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Gruenguy

By Gruenguy
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Gruenguy New Member

Gruenguy

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Posted

Hello, community! I'm a new member to the site and want to tell you a little about myself, why I'm here and I'd like to ask a question which nags at my curiosity and hopefully some of you may be able to answer. When I was 18, I joined the US Navy and as a going away present my grandmother bought me a beautiful Gruen watch which was promptly stolen. The never quite completely got over the loss of that gift from my grandmother and about 8 months ago I spotted an identical vintage Gruen on Ebay that wasn't running. Of course, I bought it with just the thought of having it in a drawer as a keepsake. Well, I've always been good with tools (Navy Machinist) so I bought a set of Moody Jeweler's Screwdrivers from Amazon and a can of lighter fluid, and not knowing the first thing about watch repair(what the hey, it wasn't running anyway)took the watch apart cleaned the parts and put it all back together, wound it and low and behold it started ticking. Well, this was a stroke of good luck, but it lost time like it was the watch from 'Back to the Future". After paying a hefty bill from a watch repairman who re-cleaned, timed and adjusted it, I got to thinking maybe I could do what he did and it might just be a rewarding and pleasant hobby for me. Thus, from all this grew a passion for vintage Gruens and a desire to repair them. For the past 7 months or so I've been learning a few things about watch repair, studying books, gathering a few quality tools from Ebay and playing around with some Gruens I picked up cheap on Ebay. I lately had the idea that a few of the more common parts, such as balance staffs, might be a good idea to have on hand rather than waiting on an individual part through the mail. At 76 years old, I can still learn new tricks, but turn-around-time works against you when you're my age.

Now my question! I see "lots" of Gruen parts being sold on Ebay, mostly in little glass vials with numbers or letters an them, but some just loose parts, from all sorts of different brands parts suppliers, but nothing else to identify them as to which Gruen movements they where originally intended for. Not only am I clueless as to which movements these "mystery parts" fit, but the sellers are equally uncertain as to what they are selling. A query to them usually results in "from an estate sale" or "sold as found". Actually, many of the watchmaker tool sellers are vague about using the tool they list for sale, but at least I have an inkling of how they're used from being a tool head most of my life. How in the world do you identify these orphan parts! I've done hours of internet searching and I still don't know. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone in the world knows!???? It's making me daffy! ? 

I would sincerely appreciate any help the community could give me on this and, let me also say, it feels good to be here.   

 

dadistic Distinguished Member

dadistic

Posted
Posted

Hi Gruenguy,  here's some Gruen info for you from Mike Barnett, or Mike The Watch Guy :-)

http://www.gruenwristwatches.com/gruen-caliber-index-for-repairers-reference.php

His site is a great resource fro Gruen collectors.

And yeah, trying to put together a parts inventory from old undocumented material systems can be, uh, interesting to say the least.  But, as you learn the parts, sometimes you can spot what you need from pictures, other times you'll need to hunt, but you can always ask for help here!  You might even get it, too :-)

Have Fun!

 

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