Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I just bought this 1972 Omega Seamaster Cal 1010 which need a bit of tidying. 

The hands are partly lume, and part black paint. Is there a recommend black paint, or do I just use some black gloss ? 

Capture3.PNG

Posted

Looking at my 68 Constellation which has solid black hands but no lume and the same markers as your Seamaster and probably the same paint. It does appear to be gloss black but not a high gloss...slightly flatted. But then the paint is over 45 years old on my example.

IMG_8776.jpg

Not the best picture, but you can see that the hour hand is a smooth or gloss finish. but definitely not a brilliant gloss that you would get out of a can. I suppose you could use enamel model paint and thin it down so it would flow and lay very flat and that would take some of the brilliant out of the finish...I am afraid I do not have an exact answer for you, but hopefully someone will chime in with the correct formula that Omega would have used, be it lacquer or enamel and the correct amount of flattening. I think that a high gloss finish would look out of place against the ebony markers...curious as to the proper paint as well.

Ron

Posted

You will probly find that the black material is onyx.  Omega are quality watches and used onyx quite a bit fir hand inserts and indice markers.  

  • Like 1
Posted

Perfect question :)  As having a Chronostop i need to refurbish the hands on? Just a little? I was thinking of using matt black spray? But maybe Onyx is better? On the OP hands there are just a thin line of black? Very very hard to paint? Trust me i have tried. I think i ended up using some paper with printed lines on? The kind of paper u put in water and the transfer to a  small aircraft or car models.  

Posted
1 hour ago, Geo said:

You will probly find that the black material is onyx.  Omega are quality watches and used onyx quite a bit fir hand inserts and indice markers.  

Looking at the OP's hands it could very well be Onyx inserts. On my watch it is definitely paint. The markers are Onyx (whatever that is) as you can tell they are not paint. A closer look at the OP's hands would tell the story. If it is a material or substance, rather than paint would it flake off?or fall out in one piece?

Ron

Posted

Onyx is a type of agate stone and will be cut and polished to fit the hands and indices.  I did notice that yours has been painted, and I don't think that would be the original finish.

Posted

Learning new things is what makes this forum so great. :) After reading the excellent article by Desmond Guilfoyle of the Omega collectors site, it would appear that my hands are indeed painted. The hour and minute hands are solid gold and done in black duco which is a nitrocellulose lacquer from the 20's by DuPont I believe, the second hand which shows gold is plated, go figure. Otto Frei lists the original gold hub baton hands for my watch ref, 168.029 with the 751 movement Part number HAN4174 and the description is with black duco finish and this finish is also listed for most of the rest of the hands. While the indices are Onyx i do not find much reference that it was used on the hands. If it is any help in answering the OP's original question, the paint if used would be black duco. This was a nitrocellulose lacquer, not sure where to get this today though...

  • Like 1
Posted

I re-furbed a pocket watch a while ago and for the hands I found for the best results I rubbed them down with fine wire wool (000) then a thin coat of white metal under coat then a black gloss over coat.The make of these paints was"plasti-kote" & I purchased them from a hobby shop. The customer was very happy with the result.

Posted
9 hours ago, 94marconi said:

Learning new things is what makes this forum so great. :) After reading the excellent article by Desmond Guilfoyle of the Omega collectors site, it would appear that my hands are indeed painted. The hour and minute hands are solid gold and done in black duco which is a nitrocellulose lacquer from the 20's by DuPont I believe, the second hand which shows gold is plated, go figure. Otto Frei lists the original gold hub baton hands for my watch ref, 168.029 with the 751 movement Part number HAN4174 and the description is with black duco finish and this finish is also listed for most of the rest of the hands. While the indices are Onyx i do not find much reference that it was used on the hands. If it is any help in answering the OP's original question, the paint if used would be black duco. This was a nitrocellulose lacquer, not sure where to get this today though...

For supplies of nitrocellulose lacquer it might be worth looking at the Luthier industry. It was used prolifically for guitar finishes until the modern polymer lacquers were developed and is still the first choice for restoring vintage instruments.

Posted
9 hours ago, 94marconi said:

Otto Frie lists Mikepilk's hands as black duco part No. HAN-4145

Well found !  Not quite the same pattern and I need silver. 

The ones I have aren't in great condition 

I found a set on ebay, not genuine but look good :

 

20161227_101133.jpg

Capture.PNG

Posted
1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

I'm late on this one. I always used Airfix or Humbrol the sort of thing you use for plastic kits. Never had any problems.

I grew up in the age of Airfix, and Humbrol was my first thought.

Posted

Those hands from ebay sure look sharp. If they are not the same then they are very close, and I don't think anyone will notice if restoration accuracy is not required. :)

Posted
53 minutes ago, 94marconi said:

Those hands from ebay sure look sharp. If they are not the same then they are very close, and I don't think anyone will notice if restoration accuracy is not required. :)

I've ordered a set. I always try to get original parts, but with hands, as long as they look OK, I'm happy to use them.

