Revisiting an old hobby

[AndyHull]

Back in March, I mentioned I had picked up some inexpensive Indian microscope stuff.

 

Today I had a spare moment to unbox and set up the dissection microscope, and for the money, its actually not too bad.

I have to admit the quality standards are not great. The  x10 and x20 lenses are labelled incorrectly, with the x10 actually being x20 and vice versa, but it certainly works. You can use it to see dirt on jewels and it is built like a tank, so should stand up to constant use. Here are a few pictures of the item in question.

 

 

[AndyHull]

Over the years I have picked up a few of those little Chinese pocket watches. You probably know the sort of thing. Pictures of trucks, trains or aircraft on them, often sold by the likes of "Atlas Editions" and aimed at the "Collector".

These are certainly 404 club watches as I tend to put on a very low bid, typically 0.99p or a couple of quid.

I realised that you can actually remove the picture from the front, and substitute your own, so here is my wife, looking very young, and holding my niece who is now also considerably older, married, and living in the US.

There really isn't much more to say other than the method for removing the front "glass", which is actually an acrylic crystal, is simply to attach a large lump of blue-tack, and pull hard.

Tie the watch to a string, and loop that round your wrist,  to avoid it flying across the room while performing this trick. You may need several attempts before it pops off, allowing you to remove the original paper picture and substitute your own.

Print your images at around 38mm in diameter (check the size first, to confirm this) and trim to fit inside the crystal, then pop the crystal back in and you are done.

There is an engraving on the back of some of these watches, so you may need to do something artistic to cover that.

Edited July 12, 2022 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

Here is a bunch of pictures of one of my recent "ebay barrel scraping" purchases.

A Swiss/German "Gallone" style cylinder escapement 80% silver cased pocket watch. 
At a purchase price of a fiver, it doesn't quite make it in to the 404 club, but maybe we can give it honorary membership.

The lack of other bidders was presumably due to the poor condition of the watch, and the fact that it didn't run.

The case has a small crack in it, which I may fix at some stage with low temp silver solder and a small patch, however someone has attempted a repair with what appears to be lead based solder, so that may complicate things slightly.

The "Gallone" style as far as I understand it refers to the rose gold plating over silver that would originally have adorned the front bezel of the case, some of which is still visible. 

Inside, while there is no obvious makers mark, there is in addition to the "Gallone" stamp, a German "Moon and Crown" silver designation and a more typical Swiss "0,800 Silber" hallmark.

The watch may therefore have originally been sold in Germany, although the stamp also appears on watches exported to other places.

The main reason that it refused to run or wind was that the movement retaining screw had fallen out, and jammed itself into the gap around the mainspring barrel, wedging everything solid. Once that was removed and re-fitted things started to tick, all be it somewhat sluggishly, so a quick clean and rebuild was all that was required to get it running within +/- 30 seconds a day or thereabouts.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

Hot on the heels of the cylinder pocket watch, I also picked up a pocket watch sized cylinder clock movement.

I'm not sure what exactly this was part of, but it has no alarm or chime, so it was presumably some kind of small decorative clock.

It was absolutely filthy, and not running when it arrived, and the case has some evidence of being modified (or perhaps butchered might be slightly more accurate). It needs a new main spring which I may have in the stash, and it gives every sign that it should run fine once that has been replaced. It still needs a little more cleaning, and I'm tempted to re-plate the rear of the case ... and possibly the front bezel...  maybe. It seems to be nickel plated which shouldn't be beyond my skill set. 

I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do with it once I get it running. Any suggestions?
The outer bezel is 49.5 mm wide, and the inner case back is around 46, so roughly the size of a pocket watch.

Edited August 18, 2022 by AndyHull

[tomh207]

9 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Hot on the heels of the cylinder pocket watch, I also picked up a pocket watch sized cylinder clock movement.

I'm not sure what exactly this was part of, but it has no alarm or chime, so it was presumably some kind of small decorative clock.

