Special Shopsmith Hack, Watch Tinkering Bench

[nuhobby]

Hi,
I have been amateur-tinkering with wristwatches for about a year now. There is a lot to learn, particularly in the mechanical realm. It's just a hobby and I'm not certified or trained. It can be very fun, as well as most frustrating at times!

One aspect of the work has greatly improved this week. I got my work surface elevated close to chest / neck height, provided I use my work-seat. This is a specially designed fixture that sits nicely on my 510-worktable, and can be removed easily. The work posture and work ergonomics are much better than I've had before:

Shopsmith_with_BenchTop.jpg (237.21 KiB) Viewed 15164 times

Watch_Tinkering_Bench.jpg (240.12 KiB) Viewed 15164 times

Also, as a reminder of some of my earlier posts... The PowerPro 250 RPM setting opens up a number of opportunities for watch-bezel finishing, even watch-bezel painting as I did last Christmas

Chucked Striping Jig.jpg (141.26 KiB) Viewed 15164 times

Happy Tinkering!
Chris

[nuhobby]

Further into the watch-tinkering stuff....

I had got a mish-mash of Asian-sourced watch components and a movement which I wanted to build into something working. However in my case, the subject watch-case was designed for a thicker movement than the one I wanted to use.

Reading up a bit, I'd seen the use of Acetal (Delrin) spacers from watchmakers with Taig lathes and the like. But elsewhere I saw that some wood-lathe folks had turned acetal successfully for their pens and small projects.

Challenge accepted, and first proof of concept!


Here is some 1.5" acetal chucked into my 4-jaw:

Chucked Acetal.jpg (252.24 KiB) Viewed 14527 times

Here is the rough outcome, which was not bad; I did keep it, and I hand filed it a bit more after this:

Acetal Ring Trial.jpg (182.43 KiB) Viewed 14527 times

Here's the watch-in-progress, where the stem finally inserts correctly, now that the movement is spaced 'down' a tad relative to the crystal:

Spacer Trial.jpg (237.97 KiB) Viewed 14527 times

Have a great week!

Chris

[nuhobby]

Next up, the acid test!
The real movement arrived and was fitted with new hands. Once everything seemed to run well, I went ahead and mounted it up in the case. I'll do more run-in testing and adjusting, then it should be worthy to seal up for use!

P.S. I also need to trim the length of the winding stem, still.

Chris

Spaced Movement In Place.jpg (218.8 KiB) Viewed 14392 times

[RFGuy]

Looks sharp!

[reible]

I don't know much about watches but I do like the tinkering bench idea. I think I will add one of those to my shop, not for working with watches but for other things that I do play with. Well I did find a watch that I could try and take apart just to see what makes it tick, but, well it doesn't tick and doubt it ever will.

watch.jpg (106.68 KiB) Viewed 14307 times

It does say water resistant but this one must have had some shock as the little hands are loose inside....... and it is very weathered. Well it would be a nice first project for a tinker bench.

What is the green material? I have a left over sheet of self stick felt that is just sitting around so I was thinking that might be an option but then what you are using interests me....

Ed

[nuhobby]

Ha Ha! We work with what we must!

Yeah, that green mat is a specialized non-skid work mat from Bergeon. I maybe could have improvised with something else, but that seemed to be "the bee's knees" among watch experts. No complaints, and it's replaceable.

Keep tinkering!

[nuhobby]

Here was a recent project I did for a buddy. Not a super-rare watch (it's a fairly modern quartz with retro military styling)...I put in a new movement, new crystal, cleaned the hands-corrosions with 1500 grit sandpaper:

Before_Afterjpg.jpg (167.72 KiB) Viewed 13070 times

Chris

[RFGuy]

Wow! Impressive. Hard to believe that it is the same watch.

[Jd1a]

Very nice work




very nice work

[nuhobby]

Yes, I've wasted many a dollar, but I finally made a pretty good score.

I found a used watch on eBay that had the disclaimer, "needs battery" :

Auction Watch.JPG (36.62 KiB) Viewed 10648 times

Well, it did not need a battery because it had a very high-quality Swiss hand-wound movement The watch is by Ollech & Wajs.
After some assessment, I put in a new glass crystal, and I changed the hands. The original hands had a nice style, but their illumination was shot, and the lume-material had cracked due to the stress-risers inherent in the shape of the broad arrow. So I got in some aftermarket hands:

Cleaned_up Swiss_Watch.JPG (103.78 KiB) Viewed 10648 times

Happy Hunting!
Chris