I finally got the crystal off in one piece.

Added a drop of acetone which wiked around the glue join.
I have also been cranking down the cyrstal lift a little bit at a time.

Black hands on a black dial is really silly.

 

What will you do with it now?

 

The idea was to see how easy it might be to put one of the 19 Landeron mechanical movements into the case.

More dismemberment:



The other option might be to swap the hands on the white one.

The hands on the black one are sort of based on the speedmaster hands. Black on black made them invisible.

Another possibility is to do the victor F. thing and see if the Swatch movement can fit into an apple watch case. I thought the movement was molded into the case, but it is an ETA module.

I popped some plastic melt rivets to get a ring off so I could release the stem. These things really are not designed to be worked on.

Ironically The Tissot Autolub plastic movement does come apart. Not sure those will be of much use more than an art project. The plastic has stress fractures in it. Curiously squeezing the movement and it will start to run. Sometimes a minute, sometimes hours. I think that the wheels may be pushing the case apart. This may be the subject of a different missive.

I also have a pound of goodwill fashion chronographs with fake pushers.

 

Looks like someone has waaaay too much free time.

 

I have one Swatch in my collection that I’ll probably never wear again. For one, I can’t stand how loudly it ticks. And now that I have a bunch of nicer watches I just have no desire to wear a cheap swatch. I don’t know what to do with it. It’s taking up room in my watch box but probably not even worth the hassle of trying to sell for a few bucks. Oh well.

 

Well Watches are all about time.

Most of my swatches just sit in their boxes. They really are not that much about timekeeping.

Surprisingly I am surprised how much swatches tend to sell for. Around 25$

Now wasting time, that is what Apple watches are good for. I bought a bunch a year or more back (maybe it was two.) They had cracked screens. Or would not pair.

I got one with a good screen and a bad battery. Was pillowed. Swapped the battery in from the bricked watch. Three hours later I the watch with the good screen updated and paired with my phone. Almost disappointment, I was sort of wanting the black case for my experiment rather than the pink one. Now I have three watches paired to my phone.
Apple really likes wasting one's time with updates, what takes hours. I think this was becouse QA contractors were paid by the hour.

And I still not quite sure what to do with 19 landeron movements. I only have a few cases, most which need push pieces.

 

Apple everything is dubious in my book, too much money for a product (that is made by cheap labour) with designed in obsolescence. Bought an apple watch for my wife at Christmas to replace her other smart device that she lost in November. She loves it !

As for the Landeron's, looking at the prices for the part(s) I need you are sitting on more than second hand Swatch money

 

If it was me, I'f take a hammer to it. I'm not a fan of Swatch and what they are doing to the industry. As for making a "collectors watch" that cannot be maintained, that's just a travesty

 

Swatch dismemberment

Well, you mean thing!

 

It's been happening since dollar watches were first started back in the 1880's. Never intended to be repaired, and made for commemorative purposes. It's not a new thing...

 

vis: https://omegaforums.net/threads/most-complicated-watch-ever.171692/https://omegaforums.net/threads/most-complicated-watch-ever.171692/

There really is not a lot of difference when one thinks about it.

Stuff like this is more about the having of it.

When I see such things the first thing is can it be taken apart? Or how hard would such a thing be to assemble from the parts?

More of an "art project." than anything practical.

Steampunk art anyone?

The other thing that comes to mind is a description of quantum physics.
1 load fine Swiss watches into the barrel of a gun (or several)
2 Fire them at each other.
3 Figure out how watches work by measuring the trajectory of the individual parts (but not the parts themseleves.)
4 publish a paper on the results. (Bonus points if the paper is summarized in a pop sci magazine and inspires a BBC/PBS-Nova documentary)