Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I know there are several RFF members who collect watches; we have a couple of threads here where people post pics of their watches. I've collected watches since I was in college, and have a small collection. None of mine are terribly expensive, since I've never had a lot of money to spend on them. I was sick with stomach problems most of last year, and didn't feel well enough to go out photographing much, which is why I haven't been posting much on RFF lately. I started learning to repair watches because some of mine needed regulated, and I didn't want to pay someone to do that with the number of watches I had.
Several years ago, my grandmother gave me a watch that belonged to my grandfather, John Westerfield.
Grandpa died back in 1999. The watch Grandma gave me was a Benrus Citation Copley, a gold-plated watch made in Switzerland by an American company in 1955.
It ran but was very slow, losing about 10 minutes a day. Last year I got it out and decided to have it serviced. I didn't feel confident enough in my abilities to do a full service on a watch, especially one so old when no parts are available; so I took it to a local watchmaker. He returned it to me running just as badly as before, even after I asked him to work on it a second time. I decided not to take it back to him again. I recently began the process of servicing the watch myself, beginning with completely disassembling it.
The watch has an ETA 1220, a common Swiss movement from the 1950s. In the next couple days I'm going to clean all of the parts, then lubricate each part that needs oil or grease using the correct lubricant (there are four types of lubricant used in a watch, depending on what part is being lubricated!), then I'll reassemble it and adjust it for accuracy.
Before I took the watch apart, I wound it up and put it on a timegrapher, an electronic device that gives information about how a mechanical watch is running. The things I looked at were its timing (it was running about 5 minutes a day slow at that point) and its amplitude. Amplitude is a measure of how much power a watch's mainspring is delivering to the mechanism. It should be higher than 250 at minimum. This watch had an amplitude of 125. That showed me that the person I paid to repair it didn't do a damned thing to it. Two things can cause low amplitude. A worn out mainspring, and bearings that are full of dried, dirty old lubricants. Cleaning a watch solves the latter problem; and replacing the mainspring, which is a standard part of a watch service, solves the former. When I took it apart, the mainspring looked old, and the jewel bearings looked dirty when I looked at them through an eyeloupe.
Hopefully I can get it running perfectly again. The parts don't look worn or damaged, so I think it just needed properly cleaned, and a new mainspring. I found a company that still sells mainsprings for this old movement.
Several years ago, my grandmother gave me a watch that belonged to my grandfather, John Westerfield.
Grandpa died back in 1999. The watch Grandma gave me was a Benrus Citation Copley, a gold-plated watch made in Switzerland by an American company in 1955.
It ran but was very slow, losing about 10 minutes a day. Last year I got it out and decided to have it serviced. I didn't feel confident enough in my abilities to do a full service on a watch, especially one so old when no parts are available; so I took it to a local watchmaker. He returned it to me running just as badly as before, even after I asked him to work on it a second time. I decided not to take it back to him again. I recently began the process of servicing the watch myself, beginning with completely disassembling it.
The watch has an ETA 1220, a common Swiss movement from the 1950s. In the next couple days I'm going to clean all of the parts, then lubricate each part that needs oil or grease using the correct lubricant (there are four types of lubricant used in a watch, depending on what part is being lubricated!), then I'll reassemble it and adjust it for accuracy.
Before I took the watch apart, I wound it up and put it on a timegrapher, an electronic device that gives information about how a mechanical watch is running. The things I looked at were its timing (it was running about 5 minutes a day slow at that point) and its amplitude. Amplitude is a measure of how much power a watch's mainspring is delivering to the mechanism. It should be higher than 250 at minimum. This watch had an amplitude of 125. That showed me that the person I paid to repair it didn't do a damned thing to it. Two things can cause low amplitude. A worn out mainspring, and bearings that are full of dried, dirty old lubricants. Cleaning a watch solves the latter problem; and replacing the mainspring, which is a standard part of a watch service, solves the former. When I took it apart, the mainspring looked old, and the jewel bearings looked dirty when I looked at them through an eyeloupe.
Hopefully I can get it running perfectly again. The parts don't look worn or damaged, so I think it just needed properly cleaned, and a new mainspring. I found a company that still sells mainsprings for this old movement.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I've been making a series of videos of the repair process. Partially to help me in reassembling it, since there is no service manual available for this old movement; and because a couple of friends wanted to see the process. You can watch it, too. I created a new Youtube channel for it: Watchmaker Chris.
wlewisiii
Just another hotel clerk
Good stuff but if you don't already know him, you can lean LOTS from this channel: Wristwatch Revival
Pure gold.
Like RFF for watches.
Pure gold.
