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I found a rather elegant chronograph pocket watch on the bay recently. It was listed as non-running so I took a punt on it. Not cheap, but I liked the dial. The watch wouldn't run if the chrono was engaged, and would barely run without it. It's a French watch made by LIP. Popped the moment out of the case to have a look. It's very pretty in there... Time to strip it down. Took many photos so I could put it back together in the right sequence. Here's a bird's eye view of the chronograph works Removed the operating lever, pillar wheel, transmission wheel and various springs Removed the chronograph bridge: And the movement's now just a plain ol' pocketwatch movement: Time to see what's wrong with the movement itself: ...and found the culprit, or at least a suspect! Cracked 3rd wheel jewel: Spent a quiet Sunday morning sifting through my box of random jewels until I found one with the right diameter for the pivot: Reamed a wider hole and fitted the new jewel. I was pleased the colour matched the old one: Now I can put the movement back together. With the new jewel and a lot of cleaning the watch works extremely well - one or two seconds fast and only a little beat error which I'm going to ignore. Putting the chrono works back together was relatively straightforward - just a matter of lubrication and adjusting the eccentrics so that the depthing was correct: Time to fit the hands. The second hand for the chrono wasn't tight enough on the arbor, so every time you re-set to 0 the hand would spin! Tightened it with a cannon pinion tightener - there must be a better way! Movement goes back in the case: And another fine watch for my collection of slightly-battered-but-working-well watches. This was the first chronograph I've done, so I'm extremely pleased that it's working nicely. Learned a lot in the process. One of the things I learned was not to use Naptha on dials. The astute observer will notice that the word LIP has vanished from the dial. While I feel extremely guilty for having done this to a 100-year old watch, I'm secretly delighted - the first thing my wife said when the watch arrived in the post was "lovely dial, pity it says LIP on it...", and I agreed. Thanks for watching.

Here's some information on the output of the Cousins LED light as measured by a lux app on my IPhone. This light is fitted with two rows of LEDs that can be both individually selected and dimmed. The readings were taken with my phone 10" below the light as this is the height I have it when working on watches. I also measured the light colour temperature at the different settings. One row low setting 1,240 Lux ......... 6600K colour. Two rows low setting 3,960 Lux ......... 6000K colour. One row high setting 5,450 Lux ......... 6300k colour Two rows high setting 20,800 Lux ....... 5600K colour To give an idea of how it compares with the Cousins small portable fluorescent desktop lamp that I have currently been using. At the same distance of 10" it gave 3,170 Lux .......5600K colour At a distance of 5" it gave 30,600 Lux ....... 5600K colour although there was a bright hot spot with rapid fall off at the side. This was the the distance I have been using, and it was a nuisance as it often got in my way. This has been the best improvement I have made regarding equipment this year. Please remember that these tests are for guidance only as I have not used specialised equipment. I hope you find the information useful. Here's some information on recommended lighting.

I have been meaning to post this for a while. In my other hobby - Genealogy I found that my ancestors have a long history of Clock and Watch making. One of them, Samuel Harlow published a booklet in an early attempt at standardisation it is very old and probably well outdated but may be of interest to those that like a bit of historical reading. Cheers, Vic The_clock_makers_guide_to_practical_cloc.pdf

I thought I would share this funny. I was given one of those jobs that you just know are trouble. My next door neighbour asked if I could look at her watch as the glass had fallen off ! ! ! The watch was a really cheap Rotary and the glass and frame for the glass just snaps on just like a snap on case back. On close inspection it looks as though it also had some sort of sticky glue around the rim to help adhesion. As a test I snapped the glass back on using a glass press and sure enough it snapped on a treat. HOWEVER I could not believe my eyes some of the roman numerals had dislodged with the snap action. After running put of swear words I re-stuck the offending numerals with epoxy glue and a pin. When dry I used double sided tape (borrowed from the wife's craft room) Snapped the glass back on and I thought the jobs a good Un. HOWEVER I had stuck the eleven (XI) upside down i.e. (IX) this watch now has two 9,s. What a plonker you might say. Fortunately the neighbour thought it very funny and believe it or not is very happy with the repair. No fee charged for this one.

Thank you, Steinhart is a short run shop in Germany. They often run out of this model. they have some great looking watches at reasonable prices, of course readable is subjective. I seem to have a proclivity for big chunks of stainless steel.

I agree with Bob that,s a real stunner.

Honestly, you are changing my preferences about square watches! This one is a beauty! Thank you for posting it! Cheers, Bob

Welcome from me too, Stephen. Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you like what you see! :) Cheers, Bob

Welcome to the forum Stephen and thank you for your kind comments. :)

Awesome, thank-you!

It is a truly excellent lamp - I was going to keep it packed away until next week, but I could not resist giving it a test :)

Two 9s - excellent! This means that, if you do something silly at the first 9 o'clock, you'll be able to put it right by the next 9 o'clock. Back to the future indeed! :lol: