Peter recently sent his watch in for a service and a new crystal. I’m a big fan of Rolex Submariners and this nice example from 1977 also happens to be my birth year!
It was running when it came in so it was thought that just a routine service was needed so I proceeded to disassemble the movement. Continue reading
With a brand spanking new fourth axis unit, I’m getting closer to my goal of cutting watch wheels….
I’ve got a new camera for my microscope, and I thought I’d put it to good use. Here is a video of me fitting the shock spring of a Seiko movement.
I’ve been busy with my CNC milling machine, and anything flat (minute recorder springs, setting lever springs, etc.) is no problem at all.
The final frontier are of course wheels and pinions. The fourth axis motor that came with the milling machine wasn’t very accurate, so I had to modify it in order to be usable for watch parts.
A good indicator how small you can machine is making a small pinion. The one in the photo measures 2.5mm across, and has 18 teeth, so that’s not bad for a start. Continue reading
We’ve not been very busy posting lately, but that’s mainly because we are very busy at the workshop. Also, as you can always check out what we are working on at any moment in time, we felt that most our readers are using that feature to see what’s happening.
Today, I’m posting a more technical post, which might benefit my colleagues, rather than my clients. Anyway, it’s probably interesting to see what can be done.
Broken pivots are a regular occurrence, and on the left, you can see the two autowinder wheels from a Heuer 12 movement. The one on the left has a broken pivot.
If a part is available for reasonable amounts of money, buying a new one is always the best solution. But if the part isn’t available, or very expensive, a repair is in order. Continue reading
To all our readers who celebrate the season – we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And for our readers and customers all over the world who celebrate something else, or don’t celebrate at this time of the year, we do of course wish you our finest season’s greetings, and a Happy New Year!
Brendan sent in this Rolex Prince from the 1930’s complaining that the crown felt detached from the movement when trying to set the hands.
The movement is removed from its case and the dial and hands are taken off to investigate what is causing the problem. I test the keyless works and it is observed that when the crown is turned in hand setting mode the sliding pinion falls below the intermediate winding wheel making setting the hands impossible. Under the microscope it is just possible to see the end of the stem moving about on the other side of the movement.
Continue readingMy colleague Frank always turns up to our Guild board meetings with funky self-made watch parts, and I was getting curious. He told me that he had a CNC mill, and I pestered him to let me visit him to have a look.
Frank graciously let me come to his workshop, and this is where my little adventure starts.
Continue readingWe often get water damaged watches sent into the workshop, and usually, it’s game over.
This watch saw water ingress a long time ago, and it was left out “to dry”, or, more like it, left out to rust in peace.
If you don’t act quickly, it’s the end of your watch. A week will do nicely, and you have thrown away thousands or at least hundreds of pounds.
Continue reading