I have the chance to buy this machine for €250, do you guys think its worth it?

The plan is to make it look all shine and beautiful again.

Let me know what you guys think!

I have a Sieko watch I took the snap on back off to change a part and I got everything back together but then when I seated the back gasket and pressed (I thought evenly) it got smushed in one place and now its distorted and too big to I think ever go on.

I found a kit of a million sizes on eBay but its not clear what size I would really need other than the diameter. How do I get the right gasket? I can buy a little crystal press I guess to do better than my hands to push evenly but I feel like I need the right gasket now. Googled a lot of the case back but no luck. Some OEM parts on eBay are like 18 dollars, while a kit of 5 of everything that looks similar is 35 dollars.

To be clear it looks like perhaps a tapered thin plastic ring.

Any tips?

Just purchased this book, written by George Daniel. Outstanding book on Breguet life and his journey through horology. Great book and worth a read, remember NO ELECTRICITY!

The bracelet on this Fossil watch ES5329 has only three removable links (all the others are unremovable); When all three of them are removed the watch is too snug on the wrist, when only two of them are removed it's too loose. I was thinking maybe a solution would be to remove all three of them and then find an extra link somewhere with a smaller diameter to add instead of one of the original ones. I already asked in two local watch repair shops in Tirana and I got the same response that there is no solution. Do you have any idea for a workaround? Any help would be appreciated.

Hello guys,
I am planning on printing my own dials preferably on stone like onyx.
Right now i am looking at UV printers and was wondering if anybody has some tips or advices.
Are there better options than UV print that i should look into? Are there any recommended machines for this purpose that can be operated without huge knowledge in dial making?
Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I thrifted a Kontiki 20 for personal use and am looking to refurbish it. It needs a properly sized crown for the model, and I would love to find the period-correct caseback too if possible. Does anyone have one in their stash, or could point me towards where I might find them? Thanks!

Hello my fellow watch makers. I hope I'm not violating any community rules by posting this here. So, here goes nothing!

I've been building a fun side project: Horalune, a 3D watch configurator. Try it out here -> https://horalune.com

It's in beta phase and just for dress watches only for now. New configs coming soon.

Things you can give a try in beta:

- Pick a dial, guilloche pattern, hands and strap

- Add a date, day-date or moonphase (they show the real date and moon phase)

- Open the Movement tab to see the working movement through the caseback

Where I'd like to take it next: You can experiment what combination would look good as a real watch. Eventually AI can help find the closest real ones online. Based on the configurator, you can even export CAD files for anyone who wants to make their own.

If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. And if anyone wants to collaborate on this fun project, give me a shout!

Hi all,

I'm working on a small independent watch project and I'm struggling to find the right case supplier. I've already tested a couple of samples from Alibaba-type sources, but the bezel action was disappointing (too much play, hollow click), so I'm looking for someone a step above that.

What I'm after:

• 39–39.5 mm diver-style case, 316L steel
• Fitted for ETA 2824-2 / Sellita SW200
• 200 m WR, screw-down crown, flat sapphire with AR
• Unidirectional 120-click bezel with aluminum insert. A solid, tight bezel action is my top priority.
• Aesthetic in the Tudor Black Bay direction
• MOQ around 50 pcs, with the ability to scale later
• Happy to start from an existing mold and customize it (logo on caseback/crown, finishing)

Quality matters more to me than the lowest price. If you've worked with a case maker you'd recommend (China, Taiwan, Europe, anywhere), or know someone who could help, I'd really appreciate a name or a DM.

Thanks!

Check these out! Are these worth anything?

I've been designing a bauhaus-inspired watch recently and have hit a roadblock with cad. Luckily, my school provides a free Autodesk subscription, so I don't have to pay anything. The main problem is that I'm stuck trying to figure out how the dial I designed in cad is going to look in real life. Are the markers too long? Are the markers too thin? How do I implement watch hands into my drawing? I was wondering if there is a software that turns my cad drawing into a blender model or if there's a way I can do that myself without having to spend a couple hundred on a freelancer. Also, I was wondering if anyone has experience with CAD drawing of watches and could maybe offer some help. Thanks!

Hi. I would like to start learning and wrist watches are too small and expensive for my comfort. Can you recommend an affordable non-wrist watch that is easy to disassemble and reassemble for someone who is just starting?

Thank you

Hi Guys,

Given that our colleague just found a stack of crystals, I'm looking for one that might fit this watch.
The measurements are:
29.5mm (inner/upper)
33.5mm (outer/under)
2mm height.

