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I've been having a tidy and have a box of movements, cases, dials etc. I have no use for them, I'll get pennies on ebay so free to a good home. Also quite a few ladies movements.

Hairspring work is a big part of watchrepair and hairspring issues are undoubtedly the most common of all faults in a movement. Searching the word hairspring in the forum archives I bet will show more results than any other enquiry. You haven't said what your role is with watches but I see you have been a member of the forum since almost its creation. Learning to repair hairsprings is really a must with watch repair.

Photos as requested. Why don't I want them, there's some useful parts and some are working. I don't have time, between work and other commitments, I'm doing very little. When I do have time, work on watches without any complications, usually 17 jewels and working (ish). I can pretty much service them in an afternoon. On personal note, I don't like patina, the watches I have kept maybe 40 plus years old but once cleaned and serviced look brand new. I realise many disagree.

I've been combing ebay tonight and while I have found a couple of block Roman dials like yours, they are a teacup spilled in the ocean compared to the more common thin Romans and various typical Arabic numeral styles. Now I'm going to want to build a watch with one of these. I dislike the tall, thin Roman numerals on most American watches but these have a nice presence. A 12 size including "U.S.A", a 16 size without it, and also an Elgin (I found even fewer Elgins overall)

I know them as open ended straps.

Thats something i never risk doing even with any of my dive watches.

I did wonder about a 1.2 ring, but I thought it might stand proud of the case after re-measuring. I thought I'd err on the side of caution. I can throw another onto the order I got the impression from looking at other Orients that the crystal often stands slightly proud of the case. Again, I thought I'd err on the side of caution: better .1 or .2 mm proud of the case than below it. I'll put it through shortly and hopefully it will arrive before the new year. Even if there is a slight issue with the height of the gaskets or crystals it will still confirm an i gasket is required and where to go from there. That's still a win.

It's rare for it to be internal, that's to say between the arbor and the wheel (though possible in some cases). It's either between the tube and the pivot, or the tube and the hand- and sometimes both. Loctite is indeed a sin here. You can close the tube either with a fancy Bergeon 3010 tube-closing tool, or, in a collet in the lathe, or, with a small pinvice. You want to go slowly, it's easy to close it too much. If you find that the tube is turning in the hand, you must rivet it a bit more. Here I use a pointed staking tool in the hole, with the bottom of the tube flat on the block of staking tool, couple of light taps, then, a very small concave punch to hit the outside of the protruding tube. It's very easy to bend/crush the tube doing this, be careful!

Journe doesn't supply movements to anyone, I'm guessing this is an F. Piguet movement.

Yes, I thought the same! Hence me request for more photos.

The balance assembly didn't look anything special, in fact the underside of the cock looked very plain and a bit scuffed up ?? If thats the quality of a 6 figure watch...then I'll stick with BFG s its not even an overcoil, looks dodgy and fake tbh.

Whoa, are you serious!? Please share more pictures! That must be a 5 to 6 digit price tag.

Sure, but not if both of the depths are adjusted accordingly to keep the stones and escape teeth centered. Also Important is to keep all of the escapement endshakes to a minimum. I would come back for a refresher talk on what to do when your jewel press arrives.

Just seen your edit and it looks like an I Ring to me.

Indeed it's something that will have to be investigated. If required, both settings may have to be adjusted but if it is a minor shift (a few hundred of a millimeter) it should be OK. Ideally, the escape wheel teeth should be centred on the impulse surfaces of the pallets.

Yes, one should look how the EW sits against the pallet stones before taking decision to where it must go. But pallet stones itself are wide enough (I mean in height) so small change in EW position in height will usually not change the correct interaction.

I had to read it several times before I understood.

Not sure what they call the strap but you could fit a NATO strap.

Its a good test for free balance, better still when performed in other positions as well.

Hi mate, It's always good to tell us which movement this is. You'd then also probably be able to find pictures online of a balance/hairspring and how it should look. That being said, I think this hairspring is only bent in the area of the regulator pin (most common location) :

Lol, they were meant for you Andy, I doubt you'd ever beat that price. I am curious to know if they are the same same books with one of them revised. The book I have says Band 2 and 3. I have seen it new for sale in Switzerland for 60 quid plus postage. One last thing that might be worth knowing to ID the movement, measuring the stem. And one last last thing, I can check the balance staff stock I have for it.

@JohnR725 indeed, my grandfather told me of when his father took him to a jewellers shop to get a watch for his 21st, something of a family tradition, he got to choose his watch, dial, hands and case also whether to have the jewellers name on the dial. This is a Swiss movement and a Dennison star case. In different conversations over the years I do remember him telling me of people replacing worn or damaged cases. I do think that in this modern world we forget that at one time watches really weren’t the remit of hobbyists but an important day to day tool. Tom

I thought I would remind everybody of something. Typically when buying a pocket watch we assume it comes with a case but in the early days of American pocket watches they did not come with a case. There were several reasons for this initially the watch companies were not in the manufacturing cases for their watches. Then there other companies manufacturing cases so when you purchased your pocket watch you picked out the movement and Then you can pick your choice of cases. This was true in the early days at some point time they would start the case up their watches but not right away. So knowing of this more than likely the movements were exported without a case. Then there were cased up in the UK and I don't know one other parts the world how they handle that. I do know they had export agents quite a few countries including the UK. Oh and then of course there's the other problem with pocket watch cases they wear out with time and often times people will swap from case to case. A lot of times if you look at the outer edge where the case holding screws go you'll see that there'll be other marks where they be another movement had been the case before.

I's a Waltham 400 https://ranfft.org/caliber/10692-Waltham-400

…my version is old and crooked, sometimes shakes and sheds all over the dial. Is there a cheap Chinese clone available?

One of the things I have to remember to do in the future with my list is to write down more model numbers or preferably serial number for each of the watches. That way you can look it up and see exactly what it is.. But still this gives you a clue as to what the various lift angles are in other words there isn't really a standard pocket watch lift angle. ball Illinois 12 size 45° Elgin 12 size 55° Elgin 18 size 49° Elgin 590 16 size 21 J 48° Elgin GM Wheeler 16 size 52° Elgin 6 size 62° Hamilton 12 size 48° Hamilton 912 12 size 38° Hamilton 940 16 size 60° Hamilton 992 16 size 48° Hamilton 992B 51.5° Hamilton 992E 42° Louis Audemar 44° Hampton 3/0 52° Illinois 12 size 45° Illinois 305 16 size 48° Illinois six size 62° Lange and Sohne 40° Longines pocket watch 35° Waltham 18 size 38.5° Waltham 1888 16 size 60° Waltham 21 jewel 645 16 size 42° Waltham Crescent Street 45° Waltham Riverside 16 size 44°