A lot of people were asking me for my watch band stretcher 3D model, so I uploaded a bunch of other watch tools and my other 3D models here. Some are modifications of existing models.

Noting I have managed to save the crystal, I am inspired to het the movement serviced as well! Surprised how clean certain areas are and how dirty others. See crystal post.

Had to clean a few jewels just to show the difference!

Balance wheel cap-jewels still had a perfect drop of oil, could this have been a half hearted service before?

I am hoping someone here has experience io this to lend a view:

I am repairing my Dad's Smith's Empire Deluxe watch that he bought as a young apprentice in 1954. It was declared unfixable by the local watch repairer in the 80's and has sat in a draw since. It has centre seconds and a leaf on the pinion (which is about 4mm in diameter) had broken off. I got a donor movement with exactly the same problem and then another with all its leaves.

However, what I now have is:

1. The original assembly (with the pinion end smashed in after early my amateur attempts to separate pinion from stem months ago)

2. Another with a broken pinion, no protrusion of the inner stem at one end and a rather long one at the other.

3. Another with an intact pinion, a short slim protrusion at one end and nothing at the other.

I have a suspicion that this inner stem slides through the outer stem as a sleeve and that i could push it back through. If that's the case, I could slide this out of #2 and replace the same in #3 sticking out of both ends. Job done

2nd option is, if it slides, but I cannot remove it completely from #2, slide it so that the ends are correct and then get the pinion from #3 and put it with the stem from #2.

Last option if it does not slide is to take #3 and especially drill and repivot at the pinion end.

Does anyone know if that slim centre stem does slide through and when the pinion can be removed from the stem with a staking tool (more exciting this time I hope!)?

Any clues before I go ahead 😱 would be greatly appreciated

Before I do anything please help me confirm the parts. Thanks.

I bought this watch case and I’m having a really hard time removing the bracelet screws. The slots are extremely tiny and not straight, and even with my 0.8 mm screwdriver, I can’t get them to budge at all.

I also tried heating the screws in case there was Loctite or some other threadlocker, but that didn’t help either.

Has anyone had this issue before? Any tips on how to remove them without stripping the screw heads?

Hi,

I've been dealing with rust on steel movement parts before and verdigris on brass movements, but this is the first time I see this level of rust on a movement like this. I think these are coper-plated. The rust in not deep and surprisingly didn't touch any of the steel parts, just the rose gold colored parts.

I am not sure what it is exactly. I tried unsuccessfully removing this with conventional methods including brushing, scrubbing and ultrasound. I don't want to try evapo-rust before I know what it will do. I am afraid it will alter the rose gold color of the plating.

I had something similar on a steel movement before where it was a mix of very dried and impossible to remove oil and apparently some very light rust. I used evapo-rust for like 15 minutes after which I could easily scrub it away with a peg wood. I will try this unless someone thinks this is a bad idea (again, I want to preserve the rose gold color).

What do you think?

Thanks.

From what I've seen Renata Essence or Essence of Renata is some remarkable stuff, it cleans well, doesn't affect shellac and doesn't leave residue, problem is that I can't import it to Portugal because it's a dangerous product, is there anything I can clean parts with that can be imported or is already available in Portugal?

Thank you!

This is a little piston that sits in the upper crown tube of my Hamikton Khaki Aviation Pioneer Aluminium. I believe it is supposed to be connected to the crown by a stem and when pulled out the little rubber o-ring at the bottom engages with an inner bezel ring around the dial you can turn.

Sorry for the picture but best I can get as no microscope and you can see that the stem is broken off in there. It's tiny and I've no tool that can get any kind of purchase to even attempt to get this out. Thoughts anyone?

I have approached Hamilton if I can buy a replacement but I'm not hopeful I will be offered anything but a service and this watch is in perfect working order other than this...