It was absolutely filthy, and not running when it arrived, and the case has some evince of being modified (or perhaps butchered might be slightly more accurate). It needs a new main spring which I may have in the stash, and it gives every sign that it should run fine once that has been replaced. It still needs a little more cleaning, and I'm tempted to re-plate the rear of the case ... and possibly the front bezel...  maybe. It seems to be nickel plated which shouldn't be beyond my skill set. 

I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do with it once I get it running. Any suggestions?
The outer bezel is 49.5 mm wide, and the inner case back is around 46, so roughly the size of a pocket watch.

An insert for a travel clock maybe Andy, I have a vague recollection of something like that my auntie had

[AndyHull]

58 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

An insert for a travel clock maybe Andy, I have a vague recollection of something like that my auntie had

It certainly has that vibe about it. I'm trying to find something similar, but so far I've drawn a blank.

I may just make a simple wooden stand for it. I'll see how creative I am feeling.

[Wera0925]

Trying to find answers most of us new enthusiasts have.  I’m not new in age, just the enthusiasm.  Love any kind of time keeping mechanism but genuinely love wristwatches.  Pocket watches are a close second.  Vintage divers is what I will eventually collect, but for now, entry level, nicer Swiss made, Swiss movement watches. I own a plain Swiss made Swiss movement Invicta pro diver, A 1960 Bulova RGP Thin 17j hand wind.  This one is amazing. I honestly believe it’s been serviced maybe once.  All original as far as I can tell.  A friend gave it to me.  It was their fathers.  Looks like it may have been worn a couple dozen times on special occasions over 60 years.  It stayed in a box somewhere safe when it wasent being worn.  Accurate time for almost 34 hours on a wind.  

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 hours ago, AndyHull said:

I'm tempted to re-plate the rear of the case ... and possibly the front bezel...  maybe. It seems to be nickel plated which shouldn't be beyond my skill set. 

Ooh Andy . Please put some photos or videos of you doing this . I'm in the process of learning this. I do have a good dc output device already and the ingredients. Deciding now what to use for a plating material and a cheap supply source. 

10 hours ago, AndyHull said:

not sure exactly what I am going to do with it once I get it running. Any suggestions?
The outer bezel is 49.5 mm wide, and the inner case back is around 46, so roughly the size of a pocket watch.

Hey Andy . It could be the first clock/pocketwatch marriage.  Go for it matey.

2 hours ago, Wera0925 said:

Trying to find answers most of us new enthusiasts have.  I’m not new in age, just the enthusiasm.  Love any kind of time keeping mechanism but genuinely love wristwatches.  Pocket watches are a close second.  Vintage divers is what I will eventually collect, but for now, entry level, nicer Swiss made, Swiss movement watches. I own a plain Swiss made Swiss movement Invicta pro diver, A 1960 Bulova RGP Thin 17j hand wind.  This one is amazing. I honestly believe it’s been serviced maybe once.  All original as far as I can tell.  A friend gave it to me.  It was their fathers.  Looks like it may have been worn a couple dozen times on special occasions over 60 years.  It stayed in a box somewhere safe when it wasent being worn.  Accurate time for almost 34 hours on a wind.  

Good choice matey. I love vintage swiss, sooo much variety.  As they say, is the spice of life. Bulovas are ok as well lol.

9 hours ago, AndyHull said:

It certainly has that vibe about it. I'm trying to find something similar, but so far I've drawn a blank.

I may just make a simple wooden stand for it. I'll see how creative I am feeling.

Or better still clock/pocketwatch/wristwatch bigamy lol. Imagine the looks you would get having that on your wrist. You would need very large shirt cuffs, i would be dying for someone to ask me the time.

[AndyHull]

3 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Or better still clock/pocketwatch/wristwatch bigamy lol.

Even with the recent trend in oversized "quartz copper frying pans" masquerading as wrist watches, at almost 50mm this thing would be over-oversized as a wristwatch. It might look OK if I went completely steampunk. I'll need to think about that.

[AndyHull]

Another bargain bin Casio is on its way.

I also picked up the programming manual for this one for added geeky nostalgia points.

