Deep breath and reach for a Guinness

 

And so you can see why I was tempted this morning. A shot of my scoot.

Wagner fans will know why I named her .

 

Are you a bloody psychic?

Just finished and saw your post.

 

You would be amazed at what I can see in my crystal ball [By the way, that's gin not water!]

 

Damn!

I'm turning off all of my IOT stuff and PC cameras!

And you should NEVER, repeat NEVER, put gin in a "The Glenlivet" glass.

In a Glenfiddich glass it's OK, who drink that crap anyway.

 

A sad day, I broke my gin glass a few days ago

 

Great post. I’m now going to look back and find as many of these as I can!

 

Hey if you want to tie up $60k, you can have the same level of spares I have!

Yes there is a tool, but you can also make one. I don't own the official tool, so this is what I did...

Take a piece of peg wood, and use some sandpaper to sand the end of it down to the right diameter. Just twist it in the paper (keeping the end round) until the diameter is just smaller than the setting.

Then use a small drill to create a recess in the end of the peg wood, so you want the end to be concave. You will have to pick the drill that gives you the right amount of hollow to clear the height of the cap jewel.

One done, you lay the spring on top of the jewel with the three tabs lined up at the slots, place the tool over the spring, push down, and turn. Takes about 5 seconds to install a spring this way, and no expensive tools needed, so you can use the money you saved to stock up on spare parts!

Here's one of mine for reference:



I have a few for different diameter jewel settings that I've made up. Of course if you want to get fancy, break out the lather and you can turn one out of brass rod too, but I've found the peg wood to be completely fine.

Cheers, Al

 

I use a hole closing punch with a concave tip of the right diameter, to fit those springs.same with those annoying Tissot shock springs, and Seiko.

 

Bezel.

While waiting for parts to make their way from the USA to Australia, I had time to check some of the other parts, so I got the bezel off the case.
Removing the Tudor/Rolex bezels is fairly easy, they're only held on by a circular spring and using a bezel remover had it off in seconds.

Close examination showed that the insert was lifting in the lower half, mainly around the 30.



A gentle touch from below revealed a bigger problem! The insert was only just holding on.



Looking at the underside we can see the bezel has had a hard life. Keep the original or try and save this one?



The vote was "save it!".

Therefore, the first step was to let the bezel soak in acetone for a few hours. The insert, being anodised aluminium wouldn't be affected and the acetone would soften the glue.

With the glue soft enough to remove the insert it was popped off and the removal of gunk began. First off was remove the glue from the insert with a pegwood stick while the bezel soaked a bit longer.



Then it was time to get all of the crud out of the bezel ring doing the same thing.



With two nicely cleaned components I was able to remove dings and gouges and clean out the spring groove. Then it was into the ultrasonic for the bezel to remove any last traces of glue/metal. The insert was cleaned by hand with a soft cloth.

Now it was ready to be put back together. Seeing that both parts were no longer perfectly circular due to their hard life, my only option was to glue the insert into place.

Out came my trusty "vertical lathe" so that I could apply a fine even bead of glue around the bezel. Using a fine hypo allowed me to apply glue in a controlled manner thus avoiding lumps and big drops that would possibly squeeze out and get all over places I didn't want it.

Applying the glue.



The insert was then aligned to a mark on the bezel that I'd found gave the "best fit option", it was gently put in place (avoiding smearing any glue) and then put into a press to clamp both parts together for 24 hours.



After a long wait, and resisting the temptation to have "just a tiny peek", I took the now complete bezel assembly out of the press and gave it a good "touch test". Thankfully it held up even under reasonably hard finger pressure.

So while it's probably not perfect, I think it will suit the look of the watch.



A slow restoration I know, but parts seem to take longer the more you wish they would hurry up, so it's take it easy and do little bits here and there until the bits arrive.

I might do some case work next week, we shall see.

PS: A big shout out to Al .

 

That's looking good Jim....all the best to Al....

Geoff

PS, love the vertical lathe

 

Just caught up with the latest instalment while sipping my coffee. I do enjoy. Thank you!

 

Feel better @Archer.

 

Thanks guys. Recovery is going well so far.

 

Ho Hum, it's a long wait.



It taking longer to get from Sydney to Melbourne than it took to get from LA to Sydney.

December 3, 2019, 10:06 am
Departed
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Your item departed a transfer airport in KINGSFORD SMITH, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA on December 3, 2019 at 10:06 am. The item is currently in transit to the destination.
December 1, 2019, 11:04 pm
Departed
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
December 1, 2019, 6:58 pm
Arrived
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
December 1, 2019, 3:03 am
Processed Through Regional Facility
LOS ANGELES CA INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
December 1, 2019, 3:03 am
Arrived at Regional Facility
LOS ANGELES CA INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER
November 29, 2019, 8:23 pm
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
LOS ANGELES, CA 90009
November 29, 2019, 7:25 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
COMPTON, CA 90220
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 29, 2019, 3:39 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
TORRANCE, CA 90505
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 29, 2019, 1:00 pm
Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
COMPTON, CA 90220
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 28, 2019, 9:37 am
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
LOS ANGELES, CA 90051
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 28, 2019, 7:10 am
Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
LOS ANGELES, CA 90051
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 28, 2019, 5:29 am
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
LOS ANGELES, CA 90001
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 28, 2019, 1:11 am
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
LOS ANGELES, CA 90052
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 27, 2019, 11:10 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
LOS ANGELES, CA 90052
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 27, 2019, 9:34 pm
Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
SANTA CLARITA, CA 91383
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 27, 2019, 6:29 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
SANTA CLARITA, CA 91383
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 27, 2019, 6:14 pm
Arrived Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item
RESEDA, CA 91335
Shipping Partner: RR DONNELLEY
November 27, 2019, 1:06 pm
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
RESEDA, CA 91335



Without the mainspring I can't go much further, but I decided to finish off the front side/setting works as that won't affect the other side when the mainspring arrives. So here it is, all cleaned, lubricated, re-assembled and checked for correct operation.

 

About time, mainspring has finally arrived.

But! I won't be able to get to it straight away as I have a mission to conduct tomorrow on behalf of an ΩF member .

I noticed it doesn't have the slipping bridle so I'm glad I kept the original.

 

Hi Jim,

I see you have bought the Fleurier 350 manual winding spring. Before you install it, please measure the old spring you removed, as I think you may have the wrong spring.

Looking in by Bestfit book, the FEF 350 calls for a slightly different spring than the spring you have. Your is a 5 1/2 X 10 1/2 X 11 3/4 Dennison, while Bestfit calls for a 5 X 10 X 12 1/2. Those differences aside, the FEF 390 calls for a different spring completely - a 4 1/2 X 11 X 10.

In case you need it, this is a Dennision (a US measurement system) to metric conversion chart...



Just want to be sure you have the right spring before you try to install it, because once you do there's no chance of sending it back.

Cheers, Al

 

@JimInOz I've seen the same type of image/photo technique in other people's photos (some weren't watchmakers or anything like that) and I would really like to recreate it as I'm liking it so much.

Don't know if you've already done this but could you please share how you take such photos ? For example how come you manage to light up the watches/movements withot getting that annoying light reflexion into the metal ? I imagine you use diffused light ?

Cheers!