Roy Hancocks of Birmingham is one of the few watchmakers in the UK that make their own watches, and, in this case, using an ETA2892A2 as the movement. I checked their web site, and they apparently don’t offer their own brand watches any more …
This one is in a 9k gold case, and it belongs to my father-in-law. A while ago, the auto winder stopped working, and now the watch has stopped altogether, even when hand-wound. Should have given me the watch a bit earlier, but I’m sure there won’t be any damage done.
The case back has a sapphire back, so you can see the dirt on the movement 😉
This is of course meant to be a dress watch, but my father-in-law has a smallholding and wears this watch all the time, so it’s probably been up a couple of cows’ backsides…
Now that I don’t like. For a gold dress watch at the price he paid, I don’t expect a shiny blue case ring. It does of course do the job, but it’s not pretty.
I love the way the date change and quick-set works on this movement.
Nice enamel dial.
The rotor is a bit corroded, but that doesn’t matter much.
This movement doesn’t have a wheel bridge, but a wheel cock, which holds the escape wheel, third and fourth wheel. The wheels don’t move freely, and dirt is the reason the watch has stopped.
Looks like the winding pinion and clutch wheel got a bit too much grease when the watch was last serviced.
The barrel with the mainspring.
Now it’s time to take the bottom plate apart.
Almost there!
And we are ready for the cleaning machine. The mainspring is still in good shape, so I will just clean it and put it back in.
The top balance jewels put back into place. If you enlarge, you can see the nice round drop of oil you want to see there.
The gear train is back in place and moving freely.
Yes, these movements are great – that’s why Omega uses these ETA calibres in their watches as well.
The bottom plate comes back together.
And the dial and hands go back on. The hour hand sits too close to the dial, and I think Roy Hacock should have used a slightly higher hour wheel.
Back to its old glory.
A very nice dress watch. Too bad it will end up a cow’s bottom in no time at all 😉
Are Roy Hancock watches expensive please?
Check on ebay
Well, I don’t know, but I think as the faithful son-in-law you are, you ought to offer him your cherished Casio F-91W in trade, and save him the inconvenience of having the watch serviced in the future. All that amniotic fluid can’t be good for the movement, as you pointed out. PLUS the built in night light in the Casio would be really handy for close quarters work. You’d be doing him a favour, really…
I did actually show him the Casio and told him to wear something like it on the smallholding 😉
A small correction – I’ve been told the watch has never been up a cow, but only a couple of ewes… makes all the difference I’m sure 😉
Don’t know anything about Roy Hancocks… except that they apparently make bovine rectum-proof watches. Bet that isn’t an ISO standard test…
Unfortunately not rectum proof… There isn’t even a gasket with the case back. Not really something a collector would have – it’s more a jeweller that wants to have something own-brand in their window.
Maybe not a rectum…perhaps a birth canal. Will this make a difference? 😀
Nice watch at any rate. Was there a gasket around the winding stem?
Absolutely right – this watch is eweproof to roughly 0.4 lamb. The crown has a gasket, but the back doesn’t, so there was quite a bit of dirt. The cap jewels had that white-ish patina on the inside, and the rotor has suffered a bit as well. So if you dive to the full 1.0 lamb, you’re in trouble!
Does the back sit flush against the plastic movement holder? Maybe it serves dual purpose as shock protector and gasket… but you would think they could find a more refined colour 😉