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My BHI practical exam submission. I sent it to them this week. All made by hand. The only powered tool I used was a lathe for turning the cylindrical parts. Tolerance on all dimensions of <0.1mm. The post is blue-d steel, but it’s difficult to capture in a photograph unless in bright light.

I’m quite busy with a backlog of work at the moment as I’ve been doing exams for the last month. That’s a lovely watch. You may be worth getting the watch serviced if it hasn’t been done in the last ten years. Date mechanism can become sticky with dried grease.

Poise is surprisingly similar to balancing wheel rims. You know when you add small lead weights to car wheels to make the weight even all round?

Well, the same applies to watch balance wheels. The effect of a “light spot” or “heavy spot” is that it will affect the rate when in a given position (dial up, crown down, etc.) and therefore will make the timekeeping inconsistent.

On a modern balance wheel which has no screws, you can only remove weight by nibbling into the rim.

This is a standard pattern “trench watch”. Yours appears to be quite a high quality example; 15 jewels, and snailing decoration to the movement bridges. I don’t recognise the movement, but these would often be built at the shop with a chosen case (which may be English and silver) and your choice of movement.

The hour hand is repairable and will look like new when corrected. The enamel dial looks good.

Wash your hands after opening the watch as the lume on these watches has a high Radium content.

That was the 32mm one, I think? Fine on small wrists, but I think the 34mm is a good modern size. My 34 had a “roulette” date wheel too which was nice.

I used to own an Oyster 34. Nice watch. Avoid the Oyster manual winders as the crown threads end up wearing away.

The same guidelines apply to buying any vintage watch: keep it original, unpolished, and preferably with the movement running reasonably well, otherwise budget for that.

Sounds reasonable. But I doubt the Helson will need poising once serviced. It’s quite an involved process to poise a balance, and often not performed brilliantly. I’d prefer to leave a modern watch as it left the factory as far as poise is concerned.

I have a degausser which you are welcome to borrow.

If it’s not that, then it’ll most likely be a hairspring “sticking” issue which can be as simple as oil having spread onto it and causes the coils to occasionally stick together as it “breathes”.

Nasty-ass, or nasty ass though?

The good ones aren’t cheap. They provide a ramped magnetic field which means you just press a button and that’s about it, although you would change the orientation once and repeat usually.

With a cheaper Chinese one like I have, you press the button and it’s on, and release and it’s off. This is not good for demagnetising as the sudden change in magnetic impulse can leave the item magnetised. So, you hold it on and slowly draw the item (watch) away from the source of alternating magnetism before switching off.

I have the green version of the Bosch 10.8V hammer drill and it’s absolutely excellent. Used regularly for the last four years. Made in Europe. Can drill masonry, and 22mm holes in timber joists (very handy in tight spots when doing under floor wiring).

The many sharks of eBay. Lots of dealers. Whenever I sell something, I get non stop questions asking for a buy-it-now price.

A bit sad to see a seller who’s just been convinced to re-list at a very low BIN price. Seamaster, boxed with tags for £450. FFS.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/382460556283

Thank you!

@user87446 Is the reason for using a front shifter because there is a lower cable pull ratio, ie. it would be more accurate?

I dunno. Are they particularly well sealed cases? I know the movements are cheap-o.

Quote from the BHI which I think is very relevant to Tudor watches, old and new.

Ethereum doing well this week.

Valjoux 7734?

Also, while you have the dial off like that, fit and remove the stem, and understand how the bolt screw secured the stem in place by drawing the “pull out piece” or “bolt” into the slot cut in the stem.

While the stem is fitted, move it between positions and observe how the castle wheel flicks back and forth to allow setting the hands or winding.

Exactly that. Those tweezers photographed are in the “notch” which I was trying to describe.
(It’s this notch which provides the clutch friction against the centre wheel for adjusting the hands).

Aligning the bridge for the train of wheels just takes practice. Look very closely and use your tweezers to gently move the arbors while pressing the bridge downwards. You have to be more gentle with the escape, pallet and balance pivots as they are very fine.

Trust me, the advice in the book is good.

You need to remove the canon pinion to release the centre wheel. There’s a notch in the middle of the canon pinion; get your tweezers in that notch and lever the canon pinion away from the base plate without flinging it across the room.

You can use terminal block if it’s done sensibly. Why doesn’t the new rose have a connection for the loop? Have you bought a “work lamp” type fitting with only three terminals?

Have you measured the flow rate as any better elsewhere in the house? Tank or mains fed? And if the latter, lead into the house or plastic?