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6 hours ago, yankeedog said:

Works  well  on polishing acrylic  crystals. Not to mention  metal. 

 

I use micromesh polishing pads and a compound from my model kit making supplies for acrylics which work excellently. 

I've never heard of mothers mag, is that a brand? 

I was always of the impression that mineral and hardlex needed a buffing wheel and compound.

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On 10/31/2019 at 11:44 PM, ro63rto said:

What are they like compared to a BFG866 ?

Speaking of which, this lump of BFG866 based 1970s scrap metal arrived through my letter box the other day.

RIMG0715.thumb.JPG.7cbcd91da360b06db9962672fd7d6524.JPG

All it needed to turn it back in to a working watch was a balance and a fork. I had a balance in my stash, but the fork I had was missing a pin, so I'll need to keep an eye out for another one.


The dial needs a little attention, but I suspect I can mask the majority of the marks with some careful application of a dark blue sharpie, which seems to be almost exactly the right colour.

I really only picked it up for the time zone bezel and the hands which I thought might fit the Sciura.
The bezel is 0.3mm too small, so that idea is not going to work, but I think it has enough character for me to add it to the 404 club.

Failing that, there must be about half a ton of scrap metal in it  :D

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I just had a quick look online to see if I could find any history for "Lonlay" and spotted this identical watch, all be it in some what better condition. 

image.png.f073bce249a1187b89524cafe82b168f.png

Maybe I was a little harsh describing it as scrap metal.  Furthermore I even found out about the name "Lonlay" it is shown as a trademark on Mirolisk.de

Lonlay Watch    H. Gribi & Fils Lengnau, Schweiz

A little more digging and we find..

Quote

Established since 1930s, H. Gribi & Sohn/ Hans Gribi & Fils, the Swiss watch company based in Lengnau and Bern, owned the SPERINA brand name. H. Gribi & Fils also owned other brand names such as Herlin, Eveline, Lantex etc.

The SPERINA WATCH Co. was active until late 1970s before it was dissolved.

       
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10 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Speaking of which, this lump of BFG866 based 1970s scrap metal arrived through my letter box the other day.

RIMG0715.thumb.JPG.7cbcd91da360b06db9962672fd7d6524.JPG

All it needed to turn it back in to a working watch was a balance and a fork. I had a balance in my stash, but the fork I had was missing a pin, so I'll need to keep an eye out for another one.


The dial needs a little attention, but I suspect I can mask the majority of the marks with some careful application of a dark blue sharpie, which seems to be almost exactly the right colour.

I really only picked it up for the time zone bezel and the hands which I thought might fit the Sciura.
The bezel is 0.3mm too small, so that idea is not going to work, but I think it has enough character for me to add it to the 404 club.

Failing that, there must be about half a ton of scrap metal in it  :D

I like the case and dial. 

You could use the single pin pallet you have and halve the time reading to get an accurate time, (or do you double it for one pin only?).:blink::biggrin:

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17 hours ago, m1ks said:

I use micromesh polishing pads and a compound from my model kit making supplies for acrylics which work excellently. 

I've never heard of mothers mag, is that a brand? 

I was always of the impression that mineral and hardlex needed a buffing wheel and compound.

My mistake...I assumed it was acrylic. Mother's  is a brand of car car products. Their  magnesium (mag) and aluminum  polish  is outstanding. 

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4 hours ago, yankeedog said:

My mistake...I assumed it was acrylic. Mother's  is a brand of car car products. Their  magnesium (mag) and aluminum  polish  is outstanding. 

Thanks, not one we have in the UK but yes, either mineral or possibly Hardlex which I believe is similar, it's a faceted glass crystal on an orient.

I'll have a bash with wet n dry when my elbow grease supply has been sufficiently restocked.

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58 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

Many moons ago  I used a German product called simichrome polish,It has become very scarce here in the US .Either no longer made or imported.Also good stuff.

     i remember that stuff.   there was one for removing corosion on aircraft.    deadly stuff.   vin

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It lives! The 1/2 Kg strap monster lives.

RIMG0008.thumb.JPG.ce454602b56df7bed06ed0d73601f733.JPG

I was sure I must have at least one BG 866 balance fork in the junk pile and sure enough after a bit of a rummage I found one in a very beat up 21 jewel scrap movement.

RIMG0007.thumb.JPG.7191e957b795d8780c0d893cd064afeb.JPG

Ignore for the moment the fact that I am clearly an idiot, since I have set the wrong date on it, and listen very carefully, wherever in the world you are, and you can probably hear it tick.:P

It may not be the most refined watch in the collection, but it sure is fun.

Edited by AndyHull
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To give you some idea of how loud this thing is, here is a picture of my laptop (on my lap obviously), and the watch on the table next to me.

RIMG0010.thumb.JPG.b7a03c9197c6eccf5f359cd48245712f.JPG

If you look closely, you can see that I am getting a valid trace on the time grapher from the watch.. on the table. The low level noise in the trace is coming from that electric fan heater on the floor.

I've encountered quieter chiming mantle clocks. :D

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3 hours ago, AndyHull said:

To give you some idea of how loud this thing is, here is a picture of my laptop (on my lap obviously), and the watch on the table next to me.

RIMG0010.thumb.JPG.b7a03c9197c6eccf5f359cd48245712f.JPG

If you look closely, you can see that I am getting a valid trace on the time grapher from the watch.. on the table. The low level noise in the trace is coming from that electric fan heater on the floor.

I've encountered quieter chiming mantle clocks. :D

WHAT? CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE TICKING! SPEAK UP MAN! :biggrin:

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Today I'm wearing my Fossil Modern Machine ME3133 skeleton automatic. This is the watch that inspired me to start collecting watches, especially mechanical watches. It's stylish, rugged and comfortable. It's also a bit big for those that aren't used to larger watches. I don't wear it as much as I used to, but I'll never get rid of it.

20191109_085415.jpg

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The latest addition to the 404 club, a 1976 sunburst dial gold Timex Marlin (dial code 2606102476).

RIMG0023.thumb.JPG.a4119ff35849ea3a8ccb5af08b5ca2ca.JPG

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This is how it arrived. What you can't see in the image below are the paint splatters all over the watch. 

s-l1600.thumb.jpg.c61225935ab732c87dfb2eef2d73693c.jpg

I did manage to re-use the crystal, but it took a fair bit of polishing to get rid of all of those scrapes and dings.

The strap on the other hand was a bot of a horror story, so I popped it on something more in keeping with its looks.

I think it looks pretty good for 43 years old.

 

Edited by AndyHull
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