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“I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Discussion area for watches, clocks and all other timekeepers.
PetWatch
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by PetWatch »

baldrick wrote:Brand new Planet Ocean Chrono.

Angular door handle.

Yup, you guessed it. Whacked it so hard as I swung my arm I dented a pusher, jarred the movement and dinged the case.

That was an expensive lesson.

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Hurts, more so when new. It's bound to happen sooner or later. Sometimes we get lucky sometimes not.

You need one of these.

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Joking.

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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Dub Rubb »

cheddar wrote:
baldrick wrote:Brand new Planet Ocean Chrono.

Angular door handle.

Yup, you guessed it. Whacked it so hard as I swung my arm I dented a pusher, jarred the movement and dinged the case.

That was an expensive lesson.

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This and [mention]watchpalooza [/mention]’s Dreyfuss have been the 2 stories so far that have made me cringe.
X2,but also the poor 3133. Man do I still want an OKEAN.

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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Dub Rubb »

PetWatch wrote:Trying to take off some somewhat light scratches off the case of a Citizen Sig., taking longer than I thought. Got tired of rubbing, got careless and took some of the paint off the bezel. A lot of work to make things worse.

Changed batt on Invicta, a screw from the battery latch went flying off into space, luckily the other remaining screw saved the job. Almost botched another batt change, those small screws and other minute related parts have a habit of flying off. Luck of the draw if they can be found. Have spent 20-30 min searching, sometimes successfully sometimes in vain.

Lost some of those tiny pin tubes some Orient and others use, had to cannibalize tubes from another watch.




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I am sure it would be staggering to go around my place with a magnet. So many spring bars and tiny screws. And all those missing collars from pin and collar bracelets. I swear there is a black hole that they gravitate towards.

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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by watchpalooza »

Dub Rubb wrote: Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:50 pm
PetWatch wrote:Trying to take off some somewhat light scratches off the case of a Citizen Sig., taking longer than I thought. Got tired of rubbing, got careless and took some of the paint off the bezel. A lot of work to make things worse.

Changed batt on Invicta, a screw from the battery latch went flying off into space, luckily the other remaining screw saved the job. Almost botched another batt change, those small screws and other minute related parts have a habit of flying off. Luck of the draw if they can be found. Have spent 20-30 min searching, sometimes successfully sometimes in vain.

Lost some of those tiny pin tubes some Orient and others use, had to cannibalize tubes from another watch.




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I am sure it would be staggering to go around my place with a magnet. So many spring bars and tiny screws. And all those missing collars from pin and collar bracelets. I swear there is a black hole that they gravitate towards.

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This made me laugh...I find orphaned spring bars and tiny screws every so often around the house.
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“I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Sporkboy »

I have a scrap of wood, foot long 1x2 or so, that I have mounted a bunch of hard drive magnets to. This is my ‘parts finding wand’.Image
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by WhaleTail »

My absolute worst screw up: too much (uneven) pressure applied to the back of a Certina DS Prince automatic .... and the display glass shattered into the movement, ended up selling for parts.Image


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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Split-Time »

I appreciate everyone sharing their stories because I feel that I am at the point in this hobby where I know just enough to be dangerous. When you mix in a bit of complacency along with "not knowing what you don't know"...well, that is where I need to be careful.

It also feels bad to hit the "like" button on some of these!
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by baldrick »

Ooh I've remembered another one. Picked up a Steinhart Limited Edition pilot chrono DLC.

It arrived just before the wife and I went on holiday, so, naturally, it came with.

First day in the new country, we're standing at a crossroads waiting for the lights to change. I move over to let more people wait and forget that I am now closer to the light post.

Missus asks which we we are going and I throw my arm our to point....straight into the post. Ding the DLC right on the bezel so have to stare at two shiny scars on my brand new watch for the rest of the holiday. I still haven't fixed it and it annoys me every time I see it.

Basically, I think I also need to wear a straight-jacket when wearing a watch.


