Hey thanks

Made by my son during engineering school

Hey big thanks. The little scotch brush of mine works so well.

@@JDRichard I’ve used them to remove rust and other debris, but never on surface discolouration like that. I was always told that they’re too aggressive and leave unsightly scratches. Clearly not the case when you follow the circular grain of the finish as you did here. It is true on highly polished metal. I’m really impressed with how well it worked. I’ve been using Eveflex sticks for the same job, and they’re awesome for other jobs like precleaning pivots, but for this purpose it’s clear the scratch brush wins.

I do remember

I think I said before that this is a device that was built by my son when he was at Royal military College, studying mechanical engineering. I used it as a paperweight in my office for many many years.

Hey, thanks for the advice. I normally use the GS cement as I can apply the glue evenly on the rim of the crystal and it cleans up very nicely. I do know that it’s meant for plastic crystals as opposed to glass crystals, but it does work well for both. if this were my watch, then I would consider your technique.

I’ll have to check out his video. But I think 3000 grit sandpaper will likely work really well as it is fine enough to polish crystals.

@@JDRichard 3000 grit paper is great, and definitely good enough for many situations. Whether the step up to these 3M films is worth it it depends on the level of finish you are aiming for. The diamond lapping paper can get you to a true black polish relatively quickly. Audemars Piguet, amongst others use the 3M films in their finishing department. Even if you aren’t aiming for black polish level of finishing, the film has one other advantage. It is very thin and sits extremely flat on a sheet of glass. If you finish a screw or other steelwork on high grit paper, you’ll see the edges are rounded slightly, due to flex or other distortion in the paper as the parts moves over it. The lapping film is thinner so this effect is greatly diminished. You still get a noticeable amount of rounded corners if you look carefully. To go a level higher and keep perfect corners and edges needs zinc plates and diamantine paste, along with a lot of practice. The paper you’re using and the lapping film are both easy to use. For a movement like this the paper is fine. For a high grade movement with beautifully polished parts, like that Hamilton you’re waiting on a staff for (IF any screws need refinishing, from memory they were in excellent condition already) the lapping film is definitely worth using in my opinion. Check out Alex’s video and you’ll see the kind of finish that’s quickly and easily achieved.

@@mercuriall2810 will do and again thanks. I don’t do a lot of finishing on these watches as I try to keep them looking as vintage as possible. However, I often get wrist watches from friends that want me to get them working again. In this case I do polish the wristwatch on a wheel, and often do a bit of polishing of the movement, usually the rotor

@@JDRichard I completely agree that vintage and antique watches shouldn’t be made to look new. The times I think about polishing steelwork or screws from an antique or vintage pocket watch to the point where I’d use the 3M lapping film is where the majority of the steelwork is still black polished, but some screws or steelwork might be damaged by screwdriver slips/use of wrong size screwdrivers by previous watchmakers or localised corrosion. If a movement was flawless except a couple of chewed up screw heads, but the other screws still retain a stunning black polish, then I prefer to refinish the damaged screws. To perfectly black polish the screws on a movement that’s otherwise still scratched up, dulled or has its finish compromised overall would be overkill and the screws would look out of place. If you look at high grade American pocket watches or top grades from LeCoultre, Patek, Touchon, Koehn etc where the movement has remained in excellent condition, a chewed up screw or scrape across a highly polished steel wheel can really catch the eye and looks awful. This is where I’d think about refinishing to the best of my ability.

I do basic cleaning to allow the watch to still look vintage, but to get the dirt and gum out of the case that’s part of the cleaning exercise. I will sometimes buff the watch if it deserves to be buffed. Other than that, the most important part is to make sure it’s completely cleaned. Yesterday I replaced my cleaning fluid in my cleaning machine as it was getting a little bit dark.

@@JDRichard Any precleaning you can do will help with the longevity of your cleaning solutions. One particularly dirty or greasy/wd40 dipped movement will completely ruin a fresh jar of cleaning solution. It will entirely consume the detergent or other degreasing agents that are in the cleaning solution. If a movement is particularly dirty, can’t be hand precleaned to my satisfaction, I give the parts a preclean in a jar of plain naphtha to get off the bulk of the gunk, before putting it through my regular solutions cleaning cycle. Most watchmakers I know do the same thing. I can’t think of a movement you’ve serviced in the past several months that looked dirty or greasy enough to warrant the preclean in naphtha, but do consider it if you come across a filthy movement. I do aim to have the dial looking as clean and as flawless as possible. It’s the face of the watch. Hairline cracks can be quite unsightly in enamel dials, and the degree to which they usually become almost invisible after a soak in water with a denture cleaning tablet really makes a difference in the overall appearance of the watch. The dirt trapped in the hairline cracks is what renders them so visible. With that dirt removed, the dial often looks unblemished again.

@@mercuriall2810 Need to try this again on one of my many watches

@@JDRichard Just be certain it’s an enamel dial. I’ve cleaned every enamel dial I’ve ever handled this way. The only time you need to be careful of is enamel dials that were hand painted with some motif or image after the watch was sold. It wasn’t uncommon for people to have designs painted onto their watch dial at fairs or other events. Sometimes flags, sometimes religious symbols. As long as you’re dealing with a stock standard enamel dial, unaltered since it was made, then the denture tablets are the way to go.

​@@mercuriall2810yes! This happened to me. I have NEVER had a problem with a dial in denture cleaner. But, in a recent restoration, the paint faded on some of the numbers. I'm convinced that someone had painted over the dial since the numbers should've been baked on. It was still very disheartening to see it.

Based on your rule of thumb, I think 100% of the main springs that I’ve removed from the barrel would be three times bigger than a diameter of the barrel.

@@JDRichard It isn’t just my rule of thumb, have a search for guidelines regarding set mainsprings for watches and you’ll see it is the standard advice. Of course the spring should not be coned, and the coils should be evenly spaced (unless it’s a modern S shaped spring).

Email me at jdwatchservice@gmail.com

So far the clamp that I used to clamp down the plumbing tape that I used to fill in the crack between the actual tap that goes into the house and the hose that screws onto the tap, currently stripped, is working flawlessly.

@@JDRichard I wasn’t trying to suggest a solution to the leak. In the video you were searching for the name for something you used “aluminium or steel, with a screw that you turn”. I was just guessing that you were referring to a hose clamp.

@@mercuriall2810 Yes. Brain fart