[propnut48]

I recently bought a Citizen bn0085-01e professional diver in the Bahamas and noticed that a couple days later the second hand was binding the minute hand. I opened ed it and noticed that I could lift the movement up slightly so I did that and tweeted the second hand up ever so slightly. What a difference 20! Only needed about 1.0 mm.

Want to see if anybody else has kept the watch at home and done their own?

 

[Peteworrall]

My first generation Orange Monster had started running slowly, so I took it to Beaverbrooks, a major UK jewellery chain, and asked them to look at it.

They said it would be £15 to send it away for a quote, which I agreed to. It came back as 'needing' a £130 full overhaul, including a new movement. It was only running a bit slow so it seemed a bit steep to me.

I looked into it and decided to source and fit a replacement movement myself. Movement bought for about £40 on the bay, watch-hand tool bought for about £5 on the bay. An hour or so research on YouTube to give me an idea of what to do, and then an hour of fiddly work doing it and, 'boom', fully functioning Monster back in play!

It was really satisfying and the watch now means a lot more to me knowing that I kinda 'built' it

 

[Ard]

I have done a lot of minor repairs myself. Proper tools help a lot & very steady hands are a requirement. Right now all is well with every watch I own but if I buy more something will need to be fixed eventually.

Ard

 

[AC81]

I recently bought a Citizen bn0085-01e professional diver in the Bahamas and noticed that a couple days later the second hand was binding the minute hand. I opened ed it and noticed that I could lift the movement up slightly so I did that and tweeted the second hand up ever so slightly. What a difference 20! Only needed about 1.0 mm.

Want to see if anybody else has kept the watch at home and done their own?

What you want to do now, is buy a watch that's broken. Just so you can take it apart.
What started with modding, and playing with a few new parts. Has turned into buying old battered watches and fixing them and servicing them..
It's a slippery slope ;-)

https://www.watchuseek.com/f21/6119-diver-tlc-2420529.html

 

[arogle1stus]

WISes
I leave the watch fixin stuff to my 3rd generation watch guy Larry
Less than 3 miles drive.
I jus wear em an enjoy em.Larry never ran a coal train for me and
I don't service watches. It's been like that for 25 years.

Lou Snutt
Malfunction Junction Tx

 

[nello]

I have done minor regulating. I don't wear my watches enough to really need to do this. A day or two max., then I put another one on the wrist.
Dirt removal under the crystal.
I "fixed" a DG movement with a can of dry air. It had stopped and would not start. I wound it up and sprayed some short burst away from the balance wheel. It has worked ever since. NOTE : I do not recommend doing this. Very stupid.

 

[JMoney]

I am not nearly that brave. The closest that I cam was to actually get the back off to replace a battery in a quartz watch that my wife has.

 

[sticky]

A lot of the guys on here are more than a little handy when it comes to watch repairs but I'm the polar opposite - everything I touch in the watch line turns to junk so I learned long ago that I should leave watches well alone.

 

[AC81]

Here's another watch i bought 'broken'
Scuffed crystal, and these 3 part cases make them a doddle to change. And i've got myself a faceted crystal

 

[Loofa]

When I bought it it had the evaporates lubricant rings on the inside of the crystal. Opened at and cleaned it (and left a piece of dust in here by 2 o'clock...) rather than pay and wait for my repairman to do it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[svorkoetter]

Fixing my own watches is what I do for fun.

http://www.stefanv.com/watches/restoring-a-russian-alarm-watch.html

The #1 key skill is .... patience.

 

[propnut48]

On the citizen I had to tweek the sec hand on now I need to open it again and bend the second hand to line up with the hash marks. I see that it is slightly bent from catching on the minute hand. I may just order another seal because of opening it so many times. May do the same on my 8926OB from trying to set the reg as it was running too fast and now it's running slow. Man it is touchy. Didn't even move it but a 1/2 a millimeter.

 

[propnut48]

(

Fixing my own watches is what I do for fun.

http://www.stefanv.com/watches/restoring-a-russian-alarm-watch.html

The #1 key skill is .... patience.)

And a beer to steady the hands. At least for me.

 

[akvikram]

I have done some small fixings like battery change, hands swap and adjustment.
Nothing big, scared of mechanical movements

 

[svorkoetter]

May do the same on my 8926OB from trying to set the reg as it was running too fast and now it's running slow. Man it is touchy. Didn't even move it but a 1/2 a millimeter.

I think you underestimate the size of a millimetre.

If you moved the regulator 1/2 a millimetre, you'd throw the timing off by about 30 seconds a day. My rule of thumb is that if I saw it move, it was probably too far.

 

[propnut48]

Svorkoetter

"I think you underestimate the size of a millimetre.

If you moved the regulator 1/2 a millimetre, you'd throw the timing off by about 30 seconds a day. My rule of thumb is that if I saw it move, it was probably too far. "

You may be right. Iv'e almost got it dialed in so the next time I adjust it I'll just have to breath on a bit softer. It is very touchy. It is better then it was. When I got the watch it was about a minute fast per day. It's now at about 10-15 sec/day. It's my first auto that I've played with so its a bit of a learning curve. I enjoy it though.