My girlfriend’s uncle Dennis was given this Junghans on his 10th birthday and amazingly he still has it! Nothing I owned at the age of 10 remains today!
Considering the crystal and second hand is missing the watch is in fairly good condition.
Movement is dirty, but in good condition.As expected the timegrapher can’t pick up the beat.Dial has survived remarkably well even with the crystal missing.Jewels removed from the balance.Fibers and dirt all over the place.Dial side being dismantled.Setting mechanism being dismantled. A cool feature is the jewelled winding wheel.Mainspring before being cleaned and put back in the movement.The parts are cleaned and I have started to put the movement back together. Note I had to replace the sweep second wheel as the pivot for the second hand was broken off.Setting mechanism almost back together.Movement back together and ticking happily.Performance is excellent! Some movements are underestimated.I paint and apply new luminous compound to the hands. I thought a red second hand would look cool on the green background.Movement back in the case looking really nice!What beauty! It is truly a gem in any collection:)With the permission from Dennis I have taken a wrist shot of the watch with a new green and red NATO band.
Excellent post Mitka,
I have to say your dial painting skills are fantastic. This almost looks like a new dial. Are you using a binocular microscope? This takes steady hands indeed!
Charles
Upon re-viewing the dial as compared to the first photo, it now looks like you painted and re-lumed just the hands.
Charles
We don’t re-paint dials. We sometimes wash off the old varnish, and re-varnishing them.
Is this an in house Junghans movement? I know nowadays they use ETA movements.
Again, a very nice job and done well. I also had a Junghans as my first watch, when I was 8 years old. I lost it the same year 🙁
I truly enjoy watching the progress of your work, especially as a budding watchmaker. Every morning I check for an update as if your blog is a book I just can’t put down- Thank you!
Dan B.
… what a great restoration job, and a really nice story to read (the post and the comments together … ).
And a pretty nice watch as well!
amazing restoration!!
This is Uncle Dennis and I love my watch.
When I found my old watch at my parents’ house this winter, Mitka told me casually that he would shine it up for me. A few weeks later, the watch arrived and looks better than new. There are no signs of the time a large rooster pecked me off my bike and I fell to the ground while wearing this Junghans. Now, I have not only the watch but also its rebirth history with this amazing blog. Thank you Mitka for a superb job!
That sounds like one crazy rooster!:)
Ohhhh
You know how to spoil us Mitka!
This for me has a lot going for it. That dial is a stunning colour and the red seconds hands is a cracking bonus. The performance on the graph is quite remarkable…has it been serviced before I wonder?
The best bit to make this watch something most watch lovers would love is that fact of the owner having this from an early age and still having it. Not something that is attainable for most.
The strap is a complement to boot.
Like the wrist shot it gives a better “viewing” of the watch. Maybe it’s something you could ask all customers as it adds an extra dimension for us the reader.
Thanks for sharing this one on the blog
Great looking watch. I love reading the posts on this site. It’s such an education about different brands, and their quality. There are so many lesser known watch manufacturers out there (at least to me), and I find I learn something in every post.
Thanks.
oh, and I a really like the way this one turned out. The red second hand really ‘pops’, and the coordinated nato strap looks great.
I agree, it’s a great looking combination and another superb restoration job.
Very nicely done! I guess you were able to source a new crystal for it with no problems. Would this have been considered a good watch back at the time it was made?
I wish I still had the watch that I had at age 10. The problem is, I can’t even remember what brand it was, although I do remember what it looked like, and that it was hand-wound. I think it was also German.
I am afraid I also can’t remember what brand my first watch was. I must have been around 6 or 7, and I remember crystal changes and repairs, and the final demise. That might have had to do with me managing to open the case back and discovering the hairspring 😉
A super little watch, this Junghans, and I love the red second hand.
It was a very nice watch for a 10 year old! Junghans supplied a wide range of qualities from pin pallet alarm clocks to chronometer grade gold cased wristwatches:)
I still remember my first watch. It was digital and had an image of a smiling sun that changed to a smiling moon at 6pm. I would get so excited if I looked at the time and it was close to 6pm. It changed back to a sun at 6am but I never remember seeing that happen. It was also purchased at a Best Products department store which went out of business back in 1997 in the US. I don’t remember having the watch very long and seeing how easily my 7 year old loses things I understand why! I have loved watches ever since that first cheap one. That was in the early 80s. I also never could figure out why my dad would twist the crown on his watch before bed each night! Growing up, all the watches I ever saw took a battery.