I have been out of town for a few days and of course the work piled up while I was gone. I spent most of today estimating repairs.
One of the watches I dealt with today was a Maurice Lacroix automatic that I serviced one year ago. It had stopped working and when it [...]
Watches are often rated as water resistant. Many years ago some watches were labeled “water proof” but this is no longer a legal practice. Instead a watch can be lableled water resistant and a pressure rating can be assigned.
Water is a powerful substance. At the depth of the Titanic shipwreck most watches [...]
That’s right left handed individuals this one is for you. — I had a gentleman come in the other day whose bezel had popped off of his submariner. He complained that he had entirely lost his bezel before and that it has come off several times. I found this a bit odd because [...]
For some reason the poising tool is one of those watchmaker tools that you can find anywhere. There always seems to be one at every flea market, in every used tool store, and of course in every watchmaker’s shop. In fact, there are two in my shop. One is my personal poising [...]
I guess this is related because a) it has to do with time and b) I experience it as a watchmaker. Customers are always coming in and they always seem to know exactly when they had their watch serviced last, or when we put the last battery in their watch. Thing is their [...]
I was going to write about Quartz Retrofits but than I came across this. The evil retrofit can wait for tomorrow. I knew this watch would be trouble when I saw the underside of the balance wheel. I call this Swiss Cheese. The indentations at 2 o’clock are normal. Nearly every other [...]
Whenever someone begins to get interested in Cellini watches they seem to want to know what is inside of one. “Is it the same movement as a Submariner or a Datejust?” “Is it technically advanced?” etc. Sorry, but no it is not. Cellinis have their own movments totally different from Rolexes. [...]
So, you like mechanical watches? I do. But how accurate do you want them to be? There is always somebody on the internet discussion groups, like Timezone who complains about their watch gaining a couple of seconds a day. Here is a little bit about what to expect from your watches.
First, if to-the-second [...]
You can’t touch a clean movement with your fingers and you don’t want to set it on a dirty bench top or pad so you need some way to support it. There are as many different movement holders as there are different watch calibers. Ok, maybe not that many but there are a [...]
In response to a question I received from Thomas Sharples, I’m going to take the time to talk about watch winders. If you are familiar with automatic wristwatches you know that if you don’t wear them for a couple of days they come to a stop. This isn’t a big deal if your [...]
