The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi folks!

I need your help!

I've got a Lemania 1281 today through a random course of events which came to be quite surprisingly.

You know how in every office there is "sports guy" who knows the score of every game at any given moment? Or "weather" guy who is always up to speed on the latest cumulonimbus?

Well, I'm "watch" guy... And so it came that a colleague presented me with an old, so far unidentified watch movement and dial. It is jammed (anchor wheel doesn't spin) and said colleague was about to have the watch go to the trash. She had sold the golden case and just about opened the trash can when suddenly she thought "wait, there's watch guy... He might have fun having a crack at this".

Now, fully conscientious that I have never mended a movement, I do not want to get ahead of myself, but then, no one's gonna miss the thing if it goes badly, so why not give it a try.

That is, I have never learned more than the basics of how a movement works, so this stunt won't be possible without some professional help. I have a book about mending movements and that will certainly be a start. However, I'm not sure it'll do...

So here's my question:

Is there anyone around here who could give me advice on the tools I need for a first step, and, I'm afraid much more after that?

I'd be very thankful for any input as I am in waters far deeper than I am tall here...

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Cheers from Switzerland,

Fred

There are members who are far more qualified than I am as an 'amateur hobbyist', but if you are going to invest in tools then you need to be looking at more than a one off, otherwise the money involved isn't going to make much sense.

Before I try and answer the questions specifically, what are you actually looking to do - disassemble and reassemble or full service / restoration - and what points inbetween??

Are you looking only at wristwatches or pocket watches as well (I highly recommend starting with pocket watches - cheap, larger than pocket watches and generally a little simpler)?

Are you going to be looking at time only or get into complications as well (please start simple!)?

In short, need a little more info to be able to help properly (and maybe that means that you need to think it through a bit more too)

Well to be honest I have a profound fascination for the mechanics of a watch and watchmaking is a skill I'd love to learn. So what I am ultimately looking to do is to take the thing apart, documenting each step photographically in order to create a bit of an instruction sheet. I would then like to clean the parts and replace the ones that show excessive wear. Once that's done, I'd like to put it back together, and sort of hope I can get it to work.

If I can do that, it'll very likely not be a one-off. Knowing myself, I'll try to find some other, perhaps more complicated movements to play with...

But first things first... If at all, because as you say it might be advisable to take apart something simpler beforehand.

The steps required (or so I presume) for the Lemania will be:

- Disassemble
- Clean
- Find the piece causing the jam
- Replace mainspring and barrel
- Reassemble and lubricate
- Have Mvt regulated by a pro
- Have Mvt mounted into a case to be found and purchased at a later point.

Now, it is a chronograph, so it is certainly not a trivial project and it might indeed be sensible to practice the required actions on an easier movement. A pocket watch is certainly a good suggestion here.

_________________
Cheers from Switzerland,

Fred

Well my recommendation would be to put it in a drawer and forget it until you have 50+ simpler watches under your belt!

You also need to understand better the replacement parts - no need to replace the mainspring barrel, but you likely will need to replace the hairspring, which realistically means a balance complete.

At a minimum you are going to need:

Regular and fine tip tweezers
A decent set of screwdrivers
Hand removers and setters
Canon pinion remover
Rodico
Loupe
Oilers and oil

I would also suggest that you add

Mainspring winders
A copy of the Bestfit catalogue
Movement holder
Finger cotts
Flat and needle nose pliers

Cleaning is still going to be difficult unless you also buy an ultrasonic cleaner - not the cheap Chinese garbage on eBay, something like a Quantrex 90. That in turn requires chemicals, lid, beaker and baskets.

If you are getting into full watches then you are also going to need a case knife and a caseback opener (Jaxa style preferred) and a sleeve wrench and set of keys for pocket watches.

Many, many more things to add as you get more serious, but that will be a starting point if you aren't going to try and regulate it yourself.

Don't go cheap, you'll regret it - stick to the big names - Bergeon, Horotec, Lindstrom, Dumont

Thanks mate! Very precious input!

I will do three things now:

- establish a tool shopping list
- find a movement to start learning with
- dive deeper into my book

Regulating seems a bit much for the beginning, but we'll see, if I manage to assemble some simpler things, I might have a crack at it eventually.

Cleaning still seems essential, but maybe I can have that done by a pro who has the infrastructure. Also, my research has shown that the watch the movement stems from has probably been a Langendorf chronograph from somewhere around the forties. I thought they usually change mainspring and barrel when doing a full factory service and thus figured it'd be necessary after somewhere around 70 years... But maybe that was a tad naive?

The escapement might indeed need some replacing, for it has taken the better part of a century of enduring friction...

Thanks very much again for the precious help! Off to Bergeon then!

_________________
Cheers from Switzerland,

Fred

The mainspring needs replacing for sure, but not the barrel (unless it's damaged).

Take a look on eBay, plenty of job lots of dollar style pocket watches for $5 - $10 a piece. They'll be missing hands, cases, etc and have chipped or cracked dials, but good enough for practice.

Regulating is possible with basic tools - poising tool, undercutters, balance calipers, etc (assuming screw adjustment split balance), and is worth it if you get serious just to understand the impact of your actions. Of course you will also need a timing machine to get accurate and immediate data, and that's more money - though older ones do come up on eBay fairly often.

Have not looked into so no idea what it is worth but maybe thw TZ Watch School is something that could get you into this or simply frighten you away

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"It is just a matter of time!"

TZ watch school is OK, but you can also buy a bunch of correspondence style programs on eBay - Chicago School of Watchmaking and Bulova School are both pretty good.

Hi

Their are many tools that you need to repair a watch properly. My son is training to become a rolex train watchmaker.
Like Roff said you need to learn the movements. Also some tools can be expensive like bergeron.
To repair a watch you need to find the fault then fix the fault then disassemble the watch, And then clean it. And the re assemble. And case back up. To repair movements is very hard my sone has been training for 2 years and still has another 2 to do in switzerland. But like you said you could have a go and try it or get some old movements and try on the to get the feel.
Hope this helps.

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