WWW Eterna sucked me in.

[luiazazrambo]

On 1/10/2025 at 5:42 PM, RichardHarris123 said:

It's in mint condition. 

It's a pocket watch movement recently serviced and cased. I know that many would crucify me for this, but in certain cases like the watch has no historical meaning, sentimental value, or the case itself is just not too nice/precious/ uniq then the watch just might receive a second chance to live. ( I also understand that the movement was designed for the pocket.)

[RichardHarris123]

5 minutes ago, luiazazrambo said:

It's a pocket watch movement recently serviced and cased. I know that many would crucify me for this, but in certain cases like the watch has no historical meaning, sentimental value, or the case itself is just not too nice/precious/ uniq then the watch just might receive a second chance to live. ( I also understand that the movement was designed for the pocket.)

I totally agree with you, but as stated some won't. 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#34 Services Competitor, pin pallet.

Full service. MS was broken, was very dirty and very oily, but all three together saved it in a good condition more or less. Started to polish the case back, it was a mistake as I slightly removed the plating on the edge. It didn't say stainless steel.. i still thought it would be anyway... it wasnt, as you would expect. I kept the old strap as I found it fitting, it belongs to my only one returning customer, Stephen.

 

HWGIKE#35 Tudor, unknown caliber.

Full service, this one also had a broken MS, boys size. The hole for the MS arbor was tightened. No mistakes were made this time, finished with the Services together last night.

Edited January 16 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#35 ETA 2390

Full service, hands and dots on the dial are re-lumed. Hole for the MS tightened. HS was in a bad shape, but i managed to bring it back to flat and concentric and I got lucky too I put the collet back in such a way that the beat error came exactly zero the first time with around 280 amplitude, straight line. Woah! Very happy! The case is very very worn including the inside of the lugs, someone must enjoyed this beauty for a long time. Dial also have a dot on it something went through the paint cannot help it.

Edited January 20 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#36 Poljot 2614 2H

Very nice condition inside and out. Very nice performance. This is the style I like probably the most, simple & clean. 17 jewels, Swiss lever. Hole for the barrel arbor tightened (staking set is used for this purpose the most), new glass, new strap. Barrel arbor plays hide and seek with me winning, but i had many other substitutes. 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#37 Hamilton 982

Full service, acceptable performance. Amplitude 265 fully wound, beat error 0.2 ms. Had to use the old MS because the one I ordered came damaged, dirty and even rusty and I would not expect a better replacement.  Broke the escape wheel when I first tried to get the movement out from its basket... that little hole seemed to be a nice place to put my screwdriver in.... Bought a donor half a year later. I had to replace the screw for the escape wheel top jewel plate dial side... meaning that i had to find a candidate and file it down to size... luckily i am using a microscope... I still don't understand how could they handle these tiny parts in the past without modern technology... 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#39 Slava 2414

Russian bi-turbo movement. Full service very nice performance. Managed to cut the hairspring at the stud by accident, luckily it was long enough, nice straight line around zero beat error, amplitude around 320. Also lost one of the MS arbor, but found it after a bit of carpet surfing aaand I put the MSs back into the barrels the wrong way.... Kept the strap, its fitting.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#40 ETA 2783

Full service, very nice performance. Moisture damaged, moisture went in along the stem ruining the stem itself, the dial and the calendar ring. I bought a new calendar ring from the US, a new stem locally from eBay and a new glass from cousins for it. You might question this as why would u spend money on a watch with a broken dial and with one case lug damaged. I thought i would be able to fix the lug somehow, but i failed to find a professional method what could be done at home. 

HWGIKE#41 Swiss chronograph pocket watch.

I have been slowed down for the last 2 weeks or so because i was finishing the flooring in the attic. This is where I store most of my watchmakers related cartoon boxes and it became so chaotic that I had no choice, but to finish the complete flooring and to build shelves not just for watch parts but for everything. I still managed to find some time... with very little sleep...to do watchmaking. Here I have my first chrono pocket watch which was a real watchmaker job. Had to replace one rub in jewel cap for the balance, i had to re apply shellac juice for the pallets (had to quickly build a pallet warmer, going to finish it later, but for the job it was ok, i was holding it with a pair of pliers), the yoke spring is not original and had to work on its shape a bit aaaand... it has a Breguet overcoil hairspring where someone before me shortened the HS by pushing it out a bit and not cutting it... i had to bring it back from there keeping the beat error low and the amplitude high. I am very very satisfied with the end result. My memory is pretty bad nowadays, i cased this a week ago, had no time to take pictures since ... not like we had any sunshine for natural light since last Friday... however I believe no major mistakes were made. At the end I pushed the minute counter hand too hard and it stopped the whole movement... it took me a while to realize that.

