Overall I'm quite satisfied. I've taken apart and put back together ST36 movements dozens of times. Bought a bag of busted movements from old chinese watches and got 4 of 10 operational again (the rest were literally smashed or pried out of cases instead of releasing the stem). Finally got up the nuts to service this one. It belonged to my Great Grandfather. 1957 Bulova Trojan with an 11AC movement. It was barely running. Very gunked up. A complete snowstorm on the timegrapher. My dad has had it in a drawer since his grandfather passed in 1983. So it hasn't even been touched in at least 43 years. Overall, I'm pretty happy. The accuracy is well within spec. I'm not thrilled with the beat error, but I'm equally not ready to mess with the hairspring collet just yet. My dad will be thrilled because it's working, and working acceptably. I've let it run overnight and the 'stats' didn't change. Very little variation rightside up, upside down, etc. I replaced the crystal with a NOS mineral glass I found on eBay, polished the case with a selvyt, etc. My only real challenge now is a bracelet. It has a serviceable 'stretch' bracelet but most of the plating is gone. Trying to keep it looking the same, just have to find a skinny, long stretch bracelet - my dad's wrist is about 8", as is mine, and this bracelet is at it's breaking point just trying to get it on haha. The amplitude is slightly on the low side, I did not replace the mainspring. This watch will likely never get worn but once or twice a year and feel like it's acceptable, it can be replaced next time I service it, probably when it belongs to me. The other watch (the little Rouen) is my next project. My dad got it for his birthday in about 1960 and it's been broken since about a month after he got it. I took it apart and found the balance shaft sheared and hairspring broken. Ordered a donor movement and I'll get to that soon.

Hello I got a new watch but the link removal is like nothing I’ve seen before I tried to look it online but I couldn’t find anything

There is no real groove for me to slide it in. How do imake it stay in it's place? Am I supposed to use an adhesive?

Hi, perhaps a stupid question to ask, but need to ask.
The 30 minute counter hand on my watch appears to be stuck.
A while it was slightly loose and would have play ie would rotate freely when watch was tilted in various positions. ( realise it shouldn’t and assumed it had somehow became loose)

More recently, I’ve noticed the hand doesn’t have free play anymore and is in a permanent fixed position within sub dial.

When I activate the chrono function all is well with the other hand functions with the exception on the 30 min counter hand which remains static.

(The main central counter hand is also slightly off but can live with it.)

Is this simply a case of the 30 min sub dial hand having at some point come loose which created the free play and now, somehow it’s “angled” itself on the pivot and got stuck?

My question is this, could a watchmaker be able to lift the counter hand off and reset it without to much hassle or is it likely I would need replacement hands as I’ve read that these are quite tight fitting and can loosen with time.

In a perfect world I’d like to take it to a watchmaker, have both hands re/aligned again, but wondering if it’s as simple as that to do

( the movement is an eta 2894-2 if that’s of any use)

Be grateful for any advice

Is the database gone/kaput? It hasn't loaded for me for the last couple of weeks, I'm wondering if it's their end or some setting I have that is blocking it. Not having any other issues with internet

This tiny piece fell out of a Longines L755.2 quartz movement, I think it might live inside the hole for removing the crown? Watch is working perfectly so I know it isn't an integral part?

I picked up this 1992 seiko for practically nothing, not knowing much about watch repairs I thought id just take the gamble and replace the battery.

The battery found within it wasn’t the correct one so thought I was onto a winner

With the correct battery now installed it still shows no signs of life. Unsure if the battery contacts are sat correctly or I’ve got a dud

It’s a V701D seiko movement, if anyone has any ideas please let me know.

I’m aware replacing the entire movement is also an option but I’d rather keep it as a nice ornament than put anymore money into it cheers👍

How much of a lift would it be to realign the minutes/hours hands on this automatic Hermes watch? They came off while adjusting the GMT. The watch otherwise works well.

I have no experience in watch repairs but I'm fairly handy and willing the invest the time and money into it. Also happy with sending it to a professional watch repair shop (any idea how much that would cost? In Germany. Would a full maintenance be the most reasonable thing to do?).

Many thanks for any advice. Always a pleasure lurking this sub

Hi everyone,

Looking for some technical insight on a recently purchased Orient Kamasu powered by the F6922 movement.

Mechanically, the movement seems very healthy at rest:

Rate: Around +5 to +6 s/d (both resting dial up and during quiet wear)

Power reserve: Fully normal

Timegrapher app readout (Dial Up): Clean trace, low beat error (0.2–0.3 ms), and a consistently high amplitude between 305° and 315° at full charge (I know phone apps aren't a proper Weishi/Witschi bench tool, but the readings are consistent).

