We’ve had one of these before, and quite some time ago… These are quite rare, and were used in the British nuclear submarine fleet. As you can’t have luminous compound there (it would set off all sorts of radiation alarms), they have no luminous compound, but a while dial with black markings and hands, so that the watch can be read nicely in the low light conditions in a submarine.
It’s always been a thorn in my side that old BestFit catalogues go for a lot of money (I paid £60 for mine), and that they are hard to get.
Finally, I got around to cut mine up and scan them in. I also ran some ocr software over them, so they are searchable.
I hope you find them useful – feel free to download and store a copy, but please don’t try to sell the pdfs on or claim that they are yours. Click on the links to get to the pdf files, or go to https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/files?subdir=BestFit&dir=Technical%20Manuals&action=documents.
Probably won’t get a lot of money now if I want to sell my cut-up catalogues 😉
Whilst we are at it, I have also compiled a large amount of technical information sheets, and they are all available at https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/files – enjoy.
On first sight, this looks like a normal Omega Speedmaster Reduced. The only give-away is the second hands that ticks twice per second – very odd for a mechanical movement! Continue reading
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!