 

Posted
43 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

I've ordered a set. I always try to get original parts, but with hands, as long as they look OK, I'm happy to use them.

 

Those hands are aftermarket hands. Ain't that good? Found them very difficult to put on ? The hour hand was okay but second hand become to large and is moving around?  The minute hand was a disaster and would sit properly on the pivot. My movement was a 1022 . And haven't figured out what to do with it yet? 

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Beginner here. Of about 60 watches I’ve serviced and repaired, I’ve broken a pallet pivot on three, always during disassembly, and usually when the old oil has transformed to glue. Each watch was Swiss, in case that makes a difference. Here’s what happened in each case: - unscrewed the pallet bridge or cock - gently inserted a screwdriver in the  slot under the pallet bridge or cock - gently but firmly rotated the screwdriver, avoiding a forwards force on the screwdriver. If alignment pins stick, the cam action is alternated back and forth between back corners of the plate. - heard a small but horrible click. Is there a special tool or technique for safely lifting the pallet bridge? Should everything be soaked in naphtha before beginning disassembly if there’s any sign of old oil gluing parts together? Thanks! Rob
    • You shared this test with me a few months back on a Hamilton project and so I had checked this watch to find the pins were still equally spaced. Their screw slots were undamaged and very tight hard to move so maybe no one has messed with them before. I can't work on it much today but I did measure the fork slot again and it seems like 0.44 is the right size. I measure the jewel that had been installed at just 0.42. would an undersized too narrow impulse jewel impact the impulse drastically? I ask because I have had it at a state where flipping the fork manually with a tool would unlock some of the time, but the balance was never capable of unlocking.
    • This was what I was afraid of. The movement is not one of the generic black square modules. Remove the movement from the clock and try prying it open very carefully, without breaking the plastic tabs. The plastic might be brittle from age. Clean the wheels and check the battery contacts for corrosion. Check the PCB for bad solder joints. Take plenty of photos along the way.
    • One of the problems with trying to Photograph Phils things are that his enjoyment was building these things so they tended to E falls on what will see if I can find some earlier pictures or any pictures I wasn't even sure because I was looking for that specific picture for somebody else and even it got the last version and that would have been the last version. You will note that he put the indexing on something that he could unscrew it or whatever and it can slide back out of the way so the rest of the lathe can be used as a lathe. With the lathe cut are actually coming down from the top I was there once where he demonstrated how to cut a pivot with the setup it was really beautiful. Older set up if I remember it's not a worm gear assembly in the thing in between the stepping motor and the holding block I believe this particular one was like a 100 to 1 gear ratio. Earlier version with watchmaker's lathe. Even looks like he is the watchmakers bed and then switch to something he made. Then I do have other pictures and things of the rotary stage in use. In the raw so if you tube videos here is an example of one were somebody's mounting a three jaw chuck. At one time there were available on eBay they were not cheap but if you're patient like I was I found one cheap on eBay. After you watch the video it look at his other videos he is a whole bunch of other examples of the same rotary stage. That I do know there are other pictures examples and possibly videos you just have to track them down. One of the minor issues of finding this particular tech sheet for the unit is I believe it was a custom manufacturer and the company change their name but I remember the new name here's a link to the company https://www.ondrivesus.com/rino-mechanical-components                
    • Escapement adjusting always interesting and depending upon the reference always confusing. Okay maybe it's not always confusing but it does lead to confusion. I have a PDF below it's actually a whole bunch of separate stuff including a hand out that came from a lecture that's on you tube. Then from that we get this image Consequences of doing things especially if you do things out of order or you do things for the wrong reason. Oh and even if the watches working I made the mistake one so showing my boss how tweaking the banking pins on a full plate on the timing machine made the amplitude get better and now he thinks that's what they're for and I don't think a fully grasped exactly what horn clearance means. Consequence of doing things. Notice what it says about opening and closing the banking pins and total lock? So yes I've had that on a full plate where it won't unlock at all and that's the banking pins or a combination of things basically. So banking pins unfortunately get moved. One of the ways to tell if it's been moved is the look straight down at the end of the fork with the balance wheel removed. Power on the fork push at the one side look at it push it to the other side also look at it and compare anything with the center reference the balance jewel and see if both sides of the same. No guarantee after the same there in the right place but at least are the same typically when people play with things one side will be way off from the other because they had no idea what they were doing at all because of course it's a full plate and you really have to paying attention and even then there's still hard to do. Then the other thing that comes up like it shows below is people often adjust the banking pins to do all those other things as opposed to horn clearance which is all that it's therefore and maybe bonus Guard pin clearance although you're supposed to deal with the guard pin is a separate thing like single roller gets bent in Or out or sometimes physically gets moved in and out. Some full plates older escapement's typically pallet forks held together with screws and you can actually unscrew and move the entire assembly in Or out more complications to deal with.     Escapement handout wostep nscc.pdf
×
×
  • Create New...