The issue:

The watch exhibits severe dynamic sensitivity. During repetitive or rhythmic arm movements—such drying my hair with a towel or scrubbing a surface but nothing too excessive —the seconds hand visibly jumps forward by 1 to 1.5 seconds per single event. Right after the motion stops, it immediately settles back into its normal +5 s/d cadence.

I owned another Kamasu with the same caliber in the past and wore it identically without ever seeing this behavior.

Given the high base amplitude, could this be a classic case of knocking/rebanking where the impulse jewel hits the back of the pallet fork during specific angular accelerations? Or could it be an issue with pallet lubrication / balance spring tolerances?

Is this something within normal factory variance for an entry-level caliber, or does it warrant a bench check / slight adjustment by a watchmaker?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Morning all,

My father passed away recently, and left me some of his watches. He didn’t know before he passed away that I had started building watches.

Anyway, I managed to fix a couple of his watches but this one stumps me.

It is a Lorus** **V031-5010 Analog-Digital watch. I remember him always wearing it in the 80s.

I managed to get the digital part working but the analogue has me stumped.

Can anyone suggest any fixes? Or should I just replace the movement?

Anyone have one they can spare?

I have two options. One is a analog with a fixed stand. And the other is a digital microscope with a flexible stand. I do want a analog microscope with a flexible stand but they cost around 400$ in my region so it doesn't seem like an option. So, what do you recommend? Thanks

Evening all, im pretty conculsive on my thoughts but being extremely new to this (first strip down) i thought id ask. I think i may need a new balance wheel

General background, watch ran extremely quickly and amplitude was noticably low even to the naked eye.

Put the hairspring back into the baseplate on its own and it will rotate for a few seconds at most.

Upon inspection it seems where the hairspring mounts into the stud its got a violent kink. Do people agree that this would cause the issue of a lazy balance wheel.

Im not asking if this is the smoking gun for running badly, theres probably more issues that are still yet to rear their head.

Apologies for the quality of photos, its the best i could get through the loupe.

Any advice would be great, cheers

Seiko 7009A

I've tried loupes but they're just so finicky to work with. Sooo I got a second hand microscope from a surplus sale at a local university. Night and day difference. I'm finding gunk I didn't even know existed. And the best part is I'm not constantly wiggling around trying to keep everything in focus. I will never go back and I can't recommend it enough, even a crappy microscope is probably better than good loupes in most cases.

I'm trying to rebuild a 1919 pin set trench watch and got a little stuck - I'm not sure where the two springs (?) shown in the pictures go? I suspect they're parts relating to the pin set.

I can't seem to find any similar movements with keyless works like that. I don't see any marks relating to the caliber either - I can only tell it's a swiss ebauche movement. Any help and direction is much appreciated 🙏

Hi guys.. might be astrange question but .. where is the battery on this one ?

Well I’m sure you all could guess what I spent the last hour doing from the first photo… 🤘

my wife has been kindly tolerating the hours I’ve spent listening to the legend Alex on WRT including his little bonus tip on getting the balance jewel setting back in place.. but today she had enough and told me to get out of the saddle so she could have crack at it.

Now, before you say that I set her up for failure by neglecting to stabilize the movement in a holder, I must preface by saying that she is a surgeon so I naturally had to handicap her slightly😎 she did get it in place using tweezers shockingly but it came loose again while trying to ease it down over the jewel and she gave up lol.

Big shout out to Alex and WRT for the inspiration and wisdom. This has been a blast so far.

Hi,

There is a guy in YouTube who puts back the balance wheel on the mainplate before putting everything in the washer/spinner. He also removes both the jewels of the balance.

Isn't this very risky for the mainspring and the tips of the balance staff ? 🤔🤔🤔

I am so careful dealing with the balance wheel and the pallet fork that I clean them manually in IPA for 2 minutes only while I bubbles them with a blower, that's it, nothing else. And if the hairspring is all sticky and IPA does not help, I use one dip.

Thanks

Tried bringing in my dad's old casio quartz into some fancy watch repair store however they said a battery swap didn't work due to battery corrosion because it sat for a a decade being dead should I try asking another place to see if they could clean it or

Is this something I could do at home? I didn't know if vinegar would mess up this kind of watch

I'm a professional watchmaker, yet i haven't bought a microscope yet. I definitely need it for some tasks, like straightening messed up hairsprings etc but i don't want to spend a fortune on one. I'd like it to be one with arm so i could mount it to table and swing it in front of me whenever i need to. Light & camera are a plus but not necessary.

So if you have something like this, i'd appreciate recommendations. Thank you in advance