Jump to content

Hi From London


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone i'm Andrew 38yo Italian and i've lived in London since 2001, moved to the UK from Turin italy for a change of career.

Passion for time machines, watches & Clocks is always been in me since i was a little kid and i loved my Grandad huge Grand Father Clock and his vintage Gold Rolex that he always praised..

I have a small collection of watches i gathered trough the years nothing fancy but very dear to me, I always commemorate a special event or occasion with a watch and in the last decade the passion has grew stronger in finding more and more about who makes them there history of the names and the technologies involved in creating these amazing machines.

Always been mechanically minded since a small age, loved lego, meccano... rc cars to small motorbike engines to making a career in fine sports cars as a tuning mechanic.

So now for some reason life got me in a boring job for the last 9 years and i keep thinking, what if .. how hard is it .. where do you learn how to fix, repair, dress up or modify watches?? and by researching on how to, i stumbled across the youtube channel and this forum witch i though it would have all the answers for knowledge and suggestions i need...

I love my watches, and i think i will appreciate them even more if i can service them, fix them work on those mechanics like i did and do with my cars and motorbikes.

 

Guys i like what ever advice you have to give from former watch makers or just lovers of time keeping industry like me!!! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The latest advice is to look for an ETA 6497 or 6498 movement, either Swiss or one of the Chinese clones. Even though those movements are found in watches, they are really pocket watch movements. Large, and relatively easy to work on. These are also the movements used in Marc's Watch Repair Lessons, and there are lots of resources available for a beginner.

Have Fun!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Andrew and welcome from me,

great forum here with good advice freely given.  My idea of a basic movement would be three hands, hour, min and seconds no day, date or chronograph stuff.  You may try a pocket watch as the parts are a bit larger but just the ordinary type no fusee etc.

lastly good luck,

Cheers,

Vic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Andre...

I'm new here too and also appreciate timepieces.   I'm really not in a position to offer constructive advice but, I'm compelled to suggest you invest in a Timegrapher unit.   The one I purchased is:  "YaeTek Watch Timing Machine Tester Tools Multifunction Timegrapher" from Amazon.com at a cost of $145 US.   I believe this is a fundamental piece of diagnostic equipment that will benefit anyone interested in mechanical watches.

 

Ray

 

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.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Unfortunately I'm not that lucky. I started on the train side and after I noticed the binding I pulled everything out except the driving wheel to rule everything else out. It still binds. I'm going to double check that the pinion is fully seated on the staff first, then if no joy I'll push the bridge jewel up a fraction of a mm. Fingers crossed!
    • Happy to have helped, great way to start the day with a win! 🥳
    • Thank you for the advise!! It worked. The setting screw was a lock/unlock to remove the rotor. 
    • I have that French tech sheet too, it is a little different than the English one (eg, it doesn't have the auto works diagram). BTW, it looks like you are looking up the case number in the 1979 ABC supplement. The 1974 ABC catalog does have the 3093 case. As you determined it takes the 1222-5 crystal.  When I serviced my President 'A' (which also takes that crystal), I was able to fit a 29.8 crystal from my DPA crystal assortment. Those are, in my opinion, a great deal. The assortment comes with 10 sizes each from 27.8mm to 32.4mm in 0.2 increments. I pretty much use them for any non-armored crystal that takes a high dome crystal. I think they no longer make them but Cousins has still has some in stock but when I bought them they were around $40 for the set and now they are around $100. Still, at 40 cents a crystal it's still a good deal. For the large driving wheel, I remember I once assembled the keyless/motion works first and when I placed the large driving wheel it was interfering with the setting wheel on the dial side as the teeth were not fully meshing and it wouldn't fully seat. If that isn't the issue I got nothing and am looking forward to see how you solve it 🙂
    • Not sure, but just looking at it, it seems like the screw on the right may be a fake? The one on the left may not be a screw in the regular sense at all, rather a 2 position device, I think you need to point the slot towards either of the 2 dots and one will secure and one will open. Like I said this is just my best guess looking at the pictures.
×
×
  • Create New...