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Fixing hairsprings is one of the trickiest things to do, and has been covered a few times on this forum.

Good magnification is essential, and I would argue, possibly the most essential thing to ensure success.

You also need suitable tools, but they don't need to be fancy or expensive. I use sewing pins, several pairs of very fine nosed tweezers, and that most essential tool of all, a steady pair of hands.

You cannot risk dropping the movement, or you will make things 1000% worse. Proceed slowly and think carefully about what to do at each stage. Small incremental changes and frequent breaks to take stock of how you are getting on are also the order of the day.

Unless there is a split, crack, heavy corrosion or a very severe fold in the spring, most hairspring spaghetti can be brought back to a working state.

I have mangled a few in my youth, so I know how easy it is for the process to go wrong.

If you are lucky, with practice and experience, you can do the work with the balance still in the watch (as was the case with this one), which gets you to your destination quicker.

However for many particularly mangled springs, or in cases where your access is impeded you need to take the balance out to work on it, and you may even need to remove the hairspring from the balance, both of which present their own risks and problems.

I'm glad to report that the Linaso Ancre 17 Rubis  "Candido" is still ticking away nicely, and agreeing with my Swatch to within a couple of seconds, so I think I'll call that a success.

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Today will be the turn of another of George Clarkson's resurrections...
7a28-7029
Unfortunately I didn't get the bracelet with it although i only paid €40 for the watch and probably all gold would have been too much. Paired it with this Seiko leather strap with gold buckle.

jiqAZuU.jpg

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Very nice. Nearest I have in a similar style but not a chronograph is this, which I was a little surprised to pick up in as new condition for next to nothing (£2.75, no other bids).

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It is also that classic gold and cream with black lettering and a brown leather band and gold buckle, but I think the Seiko has the edge for refinement.

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Today is the turn of the third watch I received back from George Clarkson.
This one actually had to be repaired. Replacement circuit block was needed as well as a service and seals.
I will be replacing the crystal at some time in the future and maybe re-lume the hands.

KkjgUnr.jpg

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ro63rto you have three eye-popping beauties with those chronos. The last one is definitely a drool producer, par excellence. Truthfully though, as my arm hair is now white, I think it might look better on me. You could send it along for a trial and photo op:D

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ro63rto you have three eye-popping beauties with those chronos. The last one is definitely a drool producer, par excellence. Truthfully though, as my arm hair is now white, I think it might look better on me. You could send it along for a trial and photo op! [emoji3]

Thanks

I love them too. All were purchased a while back and sent directly from seller to George.

The 7a28-7029 back in late 2017

The 7a28-7040 in early 2018

The 5t52 in late 2018.

 

There they sat slowly gathering the parts needed and me spending money on other watches rather than putting money aside for the work that needed doing. Finally I gave the go ahead. The two 7a28 were watch head only. I bought a Seiko leather strap almost immediately to eventually pair up to the 7029. The 7040 was more difficult. An OEM bracelet, if found in decent condition, goes for around £250 and no way was I paying that! Eventually found a lookalike in stainless that would suit and it was only £10 [emoji4] I've wanted a 7040 for about 5-6 years now but as I love a bargain hunt it took me a while. Finally was offered one from the guy I bought the 7029 from. Came to an agreement and off it went to George.

 

 

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Your wait was well worth the effort. How would you compare the 7a28 movement to the any of the new meca-quartz movements such as the VK61? It is a quartz engine coupled with a mechanical flyback chronograph.

 

I'm definitely an old school man. I like the idea of the all metal serviceable movements in the 7axx range. Although I do have quite a few 7txx, 5txx watches.

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Don't like the idea of mixing tech although I do have a couple kinetics as i like the case/dial designs.

 

 

 

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More from the bargain basement today. Yet another Chinese movement based watch (despite its Germanic moniker).

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A Kronen & Söhne -   Liaoning watch factory automatic with date complication derived as far as I can tell, from the same 17 jewel standard movement of the "Identity London" and the "Winner", though (arguably) of a slightly higher quality.

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This watch is reasonably well finished, considering its price point, although the lume on the hands is fake, and the front and rear crystals are mineral glass and I presume the textured dial is probably plastic. The band is original, appears to be genuine leather, and has very little signs of wear. Viewed close up, the winder looks a little crude, and both  the winding weight and the case back appear to be laser etched. 

This case back shot is prior to it getting a good scrub and polish, but as you can see there are few obvious signs of wear.

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I have no doubt that in the long term it may run in to reliability problems, but as shipped to me, it runs about -25 to -10 sec/day. I will give that a little tweak once I have worn it for a day or so, 'cos I prefer watches that gain, to ones that loose.

It suffers from the same lack of finesse that a lot of modern watches do.

The case is unnecessarily large, and there is arguably a little too much bling to be called subtle, though this one is not anywhere near as bad as some.

Another slightly blingy member of the 404 club.

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What time is it?

Why its quarter past Mao!

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Yes, the one you have all (not) been waiting for.

The classiest classless'ist timepieces ever produced.

Political incorrectness in all its glory.