 

 

HWGIKE#42 Rondal RL 1223 alarm

Full service where i first experienced knocking or galloping. I have a number of RL1223 movement in my drawer, but none of them are a runner as they were stored in a purpose made foam container, the foam disintegrated over the years and the little particles went everywhere. So I cleaned this one and dial down it produced a strange not always present noise I could hear from where I was sitting during the day, I was working while the watch was on the mic stand. First I did not understand whats going on so I checked the HS, checked the balance staff pivots, checked the bottom jewel and re-cleaned it, washed the pallets once more and so on so on again and again... then I narrowed it down to the balance and then i narrowed it down to the amplitude. Ohh.. it has to do more than 360 degrees.... the pic of the graph on the timegrapher was taken when the watch was only half wound, but when it was wound fully that was the time when the issue came back every time... so I set the test period to the lowest possible 2 seconds and i slowly started to wind the watch keeping an eye on the amplitude...i could go as high as 335 degree, but then that was it.... not good enough so I made a video and played it back slowly... Yipee, more than 360 degree the impulse jewel is hitting the pallets. Luckily it only happens dial down and when fully wound. The graph what I saw during knocking was like this: https://adjustingvintagewatches.com/amplitude-attacks-dealing-knocking/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIchUJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZ28piDWfDu6lWbErREkucg2HEysYVmu9fjW3OpbZMaHqbFRK_sL3CgscA_aem_FfQZh_rjoNq4egAfp3sq1A

 

Edited February 14 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#43 AS 1977-2 Swiss lever, full event less service. Nice performance.

 

[luiazazrambo]

A new 3D picture for me from an auction. 

Edited February 17 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

I dont count this one as there was an RL1223 not long time ago. This one was on my desk for years eating dust. Performance is ok, not impressive though. Passed its first test today, as it woke me up in the morning exactly when I needed it. Almost an identical is waiting for me to finish, cleaning machine finished its job early this morning.... went to bed after 4am.

[luiazazrambo]

Another RL1223 which does not count into HWGIKE and gone from my desk. Case is worn, dial is damaged. The dial is directly pushed against the glass so I assume all of the dials are damaged after a while which are assembled the same way. Performance is acceptable.

Edited February 19 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#40 ETA 2783 Reloaded.

 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#44 Zaira 1509B swiss lever, full service.

So the last time I tried to service her sister I was brutal and destroyed her mainspring. This time I was gentle, but made two little mistakes, once I put the MS barrel together without the arbor and then slightly damaged the barrel when I removed the lid, and then I put the dial the other way around.... realized it when the hole for the stem was at 9 o'clock.  This is a lovely little Russian movement with excellent performance. Lovely design and it was great to work on it, it must be a reliable company for many decades.

 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#45 Rotary Peseux 330 full service, acceptable performance.

When I took the caseback off the hairsping fell out, I immediately knew that this is the project I want. 8 hours later at 5 o'clock in the morning i was totally and utterly defeated... my mind kept me going, but at the end both my body and soul was squeezed and i slowly sunk into the swamp of tiredness making one mistake after another. When the HS fell out I checked if I have complete balances for Peseux 330 and I noted that i got two... that time I did not know that both of them were faulty... of course it was not an option to place one of them into the watch... i had to go on the hard way... I almost made it work and the HS was almost flat and sort of concentric but it was not good enough....  When the HS was totally destroyed I tried my complete balances but both and then a third one I also found were faulty. Then I tried to marriage the HS from one of my faulty complete balances with the original balance wheel, but the wheel where I borrowed the HS from was not the same type as the original wheel so the HS was not compatible with it and I ended up like @Knebo with his Vostok: 

... so I bought a donor from eBay and replaced the complete balance. The case and the crown are very very worn, when I took it apart I decided not to restore it so it would change its appearance, somebody got it in 1968 and it was a lifetime companion, I changed its glass though. Marden Fruit Show still exist, going to reach out to them to see if they want this watch, I am happy to hand it over, it has no real economical value anyway.

Edited February 27 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

Great news! The watch has found its way home!  From National Fruit Show:

"It is so generous of you to offer the watch to us free of charge. We would be delighted to accept your kind offer and will keep it in our archives alongside other historical items. This year will be our 92nd show; when we celebrate our 95th we will be displaying old photographs etc, and perhaps the watch could be part of the display too. It would be interesting if we could find out more about H Veall and the circumstances of it being presented, but I'm not sure how well records were kept back in the '60s or if we still have them!"

Edited February 27 by luiazazrambo

[RichardHarris123]

What a great thing to do, kudos to you. 

