I may do one of these “What’s on the bench Today” posts once a week, so as not to flood the pages with the same stuff every day.

So, here’s what I’ve been working on this week, and a few I wrapped up today.

On top left is a Jerlian. This watch was given to me in a bunch of throw away watches. Someone broke the shock setting spring. So, just throw it away, right?

Bottom left, in pieces is a Gruen “Veri-Thin” getting ready for the wash.

Top left center…

WOTB Today?

Hi all. I’ve been slowly building my watch tool collection over the past year or so, and it was time to get them out of that mess of a drawer and into some custom organizers. Went for a 35x35mm grid, so each dimension is a multiplier and they can fit tightly against each other. I may explore in the future stuff like gridfinity, depending on how it grows and evolves. For now I’m mostly exploring a good way to have the panels interlock on any side (without magnets!), so that I have the…

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I’ve just been quoted the equivalent of 750 USD (inc taxes) by an independent watchmaker in Dubai for a simple service of a cal 501. Any recommendations of folk that dont charge the earth?

Recently won a 1971 IWC #2400 Cal. 403 on a yahoo auction, noticed it was making a clanking sound when I got it and also noticed the dial was moving slightly, so I opened it up and found that one of the movement holder screws broke and is stuck inside the hole

Am I totally screwed? I’m assuming my only options are sending it directly to IWC for a probably very expensive repair, or finding a watchmaker who has experience removing broken screws.

I’d greatly appreciate any advice…

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Hello all,

I’ve got an old 1332 Quartz that came with no crown. It works fine with a battery but has otherwise had a hard life. Evidence of light leakage and the stem was clearly broken.
Before I’m reminded of my stupidity for trying this myself, which I will certainly accept – an Omega repairer in Melbourne (from their website) quoted me $700 something for a potential crown repair. It cost me nothing and I like to learn. I also don’t have that to spend on a watch that I could replace for…

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Hello watchlovers. It’s Paul from the Netherlands.

Over the years i’ve bought many watches. First Seiko divers, followed by Omega, Rolex and Grand Seiko.
In 2016 i started a online watch business in selling, trading used modern watches.
My personal taste for divers changed into dresswatches. So i got into Longines, Omega, Zenith, Jaeger le Coultre, Minerva and ended up with Patek, Vacheron and A. Lange. I really liked the style of the ’50. Three part jumbo cases.

Beginning 2024 i thought…

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Hi all-
I’ve started to get addicted to watch servicing videos on Youtube, and, as someone who is pretty mechanically inclined, I like to do this sort of thing/know how to do this sort of thing. So far, I’ve done a couple of Seiko builds, though they are now in my son’s toybox.

As far as tools, I believe I have everything I need except for: 1- bins for the ultrasonic to keep the parts organized, 2- a mainspring winder, 3- Oils/oilers/oil holders.

I think for #1 and #3 there, I can find…

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Hi all, good evening.

I bought a vintage omega and I am trying to fix it. The watch was missing the crown and the stem was stuck inside.

I’ve managed to take it out (though haven’t been able to fully remove the movement from the case, gold plated case, see below pic 1).

The stem seems to be attached to a remanent part of the old crown (possibly with glue) and don’t know how to remove that bit in order to reuse the original stem (See pic 2)

My options are:

1) find a replacement stem…

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