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The end of a busy weekend. Painted, units constructed and lights fitted. These three are plenty bright enough. Three more will go on the other side of the workshop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I posted these pics on my facebook page but thought I would share them here also. I am converting my garage to use as my new workshop and work got started last weekend. The garage door came off and a wall was built - then a new window fitted. Next I will need to have the internal walls done and the ceiling, then the workbenches and storage. Last, the flooring. Quite an exciting project. I will keep this thread updated as I go along.

In addition to repairing a few watches (Sekonda alarm and Poljot chrono), I've taken an interested in modding watches too. So far I've made an Omega X-33 homage (out of a Pulsar), a Tudor Black Bay homage (out of an Invicta), and now my latest, an homage to both the Rolex Milsub and Rolex Explorer built from an Orient Chicane. I call it the Adventurer, and have been wearing it since I completed it on Sunday. I first put it on a brown RIOS alligator pattern strap I had on hand. This looked good on the original Chicane with its burgundy dial, but not so good on the Adventurer. I'm considering sourcing a black strap for it, either alligator patterned or smooth. Next I transferred it to the stock folded-link Orient bracelet, which I had brushed to get rid of the shiny narrow parts of the links. Looks okay, but a bit busy, and the bracelet is terrible. Here's a close-up of the dial. Unlike my Black Bay homage, which used a pre-made dial, this dial is completely home-made. One of my goals with this watch was to make it easily legible both day and night, even to my 50 year old eyes without my reading glasses on. As such, it has very high contrast, and killer lume (on the indices - I wanted to get better hands for it). The dial is patterned directly after that of a Rolex Submariner, but because this 39mm Explorer-style watch case has such a thin bezel, the dial is much bigger (and thus easier to see) than the one on a 40mm Sub.

Last weekend, I completed my latest watch project, a(n) homage to the Omega Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial, based on a Russian Vostok Amphibia, case style 120. I replaced the bezel with one from Dave Murphy that accepts Seiko-compatible inserts, added an insert from Dagaz watches, relumed the hands with a slight patina, and then made a new dial to match. Here is the finished result: Here's a before and after picture: The process for making the dial differed slightly from my previous project, where I had printed the artwork on photo paper which was glued to the dial blank. In this project, the artwork was done using transparent waterslide decal paper, applied in two layers to give a sufficiently dark black. The decals were applied on top of a layer of luminescent tape.

I have disassembled another watch, oiled it and reassembled. The Imperial on the post here. The GP continues to run fast but the Imperial is has kept time with the computer the last two days. While this is a great accomplishment it isn't without issue. I shot the click spring across the world and cannot locate it anywhere. So, if anyone sees a click spring from an Imperial Model 14 movement 1405 it is mine! Should anyone run across an inexpensive donor please send me a message. While they seem like small achievements they are rewarding! Now I want to work on an old Seiko kinetic that the oscillating weight came apart 10 years ago and has been in th drawer? Thank you all for the encouragement, advice, sharing and support. For those out there just starting, keep up and walk away the come up! It will get easier! Thank you! Gary

and theres me thinking it was used by this lot...........

That would be nice, mine is 50 I'm exchanging her for 2 x 25... fair is fair! :)

That's guitar music to my ears! ;)

Looks like it has had the crown replaced with the wrong one at some point, possibly the stem too. The 6619-8230 pictured below has a similar quick set crown: As you can see the crown is thinner & protrudes slightly with a small gap to allow for the quick set to operate. Probably best to order a new one - Seiko part number 40MK1NS1, £2.95 from Cousins. Stems are also available - part no 354.022 and cost £1.50.

I actually saw your click spring on the sky last night . On a orbit around the earth . You could by click springs on cousinsuk . if it's this kind of spring ? I have seen them on Ebay to .https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/shepherds-hook-springs-wristwatch

It's a 120-series case, so its first two digits are "12". Just arrived in Munich:

Hi Gary, Great job on the watches. Pity you lost a click spring. Maybe you'll find it, usually when looking for another part that also pinged away. For that Kinetic, you might want to replace the capacitor. It comes in a kit. The old capacitor had a problem and the new one is an upgrade that it is said works better. In any case, to charge inexpensively, you can place the watch on a toothbrush charger (those Braun electrical toothbrushes) or on an Imageo lamp charger. As we "talk", I'm charging a kinetic -- I just restored -- with my toothbrush! In any case, let us know how you get on with the repair! Cheers, Bob

One way that worked for me was to put a suitable size drill bit into a pin vice with the plain part of the shank outwards, slide the pendant tube over the drill which will give you a good way to start the pendant tube into its location. Then you can carefully squeeze it the rest of the way in with pliers or a mini bench vice. Best of luck, Frank.

Purchased a new rotor and went to it today... VERY happy with the result :) everything is functioning , chronograph is working as it should, another notch on the belt . found a strap I'm happy with too from my stash.