Fuglfisken
·Hello everyone! A few years back, my grandfather gave me his old watch. He said it wasn't working anymore but that it might be worth getting it looked at. I personally haven't worn a wristwatch since childhood and have never really been into them, but i think this particular looks rather neat.
Anyway, it sort of got a little forgotten about until now. When i looked through some stuff i came across it again today, and decided to get to know the watch and watches in general a little better, as well as a crash course in some terminology. I might be off on some terms, forgive my possible mistakes.
Visually, the watch is rather rough i`d say. My grandfather was a hard working mechanic and the watch shows that. There are some deeper dings and scratches around the case. The caseback is quite dented and gouged from some violent tool use. The hippogriff is barely visible. Also, on the crown and on one of the strap lugs are some tiny lumps which i can only imagine are welding spatter,. Needless to say, the crystal has seen better days. The minutes hand is slightly bent and missing most of the lume.
But from what i can tell, the linen dial is in good, original condition apart from some stuff around the edges which i think might just be some looseish dirt particles. The lugs are a little rounded which, together with the faded hippogriff, might indicate that it has been polished, but possibly it might come from heavy wear. Would like some feedback on this. It`s also got an omega sign on the crown.
I had read about polywatch and later that toothpaste might work to polish up the crystal. I reckoned this one was too far gone for me to to any further harm so i tried the toothpaste trick in order to get a better look at the dial. I gotta say, it worked surprisingly well! Well enough to turn from very matte (to the point where it was hard to see detail in the dial) to clear enough that i would personally not mind using it like it is. However, it might make sense to change it out along with any other work i might have someone do to it.
Is there a good way to tell whether or not the crystal is original?
I gave the crown a turn, and it felt rather stiff so i decided not to fiddle with it any more. After seeing the damage to the hand and caseback i was worried about the carnage i would eventually find inside, but i had no good tool to open it and didnt want to damage anything more than what is already there. But i half heartedly tried to push and twist with my thumb, and to my surprise, it actually worked! Safe to say, the complete lack of an o ring helped me there. Finally i could have a peek inside and immediately i see a hair wiggled around one of the wheels and i think yey! maybe an easy fix i can do myself! so i take a closer peek in order to see how to best free it, and well. Turns out its not a hair after all. Its the rather fittingly named hair spring. Its mangled and i can see a loose end sticking out. Unsure if it has sheared off somewhere or if it came off from where the end is secured. And its quite hard to see whats going on without any good magnifier.
Any thoughts about how bad this might be? Why would this spring get mangled? Could it indicate other problems deeper inside and does it make sense to have it repaired given the condition of the watch?
Other than that, I didn`t do anything more inside. Other than the hair spring, i couldn`t see any issues and to me it seemed neat and tidy with few scratches, unmarred screws and no corrosion that i could notice.
So I assume the best step now is to take it to a watchmaker. However, i assume they are not all the same. And my economy is very tight. So any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!
Actually just any and all input would be great! I would like to know as much as i can about this watch. I still haven`t decided if i should keep it or sell it. I like the watch a lot, but i also don`t like the feeling of wearing a watch, and while handy to have a timekeeper on my wrist, it really doesn`t bother me to look at my phone. But i will of course try it out if i get it running. Maybe something has change since the last time i used one.
Wow I just now realized how much i wrote. I hope some of you manage to battle through it, because i don`t want to redo it now. Thanks in advance for any help!
The pictures also aren`t the greatest perhaps. I`m happy to take more if needed. I also hid the serial no because i read somewhere that this was good practice, but maybe it is not needed.
Anyway, it sort of got a little forgotten about until now. When i looked through some stuff i came across it again today, and decided to get to know the watch and watches in general a little better, as well as a crash course in some terminology. I might be off on some terms, forgive my possible mistakes.
Visually, the watch is rather rough i`d say. My grandfather was a hard working mechanic and the watch shows that. There are some deeper dings and scratches around the case. The caseback is quite dented and gouged from some violent tool use. The hippogriff is barely visible. Also, on the crown and on one of the strap lugs are some tiny lumps which i can only imagine are welding spatter,. Needless to say, the crystal has seen better days. The minutes hand is slightly bent and missing most of the lume.
But from what i can tell, the linen dial is in good, original condition apart from some stuff around the edges which i think might just be some looseish dirt particles. The lugs are a little rounded which, together with the faded hippogriff, might indicate that it has been polished, but possibly it might come from heavy wear. Would like some feedback on this. It`s also got an omega sign on the crown.
I had read about polywatch and later that toothpaste might work to polish up the crystal. I reckoned this one was too far gone for me to to any further harm so i tried the toothpaste trick in order to get a better look at the dial. I gotta say, it worked surprisingly well! Well enough to turn from very matte (to the point where it was hard to see detail in the dial) to clear enough that i would personally not mind using it like it is. However, it might make sense to change it out along with any other work i might have someone do to it.
Is there a good way to tell whether or not the crystal is original?
I gave the crown a turn, and it felt rather stiff so i decided not to fiddle with it any more. After seeing the damage to the hand and caseback i was worried about the carnage i would eventually find inside, but i had no good tool to open it and didnt want to damage anything more than what is already there. But i half heartedly tried to push and twist with my thumb, and to my surprise, it actually worked! Safe to say, the complete lack of an o ring helped me there. Finally i could have a peek inside and immediately i see a hair wiggled around one of the wheels and i think yey! maybe an easy fix i can do myself! so i take a closer peek in order to see how to best free it, and well. Turns out its not a hair after all. Its the rather fittingly named hair spring. Its mangled and i can see a loose end sticking out. Unsure if it has sheared off somewhere or if it came off from where the end is secured. And its quite hard to see whats going on without any good magnifier.
Any thoughts about how bad this might be? Why would this spring get mangled? Could it indicate other problems deeper inside and does it make sense to have it repaired given the condition of the watch?
Other than that, I didn`t do anything more inside. Other than the hair spring, i couldn`t see any issues and to me it seemed neat and tidy with few scratches, unmarred screws and no corrosion that i could notice.
So I assume the best step now is to take it to a watchmaker. However, i assume they are not all the same. And my economy is very tight. So any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!
Actually just any and all input would be great! I would like to know as much as i can about this watch. I still haven`t decided if i should keep it or sell it. I like the watch a lot, but i also don`t like the feeling of wearing a watch, and while handy to have a timekeeper on my wrist, it really doesn`t bother me to look at my phone. But i will of course try it out if i get it running. Maybe something has change since the last time i used one.
Wow I just now realized how much i wrote. I hope some of you manage to battle through it, because i don`t want to redo it now. Thanks in advance for any help!
The pictures also aren`t the greatest perhaps. I`m happy to take more if needed. I also hid the serial no because i read somewhere that this was good practice, but maybe it is not needed.
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