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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Stretch44 »

Just finished replacing our fence and scratch the **** out of my Timex. I'll try and polish out.
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cheddar
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by cheddar »

Stretch44 wrote:Just finished replacing our fence and scratch the **** out of my Timex. I'll try and polish out.
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Ouch! Wonder if there are replacement Timex crystals available.

The lug scuff that kicked off this thread is a lot less noticeable now with a couple of months of wear. Amazing how time can help things. :-)

In related news, bought a Seagull ST36 (6497/6498 clone) movement to break down, clean, and rebuild to start learning more about the technical aspects of mechanical movements. On the breakdown, got it all the way down to literally the last step: opening the mainspring barrel. Opened it up too quickly: mainspring flew out, launched the barrel arbor to who knows where. Got the flashlight and somehow miraculously found the arbor in the carpet. Have rewound the mainspring in the barrel; will see if it actually winds. :-)
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by Split-Time »

cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 11:30 pm
Stretch44 wrote:Just finished replacing our fence and scratch the **** out of my Timex. I'll try and polish out.
Image
Ouch! Wonder if there are replacement Timex crystals available.

The lug scuff that kicked off this thread is a lot less noticeable now with a couple of months of wear. Amazing how time can help things. :-)

In related news, bought a Seagull ST36 (6497/6498 clone) movement to break down, clean, and rebuild to start learning more about the technical aspects of mechanical movements. On the breakdown, got it all the way down to literally the last step: opening the mainspring barrel. Opened it up too quickly: mainspring flew out, launched the barrel arbor to who knows where. Got the flashlight and somehow miraculously found the arbor in the carpet. Have rewound the mainspring in the barrel; will see if it actually winds. :-)
I just want to say that you are awesome! As much as I like to tinker with other things, I have not tackled anything watch related yet. At the same time I feel that if I truly am on some horological journey that I need to at least disassemble a movement.
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cheddar
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by cheddar »

Split-Time wrote:
cheddar wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 11:30 pm
Stretch44 wrote:Just finished replacing our fence and scratch the **** out of my Timex. I'll try and polish out.
Image
Ouch! Wonder if there are replacement Timex crystals available.

The lug scuff that kicked off this thread is a lot less noticeable now with a couple of months of wear. Amazing how time can help things. :-)

In related news, bought a Seagull ST36 (6497/6498 clone) movement to break down, clean, and rebuild to start learning more about the technical aspects of mechanical movements. On the breakdown, got it all the way down to literally the last step: opening the mainspring barrel. Opened it up too quickly: mainspring flew out, launched the barrel arbor to who knows where. Got the flashlight and somehow miraculously found the arbor in the carpet. Have rewound the mainspring in the barrel; will see if it actually winds. :-)
I just want to say that you are awesome! As much as I like to tinker with other things, I have not tackled anything watch related yet. At the same time I feel that if I truly am on some horological journey that I need to at least disassemble a movement.
Well, we'll see how awesome I am once I try putting it back together. [emoji3] I've done a little dial cleaning on a couple of the watches I bought used, but didn't really want to touch their movements. You can get one of these ST31s on eBay for $25, and the ETAs they're based on are recommended for learners. Was very educational to just disassemble it, even with all the photos and movement info I’ve read. I found a disassembly video on YouTube and just followed along. Amazing how small some of the parts are.

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cheddar
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by cheddar »

Update: back together, and the balance wheel springs into action when wound! Unfortunately, it won’t wind very far. :-( I suspect this is due to the mishap with the mainspring. I’ll probably break it back down in a couple of weeks and take another crack at rewinding the mainspring. Pretty happy to have gotten through my first time with only one mishap.

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cheddar
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“I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by cheddar »

Another update: broke it back down today over lunch far enough to get the mainspring barrel out. Opened it up and took a look with the 10X loupe. Appeared that I might have rewound the spring the wrong direction after it flew out during the first disassembly, so I took it out and rewound it the opposite direction, put it back together again, and...

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Next victim is one of those Calvin Klein 2824s on its way from Ashford... [emoji3]
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Re: “I screwed up my nice new watch”: a thread to confess and sympathize with each other

Post by TheJohnP »

Well done [mention]cheddar[/mention]!
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