In this wrist watch the inner metal bezel
was missing. A new remedy was found. Watchmakers use a kind of gum called
Rodico to clean traces of grease, oil or fingerprints from movements:
here it takes the place of the bezel. The lack of rigidity was very clear!
Sometimes it is very difficult or even impossible to find spares
for vintage pocket watches. When the balance staff breaks due to a hit it is
often necessary to make a new part on the lathe. It is a delicate and time consuming
job, but indeed it is necessary. One of our customers brought us a watch where
the previous repairer found a "new way" to solve the problem: he attached
to the broken staff a hand shaped (not made on lathe!) piece of steel to resemble
the old broken pivot. Obviously, the movement did not run well so, trying to
"adjust" it, the anchor too was altered, and the repair became too
expensive to carry out.
How glue acts on watches: this pocket movement has been contaminated by SuperGlue
(used to fix glass to its bezel) and now its front plate cannot be brought back
to its original status. It would be necessary to remove a lot of material and
this is not recommended under the historical point of view
A strange way to fit an arbor on its swinging
mass in a Rolex cal. 2135
When a watch works for many years, probably some holes assumes
an egg-shapes. If the spare parts isn' available, you can fit a little bushing.
Clearly the autor of this "masterwork" don't wanted loss his time.
(Click on the picture to see the detail.)
The watch you can see here is an original Rolex with a dial reprinted in an
eccentric way !
The word "sate" indicates, in Venetian dialect, the
legs of whatsoever animal. So, you have, in an improbable anglo-venetian idiom,
an oyster with the legs, a mythical creature.