Like RFF for watches.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I'll check it out; thanks. I learned a lot from Alex Hamilton's Watch Repair Tutorials. Alex is a retired watchmaker who actually has a watchmaking degree from a trade school. His stuff is very detailed and very clearly explained, and he teaches the correct way to do things, not the shortcuts and bad techniques a lot of the amateurs on Youtube show.
Something else that was a big help was a book called The Watch Repairer's Manual by Henry Fried. 70 years ago, Fried was one of the world's leading watchmakers and teachers. His book is very comprehensive and teaches obscure things like manufacturing your own springs and gear spindles. It was especially useful to me because his chapter on servicing a watch uses a movement very similar to the ETA 1220 used in my watch. There are a few important differences between 1950s movements and modern ones, and I never see anyone on Youtube working on anything like this.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Good stuff, Chris! That's a lovely old Benrus. Marshall Sutcliff (the guy who does Wristwatch Revival) has serviced a number of 1950s and even older wristwatches, you should look through his video catalog. Good luck with your cleaning and service work!
There are a couple of other YouTube channels worth looking at.
- Vintage Watch Services created by a guy named Theo who lives in Switzerland but is Norwegian is worth subscribing to and watching. He works on a huge range of older and newer watches, and is a professional watchmaker.
- Nekkid Watchmaker is another professional (name Joe) who does some amazing work on restoration and repair. Again, he's worked on and restored many older watches and it's particularly amazing to see his restoration work on truly abused watch cases and bracelets.
Enjoy! I look forward to hearing your journey to the full restoration of your Benrus!
G
There are a couple of other YouTube channels worth looking at.
- Vintage Watch Services created by a guy named Theo who lives in Switzerland but is Norwegian is worth subscribing to and watching. He works on a huge range of older and newer watches, and is a professional watchmaker.
- Nekkid Watchmaker is another professional (name Joe) who does some amazing work on restoration and repair. Again, he's worked on and restored many older watches and it's particularly amazing to see his restoration work on truly abused watch cases and bracelets.
Enjoy! I look forward to hearing your journey to the full restoration of your Benrus!
G
JoeV
Thin Air, Bright Sun
Subscribed, Chris!
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
I went through a phase of watch collecting but now i have sold pretty much everything and kept my two favourite ones. That Benrus is a great watch - art de co style and ETA movements are well made.
Wrist watch revival is my favourite watch repair channel on yt.
Regarding the watches I kept, a Rotary Maximus from 1954 with Revue 77GT movement
And an automatic Seiko 5
Wrist watch revival is my favourite watch repair channel on yt.
Regarding the watches I kept, a Rotary Maximus from 1954 with Revue 77GT movement
And an automatic Seiko 5
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Chris, you are a brave man! Seeing that hairspring curling across the picture freaks me out -- how to return it to its proper configuration? But it looks like you have gone into this with eyes open.I know there are several RFF members who collect watches; we have a couple of threads here where people post pics of their watches. I've collected watches since I was in college, and have a small collection. None of mine are terribly expensive, since I've never had a lot of money to spend on them. I was sick with stomach problems most of last year, and didn't feel well enough to go out photographing much, which is why I haven't been posting much on RFF lately. I started learning to repair watches because some of mine needed regulated, and I didn't want to pay someone to do that with the number of watches I had.
Several years ago, my grandmother gave me a watch that belonged to my grandfather, John Westerfield.
Grandpa died back in 1999. The watch Grandma gave me was a Benrus Citation Copley, a gold-plated watch made in Switzerland by an American company in 1955.
View attachment 4863045
It ran but was very slow, losing about 10 minutes a day. Last year I got it out and decided to have it serviced. I didn't feel confident enough in my abilities to do a full service on a watch, especially one so old when no parts are available; so I took it to a local watchmaker. He returned it to me running just as badly as before, even after I asked him to work on it a second time. I decided not to take it back to him again. I recently began the process of servicing the watch myself, beginning with completely disassembling it.
View attachment 4863046
The watch has an ETA 1220, a common Swiss movement from the 1950s. In the next couple days I'm going to clean all of the parts, then lubricate each part that needs oil or grease using the correct lubricant (there are four types of lubricant used in a watch, depending on what part is being lubricated!), then I'll reassemble it and adjust it for accuracy.
Before I took the watch apart, I wound it up and put it on a timegrapher, an electronic device that gives information about how a mechanical watch is running. The things I looked at were its timing (it was running about 5 minutes a day slow at that point) and its amplitude. Amplitude is a measure of how much power a watch's mainspring is delivering to the mechanism. It should be higher than 250 at minimum. This watch had an amplitude of 125. That showed me that the person I paid to repair it didn't do a damned thing to it. Two things can cause low amplitude. A worn out mainspring, and bearings that are full of dried, dirty old lubricants. Cleaning a watch solves the latter problem; and replacing the mainspring, which is a standard part of a watch service, solves the former. When I took it apart, the mainspring looked old, and the jewel bearings looked dirty when I looked at them through an eyeloupe.