[AndyHull]

0.99p for approx 140 untested quartz movements. In order of probability... Maybe they are all junk, or maybe a couple will be good for parts, or... just maybe some of them might actually work.. time will tell.

[AndyHull]

I picked up another 0.99p Eddie Stobart Trucks "Collectible" pocket watch the other day, with a view to seeing how this idea would look.

I think it turned out quite nicely.

The image is a "blue marble" image of earth taken by the NASA Earth Observatory in 2005.

I think I'll maybe do a couple of others with images from the JWST, perhaps one of the recent infrared images of Saturn.

[Neverenoughwatches]

9 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

I picked up another 0.99p Eddie Stobart Trucks "Collectible" pocket watch the other day, with a view to seeing how this idea would look.

I think it turned out quite nicely.

The image is a "blue marble" image of earth taken by the NASA Earth Observatory in 2005.

I think I'll maybe do a couple of others with images from the JWST, perhaps one of the recent infrared images of Saturn.

Haha. We have more in common matey. I've been interested in astronomy on and off since i was nine years old. The Hubble images used to blow me away. They sent that billion dollar scope up there initially like a typical old Timex watch. Non working lol  i still have my old 4 foot reflector i got for my 12 birthday.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Neverenoughwatches

[AndyHull]

Jupiter from the JWST. I think I may play around a bit more with this, and maybe print it on photo paper the inkjet as the laser printer doesn't seem to have done a perfect job with the colours.

[Neverenoughwatches]

40 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Jupiter from the JWST. I think I may play around a bit more with this, and maybe print it on photo paper the inkjet as the laser printer doesn't seem to have done a perfect job with the colours.

Photo paper prints much better on inkjet Andy. My laser printer was awful when i put photo paper through it. It looks really nice mate. How about having a go on a watch face. I have a few with knackered dials. Did you see the oriental stamp that was used a while back on the forum. Nicely done with the indices applied on top. 

[AndyHull]

You might like the @manodeoro thread on custom dials.

CUSTOM DECAL DIAL TUTORIAL

 

[AndyHull]

The scruffy folding table that has ben doing service as a work bench for the last couple of years in my little cubby hole of an office got an upgrade today.

We were round at Remake, the recycling workshop and retail shop out in Crieff (worth a visit if you are in the area) and my wife spotted a desk that she thought was more suitable for the task, so here it is.

My next task is to organise the tools and such like that currently are stashed in some plastic storage boxes, into those drawers, and arrange some better lighting.

During the move I found a missing part from an EB8800 which had somehow pinged into the tray of the printer. I have no idea how that works. I'm sure there is some strange quantum tunnelling effect going on when these tiny parts are imparted with just the right amount of energy from a click spring or a pair of tweezers.

Now if someone could invent some gadget to shrinkify that printer, I would really appreciate it.

Edited September 6, 2022 by AndyHull

[LittleWatchShop]

31 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Now if someone could invent some gadget to shrinkify that printer, I would really appreciate it.

Its called an HP Laserjet P1102

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, AndyHull said:

The scruffy folding table that has ben doing service as a work bench for the last couple of years in my little cubby hole of an office got an upgrade today.

We were round at Remake, the recycling workshop and retail shop out in Crieff (worth a visit if you are in the area) and my wife spotted a desk that she thought was more suitable for the task, so here it is.

My next task is to organise the tools and such like that currently are stashed in some plastic storage boxes, into those drawers, and arrange some better lighting.

During the move I found a missing part from an EB8800 which had somehow pinged into the tray of the printer. I have no idea how that works. I'm sure there is some strange quantum tunnelling effect going on when these tiny parts are imparted with just the right amount of energy from a click spring or a pair of tweezers.

Now if someone could invent some gadget to shrinkify that printer, I would really appreciate it.

Ooooh Andy. That is lovely, a proper watchrepairing bench if ever i saw one. . And very tidy in there as well. Wait till you see mine, I'm the same in the kitchen . I have to have every gadget out lol. Get the printer swapped out for a coffee maker mate. ( hmm  shrinkify that word choice is definitely not coming up on my predictive text ). Please what is that at the back mate that looks like it has wings . ( God I'm such a nosey bugger ). I think I've had far too much coffee today

Edited September 6, 2022 by Neverenoughwatches

[AndyHull]

10 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

And very tidy in there as well.

