In the world of watches you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with the big names like Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer and Breitling. What you may not realise is quite how many micro-brands there are. These smaller watch companies produce watches ranging from super high-end, through to cheaper quartz watches. Each brand has its own respective niche and story to tell.
The watch on the bench today is made by Halios – a relatively new company, with the brand starting in 2009. Halios watches were influenced by conversations with online watch forum members. By talking directly with the target market, the watches were tailored to suit their thoughts and suggestions.
This model is a Seaforth – a great looking, water resistant, automatic watch. It’s powered by an ETA 2824-2 movement. The 2824-2 is a reliable, good quality automatic movement, as found in watches by some of the brands listed above, like Tag Heuer and Breitling.
Initial inspection revealed the watch to be working, albeit poorly based on the readings from our timegrapher testing machine. A full service and replacement mainspring was required.
The watch is completely stripped down before the movement parts are thoroughly cleaned. We clean parts both by hand and then using a specialist watch movement cleaning machine – this way we can be certain everything is in good order and as clean as we can possibly make it.
After cleaning, rebuilding and oiling of the mechanism can begin. We use a number of different oils and greases in different parts of the mechanism. We follow the manufacturers guidance for this, including the use of epilame treatment on a number of parts to prevent the spread of oils.
The case is given a thorough ultrasonic clean and we then reassemble the complete watch. After pressure testing for water resistance, this wonderful Halios Seaforth goes on our automatic watch testing machine as part of its final testing before release to our client.
Yours sincerely
David Clark DGA PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director
W.E. Clark & Son Limited