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You are so right in many ways. I don't even wear a watch. I've got many clocks in my home I don't even wind them up any more. One thing you don't have right and that is I'm still learning from the members on here, there are so many new tools for doing different repairs and some of the things members do is mind blowing. So I'll eat humble pie and let you folks have fun while learning and full credit to you all. I will now shut up and go back to sleep, us old buggers need our sleep.

Just had an eBay purchase arrive, an Enicar military style, so I thought I'd have a quick look. When I took the case back off I noticed some strange marks, almost like the metal had been discoloured due to heat. However, if you kind of squint at it the almost look like letters??? The movement itself is fine. Maybe some marker or ink that has degraded over time or reacted with moisture?? Any ideas out there? Pictures below:

There are many things that I have become proficient in and then lost interest because I can do it, on to the next. You may of got tired of watches but your contribution is invaluable.

The center wheel bridge plate i was described, the op's is different.

I could not resist this one and hope that it really looks as nice as in the pictures of the seller. I'm salivating over those blued hands. An Omega ref 730.17 from 1939 with the calibre T17 that was record breaking at the time for it's 60h power reserve. In fact, Omega took until 2006 (call 8500) to surpass this number. It has a nice 22mm (without crown) by 39mm (with lugs) size.

If the spindle diameter is 8mm (which almost all seem to be), then you can get a new spindle for either 3mm or 4mm pushers from Horia for a reasonable price. A Seitz spindle would work as well, but I don't see them listed at Cousins, just the reamer spindle (might be worth asking if they do have the pusher spindle), or just trawl Ebay until an orphan spindle comes up.

Sunny Stoney by the Sea is far I am. The "fit fur fit like loon" made oi larf. Last century I was on a Norwegian rig (can't remember why, but probably to break something) one of the women onboard was chatting away, she had a Scottish boyfriend. "Teach me a Scottish phrase" she said. "Braw brich moonlicht nicht the nicht !" Nope, I know that one, teach me another . . "Fit fit, fits fit?" (Translates as fit = which, fit = foot, fits = fits, fit =which (implied, boot/shoe/slipper e.t.c.)) She looked slightly irked, got up, left and came back 5 mins later with another tame Jock.. "say that last phrase again" she more or less instructed . . So I did. Second tame Jock (who could speak a bit of Nog) ended himself, said to the lady that it was indeed a genuine if silly phrase. She looked less irked, "what was the issue ?" I asked . . Do you know what "fitte" means in Norwegian?" Nope, says I, with my best career spanning gormless look, what does it mean? "Lady parts, crude version of" . . . bang went the cultural attache position . . . . Having just said (effectively) fitte, fitte, fitte fitte . . . .

Hello from Scotland. I recently re-awakened an interest from my youth in watches and clocks. Strangely the catalyst was searching for a replacement hand for a Starrett dial indicator that I picked up for pennies on ebay and which I though might be useful for leveling the bed on my 3d printer. It was missing the dial hand, which looked very like a watch second hand, so that led to a search for a suitable donor watch. Needless to say I then got distracted by the vast array of old time pieces to be had for pennies, and grabbed a couple of basket cases. The first one was a Sicura Voyageur. It only says Voyageur on the dial, but it has all the hallmarks of a Sicura, with the seahorse emblem on the caseback, and the remains of hands that look like the Sicura "Marine Star" It was in a sorry state, but after a quick clean, polish and minor overhaul it's Rondo-matic heart is now ticking away nicely. I'm awaiting a suitable second hand for that, currently on the slow boat from China, and it has parted company with its bezel, which I may fabricate a replacement for if I get the time. The problem there is that I can't find another "Voyager" to compare with, and Sicuras had a variety of different bezels. I found WRT by watching some of Mark's many excellent Watch Repair Channel videos, many thanks for those Mark. I have a couple of other basket case watches ordered from ebay. I set myself an artificial ceiling of £4.04 per watch (although I have already blown that a couple of times), as I figured that there was a lot of fun to be had from resurrecting an item destined for landfill and costing less than a trip to the coffee shop. My day job involves computers, and I dabble in electronics as a hobby, which means I'm fairly patient, and used to dealing with very small fiddly components, and already have a bunch of small tweezers, screwdrivers, clamps, magnifiers and so on.

