I quote it as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the world’s conundrums these days. This is just a quick note, but down the road, much more detail.

So, as the Bullwinkle narrator once said “On with the show!”:

My newest favorite supplier sent me this fabulous “Anger Ball”:

I tip my hat ’cause I have an eight-inch wrist and it’s sized for an eight-inch wrist, not one of those cheapy little things that were made in China and sized for a six inch wrist. Of…

Anybody “Buy” Anything Recently?

I’m looking into upgrading my tweezer set that was manufactured in sunny, exotic Pakistan. I know names like Horotec, Bergeon, Boley and Dumont immediately pop into folks’ minds. What’s your take on manufacturers like Idea-tec, TOWAT, Vetus or some other brand that doesn’t get talked about much but still performs admirably? I don’t think I’ll find myself earning a living on this hobby but I’d sure like to lose fewer screws (and on a budget that won’t get me the hairy eyeball from the missus).

I saw a product on Amazon that I thought may prove useful. It is a microscope ring light with two circular polarizing filters. One over the LEDs and one over the lens.

The theory is, you polarize the source light, and then filter any specular highlights and reflections that are interfering with your work with a polarizing filter. If you’ve ever dabbled in photography, you may have used a polarizing filter to remove reflections off glass or water.

There are times I am trying to view the…

Exposing Polarizing Ideas (a review of a polarized light source and filter for a microscope)

I know quartz watches can be hit or miss as to whether the second hand hits the minute markers as it goes around the dial. I know that there can be some variance from one side of the dial to the other.

That said, I have a nice quartz watch that ticks almost perfectly between the minute markers all around the dial. I don’t demand perfection, but this is as bad as it can get. And as I said, it’s consistently right in the middle of the minute markers.

As I understand how the second hand is…

Correcting a quartz second hand that falls between minute markers each tick?

I have a Longines Istituto Idrografico R.Marina Heritage (L2.677.4.53.2) which has a L651.3 movement based on the ETA 2894-2. I would like to replace the existing hour hand (1.5 mm x 8 mm) and minute hand (0.9mm x 12mm) with a pair of cathedral style. The dial has the “fauxtina” lume color, so a similar color is what I’m looking for. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of aftermarket hands for Seiko movements, I’ve had no luck locating a suitable pair that will fit the Longines. Any…

Cathedral Hands for Longines

I’ve rebuilt this 1909 Hampden 16s pocket watch. New balance, Balance lower jewel replaced, cleaned & oiled.
The amplitude is only at 150, yet this thing runs 880 sd fast.
The hairspring is not magnetized and there are no coils rubbing or sticking together.
The gear train operates great. (checked with no balance and pallet fork). Pallet fork works free too.
I’ve added timing washers to the mean time balance screws, and that’s helped, but there’s no more thread left to add more washers…

Hampden Watch co. 16S 257559 running fast. Help

I am new to this watchmaking hobby, and on the re-assembly of a watch I took apart to replace the movement, I had this shiny, black metallic dial that I simply could not get clean.

No matter what I did, dust in large quantity would find its way onto the dial. To me, it seemed like a static charge was being created somehow because brushing and blowing only made things worse.

Just wondering if I’m the last one to know the solution to this or maybe I need to build a clean room, ha.

Hi guys, I hope this is the right place to ask this and everything. I’ve casually asked in other threads where it’s come up and never got much of an answer… Just that it can be as expensive or as affordable as you want it to be.

The other thing I wonder about though, is how difficult it is to learn. I’m pretty much of a watch newbie as far as anything remotely serious, just have had a very casual love of watches for a long time. I am generally very mechanically inclined though, I…

How difficult is it to learn to mod watches?