Staying firmly on communist ground, we move from Russia to China. This is one of Torsten’s watches, and he is a keen collector of Chinese watches with a very sizeable collection. This Shanghai is apparently a rare beast, and in need of TLC.
A first look isn’t too promising. There seems to be quite a bit of rust…
The auto winder is an odd construction. It’s basically the Seiko-type ratchet wheel with tines alternating at driving the ratchet wheel, moved back and forth by an eccentric pinion mounted on the oscillating weight, but much more complex, as the tines of the fork are individually mounted on a plate and held against the ratchet wheel by a spring.
One of the case clamps is “hand made”, and I will leave it in place as it’s part of the history of the watch. I quite like these little touches 😉
This is the auto winder bridge from the bottom, and the eccentric pinion driving the auto winder fork is visible.
The bottom plate with the date wheel.
All parts cleaned and ready for reassembly.
The balance is carefully poised, so quite a bit of work went into making this movement.
The base movement back together and ticking.
This isn’t too shabby, considering that I couldn’t find a new mainspring that fitted.
The movement is back together and ready for the dial and hands.
And the dial and hands are back on.
The pendant tube is stuck in the crown (it’s a screw-down crown), and I get it out. The fit to the case is very loose, so I will have to glue it in using a 2 component glue.
The pendant tube is back where it belongs. Drying time at least 2 days before you let the crown near!
A Chinese Diver’s watch with a screw down crown. I wonder how many of those are still around…
Hi, I just wondering do you want to sell this Shanghai diver watch ? I am interested.
Hallo. Can I use this photo for my publication about diver’s watches? Of course, information about authorship will be given. Matthew
Sure, no problem.
Great, thank You.
Hello and thanks for the enjoyable write up! A question, do you know how/where can I find a replacement bezel for my Shanghai 114? Thanks again.
eBay will probably be your only chance.
The bezel is from the recently reissued model 114 and I wondered if I might ask your client where he bought it. Thanks again for your time.
In general, you can’t buy spare parts for Chinese watches. You have to find a used/broken watch with the part you need.
I thought that all the Chinese watches were those cute ones with Chaiman Mao’s arm waving a perpetual hello! http://www.china-mike.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/mao-watch-small.jpg
Actually, this diving watch looks pretty cool.
Very, very nice. I would love to get my hands on one of those…
At least, if it’s about the size that I think it is from these photos; about 38~40mm?
I’m afraid it’s already on its way back to Hong Kong, but I would also guess 38-40mm. It’s not overly big, but just the right size for a diver’s watch.
The size is virtually identical to the current Shanghai 114 Military diver re-issue. Details should be in an earlier post at watchuseek.com.
Christian, again a job well done. Thank you so much to get the watch back into a usable state.
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