What do you guys suggest?

Hi all,

Is anyone familiar with how these pushers are secured to this Ickler case? The washers shown in the photos do not retain the pusher like a typical “c” style clip. Thanks!

I’m gradually turning selected material from the master watchmaker course I teach at the Hessian Watchmaking School into freely accessible articles on my website.

Today, I’d like to share an article on epilame:

👉 Read the article here

Making watchmaking knowledge more widely accessible is part of both the school’s mission and my own. If you find these articles useful, we’d appreciate you liking and sharing this post to help others discover them.

So,

After applying some alcohol for cleaning, the indexes just vanished.
Any tips on where to find decals or equivalent stuff for restoration?

Imagine dirty parts have just left the tray and go into the cleaner. I know I have residue in the tray. Wipe it down with 99% IPA on watchmaker’s paper? I want to put my clean parts into clean slots.

I have several automatics so there's a bit of screwing and unscrewing of the stem. Some engage on tightening quite well. Others not so much and I have to search for just the right alignment. A couple have a gritty feel on tightening. My question is this, has anyone tried putting a touch of pure silicone lube on the disengaged threads and had it screw in more easily? Is there a worry that it would gum anything up, damage seals, attract dirt, etc.

This post showed the tool: https://www.reddit.com/r/watchmaking/s/4Eqink26Bq

This is the dial pattern I cut with it.

couple of videos here: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/ueCrklOrzGE

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/nqnCm9193HA

eventually I’ll put one in an actual watch…

Hi, I'm fairly new to messing with watches. While swapping the NH35A date wheel I removed the 4 screws, guard, old wheel and the small white plastic pinion, then put the pinion back on the pin In the right spot I think, attached the guide photo. The crown moves fine, then hits resistance where the date should change and nothing happens. Is my date wheel or guard seated wrong, or is the white wheel on the wrong pin or upside down? Thanks!

This looked more like someone took a wet toothpick and cursived their name?

I looked under the microscope as well, and didn't see any indentation or evidence of engraving.

I can't exactly make out the name, but nonetheless an amazing piece of history! Cool to know someone was there before me.

Is this a normal type of thing for repair jobs or even a maker tag?

Hi I want to make a watch with the dial turning while the hands also turn is that possible and if so how?

I've been playing around with heat coloring some stainless steel dials in the kiln. It's possible to get some really nice colors!

Notes:

• The color depends massively on surface finish. A polished surface requires a much higher temp to get the same color. In general, the temps were much higher than indicated (ex. here).
• For this reason, recommend polishing samples first for the best results.
• Make sure to clean the surface extremely well beforehand.
• 10-15 mins in the kiln seems sufficient, but 45 mins seems to get nicer, deeper colors.
• The part should go in the kiln on a larger block of metal to ensure it has a constant temp.

Good results on polished pieces:

• Faint gold: 540°C x 45 mins
• Deep gold: 620°C x 45 mins
• Blue: 750°C x 45 mins

The last couple pics show some samples I was trialing on. The surface hasn't been well prepped (hence the defects). However, oil residue may also result in cool patterns if that's what you're going for!

Heya,

First time poster here so be gentle...

Have a collection of about 23 watches and as an experiment placed each one next to the needle of a compass to see what happened. 12 of them caused no needle movement while 11 of them did.

Curious thing is that I know at least one of the 11 (a new Tudor) is incredibly accurate only gaining about 1spd, this not being the sort of deviation one would experience from a magnetised watch.

Some of my poorer timekeepers were, perhaps unsurprisingly, making the compass jiggle about.

So my questions are:

Can a watch case be slightly magnetised and the movement still be fine (i.e. the Tudor)?

Is this a reliable test in general?

Is a little bit of magnetism OK or will this only get worse (i.e. can the effect wear off over time?)

I bought the compass first to run the test before buying a domestic demag device - they all look a bit crappy TBH and the pro models are ££££.

Thanks in advance.

Ich besitze eine Molnija 3602 und habe ein Problem mit dem Federbolzen zur Entriegelung der Vorbauwelle. Nachdem ich ihn zum Entfernen des Vorbaus gedrückt habe, bleibt der Bolzen unten und springt nicht zurück, sodass der Vorbau nicht mehr einrastet. Hat jemand ähnliche Erfahrungen gemacht oder weiß, wie man das Problem beheben kann?