WWW Eterna sucked me in.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#20 BFG 866

Finally I managed to service the famous BFG866. Pin pallet, one jewel. Only old lubrication needed to be replaced acted like a green glue. Acceptable performance, parts looked like new, no wear. Red arrow second hand! Woah! 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#21 Ebosa 681

Cronel, pin pallet. Had to use the knowledge from Kalle Slaap hammer time videos as the barrel arbor was lose in its hole. It was fully loaded in grease and oil hoping that it would remedy the wear. An acceptable result after the repair and service.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#22 Timex M22/23?

Started as a full service.. ended up like a disaster!  A 100 quest would not be complete without a Timex would it?  when I started my watchmaker carrier I started with some of these (I thought it was a good idea... it wasn't) so I had already some ideas as how to deal with these old Timex movements. This one is like the mixture of the M22 and M23? US made. I put the main plate back with relative ease after cleaning but then it was non runner... went on for a bit but then stopped... one of the pin was bent... wanted to straighten it in situ with a suitable staking tool, but the hole of the tool was jammed with dirt... did not check it beforehand so i pushed the pin to the other side of the pallet... ohh dear.. i took it out then.. the pin.. started to straighten it with tweezers... jumped... what a luck stayed on the table.... jumped again... ~ 30 mins magnet fishing on the carpet.... what a miracle, found it... built a barricade around my microscope... jumped again... penetrated my defense lines...  long long search... no result... then I lifted that plastic plate on the microscope to see if it went there into the small space between the plate and the base... there it was... what a miracle again... then I asked a friend who is an experienced watchmaker what to do and carried on following his advice.... in a plastic bag this time i straightened the pin completely by rolling it on a glass sheet... then with great difficulties I tightened the hole for the pin on the pallet using my staking tool.. and I managed again with great difficulty to place the pallet flat on the staking tool anvil and  put the pin back in place... but then I bent the ping again with the staking tool... not even using the hammer just by lightly tapping the pin with the tool bit itself.... i took it out again and started straightening again rolling it again on the glass sheet pressing a plastic bag on top of the operation.... but the pin was not in the bag.... it was just on the top... pinged again... managed to escape somehow... started looking for it.... magnet fishing on the carpet, cleaning the desk....searching searching searching and a bit more searching.... lost forever...  I am still happy I now understand the difficulties and developed a bit of sense what to do and what not to do... what is the force required etc.. i cannot say that the next time I will be more successful, but it will be a lot easier so start the operation... I now also have two staking sets organized...  i never spent the time to organize my 2nd hand staking sets so far.

HWGIKE#23 Titus Unknow movement

Full service, swiss level. New mainspring, new glass. Hole for the main spring arbor tightened. Nice performance with the renewed bearing and new mainspring. It was a bit dirty because somebody in the past could not find the right crystal for it and instead of a rectangular crystal a hexagon was used. The movement itself is beautiful. These 15/17 jeweled swiss lever movements without the complications are my favorites. Nice to work on them, they are reliable and they are a beauty in my opinion.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#24 Oris 705

Pin pallet. Excellent performance without any work (apart from the service) only the rate was set. It has a bug though!

 

[rehajm]

Would someone identify the berry thing for me?

Edited October 5, 2024 by rehajm

[luiazazrambo]

2 hours ago, rehajm said:

Would someone identify the berry thing for me?

I had to look this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus_monogyna Never knew its name and I never knew that "The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw, but commonly made into jellies, jams, syrups, or wine, or to add flavour to brandy." I only hope that I identified it correctly, I identified its name by reading the plant description, based on the shape of its leaves and compared the pictures I found about it to the actual plant. 

Placed two pics about one of the branch of our tree.

Edited October 5, 2024 by luiazazrambo

[watchweasol]

Hi  I doubt it’s a hawthorn, as the name suggests it has thorns . Well loved by shrikes for impaling its food for later like a larder. The flowers can be white or pink. The berries appear in clusters. Favourite food of starlings, thrushes and blackbirds.  It is possible it’s a modern cultivar bred without thorns  like some roses.

