Month: July 2022

We are skilled in the repair and restoration of a whole range of different types of watch – both modern and vintage. One group of watches we regularly work on are military watches. Military watches are watches which, as the name suggests, have been issued to members of the armed forces at some point.

Probably the most famous sub-group of military watches is the “Dirty Dozen”. In the 1940s, the MOD needed watches produced to a certain specification for issue to the armed forces. Twelve manufacturers were eventually approved to produce these watches – hence the name, the Dirty Dozen. In alphabetical order, these makers were: Buren, Cyma, Eterna, Grana, Jaeger Le Coultre, Lemania, Longines, IWC, Omega, Record, Timor and Vertex. As you may note, all these makers are Swiss. Unfortunately British watchmaking had been in decline for some time, so lacked the required means of production to make such timepieces.

The military watch we’ve been working on here is later than the “Dirty Dozen”, though it’s still from the period before the MOD switched to issuing quartz watches (which was just after the Falklands War). Indeed this CWC W-10 was one of the last general purpose mechanical watches issued to the military in the UK.

On arrival with us it was running though not keeping time. Inspection of the movement revealed it had likely not been serviced for many years, so a full service and new mainspring was required.

The movement used in this watch is an ETA 2750 manual wind mechanical movement. This is a good, robust movement, with a hacking function to stop the second hand when the crown is pulled out into hand-setting position. During a full service the movement is completely stripped down, cleaned, reassembled, oiled, adjusted and tested.

Our client stressed the need to keep everything original, so the armoured plexi-glass dome was left “as is”, likewise with the one piece steel case. In many instances originality is of great importance and we are only too happy to oblige. We can also offer our advice on what is best for the specific watch in question if our client is unsure. Once the watch is fully cased up it’s ready to go on test before returning to our client.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director

One of the most frequent jobs we tackle in the workshop involves replacing the crown and/or stem. The crown, which you may also know as the winder, is used to set the time as well as to wind up a mechanical watch. If the crown is pulled out incorrectly, or perhaps caught in a certain way, it’s quite easy to break it off. Depending on how it’s broken, we may be able to recover the original crown and simply replace the stem. If the crown itself is damaged or the stem is broken absolutely flush with the crown, this may also require the crown to be replaced.

In this example we are replacing both the crown and stem on a Raymond Weil chronograph watch. You can see the stem has broken very close to the crown itself, so this will make removing the old stem extremely difficult. While in some instances we are able to do this, most of the time a new crown will be needed. If you look closely, you can see how water has affected the stem, causing it to rust. This has weakened the stem and over time has led to it being so weak it breaks.

We were able to source an original crown for this model, as well as a replacement stem. To fit the new crown and stem we need to trim the stem to fit. This involves fitting the stem to the movement and measuring off how much excess we need to remove. We can use the old broken stem as a guide. The stem is then removed from the movement and held in a pin vice. It is trimmed and filed down to allow the new crown to fit nice and smoothly.

There’s a bit of an art to getting the stem to the exact size, and it really is a case of practice makes perfect. The crown should sit flush against the side of the watch case, without a gap. Care is needed, as if the stem is cut too short, the stem won’t reach far enough into the movement. This will cause the movement to be stuck in date change or hand setting mode (or if it’s cut far too short, it won’t be held in place at all!).

When we are happy with the fitting, we again remove the crown and stem, then take the crown off. We put a tiny drop of threadlock on the end of the stem, before reattaching the new crown. We do this to be doubly sure the new crown will remain in place long into the future. Now we refit the crown and stem, and that’s this part job done!

In addition to the steps outlined above, we often take care of additional jobs at the same time. For example cleaning the case and bracelet, replacing the glass or fitting a new battery. Our workshop is well equipped to deal with a whole variety of repairs to the vast majority of watches, both modern and vintage.

Do you have a watch in need of a new crown? Contact us to see how we can help. We offer a repairs service both locally via our shops in Lewes and Uckfield, as well as nationally via our fully insured secure postal repairs service. We are experts in the repair of watches and have the skills to take on a huge variety of repairs. We are business partners of the British Horological Institute and we hold a Platinum Trusted Service award from Feefo – testament to the consistant, excellent reviews we receive from our clients.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director

We deal with a huge variety of watches in our workshop, ranging from modern Tag Heuer, Breitling and Omega through to vintage wrist and pocket watches. Vintage watches come in all shapes and sizes. They often need extra special care and attention, especially if the watch in question has not been regularly serviced over the years.

This watch is a vintage C5 Galaxy mechanical watch. It’s a watch which has obvious aviation inspiration – It’s named after the large military transport aeroplane and features a clear disc with the silhouette of the C5 Galaxy acting as the second hand.

On opening the watch we are able to inspect the movement. This watch uses mechanical movement branded from the Hafner Watch Co. It’s actually a Baumgartner calibre 866, which in its standard form is a workhorse pin pallet movement. This iteration is upgraded to having 17 jewels, so this is a positive – the jewels act to reduce friction and so reduce wear.

We can see quite a lot of dirt and debris throughout the movement, so a full service and a fresh mainspring is in order. The movement is completely disassembled and pre-cleaned, with each part carefully inspected for wear. The disassembled movement is then run through our specialist watch movement cleaning machine, while the case was cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner.

After cleaning the movement is carefully reassembled and oiled. The dial and hands, plus the unusual second hand disc are then refitted, before the complete movement is fitted into the case.

No additional works were carried out to the case, dial and hands – these were all left in original condition for our client. Now before returning the watch we put it on test to confirm the timekeeping accuracy and make sure everything is just as it should be. Another job well done!

Do you have a watch in need of repair? No job is too big or too small – Get in contact with us to see how we can help. We are able to repair almost any watch and we offer a comprehensive watch repair service. We cater to clients all around the UK thanks to our fully insured freepost watch repairs service. You can also bring watches in to our showrooms based in Lewes and Uckfield, Sussex. As Business Partners of the British Horological Institute and a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award accredited business, you can be confident when dealing with us.

Yours sincerely

David Clark PJDip PJGemDip CertGA
Managing Director