Give it time, I'm still in the honeymoon phase. Wait till I have everything unpacked and easily accessible once more. I can't guarantee it will be anything like as tidy.

Here are a couple of extra pictures just to keep the nosey buggers happy.

.. and now.. drum roll...  just because I now can't get the tune out of my head. 

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

6 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Give it time, I'm still in the honeymoon phase. Wait till I have everything unpacked and easily accessible once more. I can't guarantee it will be anything like as tidy.

Here are a couple of extra pictures just to keep the nosey buggers happy.

.. and now.. drum roll...  just because I now can't get the tune out of my head. 

 

Haha. Ok AndyIs it anything like this lol. I have an insane amount of gear, and what you see here is not all of it.

[AndyHull]

Those pictures of yours tell a  somewhat familiar story.

Currently all of my "toys" are stashed away in some storage boxes. Wait till I bring them all back out and I suspect things will look pretty similar. My drill press is currently lurking in the cupboard under the stairs eyeing up the hoover. I'm not sure what the resulting offspring will look like.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by AndyHull

[Neverenoughwatches]

11 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Those pictures of yours tell a  somewhat familiar story.

Currently all of my "toys" are stashed away in some storage boxes. Wait till I bring them all back out and I suspect things will look pretty similar. My drill press is currently lurking in the cupboard under the stairs eyeing up the hoover. I'm not sure what the resulting offspring will look like.

 

Haha. I love it. I Cant' wait to see you all set up. I was getting ready for my relocation but the lad has just informed me he's not moving out just yet  He has my bedroom, i have the back bedroom and the watchroom is the spare room. I was looking forward to doubling the watchroom size and buying more tools to fill it  yey.  Soon one day soon

[AndyHull]

 

I spent a couple of hours this evening sorting out the worst of the battle scars on the "new to me" watch desk.

I would guess it was made in the 1970s or possibly 1980s, with the majority of it being made of real hard woods. The drawers are lined with hardwood too. There are four fiberboard blocks on the top of each drawer plinth to align them with the top section, suggesting it is relatively recent, but the lack of low quality fittings or hardboard drawer liners make me think '70s or '80s.

The leather top does appear to be genuine leather, but not as high quality as something from say fifty years earlier. There were a couple of rather nasty "cup marks" on the leather, and lots of light coloured chips to the finish of the wood, on the front and sides. The leather had a few nicks and dings, requiring some careful stippling with the coloured pens.

In keeping with the 404 club theme, the damaged areas were fixed with acrylic paints, alcohol pens, and a few wax crayons from Poundland.

You can of course purchase specialist materials for this sort of fix, and I do have some, but the Poundland stuff coupled with a little artistic jiggery pokery finished the job quite nicely.  The alcohol markers were mainly used on the leather, and the acrylic paints were mixed to a suitable set of colours and applied thinly on to the damaged areas of the wood to blend the damage with the surrounding colour.

There are a couple of loose drawer fronts which I will glue up tomorrow, and I will probably also apply a little shellac or floor varnish to some of the more obvious chips in the finish.  All in all I'm quite pleased with the results. Well worth the not very much I paid for it.

The white "cup marks" on the leather came out with the careful application of the heat of the nose of the iron, through a couple of layers of kitchen towel, and a fairly liberal application of neetsfoot oil.  I knew this technique worked with cup marks on wood finishes, but I was not sure it was going to do the trick on leather, but apparently it works like a charm. Just be careful with the heat though. Work slowly, and don't burn the surface.

Apparently, according to my wife "It looks like new", but I still think there are a few more dings to take care of before I am happy. After that I think I'll pop a cut to size acrylic sheet over the top of it to save the finish from further damage. That way I don't ruin all my hard work by spilling lighter fluid or some such on the thing.

Edited September 7, 2022 by AndyHull

[watchweasol]

Its looking good Andy, does the misses know that you can use an Iron? could be dangerous.