Revisiting an old hobby

[AndyHull]

Another Citizen on the operating table today. This time its an Automatic "Parawater" from 1971, which arrived in scruffy repair with a date issue.

A clean and service, and a little "tickling" of the date mechanism and it is back up and running, and keeping reasonably good time, considering its age. Around +/- 30 s/day but the beat error is a little high. I'm going to wear it today and check it again tomorrow.

I forgot to take pictures while I had it apart, but here are a couple "pre-op" and "post-op" as it were.  

 

 

 

 

[AndyHull]

Yet another Citizen.

I nearly didn't bid on this one, as it looked far too clean and tidy. It had the hallmarks of an "Indian Special".

In the end I threw £3.00 at it and won. It arrived, but despite the listing claiming that it was working, no matter how much I shook or wound it, it didn't budge. It did however look like it had never been worn.

I got a chance to look at it today, and gave it a quick clean and removed and refitted the autowinder, whereupon it sprang into life. I'll give the seller the benefit of the doubt, perhaps it got a knock in transit.

I'm going to suggest it is possibly from 1998, but I'm not 100% certain. It has now had a proper service and a whiff of lubrication and is chugging along nicely.

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by AndyHull

[JerseyMo]

On 3/3/2019 at 6:05 AM, AndyHull said:

These are the dials in question. Is there a chart available to find the correct stem and crown. Presumably there are "gold" and "silver" crowned versions, but how many more variants are there?

Timex began sold parts assortments directly to repairs center ( blue plastic and foam cases) .  The parts were sorted into small compartments in numbered envelopes 1 thru ....  A small booklet with be included that would have pages of dial codes and the number of the envelope the part would be in.  

The watch supply houses were provided with a more detail book.  These books even contain cross references to help with finding the part number.  

Here are two methods to reference and I may have both but would have to check.

4606010778  - 031-360005 

466613272 - envelope #48

 

 

[JerseyMo]

12 hours ago, JerseyMo said:

Timex began sold parts assortments directly to repairs center ( blue plastic and foam cases) .  The parts were sorted into small compartments in numbered envelopes 1 thru ....  A small booklet with be included that would have pages of dial codes and the number of the envelope the part would be in.  

The watch supply houses were provided with a more detail book.  These books even contain cross references to help with finding the part number.  

Here are two methods to reference and I may have both but would have to check.

4606010778  - 031-360005 

466613272 - envelope #48

 

Quote

 

I have both -  

 

[AndyHull]

22 hours ago, JerseyMo said:

I have both.

Excellent news. I've PM'ed you about them.

 

[AndyHull]

Another weird quartz number from the pile of "stuff that came with other stuff I was interested in".

This time a "Shark Army". Not much use as an Army watch, since the lume is fake.

It looks like a similar movement to the anonymous generic quartz movement I posted about in Watch of Today earlier.

This one was a bit of a "head scratcher", as I couldn't figure if the back was genuinely a screw on type, in which case it was impssibly cross threaded, or a press fit. I consulted the internet, but it was just as unsure as I was.

So having tried all my watch back removing tools without success, I tried an old trick, and bashed a couple of square headed nails in to a lump of wood spaced apart at the required distance to catch two of the indents.

By pressing down on the watch, and turning it at the same time, I managed to unscrew the back without any significant scratching. I then tidied up the scratches from whoever had previously given up on the thing with a black sharpie, and popped in a battery. It comes with an extremely orange nato strap, with black buckles. This is currently steeping in some washing up liquid to remove a couple of grubby marks.

[AndyHull]

Today's mystery watch is ... this.

I have no idea what the movement is. Anybody?

 

It is fairly modern. I would suggest possibly late seventies to mid eighties. The band feels like silicone rubber.

 

 

[AndyHull]

Today's pointless task. Polishing a Citizen crystal.

Before polishing - almost completely unreadable.

I thought I'd try some different abrasives on this one. It arrived in a completely destroyed condition, so I didn't hold out much hope for it, but an hour of elbow grease with a little power tool assistance, a sanding disk, some 25 micron diamond paste, some 1 micron diamond paste and a few other tricks and the difference is .. just about wearable. Not perfect, but not too shabby either.

I may do a little more refining of the technique tomorrow. Obviously any sensible person would simply replace the crystal, but where's the fun in that? 

After polishing, and with the light at an angle to highlight any remaining scratches. As you can see there are still a few.

It looks a lot less cloudy in normal lighting.

Edited March 21, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

I'll just leave this here.. think of it as "what is wrong with this picture" competition.

I should point out that the watch arrived in this condition, so it isn't as a result of a "senior moment" on my part.

I have the watch working, but I couldn't just let it pass. Enjoy.

 

[watchweasol]

Hi Andy   Its different

[AndyHull]

Here is how it should look, when you don't put the case on back to front.

There is a quick set date pusher opposite the crown. The aluminium case makes for a very lightweight watch.

 

[AndyHull]

This small Seconda USSR pocket watch was in with a bunch of other junk. It works, but the dial is loose, with missing dial feet so I will need to investigate the best way to sort that.

It is also missing its second hand, which might prove slightly more problematic as I don't think I have anything that matches.

[AndyHull]

Everyones a winner babe... In this case a hulking great Chinese blingtastic winner.

Yet another mechanical watch for considerably less than the price of a decent cup of coffee.

Again it appears to be in unworn condition, and other than rubbing off about ten thousand fingerprints, I have done nothing to it.

The strap is made of pure unadulterated synthetic Chinesium vegan pig skin, and it has another skeletonized standard Chinese movement, very similar to the "Identity London Diamond", and it also runs surprisingly well.

