What time is it? Watches and horology

You may appreciate this... on the bay for £3k

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Interesting viewing. Thanks

THANKS. Now that can't be unseen.

Afaik buying vintage Zenith is a minefield regardless

I'll stick to my bargain basement watches. All the frustration, none of the outlay.

Oh, talking of basements....

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@Tenderloin your maths is bad. £344 at the MasterCard exchange rate. Bear in mind there’s no tax or import duties and his prices include postage... as long as when you pay with PayPal you choose a Visa/MasterCard (but preferably the latter), you’ll get charged whatever you get from Googling ‘475 USD in GBP’ as an example.

I recently learned of the "watchmaker's four", but I'm not sure I understand it: I'm sure that's worth every CHF of the asking price, but how does "IIII" balance an upsidedown eight?

Just took a look at that site - that’s pretty cheap for a Seiko 5. Probably rude to not get one.

I’ve only had one auto - a skagen with some miyota movement. It’s pretty noisy! Can I expect that from any auto, really?
Also, how long am I likely to have before it winds down?
Apologies for noob-ing up the thread :-)

I think it's just about having a similar size/proportion of marker, and to avoid having a numeral with a single 'I' which may confuse with the other indices.

The Onsa is crazy noisy. A real ratchet sound from the winding mechanism. That's an incredibly old and unserviced Swiss Felsa movement. The winding mech in the Seiko Arctura is equally noisy.

The ETA 2824 or similar can be silky and quiet on the more budget end of Swiss autos. The Stendardo is near-silent but then again the thicker housing of a dive vs dress watch can help in that respect.

I'm tempted to relieve myself of the Citizen Eagle7 that I don't wear. Incredibly under-appreciated (read:bargain). That's a Miyota inside but it isn't very noisy at all.

The only Seiko5 I had was a horrid Indian ebay one. Buyer beware indeed. Not noisy but otherwise, ugh.

Depending on the watch the budget end last two days. Generally mine can sit for a day or two without winding down completely. The ETA must have beyond the advertised 40 hours reserve, takes forever to stop.

Back from the repair shop, old spring bars now in a bin somewhere. He said they were a pain in the arse to remove.

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Miyota automatic movements are known for having noisy rotors. Seikos much less so.

Just came back to look at this. I much prefer the black one.

Ah, that’s good to know. I reckon I could easily live with something a little less noisy than that.

If you're used to a noisy rotor, the luxury of a quiet one is unsettling.

Hi, I've sacrificed a watch to learn a bit, reading "practical watch repairing".
A painful read, describing the removal of 5 consecutive bits in a short sentence as if it was obvious, then dedicating a mad long entire paragraph about how you should keep your bench tidy... Feels like the dude wanted to teach about common sense more than how to repair watches.
Anyway, I haven't broken anything so far (I think), although some bud I already see I'll struggle to put back right.
Now it's the bit when I'm to remove the centre, third and fourth wheels... Except the centre wheel seems held by something and I can't figure what. Any idea?

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If I understand you correctly, it is being held in place by the cannon pinion which has a friction fit over the center wheel shaft. You remove it from the dial side.

You probably want to get a second opinion before believing me.

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That would make sense. Friction fit means strong tweezers to pull it (the cannon pinion) out?

Was just trying to put the bridge back over the centre/third/fourth wheels... I just can't align the axles. I'm not done dismantling but wanted to have a go at this... Wow, I hope the book gives tips because I can't see how I could ever put it back...

Ever thought of an easier hobby, like collecting vintage Campag on a zero budget?

Collecting 50th anniversary group sets in their plastic travel cases.

Trust me, the advice in the book is good.

You need to remove the canon pinion to release the centre wheel. There’s a notch in the middle of the canon pinion; get your tweezers in that notch and lever the canon pinion away from the base plate without flinging it across the room.

Aligning the bridge for the train of wheels just takes practice. Look very closely and use your tweezers to gently move the arbors while pressing the bridge downwards. You have to be more gentle with the escape, pallet and balance pivots as they are very fine.

Trust me, the advice in the book is good.

I'm sticking to reading this, I was just a little frustrated last night...

Thanks again for the advices @rodabod and @Stonehedge

Aligning the bridge for the train of wheels...

Will persever!

Have put the rubber zulu on the pepsi. Liking it.

Want to shift your bracelet now?