Anders from Norway sent this Lemania over. Initially, it was meant as a source of spare parts for his Lemania triple-date (the dial of that is being restored atm), but then he found another donor, and decided to save this one, which can only be a good thing. I won’t fill you in on the historical detail, and will leave that to Anders to post himself, as he did the research.
The movement isn’t that dirty, and things are looking good.
The dial shows its age, but in a very nice way! No damage, just a bit of subtle discolouration.
This looks familiar to those who like Omega movements, and there are reasons for that. Let Anders fill you in later …
Ready for the cleaning machine.
The first movement to get the new Elma RM-90 treatment!
Epilame treatment for pallet fork, escape wheel and cap jewels.
All the parts clean and ready for reassembly.
I put the balance jewels back in.
And the top plate is complete, and the balance swinging.
Back into the case.With a new crystal, a great looking watch!
I have this excat watch. It was my grand fathers. I am about to have it restored, do u know where i can get parts from? Plz email me at [email deleted]
do you know the year of this watch? they often got a year on the inner backcase. Do you remember?
I’m afraid I don’t.
The practice of stamping the manufacturing year of the case came later than this watch. Typically you will find this with Lemania watches from 1961 up to late 1960s.
According to the serial number on the movement this watch dates to the early 1950s. 1951-53 is my best estimate.
thank you very much!! i had one like this, just with different hands (mine looks older than this has it) and i did not know his decade
*have
Do we know what the pattern on the bottom plate is called… snailing maybe?
Was the new cleaning machine up to expectations / worth the money?
Snailing sounds good – how about escargotage? 😉
The cleaning machine doesn’t clean better than the manual version, as it does pretty much the same thing. But the huge advantage is that you can just put the basket in and forget about it for the next 25 minutes and do something else. It’s the time saving I bought it for.
If it isn’t then it should be 😉
Hi, Christian.
I have followed your blog for some while now, and it’s always a pleasure to see the movements come to a new healthy life. I have notice that you almost always put the old main spring in the cleaning baskets, why clean it when it’s going to be replaced?
This is just in case I can’t get hold of a new mainspring – you are not the first to ask that question 😉
Hi Christian
Anders, I was glad you decided to save the watch as it looks beautiful in it’s own right.
I have to keep asking myself…is there any watches on the blog that I would NOT like? All to often the answer in no and this is no exception.
I am sure Ebay sales on watches go up when certain models are highlighted here.
PS Christian…you may need a FAQ section for your most common questions!
Thanks
Stephen
I am sure they do as well – I have bought 3 watches after seeing them dissected on here 😉
Cirrus
Can I be nosey and ask which watches you bought after seeing them?
The first was the Accutron Christian recently serviced on here. I have actually had a few other Accutrons since and recently a Tissot Tissonic (which is apparently waiting for me at home!) but that was the first tuning fork 😉
The other two (not sure what order they came in) were a Junghans hand-wind (although it seems to be from the 70’s) and an HMT Sona – both off eBay, and both possibly candidates for Christian’s attentions in the future 😉
I really liked the look of the Kelek.
Will have a look at the Tissonic as not familiar with that.
Hi Christian,
A pleasure to see as always.
For me as a technically oriented collector it has tremendous value to see the movements taken apart and re-assembled. It makes the whole watch collecting that little bit more cool:-) It is also great in order to improve ones insight into the art of watchmaking.
Kind regards from Norway!