Leaderboard

I cannot recall if I have posted this one before: I was in the mood to wear black today. And I've always liked the color combination of black and gold with a black dial. This is an uncommon one these days; an Avalon "Rivera", from sometime in the 1960s, with the usual 17 jewels, incabloc, & water *resistant*. I do not remember off the top of my head which Swiss ébauche is in here, but it is Swiss and looked pretty sweet. Fairly accurate as well. And makes for decent eye-candy also.

I have and use the Proxonn Micromot 60/EF. I think I bought it around 2006. It gets daily use, and is still working great; and I use the "universial" chuck on it, not the little collets. Tools run amazingly true- I'm really suprised. It has thousands of hours of professional use on it, far more than it was intended for, and it simply keeps going. I did have to open up the power supply box finally a year or two ago to glue up the support where the motor plugs in. Not surprising considering how many times it's hit the floor with me being a klutz. Highly recommended tool. I'm not an expert case polisher, but I can say that prep work is at least as important as polishing. If there are deep scratches, they should be taken out with a fine file in extreme cases, or in lesser cases and/or post-file, using abrasive paper on a backer. 3M Imperial lapping film with adhesive back is widely available and very high quality; grits from 30 micron to perhaps 12 or 3 would be suitable for pre-polishing work. 30/20/12/3 is what I generally use, might through 9 in between 12 and 3 sometimes. For a backer it's usually a roughly file-shaped piece of metal, brass, steel, whatever, sometimes wood. With careful work here the risk of rounding everything over is greatly diminished when actually polishing.

Spent the last few nights after work working on this atlantic which has a different look and reminds me of the watches you see from the 70s on programs like Minder and the Sweeny. I now have the Minder theme tune ear worm! It came in reasonable condition, and the timegrapher showed a rate of +227 s/d and an amplitude of 182° and a beat error of 9.9 ms. After a good clean and some TLC I managed to improve the situation, here is the trace after about 12 hours, I plan to tweak the rate and beat error tonight, but I'm very happy with the new amplitude of 307° which is a gain of 125°. I managed to save the crystal but the dial was literally flaking away in front of my eyes so had to restrict myself to how much work I did on it. I did a case clean/polish and reapplied the heavy brush finish to the bracelet, and here is the final result: I'm wearing this at work today, wonder if I'll get any comments, or arm muscle strain from the weight of it

Members of this forum who have been here for several years may have noticed my posts showing my projects have reduced greatly. I have now reached the grand old age of 70 and last year I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, it is in my back upper and lower and both hips. Hence I have had to reduce my workload greatly but luckily I do not need my horological work to make living. It’s now purely a hobby but I still do get a regular amount of horological work. I therefore thought it worth sharing the adjustments I have made to my workspace and lifestyle to manage my condition. Workspace Ergonomics: the biggest issue with my osteoporosis is pain and aches in my back particularly the upper. Leaning over a watch or clock for several hours really does become very uncomfortable. So the first adjustment I made was to make the work bench considerably higher. The front edge of the bench is now level with my upper chest area so now my elbows can rest on the bench and this reduces the strain on my upper back. My second adjustment was to change my static height chair to an adjustable height chair with wheels. This greatly helps when I need to be higher when using my microscope. The third change I made is all my regular tools are now at hand by being on either the work bench or stored on a bench by my side or in a cabinet. These can be easily reached by just moving around on my new chair with wheels. Work Schedule and Rest Breaks: I now take regular breaks to avoid overexertion. Prolonged periods of sitting or standing can be challenging for individuals with osteoporosis. I now work with manageable timeframes never promising a quick fix. The exception being battery changes for quartz watches. Clock and watch services I give a minimum of one month as a timeframe. Medication and Medical Management: there is little help with regard to medication apart from pain relief medicines. For me personally ibuprofen helps but when I have a bad day more powerful meds are available. Vitamin D is also apparently helpful. I do take one pill a day but I have not noticed any improvement. Healthy Lifestyle: I have been given exercises from a physiotherapist for my back and hips. These exercises basically increase the strength of the muscles around the effected parts so they are supported better. This has helped greatly particularly with my hips. I now no longer have to use a walking stick. I used to drink alcohol on a regular basis and eat large meals. But now I only drink alcohol occasionally and myself and my dearest have a more balanced diet which involves more salads and a lot less red meat. We have both lost weight and my belly is considerably flatter . These are the steps I have made but Osteoporosis affects not every sufferer the same. If you think you have Osteoporosis get medical consultation first.

