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watch hints & tricks

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  1. Bill Stockton

    Way Too Tight Snap-on Watch Case Bezel?

    I have two pretty standard, 18 size, nickel plate, salesman's display cases that the front and back bezels fit very, very tight. It is very difficult to pry them off (and snap them back on) which is especially frustrating for setting a lever set movement. Is anyone aware of a method for...
  2. H

    American PW Replacing Lost Motion Work Hour Wheel Minute Wheel

    Hello all! I managed to lose the hour and minute wheels of my Matile & Mosimann 18s pocket watch. Fortunately the cannon pinion is still there! I have a bunch of hour and minute wheels in a box, and some donor movements too. Aside from physical fit, is there some way to know what the number...
  3. viclip

    Alum use on Sterling Silver

    Today an English watch housed in its Sterling case dating to 1891, arrived in the mail. As per the usual Brit practice, the bow was affixed using a long through screw. That screw is snapped, leaving its threaded portion screwed in & through the left hand portion of the bow. The screw is steel...
  4. rolandantrobus

    Waltham jewel removal

    Trying to build up my skills I thought I would strip and clean a scrap 12s Waltham that was in my spares drawer. While stripping the balance jewels I removed the two small screws top and bottom but the cap jewels refuse to budge. How can I remove them without damage? They have to come apart not...
  5. rstl99

    Tips on putting plates together without breaking pivots?

    Another frustrating and humbling step in my journey to learn watch repair as a hobby. I picked up a couple of months ago a nice condition English lever pocket watch and case which was sold as non-working. A couple of days ago, I took it apart and ran it through my cleaning machine. All looked...
  6. Karl Burghart

    Roller Jewel Trick

    Maybe someone will find this helpful. I have not seen it mentioned before. I found that using the tip of a black sharpie to mark roller jewel makes it much easier to see (and to find if it gets dropped). Comes right off with one dip once you have it set.
  7. M

    Old PW Crystal-Fitting Trick: Soft-Solder the bezel...!

    Hello! I discovered an 18s display case among my many boxes of parts...on one side, an Old Timer decided to allow a too-small crystal to be used, by running in a fair amount of solder, then using a graver to cut a groove...well: necessity is the Mother of Invention, yes?! My question today: how...
  8. mldenison

    Columbus Railway King 18s Hunter Stem Needed

    I have a Columbus Railroad King pocket watch. My watch repair guy did a COA on the watch. We found that pressing the crown does not release the catch for the front cover - it's a hunter case - and he doesn't have a stem that would work in it. He said it's rounded off and should be square...
  9. ralph1

    dial Hairline cracks on p/w dials

    I have several diles that have hairline cracks , is there a way to fade the black lines using maybe bleach of something else and not damage the dial or the numbers? Thanks Ralph1
  10. RJSoftware

    Swiss shipper springs

    Re: Shipper springs on Waltham, and Some Keystone-Howards Just an add on to this. There are some models (I think Bulova) that have holes in the plates to allow springs to be inserted AFTER the plate is installed. I think specifically for date and day detents. So instead of trying to delicately...
  11. MrRoundel

    Waltham 1857 assembly

    Waltham Model 1857 Tips. I just got through servicing a model 1857 key-wind. It is the first that I have ever worked on. During the process, I learned a couple of things about working on this particular movement. Since the '57 model has what I believe is called a right-angle (English-style?)...
  12. MrRoundel

    Shipper Spring handling

    Shipper springs on Waltham, and Some Keystone-Howards Despite the design being a very smooth wind/set mechanism, the use of those tiny, eyebrow-hair-like shipper springs can be a great frustration. I was working on a Keystone-Howard Series 9 the other day and discovered that, for this model at...
  13. MrRoundel

    American PW Plate Assembly

    While reassembling the first '72 model that I've had apart, I struggled a bit with getting the top plate on without busting a pivot, etc. It seems that the trouble is that it does not have a separate barrel bridge so the barrel arbor must stay engaged with the flat winding wheel that rides on...
  14. MrRoundel

    Fix Trick(s)

    While reassembling the first '72 model that I've had apart, I struggled a bit with getting the top plate on without busting a pivot, etc. It seems that the trouble is that it does not have a separate barrel bridge so the barrel arbor must stay engaged with the flat winding wheel that rides on...
  15. W

    Discovered a new trick for replacing mainspring arbors

    Okay, it isn't earth shattering, but I have always had a hard time getting winding arbors back into the barrel when replacing the mainspring. It always seemed to want to spring out sideways. I just tried holding the end of the arbor in a pin vise and it is the easiest thing in the world. Went...
  16. W

    American PW Going crazy trying to line up pivots in a 3/4 plate! Tricks?

    I am getting beyond frustrated with a 3/4 plate elgin. I have no problem reassembling full plates, but for some reason, I only seem to get the pivots lined up on a 3/4 plate by sheer luck! Does anyone have any tips for this? I tried searching, but ended up with wayyyy too many results. Should i...
  17. M

    Neat Trick I thought of to Start Tiny Screws

    Got tired of chasing a small screw around trying to start it in the balance cock to hold in the hairspring stud. Here's my trick.....I took the screw and punched it with my finger into a scrap of paper so the screw threads went through the paper to the bottom of the screw head. Then I took...
  18. guychampeau

    swing-ring case

    another problem...swing ring case..install the sleeve and stem...watch winds and set great!!...however case won't open....back out the sleeve...case opens!!!...watch will only set...winding arbor in movement too short??..if so...can a longer one be had??,,,thanks..
  19. F

    Electric WW Seiko Kinetic with a 5M42A movement

    Is the capacitor on this movment the key trouble spot?
  20. I

    Electric WW Tissot PRC 100 unwinds off the stem

    I have a Tissot PRC 100 auto-quartz. Due to my over enthusiastic anti-clockwise (backwards) time-setting I wound the crown off the stem. The crown can no longer set the time anti-clockwise (backwards) as it unscrews, although the time can still be set when moving the hands forward...
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