This Bulova Aerojet 11AFACD is an interesting piece that caught my eye. It’s gold plating and crystal are in good condition and it came with the original box and paperwork.
I have a thing for old Seikos with faceted glass. I prefer projects with new old stock glass that I can track down but I am quick to justify adding to my collection in less than perfect circumstances. This red dialed 1967 Seiko Actus SS 6106-7690 is an example of such a scenario.
Lately I’ve had old Hamiltons on my mind so I made my next project a 1947 Hamilton Gilman with a 982M. It has a larger bezel than most Hamiltons of this era which I thought was a bit unique.
I picked up a 1970 Omega Geneve 135.070 Cal. 601 that I thought looked pretty nice. It was advertised as working perfectly, as vintage watches always are, but when I wound it up it would randomly stop running; hardly a surprise.
I found this 1974 Seiko Advan 7019-7320 recently and thought it had some potential. The glass is a unique faceted cut and in half decent shape. The paint that fills in the minute hand is missing but I’ll replace it with some luminous compound.
I was working on some backlogged projects and got around to this Seiko 7002-7009 diver watch that did not run. It looked pretty decent and and all original so I figured it would be a simple enough watch to clean up.
A while back I purchased a 1969 Omega Seamaster 166.032 along with an extra movement for a new project. I wore this watch occasionally for several months and it kept surprisingly good time but the rotor was obviously loose inside so it was time to get to work.
It looked pretty good overall. The crystal was signed, clear, and mostly scratch free. The only notable imperfection was a slight crack on the edge of the attached cyclops; maybe in the glue holding it on.
I was looking over a couple of Seiko 7002 movements that I recently brought back to life and noticed one of them was able to back-hack and thought it would make a good subject for a bench note.
What is back-hacking?
Back-hacking is when a non-hacking movement, our 7002 in this case, can be forced to a complete stop by applying slight pressure on the crown as if trying to set the time backwards a small amount. I have read on forums where enthusiasts sometimes admit to liking the ability to back-hack but it should be seen as a fault requiring correction. Continue reading
I like the silver dialed 7019-7060 that I cleaned up so much that I decided to pick up another one. Here is a before[left] and after[right] photo to start things out. The glass has a chip in it at about 12:20 but I felt it was not very distracting and I preferred the original glass so I decided to leave it as is. Aside from being cleaned up, the photo doesn’t show that it did not run a single tick before I began work but after complete it has been keeping time to about +2 seconds per day during testing in my winder.
This post documents how to prepare an automatic mainspring and barrel while servicing a watch.
To begin, make sure you have secured all your watch parts just in case the mainspring accidentally shoots across your workbench. Parts will be strewn all over the place and you’ll have a much bigger chore than servicing a watch! Take it from me, I’ve had this happen more times than I care to admit. This step is an absolute must do!
With that disaster avoided, carefully pry the barrel cover off using your fingernails. Lubricants inside the barrel assembly become sticky as they age. This causes a significant amount of friction for the mainspring which results in a notable loss of power. Continue reading
Site Feed