Interesting read watchie, i studied diet quite extensively when i was strength training and body building. The suppliment industry is enormous is these fields and i took plenty. Some can work, and a lot do not. The big thing with supplements is absorbtion, cheap does not or very very little , expensive can, and much of it relies on your own ability to absorb and utilise what you injest. Supplements can be useful but there is absolutely no substitute for good nutritious real food packed full of balanced vitamins and minerals . Which is where the real problem lays, your friend is correct, the food we eat today beres no resemblance to the food our grandparents ate. Some of that boils down to the poor depleted earth that it grows in boosted with processed feed and a lot due to the lovely processed crap that we eat ( supposedly the 50s answer to food shortage, basically an American experiment) .Good healthy organic food costs unfortunately. But much of the supplements we take can be replaced with real food. As an example did you know that cabbage contains more vit. C than lemons, cabbage in the form of sauerkraut (good homemade fermented cabbage). Fermented food is especially good for our guts which is where health begins and ends. Your vit C intake seems quite high, I'm just wondering what colour you pee is. For an average healthy adult Magnesium would be missing, a very important mineral used for hundreds of processes in the body, many people are deficient in it because its used so much. Chelated supplements are best, absorbed more efficiently but they are at the expensive end. Collagen would be another good addition to a healthy diet through real food if possible ( not particularly nice ) a bovine suppliment maybe a better choice here though . Again not a cheap product to buy if its full organic sourced from grass reared and finished animals.

Hello Just a quick update. I managed to get the mainspring into the barrel and in the correct position. After using a mainspring winder, I marked the tab location of the mainspring on the winder barrel and the slot location on the going barrel. A black sharpie was used to mark the two spots. Then I aligned them up and carefully injected (correct term?) the mainspring into the barrel. In order to see the two markings I had to lie my face flat on the bench to properly see them. Looking from the top down wouldn't have helped me see the two markings. I hope this all makes sense! Thanks for everyone's quick responses and helpful suggestions.

If it's still stuck it's probably not clean. There's lots of ways to do this, but my first trick would be to use Rodico on both pieces to separate them. They should have separated in the one dip, so there's probably a lot of dried oil/dirt holding them together. When you do separate them, I would clean them with pegwood and resoak them in one dip.

Just dont switch it for the rubbish thats produced as a substitute, some of that is even worse for you than the sugar. The goal is to rid yourself of the sweet tooth altogether .

A neighbour asked me to look at a watch for her friend, little did I know what was coming. so this was/is an official Disney watch, an automatic no less. the caseback said Japanese movement, so I thought ok myota or seiko, subdial for seconds which seemed to work fine but the hour and minute hand didn’t. So the usual “I’ll see what I can do if anything “ and the answer was “ok do your best “ looking at the automatic mechanism before I got into it looked more Chinese than what I am used to for Japanese. Filled around a lot to try and get the automatic works and movement ring separated, didn’t work and I initially thought I broke something as the automatic works came out with the ring! Second look, so did the balance? underneath was a cheap Epson quartz ! So it was a fraud that it was an automatic watch but the real watch was quartz. I should have taken photos but I didn’t, I was rather flabbergasted that anyone would create a second hand and balance like this, a total fraud and ripoff imho! this was apparently a quiet expensive watch, £200+ Tom , venting for the ripoff’s

There is so much that we don't understand about the bacterial flora in our bodies. (Bacterial microbiome) From the microbiome on our skin, oral cavity, to the gut. If we are thrown into the Amazonian jungle for a month, like in the Survivor tv series, we will get all kinds of sores and skin infections that a native would not. Recent medical research is of the opinion that periodontal health is responsible for a wide range of systematic diseases, like heart disease, diabetes, pancreatic cancer, low birth weight, etc. Some research also suggest that gut health is responsible for obesity. Experiments using 2 groups of germ-free mice, one infected with gut bacteria from healthy mice, the other infected with gut bacteria from obese mice, found that the 1st group remained healthy while the 2nd group developed obesity on an identical diet. Our microbiome is "inherited" from our parents, who "inoculate" us with the bacteria they carry. Scientists think that some familial traits and diseases are actually due the microbiome and not genetics.