That makes sense. Still, the same principles apply when sharpening a knife edge using an Arkansas stone or a Carborundum stone which I assume are a lot softer than knife steel. I can't claim that I understand the physical laws that make this possible, but apparently, it works. Anyway, you just have to take my word for it. If you use plain printing paper it will scratch the flat surface of the cap jewel. I would assume, especially if you go too hard or for too long. Better yet, if you have a stereo microscope, test it and let us know what you find! EDIT: I was completely wrong! Both Arkansas stone or Carborundum stone are a lot harder than knife steel. So, I agree, printing paper shouldn't be able to scratch synthetic ruby. Nevertheless, that's very clearly what I saw. I'll have to do the experiment again!

Hi OH. What the guys say is true. I have been working on clocks and watches as a hobby for fourty years plus, you as an actual job. That bit i envy and wold have loved it. Always respect your input, you having been there and done it five days a week for how many years ?, long may you continue to advise, and like you I learn from a lot of these guys on the forum.

Thanks guys.

Looks similar to the AS1916 that I serviced. They can be taken apart and lubricated. It's probably not recommended, but I used the Aliexpress Platax Lite® to separate by positioning so the two pinions are separated by the groove and then pushed down on the pivot with the handle of a brass tweezer. I've used a Presto hand remover tool in the past with success, but I've also twice accidentally pulled the entire thing out of the wheel so I don't use that any more. Might want to use a smoothing broach on the friction pinion if it feels overly tight, or maybe just put it on and take it off a few times to help loosen it.

Look ref at caseback.

You might still be learning OH but like the saying you've forgotton more than we will ever know. Dont mind me it was just a comparison of attitude due to long term experience. We grow tired of everything eventually.

Never mind the humble pie, we enjoy your contributions, feel free to tell it as it is any time.

30%? Let's see the rest.

I know this watch better than any other, my first and sentimental.

Yes, it keeps the minute wheel and the setting wheel in place. What's so unusual is that it's friction-fitted in the main plate (red circles). I never saw that before. Anyway, it works!

Yes, it's a very basic, robust, and accurate movement, but it has its challenges. I'm thinking about the cap jewels and their springs for the escape wheel pivots which can be a bit tricky to handle plus the centre wheel and pallet-fork end-shake which must be superprecise to prevent the shellac on the entry stone from colliding with the teeth on the centre wheel. So, perhaps not the most perfect beginner's movement.

I would guess Raketa as well. Here are some pictures from a Raketa 2609.HA assembly that could possibly be of help.

A smidge under £46 its on my to do list, if I get through some other stuff this weekend

@Neverenoughwatches I think you are probably right

This is sort of off topic, and sort of on topic. I'm over in India visiting family, and my glasses screw kept unscrewing itself. Now if I were at home, I'd reach for the GS Cement and pop a little in the hole, screw the screw back in and it would be fine for another six months or whatever. Here in India, I only have access to Amazon (no ebay in India, despite what you might have heard), and I couldn't get GS cement for a reasonable price. Don't ever be tempted to put superglue anywhere near anything optical. It will all end in tears (and cloudy white permanent marks on your lenses). So I did a little trawling to find out roughly what is in GS cement. I came up with a Chinese clone called Zhanlida E8000 and ordered a tube. It comes in a plastic tube, unlike the aluminium one which GS cement uses, but it does have the thin needle applicator. So far I'm impressed. It seems to do the trick, and as an added bonus it has "Mad fans around the world". Pop "e8000 glue" into your favourite "cheap'n cheerful stuff" search box and give it a try. Let me know your thoughts.

And here is my new baby. Robur press with it's die set. Together with an aluminium threaded die set from CousinsUK and my hero's @Waggy@Waggy 3D printed adapter (Robur to m6 thread). I hope to be set for life

Its not military Ness, the case shape is different for that much heavier. Just military style, trying to copy some way with a black face . It looks more like it was engraved and the heat from that has scorched the inside, but definitely marked from the outside. Its a Durowe 422 1950s. Enicar did make miltary spec watches. Even though this isn't doesnt mean to say it wasn't used in the military, soldiers often wore their own.

Its through to the outside, ink wouldnt do that . Sorry just woke up .Actually was marked from the outside. The initials are J.C.

Of course @oldhippy and you are likely to know. I happen to associate war with hard drugs, trenches and limited resources, and this is a military watch I think you said. Forgot to say first time: nice looking watch. I wish I had one lol.

