Solder for quick repair of snapped lug

OllieOnTheRocks

I recently picked up a very cheap Zenith (£80), the lugs were a real mess and after bending them into a useable position, one snapped. It is still attached as it's a fixed lug case from the 1940s. I had figured I'd probably be scraping it, and just keep the dial and movement, but having cleaned up the case and got to this stage, I think it would be better I try to do a repair myself to keep it all original.

I believe the case to be chrome plated, could anyone advise the type of solder I might use for a case of this type?

Fortunately as the fixed bar is holding it in place, I figured a quick solder would fill the 'crack' and do the job.

thanks a lot,

Ollie!

Canuck

I have uploaded a picture of a model 214 Accutron that came to me in pieces. The case had both lugs on one side, bent, and one lug was cracked, but still attached. The case is a good quality gold filled material, and the plating was in good shape. Obviously, someone before me tried to straighten one bent lug, and quit when the lug cracked. I took the case to a goldsmith friend and asked him to gold solder the cracked lug. He declined, telling me he doesn’t work on gold filled stuff. So I brought it home, got out my acetylene torch, borax, denatured alcohol, charcoal block, and gold solder. Without trying to straighten the cracked lug, I gold soldered it. The process involves carefully heating the whole case ring to the melting temperature of the solder. It soldered beautifully. I cleaned up the case. Now, since the case became annealed in the soldering process, I straightened both the soldered lug, and the other bent one, and neither cracked. You virtually cannot tell the case had been repaired.

redpcar

Quick question: where is the best place to by gold solder?

Edit: ..........and can I just send you my case? 😀

Canuck

You’ll likely be better off with silver solder. It is available is a number of temperature ranges. Easy 45, Easy, Medium, and Hard. And cheaper than gold solder. Easy or medium is what you would need. Any lapidary supply, or material house that carries watch and jewellery supplies should be able to supply silver solder for you. Failing that, your friendly goldsmith might snip you off a piece. Better yet, tell him the risk is entirely yours, not his, and he might do it for you. As to sending it to me? I live in Canada. With some effort, you might be able to find someone closer to your location, with some effort. 😀

Dan S

Unfortunately, by the time the OP buys solder, flux, and a torch, he will be upside-down on the watch.