Has nobody told you that Seikos are real watches lol. Pictures please J

No. There was a discussion somewhere about them they looked nearly identical, so we speculated that berg and they were from the same source. I was curious, so I bought them. Nope.

Thing is this wasn’t even a fake, this came out of the Disney shop, which for me kinda makes it even worse. Tom It wasn’t even as complex as that one though it did have me scratching my head how to take this automatic watch movement out of the case! Tom

I don't know about folks in other countries, but a great majority of US (California) folks don't prepare their own food. I am the only daily cook that I know. The point is, it may be costly to buy healthy but if you cook it yourself it is still far cheaper than getting prepared meals. In studies looking at longevity, eating fermented foods are something all the longest living peoples have in common. I do eat sauerkraut and kimchee and whatever else I can find. I have always heard health starts in the gut but have not really understood why.

Heheheh, another great topic. You know there is an active market for the fakes, right? They are sold as fakes, and they are not cheap. Some are quite good, and some people don't care what the movement really is, just what it looks like. Twice I fell for fake wristwatches, and happily did not pay much. One was a Rolex which arrived with the numerals and hands jumbled loose under the crystal. The back is unremovable, and I don't think there is even a movement in there. The other is a Piaget, and I have never seen a more convincing fake. The weight and feel are perfect, it has the signature clasp and crown, and when setting, the feel when moving the hands is perfect. Inside, a small Japanese quartz movement. A friend fell so in love with it that he traded me three decent vintage Seikos for it. I thought I got a great trade, but I don't collect Seikos, lol. Maybe I can trade them for a real watch somewhere.

Great topic. I have a different bone disease and was in a wheelchair for 3.5 years. I would still be there if I had not embraced that idea that movement will not do any damage, it will not make anything worse, it helps tremendously. It is an every single day effort, I now do at least an hour daily on a recumbent bike with heavy resistance, and at least half hour daily of various other things, like weights or dancing. Good, loud music on the headphones drives the workout. I know that not everyone will feel they can do such a workout, I know I thought I could not. Do what you can. As far as keeping ahead of aging issues and being proactive, that's a great strategy and one I have been using. However: it doesn't always work. Yesterday at the doctor I found out that I suddenly am diabetic, in a big way. I start injecting insulin today and another injected drug weekly as well. It's coming, the decline, so I stay in gratitude daily (hourly, constantly) for what I am able to do now. Which includes watches. What a blessed life.

Bearing wobble can be common with cheap tools, but not always the case, it can be a hit or a miss . I have a 12volt cordless one that was £20 which can run a 25mm felt wheel with good stability. Keeping the accessory short and tight up to the chuck collar will give the least wobble, even if you have to cut down the length of the shaft. A variable speed angle grinder with a good quality flexi shaft could give you the best of both worlds.

I agree. But I have more money than good sense. In my current situation, I have a watch where there are few donors and I have to fix this thing. I am afraid to punch away at this hairspring since I have no backup. So, I shell out the cash. ...and I am a tool junkie, and this stuff seems to never lose value...or much value

If you are sure this indeed is whats happening, two issues must be at work simultaneously, First; too much torque must get to the train ( due to real tight canon pinion). Second; pallets must let the escape teeth slip ( due to loose pallets, excessive side shakes on fork or escape wheel due to bent fork or escape pivot, or worn out jewel hole) so each one named must be checked. Video just shows its happening, doesn't actually show the cause. Rgds