Hopefully I can get it running perfectly again. The parts don't look worn or damaged, so I think it just needed properly cleaned, and a new mainspring. I found a company that still sells mainsprings for this old movement.
santino
FSU gear head
What do you guys think about Seiko kinetic? Great concept or over engineered?
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
Good watches but they need capacitor change every 10-15 years. Shouldn't be an issue though.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I'm replacing the mainspring with a brand new one. The new one came pre-coiled in a holder that lets me push it directly into the mainspring barrel. If I were going to reuse the old one instead of replacing it, there's a special tool called a Mainspring Winder that is used to tightly coil it so it will fit back into the mainspring barrel.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll check those out. I started watching some of the Wristwatch Revival videos, and you and William are right, he is good.
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I love the Rotary watch. I wish you could get watches today with small cases and simple classic dials like that. Everything today is too big. I have really small wrists so big watches look ridiculous on me, and aren't comfortable to wear.
My most-worn watch is my Nivada Grenchen Antarctic. Its a modern reissue of a watch Nivda Grenchen made in the early 1950s for a series of exploration expeditions conducted by the US Navy. Their ads back then said "This watch went to Antarctica!" The remake is the same 35mm case size as the originals, which is awesome. A lot of watch companies now are remaking watches from their past, but almost all of them screw it up by inflating them up to modern sizes.
pixelated
Established
“C Spinner Watch Restorations” is another good youtube channel on watch repair.
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
Nivada is a company with great heritage - I love small, easy to read dials and this Nivada looks perfect. I have a 41mm Orient which I rarely wear it any more, it is too tiring on my wrist. The Rotary is 34mm in a 9k gold case made by DS&S in Birmingham and the Seiko is 36mm (I think).
There are some very interesting forums online. I have joined some and in my experience thewatchforum.co.uk is probably my favourite. There is also watchuseek and watchforum.com.
By the way, the Rotary was a charity shop find. Possibly the best charity shop find I ever did - £10 😮
There are some very interesting forums online. I have joined some and in my experience thewatchforum.co.uk is probably my favourite. There is also watchuseek and watchforum.com.
By the way, the Rotary was a charity shop find. Possibly the best charity shop find I ever did - £10 😮
GMOG
Well-known
Hey Chris,
I've been working on watches for 30 years more or less. I have Swiss and USA certs, and I worked for an Official Rolex Jeweler for years (Rolex speak for "dealer"). I only work on vintage stuff now, mostly USA-made pocket watches.
Fried's "Watch Repairer's Manual" is solid gold. I bought my copy in 1996. I still pull it out when I need a reminder, the most recent being how to tighten the pendant sleeve's action in an old US-style pocket watch case. That book is full of both common and obscure knowledge. His other books are good, too, particularly the one on escapements. Learning the lever escapement is key to long-term successful watch repair.
Anyway, reach out if/when you have questions you can't find answers for. And be super careful with that wrist watch's tiny hairspring! One tweak and the watch's positional timing goes down the drain, or it won't run at all.
Last thought: I highly recommend picking up a practice pocket watch movement, and the Seagull copy of the ETA 6497 is an excellent choice. Starting out on tiny wrist watches can be tough because of the size. The 6497 (and clone) is a modern design, basically a big version of a modern Swiss manual wind wrist watch movement. Lessons learned on it transfer to watches like you are working on now.
Greg
I've been working on watches for 30 years more or less. I have Swiss and USA certs, and I worked for an Official Rolex Jeweler for years (Rolex speak for "dealer"). I only work on vintage stuff now, mostly USA-made pocket watches.
Fried's "Watch Repairer's Manual" is solid gold. I bought my copy in 1996. I still pull it out when I need a reminder, the most recent being how to tighten the pendant sleeve's action in an old US-style pocket watch case. That book is full of both common and obscure knowledge. His other books are good, too, particularly the one on escapements. Learning the lever escapement is key to long-term successful watch repair.
Anyway, reach out if/when you have questions you can't find answers for. And be super careful with that wrist watch's tiny hairspring! One tweak and the watch's positional timing goes down the drain, or it won't run at all.
Last thought: I highly recommend picking up a practice pocket watch movement, and the Seagull copy of the ETA 6497 is an excellent choice. Starting out on tiny wrist watches can be tough because of the size. The 6497 (and clone) is a modern design, basically a big version of a modern Swiss manual wind wrist watch movement. Lessons learned on it transfer to watches like you are working on now.
