So I have not updated this blog in quite a while, and some have wondered if I am still in the business of repairing watches. I am but the volume of work out there is very large so I really don’t have a lot of time to update this blog.
I do get the odd project in that is something other than just a standard service, and those tend to be watches in bad shape, like a 1978 Omega Speedmaster I received from a customer in the US. The watch had been sitting in a drawer for over a decade and when he tried to use it, the watch would not wind or set. It turns out that it had water get inside the case before he put it away, and that of course lead to a lot of rust. Fortunately the rust was somewhat selective and didn’t affect the entire movement, so this one could be restored without having to replace some critical, and costly, parts.
Rather than show just a few photos of it and write a lot of text, I tried something different this time – I made a slideshow of the service, showing most of the steps involved. It ended up being very long so I cut the time per photo to just a couple of seconds – might be too quick but you can always pause the video if you want to look at a particular photo closer. It’s on my YouTube channel, and the link is here:
I call this just a mechanical restoration because I didn’t do much in the way of cosmetic work. The reason for that is to keep the costs down at the request of the customer, but also to preserve the history of the watch. All the mechanical parts were assessed to see if they could be used again, required some sort of repair, or had to be replaced. I cleaned off contamination that would cause further problems down the road. So the movement was made fully functional and performs much better than Omega specifications call for, but other than replacing the crystal, crown, and pushers, I didn’t do anything else to the case or bracelet, like refinishing.
Hope you enjoy the video and I hope to get some time to add a few more things to this blog in the coming months.
So I received this PAM 091 for service a while back, and it was in rough shape. The watch was not running, and the dial had an odd colour to it:
Here using a Panerai specific die to open the case back:
As soon as I opened the back, the familiar smell of WD40 came from inside the case – not a good sign:
I started the disassembly, noting that there was a lot of “fluid” on the movement parts, which was the WD40:
Having a closer look at the balance area, some serious issues were noted – not only is the watch full of WD40, but there are fibers all over, one leg of the Incabloc spring is not seated, and the most serious is that the balance spring is broken near the stud:
You can also see that there is wear on the automatic bridge, so the condition of the oscillating weight bearing is suspect:
So on with disassembling the watch:
The WD40 seemed to stop on the back side of the date indicator, so this is a good thing as it did not affect the paint on the indicator or seriously damage the dial:
Now completely disassembled:
Ready for the cleaning machine:
Looking at the reversing wheel, it has some serious wear on it – new one on the left compared to the one from this watch, and you can see that the teeth are nearly gone on the old one:
New mainspring installed:
Pegging all the jewels and bushings:
Now assembling the base movement:
New balance complete:
Installed and running now:
Checking timing in 6 positions:
Result looks very good:
Completing the assembly:
Dial and hands installed:
Case is cleaned, and the movement is installed into the case:
Oscillating weight bearing needed replacement:
Checking and oiling the bearing, using the damping test:
Next timing and power reserve checks:
The watch ran great, and is now back with it’s owner:
I’m not quite sure who sprayed the watch with WD40, or who was poking around inside it and damaged the balance spring, but clearly if your watch needs work, these are not things that will help it’s condition any. Anyway, thanks for looking!
I have had quite a few watches come in over this last year with various problems, some that were quite serious and it was touch and go if the watch could be saved. But before we look at the bad, let’s look at some good.
Here is a vintage Longines chronograph – a thing of beauty even though the dial is a little rough:
The movement is the Longines CH 30 column wheel chronograph movement. The watch most certainly needed servicing, and in addition the minute counter jumper was bent, so the minute counter did not work properly. Here you can see it is twisted and not even engaging with the minute recorder runner:
The watch was disassembled as all watches are that come in, and here is a shot of the movement in it’s disassembled state:
Of course the blued steel mainspring was replaced with a white alloy spring. Unfortunately during the disassembly process, one of the shoulder screw snapped off (all the screws were VERY tight) and I had to soak the plate in alum to dissolve the broken screw:
I managed to find a new shoulder screw (was not an easy thing to locate) and also a new Longines white alloy mainspring. I could not locate a new minute counter jumper, so I would have to try to straighten that and hope that it didn’t snap.
Once the movement was assembled, I used the microscope to check and adjust the chronograph controls:
And since the minute counter jumper cross section is very thin like a balance spring, I used the same techniques for shaping it that I would when truing a balance spring in the flat. So #5 tweezers and careful manpulation had it back in it’s original shape, and thankfully it stayed intact.
The damage done to this jumper happened when the owner opened the watch to look at the movement, so I made a point of taking a nice macro shot so he could leave the watch closed (I hope!), and simply look at the movement photo if he wanted a reminder of what the movement looks like:
It’s quite a beautiful movement, and certainly from a time when Longines was one of the best. Here is a video that shows the movement. The video shows the movement running, and the first action is to start the chronograph. I let it run for a few seconds, and then demonstrate the Retour en vol (flyback) operation, where the chronograph can be returned to zero without first stopping the chronograph. Then the chronograph continues to run until the minute counter turns over, and then I stop and reset it.
Now going from this lovely movement to something that is at the other extreme. Some time ago I received an email from a Speedmaster Pro owner who had an unfortunate event – he went swimming in the ocean with his watch while on vacation, and did not realize that a pusher had come off the watch. The watch was flooded and due to his location, he could not do anything with it for a few days.
He sent me some photos that were not good, but regardless I agreed to at least have a look at the watch to see what could be done. Earlier this year I was sent a Seamaster chronograph with a Cal. 1164 (ETA 7750 base) that was one solid rusted mass, and for that one the only option was a brand new movement from Omega. However with this one the movement was in good enough shape I thought it could be salvaged.
