I've been tinkering with watches for a fair number of years now, especially Vostoks. Nothing too major - changing dials, hands, regulating, replacing obviously knackered parts, breaking things I didn't understand. Anyway, a few months back I took the "Basic Mechanical Watch" servicing course at the British Horological Institute near Newark. It was an absolutely fantastic course and John Murphy is a brilliant instructor. I can't recommend the course enough and I've already booked myself in for another course!
This is where the magic will happen:
Room full of my watch junk and some cool posters:
Sometimes it's tidier than this.
Old laptop and USB microscope.
So here's service number 1: a Vostok Amphibia with a 2409 manual movement. I'll let the pics do the rest.
I'd guess this one hasn't seen any oil since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Check out the crystal!
With a big whack on the side against my palm the watch sprang into life. Then stopped 5 minutes later. I did manage to get a timegrapher reading though and it isn't pretty.
The heart of the beast, including real dirt from Russia.
Definitely going to change the seals on this one.
The chrome plated bezel is wrecked so I ordered a NOS one from Russia. 6 weeks later it arrived...
Almost stripped. The mainspring has had it. It's actually cheaper to order a new complete mainspring assembly from Russia than to order an individual mainspring from Cousins so I bought a load. I now have the European monopoly on Vostok 24XX movement mainsprings :D
All cleaned:
The case and crystal get a damn good clean and polish finished off with a pressure test to 50m.
Assembled and serviced! Yes I did polish the bridges. Why? Because it looks nice. The case back isn't clear by the way...
Quite an improvement.
And finally, the finished item on a cheap Russian bund.
Hope you enjoyed.
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