Re-pivoting

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

How to re-attach dial feet [2]

My aversion to dial spots (those little adhesive dots used to glue on dials) knows little bounds. It’s a shoddy job, the dial can still turn with time, and in my book, it’s not an appropriate repair. On a £2 quartz movement, dial spots might be appropriate, but on anything mechanical, I’d rather not.

Above, a dial with broken off feet. You can still see some remaining dial spots, and, in preparation for the new dial feet, I have marked the centre of the feet on the dial. I use a sharp needle and a pair of tweezers as a ruler. Continue reading

How To: Repairing watch hands

If you repair watches, you know the feeling of your heart sinking when removing a chronograph sub-hand and the tube stays on the runner, and the hand comes off without the tube.

Once the dial is off, you can carefully remove the stuck tube with the hand remover, and with a bit of luck, it doesn’t fly 10 yards through the workshop. Continue reading

HowTo: Replace a balance staff

IMG_7865I normally don’t do this (e.g. just replacing a balance staff without fitting it into the movement), but Thom asked nicely, so I took on the job. If he would have lived in the UK, I would have invited him to do it himself in my workshop, but Sweden is a bit far …

I used to turn the old balance staff out on the lathe, but I never liked the process, as it’s so easy to get the graver into the balance…
Continue reading

Buying used vintage watches on eBay

IMG_1666Most of my readers will have bought watches on eBay in the past, and will have had good and bad experiences. The bad ones tend to be very bad indeed, as there are quite a few sellers out there that do not describe what they sell properly.

This watch was bought by my client Stephen from eBay seller tempus.fugit.2012

On first sight, a nice looking Constellation with a stainless steel case and original bracelet. Let’s have a second look… Continue reading