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

HWGIKE#24 Oris 705

Pin pallet. Excellent performance without any work (apart from the service) only the rate was set. It has a bug though!

 

Very nice , Oris one of my favourite brands. Here an old 50's tank without the bug or berry , I own 3 more O tanks including a 15 jewel Star

2 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

I had to look this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus_monogyna Never knew its name and I never knew that "The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw, but commonly made into jellies, jams, syrups, or wine, or to add flavour to brandy." I only hope that I identified it correctly, I identified its name by reading the plant description, based on the shape of its leaves and compared the pictures I found about it to the actual plant. 

Placed two pics about one of the branch of our tree.

Your berry looks very much like a common hawthorn berry, lots in my area of the world.....used as farm land hedgerows, yes they are edible but i wouldn't eat raw..... the seeds are poisonous .

17 jewels and yet they still could not legally jewel the pallets, they did a great job without them Oris.

[luiazazrambo]

20 hours ago, watchweasol said:

Hi  I doubt it’s a hawthorn, as the name suggests it has thorns . Well loved by shrikes for impaling its food for later like a larder. The flowers can be white or pink. The berries appear in clusters. Favourite food of starlings, thrushes and blackbirds.  It is possible it’s a modern cultivar bred without thorns  like some roses.

It does have thorns, the pictures do not show it though. It has a troubled life because it has to fight for living space and for light competing with other plants. It had to fight with us as well. We time to time cut it back.. an unpleasant surprise when U walk barefoot summertime and U step on a forgotten branch. I assume it is a revenge.

[watchweasol]

Hi. It’s complete with thorns it’s defo a Hawthorn. Never eaten its fruit though I leave them for the birds. They are tough bushes used extensively by farmers for hedging  a nd when grown close impenetrable.

[mpe7383]

A few years back, I used to use those thorns for cleaning jewels and movements, did a great job

[watchweasol]

There are many thing# you can clean jewels with including thorns, pig bristles (usually scavenged ) from brushes, cactus spikes. It’s a case of using your imagination and not being hide bound by conventional methods.

[mpe7383]

Agreed, it's about what works best for you. Did try peg wood but for me was like going in with a broom stick. Just use cocktail sticks now, quick to sharpen with a bit of emery, cheap and readily available.

[watchweasol]

Hi for clocks I use peg wood watches I used bristle or smaller cocktail sticks

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#25 Raketa 2628H from the SU

Excellent performance after the service. Dial was originally blue, those sections hidden from the light are still blue. Had to do a bit of carpet surfing when I lost a shock spring and a top jewel ~60 mins. Hands are re-lumed, the hole for the MS arbor tightened. Case and crystal cleaned, crystal also polished. I was very busy with sorting parts and I also had some pressure to move my cabinet from our living room to my office/watchmaker workshop/spare bedroom after about half a year. I though it would blend in unnoticed but my plan did not work. To be honest I also postponed this job because i knew that it would be extremely awkward and difficult to bring this thing up to the 1st floor and place it in that corner. Well it was. Had to lift it up above a radiator and slowly let it go down again into that corner while there was no space to grab it hold it properly. Just fits! Half a cm and it wouldnt. 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#26 Ladies silver pocket watch with cylinder escapement and natural ruby.

Full service, hole for the center wheel tightened, mainspring was broken, but I found one in my secret MS stock, hairspring made flat and concentric, pin in the balance wheel replaced, both of the balance staff pivots (0.35mm) were polished in the Jacot tool and the same time straightened, end of the pivots are also polished. I am very happy than I accomplished this without breaking anything and the end result is acceptable.

Edited October 23, 2024 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#27 BFG158 Sicura Automatic

Pin pallet, full service, new MS ordered form Spain. Good performance, no big mistakes. Case is a bit worn.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#28 MST471 Roamer Automatic

Full service, nice performance. Came without the stem, crown and all parts for the automatic work. Crown and stem were replaced but we still need all parts for the automatic work. New MS, new glass, stainless steel case polished and a bit renewed. Rising Sun MS winder was used to place the MS as I could not push the new MS directly into the barrel from its retaining ring, it was just too big, the ring in diameter. New lume on hands and dial. 