It is the "proper" way with least risk. But as a home fiddler, I probably only need to close collets maybe once a year. So I'll stick to the concave punch, and save my money for more useful things (e.g wine an whisky )

A good tool makes you enjoy the work you do with it, while a bad tool has the opposite effect! Unfortunately, this rotary toolkit from CousinsUK is of the latter type. Admittedly, it does its job decently well but is not very efficient as the polishing head vibrates strongly which means that only part of, rather than the entire felt tip comes into contact with the surface being polished. Maybe worth the money (£35 + tax) but if you want to have fun at work, you'll probably have to look for a more expensive alternative. It would be foolish to try to polish your finest watch the first thing you do when learning, so I appointed this nut to be my guinea pig. I found this video that shows how I went about it. Here is the result of my first attempt and it turned out unexpectedly well if I do say so myself. I first sanded the surface with a sandpaper-like accessory to get a reasonably even scratched surface. Then I polished it with green Dialux and finally with Polinum (using my substandard rotary tool). Warm in my clothes, it was time to try polishing at least part of the case on my beloved and recently serviced Vostok "Panerai" Amphibia with a ministry case. I have had the watch for almost 10 years but have used it quite sparingly (because there are so many other watches to choose from in the watch box). This time I chose to start with Polinum because it has a less abrasive action (I believe). I polished for about two to three minutes as I thought the results looked good enough. I have to say that I was once again surprised by the result even though it wasn't quite perfect, but nothing is or can ever be perfect, right? Anyway, I won't be using my lousy rotary tool again, at least not for polishing watch cases. However, it was good enough to give me a bloody tooth, so now I've started looking at alternatives. The first option comes from Proxxon (a German manufacturer if I'm not misinformed) and is called 230/E Micromot. It can be bought separately without accessories and without a toolbox, but I need a box for storage because I don't have a workshop. In addition, I was thinking of ordering a Proxxon 110/BF flex shaft for it because I think it is more comfortable and precise, especially when sitting for long periods of time. The other option I'm considering is a Dremel Fortiflex. The presumed advantage is that it has a foot pedal, a significantly stronger motor (which is probably not a significant advantage when polishing watch cases) and that the accessories are attached with a chuck just like on a drill, which I think can be more precise, i.e. minimise vibrations in the accessories. The downside for me is the storage as it doesn't come in a tool box. I have also looked at Fordom rotary tools but then the price tag seems to go up even more. If you have experience with any of these tools mentioned or can recommend any other rotary tools, in addition to those already mentioned in the thread (thanks), for polishing watch cases it would be very valuable and appreciated if you could share.

If it's good amplitude the pallet pivots should be OK. I've had this when one of the pallet jewels is loose. Worth checking. Do you have a pic of the pallet/escape wheel?

It's the gentlest of taps, rather than a whack! But I agree, it's a stressful procedure. It's such a simple tool. Isn't there some other tool which will do the job? I just put an old hairspring on bench block and closed the collet with some simple nail clippers. Working under the microscope it's quite controllable.

I ordered it from Ofrei. Should arrive early next week

Hi everyone! I am Ravi Delighted to be here. I love watches, though can't afford the expensive timepieces. More interested in being able to create watches for myself. Can wear my own style and have a great hobby too Do point me to the parts of the forum where I can learn more about DIY watches. In the meantime, here is a watch I bought from a very small Indian watch designer (the movement is imported from Japan I think. P.S. they sent the wrong strap which looks just as nice.)

Hello and welcome from England. We love photos on here.

it actually is a really useful tool. then we just talked about at the other day it's been cloned

You need to use a tapered punch. But it has to be just the right size, if it's too wide it will push down on the spring. Are you sure it's the correct spring? I just got a watch with the wrong hairspring - the collet was way too big and fixed with shellac !

Thanks, I think its a ST96-4, good eye!

I'm a little behind you in age, @clockboy. With the idea of preventing problems down the road, some time ago I invested in a height adjustable table similar to @Waggy's, and adjustable height chairs with wheels. So far, no serious problems, except -- Darn eyes. I use almost every vision aid there is, microscope, loupes, visors, a tremendous amount of light, and so far I've been able to keep at it, but I wonder. I can "see" my future, and I think there will be lot of squinting going on . Thankfully, there are now treatments for macular degeneration that can at least halt the deterioration, if not improve things. Cheers!