The watch was shipped up, and this is what the dial side looked like when it arrived at my shop:
I removed the movement from the case, and this is what the movement looked like:
I removed the hands, and as you can see the dial has some staining from the rust – my plan was to salvage this dial if at all possible:
With the dial removed, you can see that there is a lot of rust on he dial side:
I started disassembling the movement, and the extent of the damage can be seen in the following few photos:
Before I ran the watch through the cleaning machine, I cleaned most of the loose rust off the parts. In many cases the parts that looked very rusty were brass – the movement plates are rhodium plated brass on this watch – so the rust was only sitting on the surface. I wanted to clean as much of this off as I could, but still I waited until my cleaning solutions were ready to be changed before running the movement parts through the first time (they required several trips through the cleaning machine). Here is he watch fully disassembled before the first run through the cleaning machine:
Unlike the brass plated parts, many of the steel parts were indeed rusted. This is the hammer and it required a lot of hand cleaning to remove the corrosion:
Of course not every part could be saved, so this photo shows some of the parts that had to be ordered in:
After many hours of hand cleaning, machine cleaning, and replacing parts, the base movement (without the chronograph parts in place) was ticking:
A quick check on the timing machine – my primary interest is that the balance amplitude is adequate, and it is:
Note the green film on the screen – this is a loaner machine while mine is out for regular calibration.
So now the time consuming part really starts – cleaning and installing the chronograph parts – here is the dial side completed:
With each part I used over, I had to make sure that the operating surfaces were in good condition, and after that all evidence of rust must be removed, and lastly I tried to make them look decent cosmetically – only so much can be done on these parts though:
Here is the train side with the chronograph parts installed:
The white paint on the existing hands was really stained, so the only option here is a new set of hands:
Here they are installed:
The case was very dirty, so it required cleaning and polishing the crystal:
New pushers were needed:
I also installed a new crown – here the movement is in the case and you can see the new pushers and crown:
Looks pretty good compared to when it came in:
The owner of this watch was very pleased with the end result.
Thanks again for reading my blog, and remember my main web site is here:
Well It has been a busy 12 months or so. The launch of the Sterling model has kept me busy filling orders, and also the servicing side of the business has been extremely busy. I have serviced some interesting watches and made some extensive repairs that I will be sharing with you all soon.
I will be setting aside some time to put together a post or two in the coming weeks.
I recently met up with James Stacey of “Watch Report” at a TimeZone gathering of watch enthusiasts held in Toronto. James was quite interested in my watch line, and asked if I could send him my newest model, the Sterling, for him to do a formal review. James liked the watch very much, and here is the review:
Been a while since I have posted anything here, but thought some may be interested in seeing some reviews of my watches. Here is a review of the Archer Aero II:
Please note that a site dedicated to the Archer models has been launched. Please visit http://www.archerwatches.ca/ to view information and pricing on the models in the archer line.
As always you can contact me at archer.watches(at)sympatico.ca if you have any questions or would like to make a purchase.
I thought I would show a few more of the watches I have had in for servicing in the last while.
First – two vintage Rolex models. This first one is a Royalite from the 1940’s, and in addition to a full service, the client requested that I have the hands relumed to match the lume on the dial. Here is what the watch looked like as I received it:
I sent the hour and minute hands out, but I refinished the second hand myself. Here is the final result:
Next up is a 1680 Red Submariner. This watch had a few issues, including a cracked oscillating weight:
So I sourced a new weight, case tube, crown, mainspring, and did the service:
Next is one of two Zenith pocket watches I’ve serviced recently. This one came to me with an interesting modification (bent piece of steel screwed to the barrel bridge) due to a broken ratchet wheel screw:
In the end a new barrel arbor had to be fabricated for this watch. The end result was very nice:
Next is a vintage Omega Seamaster 300. A very nice model with the somewhat rare arrow head minute hand.
A new crystal was installed, as well as a new case tube and crown:
The rotating bezel was restored by another party, and here is a shot my client sent me of the completed watch:
I’ve serviced a few Omega Speedmasters as well, including this MkII model:
A new dial and set of hands were installed on this watch:
Next is a modern Oris with a power reserve complication:
Now a Panerai 112 that had a broken mainspring:
The last one for this post is a vintage Tissot Navigator Chronograph:
If you have any requests regarding servicing, or about the Archer Watches line, please contact me at:
I thought I would show some of the wide variety of watches that I have serviced over the last few months. All of these watches received a complete service.
First a vintage Zenith – the client requested a full service and reprint of the dial (done by a supplier):
Next a wonderful vintage Omega from the 1940’s:
A vintage ladies Glycine watch with a white gold case that was fitted with diamond and sapphire stones. The dial was very dirty:
The end result was very nice:
Next up is a modern Oris:
And now something different – a vintage quartz watch. This is a Seiko King Quartz that received a full overhaul:
This is a vintage Tudor hand wound watch:
This is a Sinn 856, which is equipped with a 24 hour function:
Next a Tag Kirium Chronometer:
And this is a Panerai 196 chronograph:
This Kobold diver was tested (and passed) at a pressure of 100 BAR after servicing:
I hope you enjoyed seeing a small selection of the work over the last while. If you have any questions regarding servicing, or the Archer Watches line, please contact me at:
Here is a short video to show how the stop seconds function works on the Aero CS. To set the watch against a known time source, simply pull the crown out. When the seconds hand reaches the 12 o’clock position, it will stop. You can then set the minute and hour hands as needed, push the crown in to start the watch, and you are set.
Archer Watches Blog 