We quite often have watches in the workshop that don’t have a lot of commercial value, but have great sentimental value to our customers.
This Sicura is certainly one of those.
The repair bill will be quite a bit higher than the value of the watch is, but if the watch belonged to a late loved one, who cares? Continue reading
It’s been a long time that I posted last, which has to do with the fact that we are very busy, and that there wan’t really anything extraordinary that landed on our benches. But today is the day, and extraordinary it is indeed! This is something I haven’t seen before. And Ed White Speedmaster with a blue dial!
The watch found its way into our workshop through a jeweller, who had sent the watch to Omega for repair. They returned it telling him that they couldn’t do it, as they had no parts… Continue reading
As Christmas is approaching, some of our readers will find one of these Google Home appliances (mini or the bigger version) under the tree.
Some of you might know that I like to tinker with software (the interface our clients use to check on their jobs, and the library showing all our jobs have been written by me), I was very tempted when I got a Google Home mini as an early Christmas present.
So I just had to write a bit of software that interacts with the device, and I started off with an application that lets me check what the next job is, what I’m currently working on, and how long the queue is, for use in the workshop. That was quite nifty, and I wanted to develop something for my customers as well.
So here it is – the instructions for set-up are here, and it’s pretty easy to do. The app has just been approved and published (last night), so not all of you might be able to discover it yet, as that can take a day or two.
If you have an iPhone, just download the “Google Home” app, and you can use this feature as well!
Please let me know if you find it useful, and also let me know what additional functionality you would like to see.
This Zenith came from London, and it’s not been serviced since it was bought new 11 years ago.
What strikes me are the bits of dirt on the dial – click on the photo to enlarge it, and you will see what I mean. Check around the 1, 6 and 11 o’clock markers. Continue reading
If you are interested in what we are doing at the workshop, we have a new feature that lets you see what’s going on: Continue reading
Hello everyone, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Ray and I have the huge pleasure of letting you all know that I am Christians apprentice.
I am 40, married and from Northumberland, I enjoy rock climbing, motorcycling and of course I am absolutely obsessed with wristwatches! Continue reading
Another day, another Speedmaster project 😉
This one came over from Belgium, and there are two cases, an extra dial, a spare movement, and some small bits. Let’s turn this into a Speedy! Continue reading
The world of clocks and watches isn’t only re-bushing and oil, we sometimes are allowed out of our workshops to attend events.
This Tuesday, I was privileged enough to be invited to the launch of the Solar Time Clock made by George and Cornelia de Fossard at The Clockworks in London, hosted by Dr. James Nye. I have blogged three years ago about the project, and after about 5000 hours of work, the two have finished their masterpiece.
Thank you James for hosting the event, which I truly enjoyed.
I’ve done quite a few of these, and blogged about some of them, but this one deserves a post of its own, and you will see in a bit why … Continue reading
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