A Serial Coincidence And A Great Way of Finding Jewels

[jdm]

A couple of years ago I traded a nice Seiko hereby seen by its B-side

 

Today I got on my hands on this one:

just two numbers apart, of the many made that same year and month. 

This had an amplitude of "just" 220° after few seconds from full wind. That wasn't enough for me today, so I tried the so called mini service which is cleaning and oiling the balance and pallet only. It reacted very badly to this questionable practice, dropping amplitude to less than 180°, although always with a clean pattern. Then while reinserting the stem I managed to snap a teeth off a plastic corrector wheel. Oh well, calendar off, main bridge off, there was a short fiber sitting on the seconds wheel or thereabout.. all parts bathed in hexane (that's yet another name for petroleum ether), rinse in distilled water, rinse in IPA, all is scrumptiously cleaned and lubricated, now an end stone suddenly disappears... To the spares tray again.. everything back together and Bob's your uncle at 270° amp. and perfect pattern.

So what about the lost cap jewel? I had searched for some time with day light, but it must have camouflaged good on my cherry wood desk bench, so I went on with reassembling. Then at dark I took a so-called UV mini-light all over the place, it took 30 seconds to see it shining in full fluo 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by jdm

[Chopin]

Been thinking of buying myself one of those UV flashlights.

Question: do you see any practical use for it ? Would you be able to spot metallic parts as well ? Can you look at various parts with it and see flaws ? Maybe the dial ?

[jdm]

10 minutes ago, Chopin said:

Been thinking of buying myself one of those UV flashlights.

Question: do you see any practical use for it ? Would you be able to spot metallic parts as well ? Can you look at various parts with it and see flaws ? Maybe the dial ?

At Euro 2 is not a purchase one has much to mull about. Some uses, examine banknotes, spot leakages in air/oil/water pipes after adding fluorescent liquid, there are more for sure.

[AndyHull]

I picked one up a while back, like the image above. It is a neat toy for all sorts of other uses too. Banknotes, looking at rocks to see what minerals glow, checking out ancient lume to see where the flakes of low level radioactive  waste are lurking in the case, curing UV cure epoxy. Well worth the not very much, shipped and delivered from China that I paid for it.

I'll need to remember your trick the next time I inevitably drop a jewel on the carpet. I suspect if I looked there today, it would probably sparkle like a Christmas tree with all the stuff that is lurking in the pile.

Sadly metal objects will not glow, but lots of plastic and ceramic parts do.

Edited December 26, 2019 by AndyHull

[oldhippy]

Spending time looking for misplaced parts is part of watch repairing. 

[dadistic]

I have one of those UV lights, but I never thought of using it to look for jewels.

Have to try it next time one goes walkies, thanks!

[canthus]

Just been looking at latest Moebeus lube chart and see that they are marketing fluorescent versions of some of their oils.  Maybe use one of these lights to see where the oil is (or not as the case may be!).  A flown part with oil on may also show up?  

All the best to one and all.

[jdrichard]

Cocktail time?


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[jdm]

59 minutes ago, jdrichard said:

Cocktail time?

Anytime!