[luiazazrambo]

A bit of an experiment last night with a Seiko dial, the watch came without the bezel, glass and hands. The dial has received damage both from physical and chemical reactions. The experiment based on this: https://watchguy.co.uk/cleaning-and-preserving-original-finish-on-dials/ I repainted another dial earlier and used this method to re-apply varnish, but this was the first time when I tried to remove it while trying to maintain the integrity of the paint underneath. Unfortunately this dial was constructed in such a way that the text came off with the varnish together, or was it a varnish at all? 

 

 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#46 Seiko 11A Pendant, Japanese Lever  full service.

Water damaged a bit, but only to an extent that I could still save it. Came without a glass but I had one in stock. Acceptable performance.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#47 Seiko 4006 Bell-Matic Half service and 17 -> 18 jewels conversion  

Water damaged, too expensive to buy all of the parts damaged:

947805 Alarm setting lever spring
943805 Alarm setting lever
855805 Setting wheel rocker
383805 Setting lever
952805 Alarm setting wheel holder
8133006 Casing Spring

Mostly coming from dial side the other side is complete, I did not put the rotor on because it is not nice to handle the movement when it is on.

4th wheel pivot hole was worn out and the movement stopped.

Before:

 

After:

 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#48 Lucerne EB 8810 pendant watch, full service. pin pallet.

Received a ton of watch parts including EB88xx family so I picked this one because its service helped me to better understand what is what in the boxes storing EB parts. 1 jewel only and its performance is sort of incredible considering that this is not just 1 jewel but pin pallet.  Amazingly simplified it was probably the fastest service I ever done must also say that it was in a very clean state with little or no lubrication.

Edited March 16 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#49 MST 364 15 jewels swiss lever, full service.

Nice performance, eventless (faultless) service.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#50 Helvetia 831, Swiss lever, full service.

Both upper and lower arbor hole was worn had to be closed. Event less service, nice performance. Must be a rare caliber have not seen one before, very neat well designed movement. I love it.

Upper arbor hole before:

After:

 

 

Edited March 17 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#51 Buren 875, Swiss lever, full service - needs balance staff replacement.

Eventless service, but the balance staff pivots are both bent and worn which I have not realized until i cleaned and lubricated the balance jewels. Jacot tool cannot help they are beyond hope. No wonder they are worn there was a lot of dirt in the jewels grinding away the pivots. Unfortunately I cannot replace the balance staffs yet as I am not a master of my watchmakers lathe yet. Hopefully I am going to finish the new platform for my watchmakers lathe soon and I can practice a bit. I had only one job on the lathe so far with a second hand tube which I managed to do with a good result. The criteria to finish the 100 challenge is that I must replace at least one balance staff but not going to do it just now. So even if the time machine shows a nice acceptable performance when you flip over the movement it shows only snowflakes for a minute or two before it is a straight line again I assume the balance wheel cannot drop onto the cap jewel immediately due to the bent pivots.

HWGIKE#52 Buren 370 Grand Prix Swiss lever, full service, major mistake!

Cleaned the case, replaced one dial foot, sourced a new setting lever and stem, replaced the glass, but when I was about to case it and put the cannon pinion back I broke the 4th wheel pivot accidentally as my tweezers slipped. A movement I like a lot and has a very nice performance... i was devastated... this one was one of the first movements I put into the 100 challenge about 8 months ago and the reason why I am posting it now because i book it as a failure and closing the fist half of the 100, not just that, but I tried to source a 4th wheel... from Cousins UK, from eBay and from a watchmaker who has actually started my watchmaker carrier.... all of them were wrong/long as my movement is thin and all of the 4th wheels I received were made for a thicker Buren 370... maybe I am going to find one in the future but for now I book this as a failure. Recording a failure is a very important part of this series.

 

Edited March 18 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

Milestone: Halfway in my Here We Go I Know Everything (HWGIKE) challenge.

Halfway with 52 because I had two duplicates.

The list so far:

I learnt a lot, it took 8 months to complete and I invested a LOT of time in it after the normal working hours mainly when the family has fallen already asleep. It was a lot more difficult than I originally thought and I put so much effort into it that I was actually risking my health, I am still struggling with both of my arms and I have a back ache which I possibly developed spending 8 hours with IT work sitting and then the watchmaker stuff sitting again... probably my posture is not 100% right.. no wonder every watchmaker book starts with the environment and with the right posture. I tried to record my mistakes and successes as accurate as I could.. as you can imagine even recording this took a bit of time, taking pictures trying to remember what went wrong and what went right with what movement. Consistency is key, but if you dont have the time it is difficult to keep it up. I finished the Buren 875 last night and this morning I already had a few missed calls from Tompion, Graham and Breguet. Just saying.. 

Edited March 18 by luiazazrambo