Reply With QuoteOoo that’s intriguing. Look forward to seeing the answer
So I like shiny baubles but don’t know how they work, looking for some advice
The watch below, my wife has had since she was 5, clearly quartz, her parents at some time (in the last 35 years) opened the back and removed the battery
We want to bring it to life to give to our daughter, it might just be fitting a battery but I can’t see the type or where it goes or it could be a new movement
Not really worried about the cost
Ooo that’s intriguing. Look forward to seeing the answer
Is this a joke?.........there's a good reason why you can`t see where to fit the battery!
Have you tried winding it?
To be fair
A. I did say I knew fek all
B. I just assumed it was a 80s quartz
The crown is not moving clockwise, worried about breaking it.
Hard to say what it is but it’s definitely no quartz! There are some Chinese movements out there pretty cheap if there is sentimental value to it.Originally Posted by Chewitt13
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It certainly is a manual wind watch, which if the crown will not turn needs stripping and servicing. There may be a problem here as many watch makers (including me!) will not touch the cheap movements as they can in no way be relied upon to perform well afterwards. All you can do is ask around a few and see if someone will take it on.
Could I source a replacement movement? Could we stick a quartz into the case?
Greg at Woodland Technical.
Nothing fazes him.
Something tells me this may be quite expensive.
The stem may have rusted into the movement. It might be possible to free it up and get it to move, but it needs sorting out by someone experienced with watches. Don't try using force to get it moving, that'll end badly.
Fitting a quartz movement isn`t easy, then there's the issue of water resistance. Quartz movements don`t like dampness, and a quartz movement in a case with zero WR is a recipe for problems, especially in the hands of a child.
Getting this watch to run again will be a challenge for some lucky lad!
paul
What a lovely story.
I hope you can get to see the smile on your wife's face.
Good luck.
It has sentimental value so we should go a little further than we usually would as it's a very nice idea to pass it on to your daughter. I don't take this sort of watch on either unless there is a reason and this is a fair one.
It's not a complicated watch but as long as you're not expecting chronometer performance and realize that it takes the same time to service this watch as it does for a quality manual wind, then it is possible to fix it. If you don't find anyone to sort it out cheaply, you can send it to me and I'll give you a price. If you search "CJN watchmaker" in google, you'll come across my website and can see the work I do.
At the moment, the mainspring is probably "fully wound" but the movement is jammed so definitely don't try and wind it any more. It could be a rusted stem as Paul says, but I'd suspect that's the worst case.
Cheers, Chris
OP would be wise to take up Chris’s offer IMO.
I’ve sorted a few ‘ sentiment’ watches out in the past but I’m far too busy with other things, I thought about it but I’m in no position to take jobs like this on at the moment.
These jobs can be more challenging than servicing a chronograph! If the movement can’t be rescued the repairer has to either source a replacement ( probably a second hand watch) and that involves risk. Trying to re- engineer the watch to take a quartz movement isn’t easy, the diameter of the holes in the hands is often an issue, getting the dial to fit is tricky, and getting the movement to sit properly in the case ( correct height ) is another headache.
Hopefully the movement will be fixable, it’s a nice story and it would be good to get the watch running again.
an option would be to buy a new watch with the same dial diameter and then swop it out for your Snow White one. All dials are (typically, just in case yours isn't) 0.4 mm thick coated copper and held in place by two small pegs. The pegs are solder on jobs. The donor watch could be anything from Timex to Patek standard!
Darius at the Ealing Clock Gallery is a bit of a wonder when it comes to getting things working again (he does a lot of two hundred year old clocks) and can repair and service any make of watch. https://marinechronometer.co.uk/inde...-and-servicing
I realise that this may not be relevant (different case, hands - possibly movement) so apologies if this isn’t helpful, but a quick trawl of the web did show up a couple of watches with similar dial (1 of which is for sale):
http://www.michaelhfreelance.com/view.html#c182NjQzMw==
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Snow-W...wAAOSw5cRZMMzw
It might be worth a punt (or more searching) on the off-chance that there is something useable for parts/repair.
Phil
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Posting Permissions