Everybody's favorite despotic great leader, and the man who did for self obsessed little red books and personal privacy, pretty much what Facebook is doing even now for the privacy of the self obsessed.

I give you.. the smokin'est baddest watch ever. 

Well bad in the quality control sense, since some of the bling that should be on the dial has fallen off, and stuck itself in a somewhat ironic way to the sticky stuff on the back of the great leader's smoking wrist, looking for all the world like a badly concealed Rolex.

 

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Before you ask, nope.. those thumb prints 'aint mine.

Further quality issues include the fact that it didn't actually run until I took out the plastic movement ring and removed some flash plastic from it, and the fact that the fake screw on back requires a crowbar to remove it and a hydraulic press to re-fit it, oh and the "real leather" strap appears to be made from three entirely different pieces of re-cycled handbags, and 99% of the chrome has worn off the clasp, assuming it was ever there in the first place. Other than that.. its perfect. 

 

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All that apart, this has to be one of the most amusing watches in 404 the collection so far. I love it.

Around +4 to +25 sec per day after a little tinkering ( but around -300 s/day when it arrived).

I'll stick a video of it on youtube shortly.

Edited by AndyHull
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30 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

What time is it?

Why its quarter past Mao!

RIMG0472.thumb.JPG.1660c9a073c1ae942c9320a750976f80.JPG

Yes, the one you have all (not) been waiting for.

 

 

All that apart, this has to be one of the most amusing watches in 404 the collection so far. I love it.

Around +4 to +25 sec per day after a little tinkering ( but around -300 s/day when it arrived).

I'll stick a video of it on youtube shortly.

What is that he's sitting on...a sickle?!?  Does the hand holding the cigarette move? What a world, What a world!

J

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Of course the hand moves.

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Surely he is sitting on a chair formed from the bones of the fallen Capitlaist running dogs, singing "we'll keep the red fag... cough.. cough... flying here.."  :P

watch.gif

An image so bad.. I had to include it twice. :D

 

Edited by AndyHull
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The latest addition to the $40.40 club with appropriate apologies to Andy. I can't explain the logic behind purchasing a great watch, only to let it lie new and unworn in a safe until the battery dies. Then sell it at a huge loss. I'm grateful for such individuals but unable to understand them. This is still available new and the least expensive one I could locate on-line was from a dealer in Taiwan for $75 with a 3 week wait. Stateside, the cost was closer to $125. I paid $20 delivered to my door. I removed the hang tag as it was still attached to the watch.

The second hand was advancing two seconds at a time which is the indicator for this model that the battery is on its last legs. One SR920SW battery later, it's off and running normally, keeping accurate time. So far, it's gained 1 second over a week. 

I can also recall a time when I referred to watches of this size as salad plates strapped to someone's arm. Not any longer. At 45mm diameter, this is just about perfect for my eyesight now. Welcome to the rotation.

CasioEdifice1.jpg

CasioEdifice2.jpg

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The $40.40 club, I like it. :D
I've picked up a couple of new, still with the protective film on, watches. It does seem odd to me that for want of a couple of bucks for a battery, (well a few cents if you buy them in bulk), people will effectively throw the thing away.

That little blue faced Accu2 and the Limit Tachymeter were good examples. I can't even pick up a new, genuine leather strap for the money I paid for each of those, and they both had good quality brand new leather bands on. Both were unworn, the Limit still had the film on the back and the crystal (but not with tags), and the Accu2 didn't have a single mark on it.

However, their laziness is to be encouraged, if it means a few bargains for the rest of us.

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The Watch of Today is the "Regency" 17 Jewel - and I have yet to clean up its face, as I am not 100% happy with the way it is running.

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From a time keeping perspective, it seems to run just fine, and keeps good time.

It has had a clean and lube, but I didn't remove and clean the mainspring, which I'm toying with doing. The issue is that it is beating well shy of <270 degrees (some where between 159 and 179 to be precise).

 

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I am in two minds about whether to accept it as is, or to "fix it till its broken".

My gut feeling is "it 'aint broke, so don't fix it", but the OCD pixies are shouting "... but... but.. 159 degrees... " so do I take the sensible (and lazy) approach and leave well alone, or do I listen to the pixies?

It may simply be an aged mainspring, in which case I might have one from an HMT that might substitute as they appear to be very closely related cousins. I am still hoping that wearing it for a day or two might perk it up... but I suspect that is just blind optimism (and the aforementioned laziness of course).

Edited by AndyHull
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4 hours ago, ricardopalamino said:

Hi Nucejoe , of course Citizens are allowed .  Nice one you have there ........

 

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Hi, Thanks ,The ones you got aren,t so bad either. Two more and I am finished showing my echo drive collection. Thinking I,ll be a regulare at this joint.

Regards.

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Thank You .  I just grabbed these off of a shelf of my everyday watches .  I have 2 of the Aqualands , and 2 of the Americas Cup watches that I am going to send to my Buddy Longbiker in Hawaii for a service . He's a wizard with these types of Citizens .. 

I have a few generations and types of Citizen watches . 

The Watch in the center of my pic is an Eco-Drive Sattelite controlled F-100 .

Very comfortable in Titanium .

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