this mirror with a short spike: https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/mirror-for-observing-movements Place it on, push the spike on the post with one hand and release the stem with the other hand. Minor problem, it doesn’t exist.
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