It now not just big, but also shiny. Very shiny.. indeed very, very shiny, to the point of being almost unreadable without putting your Raybans on.

 

What it lacks in quality, it more than makes up for in .. shiny-ness.

 

[AndyHull]

A quick lineup of the recent 404 club members.

 

All ticking away nicely (some ticking *much* louder than others  ).

[AndyHull]

I didn't hold out much hope for the ancient leather on this strap, however "Clarks Shoes" branded leather rejuvenation cream ( a strange yellowish sweet smelling concoction in a plastic tube) has turned it from a brittle mess back in to something soft and supple. I wonder if it works on ancient humans too .

[AndyHull]

Another glass polishing exercise. This time an FHF 96-4 based Accurist with a very attractive green dial.

As you can no doubt tell from the case, this thing had as many scratches, if not more on the crystal, as the black dialed Citizen above.

I cleaned and serviced the mechanism a couple of weeks back, but have only just got round to some of the cosmetic work. It runs really well, despite the tough life it has obviously had.

There is one very deep scratch still remaining, but I may try and get rid of that tomorrow with the buffing wheel on the Dremel, now that I've refined the technique.

This is a mineral glassed crystal, so a whole lot easier to re-finish than the sapphire one on the Citizen.

Other obvious issues are the new stem needs shortening, the strap needed a few bent bits straightened, and twists removed, and now needs a complete deep clean and re-finish, and the case... not sure what to do about that, I may simply clean and leave as is, unless anyone has some better suggestions.

It really needs re-plated, so when I get round to some electroplating experiments, it might get "the treatment" with some replacement nickel and a few carefully tickled electrons. 

Edited March 28, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

One to amuse those of us with a more puerile sense of humor. 

Nope.. it doesn't say what you think it does.

I assure you, it is called a "M"ardon.

 

The case, dial and strap needs a really good clean, as did the works, but now I have it running. It also needs a stem, so I'll need to do some digging around to see if I can find, or modify something to suit, or perhaps extend what is left of the existing one.

I'll post some more pics once I've sanitized it a bit more, and figured out what I can go about the stem.

[AndyHull]

I've left the Mardon to one side for the time being, at least until I get a chance to rummage through my large pile of winding stems.

Meanwhile here is a little bit of 1940s, perhaps early 1950s magic.

 

 

[AndyHull]

The "Aviation" turned out rather good and is running very well.

Here it is with all of the latest recent "recruits" to the 404 club.

[AndyHull]

In with a bunch of watch straps I picked up recently was a Lorus quartz (that I posted about a few days back in "Watch of Today").

Also in that pile was a little ladies Timex mechanical, made in the Philippines and probably from the late 70s or even early 80s.

It was pretty grubby, and didn't run, so I took a quick look at it and here is the result.

I didn't do a full tear down, just what is mentioned in the servicing info. Cleaned with lighter fluid, lubricated and adjusted, it is now beating away well (for a small Timex), at around 240 degrees and +20 or so sec/day.

The case, band and spring pins got a full kerosene, then detergent  de-grunging session with a tooth brush, and everything got a little light polishing. It can now go off to join the growing number of Ladies in the 404 club.

[AndyHull]

Place your bets ladies and gentlemen... will "UHU Power" glue be strong enough to hold dial feet on...

If not... here is a newly refreshed Sekonda Quartz to distract you from the distress of watching a grown man cry.

Edited April 10, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

Well that proved a little more involved than I was expecting, however the little Sekonda pocket watch is now back together.

It even has the  the dial fixed in the correct orientation. Don't ask, but there were a few choice Anglo Saxon phrases uttered when I discovered the problem. Some more dial foot surgery was needed to line things up correctly.

I then had to recover the hands, associated gears, dial washer and movement screws from the carpet.. not once, but twice.. (again... don't ask..... but more dark mutterings were involved).

Once that was sorted, and the dial and so forth was  re-fitted,  I discovered the clutch wheel sitting on the bench, so off came the hands, dial etc once again.

The clutch wheel went back in remarkably easily, but I then dropped the screwdriver in to the balance while fitting the screws to hold the movement on to the body, which was a bit of a heart stopping moment, but fortunately no damage was done.

I also carefully touched up the  chips round the edge of the dial with a small paint pen (which was very effective).

The watch was re-assembled... several unprintable phrases later, (it is a good job I don't live stream these performances) it was disassembled once more and the antimagnetic can, which was still lying on the bench was re-fitted... and the watch re-assembled for the final time, cleaned and polished.

Why are the apparently simple jobs never simple? I think I need to go and lie down in a quiet corner now and recover.

Edited April 10, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

Well the little Sekonda seems none the worse for my ham-fisted efforts.

I'll take those numbers. Another worthy member of the 404 club.

Edited April 10, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

While I had the white paint pen out, I also touched up the edges of the dial on this 17 Jewel Sekonda.

It isn't quite 100% gone, but the damage round the edges of the dial is far less obvious now.

You can perhaps just about spot it if you look closely, but in normal wear, it looks pretty near perfect. Time to give it a service and treat it to a fresh crystal I think, but that can wait for another day.

[AndyHull]

Can anyone point me to a service manual for a Poljot 2614.2H - I need to know how the mysteries behind the dial disk are meant to be arranged 'cos the Sekonda that I am working on is no longer in quite the same arrangement as the manufacturer intended.

I think I have all the right parts, but not necessarily in the right order. I managed to figure what was screwed up in the keyless work, but there is a spring rattling about that should sit behind that large date changer gear, and I need to know how things should be arranged.

This is yet another Sekonda, this time with a TV style crystal and a nice textured dial, with a little "patina" and a bad case of green gunk disease.

Edited April 11, 2019 by AndyHull