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Update on the Mudu Finished the service on March 31st. Wore the watch. Decided to clean the case. Guess what? Found the seconds hand in the fold of my working box Wednesday 15 May. Phew! Look at the difference that I can achieve. Wooho. Chuffed.

Did the movement and put it in the case just to make sure I could do the service. Was not happy as I did not have the hand so did not need to finish. When I found the hand I removed it and cleaned the case. Next is the crystal. I'm still learning. I have received a set of sanding sticks so used them.

@Zelda as Richard said, from the information you have given this is a quartz watch. This being so it’s stem positions are “run” and “hand set”, it does not wind being a battery powered watch. Tom Here is the ronda page with technical information on this movement which might be useful too https://www.ronda.ch/en/productfinder/caliber/763 Tom

Hi, I just restored a Seiko 7005-7100, I used a Sternkreuz XMF 310.847 (31.00mm by 2.2mm thick with a bevel) (Seiko 310 W 19 GN00) from Cousins UK all pictured below. Fitted perfectly. Your Welcome CJ

I was looking at a pocket watch on eBay where currently the bidding seems reasonable but I suspect that will change. Shipping costs US mail ground $29.50. As looking at all the other items the person sells wristwatches whatever most items are less than $10 but not a pocket watch. All those pocket watches are $29.50. Which of course makes me think twice about even bidding on an item where I'm going to get ripped off on the shipping charge

Let's just say my mainspring isn't as strong as it used to be and I'm a few jewels short of a full movement. We won't go into my balance staff.

That's what my cardiologist keeps telling me after i get his bill.

Cool when your done with you mentor you can give HIM away to me

My mentor uses it. I haven't tried it yet. My mentor is the worst tool junkie I've seen. He buys stuff to try as soon as it hits the market. Things he doesn't find so useful, he gives them away to his students. Maybe that's why I ended up with his silver bezel remover. His latest acquisition is a Chinese made automatic watch cleaning machine with built in ultrasonics, similar to an Elma or Greiner. Waiting eagerly for him to give it away.

What Jon does looks kind of rough and as though it would cause damage. A more accurate description of his method would be mindful, and purposeful action. Exactly has he says , it needs to be in a deliberate way without pussyfooting around. Its something i come across a lot in my own industry, you need to have the belief that it will work, sounds wierd but you could almost say you are willing it to work. Haha its not magic or mystical, it just puts you into the right mindset for doing something, mind over matter stuff

I'm thinking it might have a two piece stem in which case it comes out from the front. So the bezel needs to come off.

Many people have bought this and similar tools and have had bad experiences with it including myself. A better method has recently been described and demonstrated by @Jon. Please see the below link:

Too true! I particularly enjoyed fixing the end shake issue with my brand new Chinese horia clone. I have now used that to improve 3 non runners - would have paid for itself already if I ever got round to selling the projects I have worked on!

I have now successfully repaired 5 watches and I find it immensely satisfying. See the picture of the 4 pocket watches. The 2 Pocket Ben’s are Style 4 from 1939 and 1941. They used screws, not rivets on these models so I could disassemble them almost completely. I disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and lubricated them and they are running well and keeping good time. I also changed the mainsprings. The gold pocket watch was my uncles and had issues in the keyless works that I was able to repair. That was particularly rewarding as I can now pass that on down through the family. Keeps great time. The silver watch had a damaged hair spring that was not removable so I sourced a complete balance and replaced it. That has been running well also. Finally, not pictured, I replaced the quartz movement in my 40 year old Chronosport Atlantis dive watch. That has been my only wrist watch repair and I have been wanting to try some more . So I purchased a vintage Sovereign man’s wrist watch with some issues to try my hand at restoring it. Now for my question and this is embarrassing. I can’t figure out how to open the case. I have attached pictures. I believe it is a snap on case but I cannot find anything looking like a tab or slot to insert a pry tool into. I looked at pictures of Sovereign watches for sale that have the case back off and I don’t see any evidence of it being a screw on. My simple question is how do I open this thing? Thanks for your help!

Hello to you all! I'm a jewellery maker and I volunteer for a local charity shop - taking care of all their jewellery donations. They get a lot of watches too, so I started changing quartz watch batteries and once the back was open I just had to go further... I'm gaining a new skill and the charity is gaining more income - win-win! I'm still an absolute beginner and haven't learnt all the terms yet, but I've already seen that this will be a fantastic place to pick up tips and learn new things. The shop gets everything, from modern ten-a-penny to beautiful high quality vintage/antique watches, so I'll be looking to learn on the expendables before I move onto the good stuff. Looking forward to learning and share as I can. Thanks, in advance! Zelda

As a novice, you need to work on cheaper watches before tackling Rolex. Mistakes are costly.

Chuffed for you too, the only thing I'm slightly surprised by is you didn't clean the case in the first place. When the movement was out of the case, why not clean it then? Just questions, I really am happy for you.