Greg
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
I think I'm doing ok so far with this little movement I'm working on; its pretty simple mechanically. The only daunting thing is that is does not have an etachron regulator; if it is not keeping good time after cleaning and relubrication, I am going to have to mess with the adjustment screws on the balance wheel. Is that something you've ever done?
I'd love to find more of Fried's books. I know he did one on quartz watches and one on early electronic watches like the Bulova Accutron, and both are out of print and hard to find. What is the Escapement book called?
GMOG
Well-known
It does look like you're doing fine. You managed to take that movement apart without losing or damaging anything which is a challenge in itself. Have you already separated the balance wheel from the cock? You will need to in order to service the upper balance jewels. There could be a little block you have to turn to get the hairspring out of the regulator, and that block could also serve as one of the regulator pins. Careful doing this work. The hairspring in that watch is mighty thin and delicate.
I have two of Fried's books besides the "Watch Repairer's Manual". They are "The Watch Escapement", and "Bench Practices for Watch and Clockmakers". Both of these compliment the "Manual" with more information, and all three taken together represent a respectable body of knowledge. I think you could find all of his books if you look around.
Not so many watches have adjustable timing screws on the balance wheel. Most of the screws you see on balance wheels were used to match the wheel and hairspring masses together and are not meant to be touched often if at all. If after you've serviced the watch you find the rate way out then there is something else wrong. Could be simple, like magnetism. Could be more complex and subtle, and not so easy to figure out. If it was running OK before then it should still run OK after service unless something changed.
In general you shouldn't touch balance wheel screws without good reason, unless they are actual timing screws. And most watches that have timing screws also have a normal style regulator for adjusting the rate, so you don't have to use the screws alone. Timing screws come in pairs and some watches have one pair and others have two. Only a few high end watches are "free sprung", using only timing screws on the wheel for making timing adjustments.
Take a close look at the 1220's balance wheel screws. You'll see, I think, that all of the heads are flush with the wheel and there's not a lot of threads extending past the balance rim's inner surface. A timing screw's head will stand off from the wheel with threads visible in that space, and more threads protruding out the hole on the inside of the rim. If a screw is adjustable you will see the difference.
The thing about practicing on a larger movement is that it makes things much easier to see and feel. Everything in a larger watch requires more force to work with and this gives you a larger margain for error.
If you were to buy yourself one of those 6497 clones and spend time getting to know it and then send it to me, I'll mess it up in some "fun" ways and return it to you for you to diagnose and repair. 😀
I guess it all depends on your goals, how far you want to take "watch repair". If it's just this old Benrus with an ETA 1220 then that's great. If you feel inclined to mess around with more watches then I encourage you to step up the learning so things aren't so mysterious. Working on older watches comes with its own set of problems one doesn't typically find in newer watches, and a good many of these problems were introduced by previous people who didn't quite understand what they were doing.
Keep having fun with it!
Greg
PS - I like that photo of your grandfather. Reminds me of mine (maternal) as he also loved fishing.
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Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
My grandpa and I went fishing together all summer when he was still with us. He died in 1999, the year I graduated from college the first time. He had a lake house that he spent most of his time at during the summer. I still have Grandpa's fly rods and his jonboat. He taught me to tie flies, too.
I want to service other watches. I have a collection of them, all but three are mechanical. I have a couple others that need work. This watch doesn't have a normal regulator. There are regulator pins, but the arm they're mounted on does not move like on most watches. The arm that holds the hairspring stud also does not move, unlike modern watches. The watch loses about 5 minutes a day now, and had very, very low amplitude. I'm guessing it just needs cleaning and relubrication because none of the parts look worn or damaged. A friend who has been a camera repairman for 40 years told me that often a camera with slow-running shutter speeds will fall back into normal tolerances when properly cleaned and relubed; I'm hoping this watch does that as well.
I am definitely interested in learning more about watchmaking. Some of my watches are automatics, and most have date complications, so those add additional complexity. Its been fascinating. I do well teaching myself things. I taught myself everything I know about photo editing. I have a fine arts degree with photo major, but I graduated right before everyone started using digital technology in a big way, so I didn't learn a thing about Photoshop in school. My dad taught me to do my own car repairs when I was a kid, a skill that has saved me a ton of money over the years. I think in the last 20 yrs the only car repairs I have ever paid a mechanic to do were wheel alignments after I changed things like tie rod ends; that requires special equipment.
Ljós
Well-known
Great work, Chris! And the 'watchmaker' who returned the Benrus to you (twice) with the abysmal amplitude of 125 ought to be ashamed of himself.