This Docker was sent in by Dave – it has definitely seen better days, but it’s a family piece, and he would like it revived. The poor thing looks a bit sorry, with the gilding coming off the case, a crack in the crystal, and various scuffs and marks.

The balance swings very faintly and then stops, and there is lots of dirt.

Lots of dirt in the auto-winder as well.

Dirt everywhere – this movement needs a good clean.

The dial has seen better days as well…

The bottom plate looks quite good – at least no rust or broken parts.

Balance cock and balance.

After the first run in the cleaning machine, I still have some dirt on the parts, so I give it a second run.

Finally, with nice clean parts, I can start reassembly.

This looks a lot better.

The hairspring isn’t quite right – you can see that the coils aren’t even, and the danger of them touching is there. That’s why I saw some not-so-good stuff on the timegrapher…The problem is the value of the watch – I’ll put it together as it is and see how it performs. If it’s acceptable, I’ll check with the client if he wants to go ahead and put a new complete balance assembly in (you can’t buy the hairspring on its own).

I clean the case and put a new crystal in.

The movement goes into the case.

The auto-winder assembly put back together and oiled.

Now that does look a lot better than it did before!

A new gasket for the case back – the watch came without one, and that’s the main reason it was so dirty.

I am quite pleased with the result!

Now for a couple of days on the bench to see if we need that new hairspring or not…