Cousins have it as discontinued so will have a measure as recommended and try to find a generic replacement. Many thanks for the replies

I'm with @oldhippy on this one. I think it's a front loader. I found a couple of pictures of very similar watches and they have a split crown.

Hi As Hector explained blowing particles about only shifts the problem temporarily. Also did you use the new stem or the old one . Did you cut the new stem the same as the old one, many questions. If you cut the new stem to match the old one and got the same problem it looks like the stem was wrong in the first place and not engaging the keyless work correctly as it was short. Hence the reason it works with out the case in the way. If that is the case you need a new stem cut to the correct length .

Hi Cousins uk do assortments, in the USA try Esslingers or Jules Borel or even timesavers.

Did you use the old stem when you replaced it with the new movement? Try using the new stem instead. And it's a bad idea to air clean a watch movement. Dirt particles can be blown into places where they are not supposed to go. Use peg wood to loosen any dried up dirt and pick it up with a piece of Rodico. A quartz watch tester is a useful tool when working on quartz.

Hi, fellow watchmakers! I am a new apprentice to watchmaking and I am starting to overhaul my first movement. I am very excited and thrilled about the hobby. I’d love to find a community that could help me grow in this amazing endeavor. greetings to all, G7

Welcome, enjoy the forum

@RichardHarris123 thank you very much , checking if they have it. Edit: couldn't find the right links on their website, I sent a request to them to know if they could source them.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Enjoy The attached should give you a little help the book a though old contains a lot of valid information relavant today. TZIllustratedGlossary.pdf Joseph Bulova School of Watch Making.pdf

Hello and welcome from Leeds, England. You've arrived at the right place, lots of help and advice on here.

I also just want to add to this topic in case people are searching for info, if you are inserting and removing the winding stem and crown more than a few times, be a aware the the sleeve surrounding the stem by the crown is threaded. so if at the end of your project, you can only wind the watch by pressing in the crown, adjust the sleeve. This confused me for a few days, and I disassembled the watch many times thinking I had an issue with the keyless works.

I would recommend replacing the gut personally, that stuff gets really hard and likely at the point it is no longer malleable enough to properly untwist. https://www.cousinsuk.com/category/lines-ropes-cords it’s not expensive just fiddly, having done one with the gut I would more likely go with the perlon option now as that should be much easier to knot. All depends how original they want to keep it. Tom

Thanks Tom, I hadn't found cousinsuk yet. Book marked! So the generic route is what I was planning on but due to the inside curve I was concerned about interference with the hands if I bought a flat crystal? Is that something I should not worry about? I guess its worth a shot to just buy a flat generic one and go easy when I re-case the watch? Thanks again to everyone for the help. Learning a LOT as I go here.

Good idea the poll. Interesting answers.

It's useful to know a location as it helps in sourcing parts and equipment.

Do you have any personal experience with the tool or are you just guessing? Is there anyone else here who has experience with this tool?

I noticed this recently, and clicked on a couple of items to see why the postage was so expensive. When I looked at the item, the postage was reasonable. It was only the listing that showed a high amount. It seems to have been a bug that's been fixed. This is now the listing for the last item I sell a few watches on ebay, but wouldn't if they took 25% commission ! The selling fees in the UK in 2024 are :

Waisting some time on eBay... Saw these , then noticed the shipping. When the shipping is 4 times the cost of the watch it's either a serious oversight by the lister, or an attempt to rip you off. Either way, beware!

A one sided razor might help.

It‘s a snap on for sure! Some case backs don‘t provide a slot for the knife.

They are sold in different size ranges; it's not always obvious & possibly some sellers don't even know the difference!

I've had this for many years and have used it successfully with no issues on many watches. But I've only used it mainly for removing glass bezels, opening casebacks and novelty timepieces which were not designed to be open. For revolving bezels, I usually use a caseback knife to pry it off. Chinese tool quality can vary greatly. Some are almost indiscernible from the original Swiss tools and some are just junk. I have many Chinese tools that were junk straight out of the box but after some modifications and finishing, end up better than original Swiss because it's now designed to my specifications. We have another thread somewhere which discuss Chinese tools. Which are good, which are bad and which are junk. Do have a read if you are planning on buying any tools.

Hello and welcome from Leeds, England.

In that case, it's 31.0 mm diameter. I would just buy a generic crystal.

In the future one of the places you can go to get part numbers is the link below. You can enter the search term that I have below. http://cgi.julesborel.com/ SEK CS#7005-7100 Then a lot of times if you do a search for the part number just online you'll find references like eBay where it seems a bit pricey but does appear to be available shipping is a bit of a pain depending upon where you live in the world though because it looks like they're out of country sellers. Any other references I'm finding that this is a hard crystal to get. Then companies like cousins is 100% online. A lot of the US material houses are not 100% online. This means that you have to reach out to them and inquire as to whether they would have the crystal or could suggest a replacement. https://www.esslinger.com/watch-parts-inquiry/

That's great Col, i firmly believe once you have gained some knowledge you just have to jump in and crack on.

I think a ten minute rinse in water is too long.