Glad you are still managing to work on watches and continue to use your talent to good effect. I'm a bit crazy when it comes to ergonomics from my time with a previous employer who were obsessed with it. As I sit here now at my work station in my current job I have replaced the work supplied equipment with ergonomic versions at my own expense. For my watches I also have an adjustable chair on wheels, and I treated myself to an electrical raising and lowering desk, all in the name of ergonomics. Prevention is better than cure. Sometimes I wonder if I am being excessive, but your example confirms that they are in fact reasonable precautions. Taking from your post I'll now add regular breaks to my process. Glad that you have recovered some of your mobility and thanks for taking the time to give us the benefit of your experience and warnings. PS I agree with @tomh207 getting old sucks, from someone who shredded his ACL in the army and still feels the effects! Here is my desk, goes from way below sitting height all the way to standing height and every mm in between. just wondering everyone's views in working with a microscope on a spring loaded boom arm, like a monitor arm, rather than a regular one in terms of a better posture when working rather than a visor or standard microscope where you are tempted to hunch over your work?

Sorry to hear this @clockboy , I am younger than you by a smidgen and I carry a few injuries from army days. Getting old sucks, the upside is we can take our time over things, the exception being our health. all the best Tom

Here is the clone. Yes, the breguet is as you have shown the second figure. My plan was (if I had the tool) to flip the hairspring over to get maximum grab for the closer. Of course, one must be careful not to get the actual hairspring caught in the closer. Everything at this level of work requires the greatest of finesse as you well know. There is no tool where I drop the hairspring into the input and it comes out on the other side just like I want it...lol. I have been using a concave punch. I cringe every time I take a whack at the stake. I want something more controlled. From the pictures, the clone looks like it would do the job...not a complex tool. Notice the phillips head screw versus the slotted one on the Bergeon. Maybe the tools are made by the same source and Bergeon made them differentiate with the screw type. Who knows.

Seiko Elnix 0702-6010 Changed the Crystal for a 285V17GCAF Straight swap for the 285V21GN. I also ordered a 285V23GCAF but that wasn't quite the right fit. I will make a post highlighting the similarities and differences for future reference.

is that the picture of the knockoff tool? Then the original works fine for closing hairspring collets for the most part. to understand the good and the bad of the tool I found pictures they'll make more sense. So typically will flash hairspring the hairspring will be in the middle of the collet like in the image. This gives you lots of room for the tool to grab and squeeze but for over coil hairsprings you can end up with something like this where in order to get the caller hairspring in they hairspring is P end lower down in the collet. Sometimes it's very low and that presents a challenge for squeezing without squeezing the hairspring which is undesirable then where did you see the clone tool?

I have one of these style arms for my PC monitor and it works well, however when typing or working on the desk there is a slight wobble in the screen. This wobble is not a problem in a computer monitor as a 1mm movement can be compensated for by our brain (like driving a car on a bumpy road). However a 1mm wobble at high magnification will be greatly amplified and render the microscope unusable. Also, as @Klassikerpoints out (and I can confirm) the gas spring is designed to make the screen seem almost weightless so you can move it easily with little effort and it is not designed to lock the screen into position. Therefore, every time you look into the scope, even the slightest nudge will move the head and knock the scope out of focus and/or off target. Combining these two issues I would look for a better solution perhaps some kind of camera mount?

Hi from what I gather they were not made to be opened up They were supposed to have a battery life which out lived the watch. As its a one piece case when assembled it must have all gone in through the front. Whether the bezel was designed to be removed is another matter. The normal method of removing the bezel is bu using a case knife of a purpose built tool. The tool exerts pressure from all sides popping the bezel. The video shows how. Doing so is at your own risk. I cannot find any data on this watch at all.

Looks like this ones could work . Has the same dimensions as the drawing. Send me a PM and i can send them to you.