No.4-00, more pictures

These pictures were taken by the future owner of No.4-01. I think they are refreshingly different from the clinical pictures I take in the light tent. Of course, the fact that he has a great camera and is an ace photographer also helps!

Here it is on his wrist-

And on mine-

And here I am wearing the watch. I am just happy that the watch looks better than it's maker :-)

No.4 Videos

Here are some videos of No.4-00

No.4 Wristwatch

Here is my No.4 wristwatch. This one is a semi-skeleton. The idea is to show only the interesting bits. This includes the escapement, the mainspring barrel & the keyless works. Everything else is covered by the stepped dial.

In this model the dial and movement are in bare, frosted brass. I feel this is a more muted, understated look as compared to gold plating. Also, the brass will acquire an interesting patina over time. Something like a service indicator :-)

The hands are 'Sambhare' hands. The case is 38mm excluding the crown, 47mm lug to lug and 11mm thick. 

Seiko Striking Clock fixed.

As a follow up post to this one- 
http://awatchmakersdiary.blogspot.in/2013/07/seiko-striking-clock.html , 
I have opened her up and it was as I had suspected. Here is a picture of the dial side of the movement. The hour snail, rack and gathering pallet mechanism is as on purely mechanical clocks. However, there is a motor turning the gathering pallet.

And in the picture below you can see the problem. However, instead of dirt it was a bit of wire (green arrow) getting in the way of the rack (red arrow). 

The wire has been tucked away and all is well with the clock now!

No.2 Hands

I had made these hands for a No.2 piece but they did not pass QC. I wasn't happy putting them on a customer's watch.  

It seemed a waste to leave them lying around. So I have put them in my test piece. You can compare them with the original hands this watch had, here- 

http://awatchmakersdiary.blogspot.in/2011/08/no2-sneak-peek.html

I am quite pleased with the new look :-)

Seiko Striking Clock

This Seiko striking clock is in for repairs. It had stopped striking and even the time side stopped when the clock was put on 'strike' mode. I do not usually work on quartz movements but I was intrigued by it's hybrid configuration.  It dates from 1981-82. What makes it interesting is the fact that it is a quartz clock with a motorized-mechanical striking module. Also, It has a smooth sweep seconds hand and the seconds hand resets to 0 (12 o'clock position) when you pull out the setting knob. Quite impressive for 1981 I should think!

In the picture below you can see the movement side of the clock (upside down). The gongs are visible to the left and the hammers can be seen emerging from the lower left corner of the movement. The long black shaft emerging roughly from the top-centre of the movement upwards towards the 6 o'clock position is the setting knob.

Here you can see the strike train with a motor on one end (left) and the hammers on the other (right). This clock has never been serviced. The oil in the striking train pivots had turned to a thick sticky paste. A clean up, fresh oil and a new battery has got the clock striking again. 

However, it misfires between 10 and 3 o'clock. I will have to have a look at the dial side of the movement. If it has the traditional rack and snail mechanism (as seen in mechanical striking clocks) then I assume there is dirt there that is causing the problem. I will post pictures of the dial side when I open it up.

Revised No.3 design, Videos

I have been working on a couple of No.3 commissioned pieces. I took the opportunity to fine tune the design. Compare the picture below with the first picture in this post- 

http://awatchmakersdiary.blogspot.in/2012/08/no3-00-finished.html

It is marginally more open and the lines are cleaner and more elegant ..... or at least I think so :-)

Modified HMT

Hello, I have been busy making a no.2 and several No.3s. Will post about those later. 

Meanwhile have a look at something I put together with parts I had. I originally made these hands for the No.3 skeleton (please see previous post) but I think they work very well on this HMT Kohinoor. The clean, white dial is a perfect backdrop for the heat blued hands. Also, the 'high' crystal allows one to appreciate the thick hands better. What do you think?