Repair and service: Omega Constellation 2852-1SC calibre 501

IMG_3792Ben has had some trouble getting his watch repaired. The first watchmaker inspected the watch and gave Ben a long list of spare parts that where needed for him to service the watch this including a new balance, the intermediate wheel for the auto winder and a forth wheel; certainly an expensive affair considering the price of spare parts for an Omega. Ben managed to source the parts but by that time the watchmaker decided not to take on the watch anyway. The watch then went to another watchmaker who had the watch for 3 months without inspecting the watch. When Ben asked to have an inspection the watchmaker did not like the inquiry and sent the watch back. After securing a slot at Watchguy I was asked to inspect the watch straight away if I could fix it nor not. I could feel that the setting lever spring was broken and see there was a missing case clamp and the hairspring had broken off the stud. Cosmetically I could tell the dial had been restored and the plating on the movement at one point had some kind of chemical reaction. All in all nothing looked to frightening and we decided to service the watch. Continue reading

Service: Omega Speedmaster 105.012-64 / calibre 321

IMG_2591I’m sure this post will raise some controversy… John sent in his Speedmaster for a service, and it didn’t look too good. The hands are bent and have lost their luminous compound and lots of their white paint, and the dial markers have been re-lumed with some dark green gunk, which wasn’t even properly applied. So in our book, nothing original to preserve, but a lot of room for improvement. The paint that’s come off the bezel is fine in our book, as the bezel is original – we will leave it as it is. Continue reading

Service: Longines Nonius Chronograph / calibre 332 / Valjoux 726

IMG_2014On first sight, you wonder what the strange central chronograph second hand is for … On the right of the needle, there is a scale with 9 graduations. After about 5 seconds of thinking, the light went on, and I realized that this was a vernier scale, just like on a caliper. This allows you to read 1/10s of time elapsed… well it would, if the movement beat at 36,000 b.p.h, but this one only does 6 beats a second, so there are in reality on 6 different positions on which the watch can stop to give different 1/10s readings.

Nevertheless a lovely feature, and a pretty rare one. The augmented mass of the central hand isn’t ideal, and it can come off quite easily when the chronograph is reset. Continue reading

Service: Wolna calibre 2809 / Zenith 135 copy

IMG_1271Mitka and I like to surprise each other with the odd watch here and there, and Mitka had something special in stock for me – a Russian Wolna calibre 2809. Probably one of the finest watches made in the USSR.

It’s a copy of the Zenith 135 movement, but with a couple of differences. A communist watches doesn’t need decorations, so those were left out, but it has the added feature of a central second hand instead of a sub-second hand. I’ll trade that any day! Continue reading