Jump to content

Hello !

DarrenThomson

By DarrenThomson
in Introduce Yourself Here

 Share

Recommended Posts

DarrenThomson Member

DarrenThomson

Posted
Posted

Hi everybody.

I took up learning watch repair a month ago, using the online courses from TimeZone Watch School and just finished building an ETA 6497-1 movement. I'm interested in British watchmaking and now plan to start buying up old Smiths movements with a view to learning about them and repairing them.

I look forward to getting involved with the forum.

Regards

Darren

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pip WRT Addict

Pip

Posted
Posted

Hi Darren, welcome from another relative newby! From the tags it looks like you're in HWyc? I'm not far away if that's the case, Twyford for me. Sounds to me like you're a man with a plan. Looking forward to seeing your progress with the Smiths movements. Any reason you chose Smiths?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarrenThomson Member

DarrenThomson

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 16 January 2017 at 11:36 PM, Pip said:

Hi Darren, welcome from another relative newby! From the tags it looks like you're in HWyc? I'm not far away if that's the case, Twyford for me. Sounds to me like you're a man with a plan. Looking forward to seeing your progress with the Smiths movements. Any reason you chose Smiths?

Hi there,

Im interested in Smiths due to them being the last fully-inhouse watch manufacturer in England. The only people doing that now (as far as i know) are Roger W Smith...and you'll pay 100k for one of their watches ! Really interested in comparing how the Smiths Cheltenham factory build movement vs how ETA do it today.

Thanks for the welcome !

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Blacklab Distinguished Member

Blacklab

Posted
Posted

Welcome Darren. Here's something I posted a while back that you may find useful:

"Smiths produced clocks & watches from 1851 eventually opening a factory in Cheltenham producing the high end watches equal to the Swiss such as the Deluxe, Astral & Imperial ranges. The factory closed in 1970. Also a factory in Ystradgnlais, Wales, originally & joint venture with Ingersoll (not the American one) producing lower end pin levers such as the Smiths Empire & Ingersoll Triumph range & eventually a jewelled lever used in the Streamline range (see here: http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3157-smiths-streamline/). The factory closed in 1980. In the final years before closure movements were sourced from the Swiss & the Far East.

Smiths Group plc is now British multinational diversified engineering business with is headquarters in London, operating worldwide but unfortunately no longer produces watches.

The Smiths watch name is now owned by Timefactors who produce homage watches in small quantities with Swiss & Japanese movements.

Robert Loomes uses highly modified Cheltenham Smiths movements in his range, but you will need to save very hard to buy one."

See also some of my previous posts:

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/4947-anglo-celtic-smiths-watch-film/

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/1778-smiths-ty/

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3671-smiths-astral-sub-seconds-2/

Hope this helps. Smiths are easy to work on being designed for hand assembly. The only downside is they are getting increasingly expensive to purchase.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Disgrace
      Seiko 6309 intermittent stopping of the seconds hand at the same positions

      By Disgrace · Posted

      Hello everybody, sorry for the late reply. Thank you all so much for your help and your tips. I got lucky and found a replacement wheel bridge for cheap which actually ended up being in decent condition. I decided not to do anything about the mainspring barrel pivot since I didn't have the right tools and the barrel didn't have much endshake anyhow. I am happy to report that the watch now runs great, I have regulated it to about +-10/s day which is fine by my standards. The timegrapher result looks decent as well, although beat error is around 0.6ms which could be better I suppose. Amplitude reaches over 230 quite consistently which I'm happy with also. My lighter fluid has also been replaced by balance spring cleaning solution and now the springs don't stick to themselves anymore - who would have thought. I'm super happy with this watch, it might not be worth a whole lot but it's awesome that I could restore it and it makes me wear it with pride. To me it's a genuinely good lucking watch, it'll be my daily driver for a while. Thanks again to everybody for their input! I couldn't have done the repair without your help.   Here are some images for those interested, the bracelet isn't original but I don't really mind:    
    • nevenbekriev
      Is this a 'hack' ?

      By nevenbekriev · Posted

      Balance-hairspring system is oscillator with big Q-factor. When all in the movement is OK, the rate (frequency) is verry close to the own resonant frequency of the balance-hairspring. But in some cases, the movement (with foult) will force the resonator to work on pritty different frequency, sometimes faster, and sometimes slower. When this happens, the amplitude is always weak. So, the first thing to ask is what is the amplitude. If it is more than 180 and the hairspring doesn't touch itself and anything else, then for sure it is 'short'. If the amplitude is weak, then the first thing to do is to understand why and rectify the problem. At this time no point to check timekeeping. But, if one doubts that the hairspring is not correct, then He needs to calcullate the rate of the movement, then to 'vibrate' the balance-hairspring out of the movement and to measure the free oscillations frequency (period) with timer in order to ensure that they comply with the rate. If we have pictures, then it will be easier to tell something about that wheel.
    • Klassiker
      Landeron 248 setting eccentric studs

      By Klassiker · Posted

      So much work has gone into this! Thanks again @Jon. I will go back and check my adjustments from last weekend. A few questions for you, if you don't mind. In the reset position, I can understand the problem if the gap between the hammer and the minute counter heart is too big (slide 77) but what is bad about both hammers being in contact with the cams (slide 76)? I read somewhere that Landeron recommended grease on the runner cam, but the minute counter heart should be dry. Is that so, and why? How many tads in a ligne?
    • BlueHarp
      Difference between AS 1686 and ST 1686

      By BlueHarp · Posted

      Many thanks for your replies!
    • RichardHarris123
      Setting lever spring

      By RichardHarris123 · Posted

      Could you glue two pieces together for rigidity and separate after forming? 
×
×
  • Create New...