Perhaps someone burned something like incense in it, or used it for heating or melting something unhealthy. I have a nephew who has spoons that are similarly discolored.

If this hijacked vessel can handle one more stowaway observation, I find it somehow sad and disappointing when people amble through forums like this one asking how much their watch is worth. It's even worse when it was handed down to them from generations gone, especially when it says Quartz on it.

Thanks for your welcome note. Pinging watch parts is something I've already experienced. I was removing a Seiko Diafix spring but used the wrong method and it too joined the space program! Luckily, using the LED torch on my phone I saw the reflection on the gold spring at the other end of my bench. I'd thought of doing something like your box too but I envisaged something like the "cone of silence" from Get Smart Thanks for your kind words.

That is very understandable. I take back my words regarding childishness. It’s a natural assumption to make on the face of it without context. I wish him all the very best.

Yes, and he still has a paid training set of videos and that's how I got in touch with him. And yes, the problem was that he felt I was promoting watchfix.com even though I had not mentioned the site in my introductory post, but I guess the fact that I mentioned WRT as my "main source for watch repairing" and had provided a link to my bio on WRT was enough to make him suspicious, and rightly or wrongly, he took it as me advertising watchfix.com, but that was certainly not my intention. That's certainly my overall impression as well from having taken his excellent "Watchmaking 101, Beginner Course" (https://learnwatchmaking.com/) and having listened to Pods and Youtube videos with him. As we all know, there are as many approaches to repairing as there are repairers so I've taken several courses from various sources including watchfix.com, timezonewatchschool.com, and learnwatchmaking.com. If on a budget I'd personally recommend watchfix.com, but there's a lot to learn from all of these online schools. Sure, there's an overlapping, but still worth it in my opinion. Oh, I should have mentioned it! He didn't kick me out of his Facebook group. We settled the misunderstanding by texting each other in the Messenger app and he didn't seem one bit resentful after that. I can certainly recommend his online training. He has three different courses (and one free) but the only one I've taken, as already mentioned, is the "Watchmaking 101, Beginner Course". That's very true!

Good morning people. I want to share the watches I bought at one auction yesterday. Eight watches, six lots, with little time to spare because I didn’t know about the auction. I think I got really lucky on all of it, but one in particular is unlike any I have seen before. I’ll whip through the first seven watches quickly then on to my unusual one. I hope somebody here can tell me about it. 1 – A Paul Dupree Aquamatic, which I’ve never heard of. Looks early 70s. 2 – A Rensie 14k (so they said), don’t know this one either, but late 40s maybe? Incabloc. 3 – A pair of women’s watches, one Banner and one other. 4 – A Wittnauer 10k. 5 – A 21j Rockford pocket watch, open face gf case. I could not read the serial number in the pix but I am thinking it is a grade 645 model 2. 6 – The doozy: a pair of older pocket watches, one billed as Elgin and the other one – the super cool one – has no indication of maker. Has anyone ever seen a movement like this? I have quite a few ideas about what it all is but hopefully someone can tell me, and if not it will be here soon enough. The second most amazing thing is how little I paid for them all. Waiting to see what postage will be, but most might just make your 404 club.

oh dear you shouldn't have said that to this group. I would suggest finding the nearest fallout shelter and hiding until it blows over. You might think of hiring a bodyguard for a while. in the meantime I'm going to have a laugh about this and wish I had done it as it was a beautiful thing to say.

I was able to register as a private customer without a company i.d. so they will sell retail direct via the website. The big advantage in opening an account versus using the eBay shop are the prices. Purchasing direct is significantly cheaper than via eBay.

classically when people take their watches off and put them in the where were they put them and don't wear them again they have a problem. Watches that classically have a problem well there is no classic but they have a problem something it needs to be repaired. Oftentimes you'll see watches on eBay and other places where the regulators is push to the extreme to try to compensate for a problem which is not a regulation problem. in other words this watch needs to be serviced and attempting to regulate won't fix the problem or replacing a balance complete will not necessarily fix the problem especially when all the lubrication's after 30 years are no longer going to be functional. Then if you're looking for Seiko case part numbers we need the entire case number that's the movement number found on the back. It's the number that starts with the movement number and then it has some additional digits because casing parts are assigned to casing numbers not movement numbers. They can be literally thousands of styles of cases that would hold that movement that's why you need to complete number.