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#29 Ebosa 65 Buler Bulldog

Roskopf, full service. Another Ebosa 65, i was sure I did one of these before, but the caliber number is hidden in between the two main plates conveniently. Hole for the barrel arbor tightened, mistake made but corrected, staking tool was not centered perfectly. The plate is pretty thin for the barrel arbor in my opinion so had to use a wide domed staking bit both below and above so not to touch each other so the plate would only spin and not grabbed by the two of them. Original crystal with micro cracks. Beat error was terrible had to correct it, performance is just acceptable.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#30 AS 984 Afra Watch One of my most difficult repair. Dial is not made for AS984 so it is not possible to add a second hand, there is no extended pivot for it anyway. The hole should be only 1 or 2 mm be closer to the center. ( i consider to larger the hole and buy a 4th wheel with an extended pivot) New crystal, stem & crown. Holes for the barrel arbor tightened, both upper and lower one. (the second one was tightened after the assembly, with full power the arbor wedged so the movement stopped.) Setting lever did not reach the stem, was worn, ordered another but i knew before the new one arrived that it would not work... i am not sure if the case is original to the movement or not... i had to file the setting lever down a bit so the little thing on the setting lever would catch the stem. This was a very challenging repair/ service and I am very happy how it worked out at the end. Dial was originally big someone cut it around so it would fit and had no legs. I added new legs, but with difficulties, even if I marked their position using the holes on the movement it was not accurate enough had to replace them several time. I also learnt that adding a tiny drop of the oil to the cutting edge of the tool makes an enormous difference. It cuts and does not try to twist the movement holder out from your hand making the hole oval. I made a mistake and went too deep so it is visible on the other side a bit. AFRA stands for Dr Alex Frankel from Vienna, but it also happens that my daughter is also named Afra. I am going to wear it as promised 4 years ago when I bought it.

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#31 Landeron 48. Full service, nice performance (not the correct lift angle though). Dial and hands are new the old ones were battered and not complete. 

Ps.: Stephen, I got your watches. I have two more in my queue and then I plan to put one of yours into the 100.  I just thought that it would be funny to send you a message here.

Edited December 17, 2024 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#32 Omega 354 Bumper Full service, new mainspring, new glass, new setting lever spring. Main spring arbor bounced and went silence, landed in my pocket unnoticed. A cleanup in my room, moving out stuff including printer, boxes, cables, stuff then hours of head scratching, magnet fishing and knee surfing for nothing, then I checked my pocket the third time and there it was. By the way the top of our grandfather clock fell on my head last weekend glass in front which was shattered into hundreds of pieces on my head then was sitting on my head like a crown, a pretty heavy piece and i survived with a very tiny almost invisible scratch. I also add a picture of my crown.  No glass now.

Edited December 19, 2024 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

HWGIKE#33 Ronda 1217-21 Full service again. I have re-visited one of the watch I serviced earlier and where I painted the dial. The watch stopped and the paint started to disintegrate, i thought i need to clean the watch movement again as it was stopped by a paint particle, but it was not the case, the post of an intermediate wheel failed, dropped out and landed on the pallets. I remedied it and gave it a full service again. The time i serviced it the first time I did not pay attention to the mainspring arbor hole which is tightened now giving a better performance than before. I have also repainted the dial with automotive paint/spray, primer first and black mat paint on top this time (there was no primer for the first attempt). I have read as how to remove and re-apply varnish on watch dials on WatchGuy blog: https://watchguy.co.uk/cleaning-and-preserving-original-finish-on-dials/ which I also did using a water based varnish from Homebase. (interior clear gloss). First I diluted the varnish and I thought i went too thin, but I actually didn't when I went on with a thicker varnish it became a little bit patchy. Cannot see this on pics, but under microscope and in certain light conditions it is visible. It was a practice piece so I am very happy that it came out like this and very happy about the experience I gained. I am going to donate this to someone who does not only sees the big tits when he looks at a watch, but the internal values too.  

 

Edited December 23, 2024 by luiazazrambo

[luiazazrambo]

Got this today in the post, not my work. It has a Heuer movement, more to come slowly.

[RichardHarris123]

It's in mint condition.