Did my first light maintenance today…

[Usil]

Light Maintenance on Two Watches (hopefully will help others):

I have been doing some timing of a few of my watches these past few months and have gotten pretty good at it (no electronics, just time, patience and small movements). So far, I have only removed the backs of the watches to perform these adjustments.

Today, I decided to go a little further. Let me say up front that I have no experience other than what I have read in this forum so the description of what I have done is based on this information. This would probably be minor to most of you but it was major for me and I knew there was some risks, never having done this before.

Watch #1: PAM 127 (1950-47mm)

This watch was from Andrew (Trusty Watch Guy) and it is my first 47 mm PAM. My wrist size is 7.5 inches so it is not too large for me and I like the simplicity and size a lot. There has been a lot said about the 127’s lately on who’s got the best or ultimate Fiddy. Frankly, it has been confusing. Andrew offers two models. One has the Asian 6497 hand wind movement in it (without the swan Neck adjustment) and he offers this on the web site for USD 188.00. The other model has the same 6497 movement with the Swan Neck adjustment feature, Super Lume and light AR coating on the front glass. He offers this on the web site for USD 328.00. The USD 140.00 difference, to me, was too much but this is just a personal choice for me. I know these things are important to others. For all practical purposes to me, they look identical and no one will see the missing Swan neck on the obverse side. The promise of a movement that would last a while and the looks of the Fiddy for 188.00 seemed like a good deal especially with all the controversy going on.

Anyway, the watch arrived in short order and it looked fine until I started to compare the clarity of looking through the front glass at the face of my watch compared to some of the pictures I saw posted on this forum, mine looked a distinctly hazy. I know that some of you are dynamite photographers but this looked more than just good pics. I examined my front glass in the sun and using a side light and concluded that there was a homogenous fine haze on the underside of the glass. It just was not clear as it should be. My observations have been repeated by others on this forum about other watches from time to time so I decided to try to do something about it.

I removed the crown guard and unscrewed the back using the ball of tape method and took a look. There was one blue screw (should have been two) that was holding the movement snug to the case. Also, I saw the small screw that is supposed to unlatch the crown. Remembering The Zigmeister’s ‘no more than two turns” statement for this screw, I did exactly that. The crown came out without a hitch.

Next, I undid the retainer screw. Now, I thought, the movement will come right out. Wrong! Yes, I did read that some had indicated that you can not remove the movement from a Fiddy this way and some with just as much conviction that they have and you can (this is often the case here as you have to sort out the opinions from the facts and in some cases it is probably just different models). So I got the loop out and took a closer look. What I saw was that it looked like there was a flat metal plate (could be the face itself) under a ridge that runs around the inner case. It looks impossible to remove the movement this way with the model I have. There may be others where this is not the case but it was for me. So, I replaced the retainer screw, cleaned the back glass, silicone greased the o-ring and upper neck of the crown stem and reassembled the watch.

Now What? My only option was to remove the front glass. I examined the side and saw it looked like I could slide the knife edge of a case back remover under the metal bezal surrounding the glass. I did this and with a little force, felt the glass and bezel move up. I knew I had it then and easily removed the front glass. I used a professional grade optical lens cleaner (I use for my camera lenses) and cleaned the inside of the case. Slipping the front bezal and glass back on was very easy.

The results was nothing short of amazing. The clarity I saw in the Fiddy photos in this forum was now what I saw with my own watch. It was the difference between night and day. I am not exaggerating on this as I showed my wife the before and after difference. The watch was now reassembled and perfect.

With this success, I next moved to:

Watch #2: 45 mm Omega Planet Ocean (Asian 21 Jewel automatic movement)

I had the same problem of a ‘foggy’ front glass that was visible under most light conditions. I unscrewed the case back, saw the small ‘push point’ to unlatch the crown. I removed the plastic insert and while gently pushing in on the push-point, I pulled the crown out of the watch. The movement came right out and I again cleaned off the inside of the glass with the professional lens cleaner.

I replaced the movement, greased the o-ring and upper part of the crown stem and replaced the back. AGAIN, the visible clarity results were amazing. This improves the overall appearance of these watches 100%.

That’s it. This is the first time I did any of this and based on what others have posted here, I was successful in this ‘light-maintenance’. Thanks to all.

Usil

[Usil]

No, it was not crystals or lint.

I can only speculate but it was probably fumes of some solvent or oil that diffused off the watch parts when assembled and deposited uniformly as a 'haze' on the front glass (probably very hot in the factory). If you look at all the recent 127 pictures when the 'ultimate' debate was ongoing, you will notice that some pictures have a clarity to them that is very different from other pictures when you look through the top glass at the face. This best illustrates the differences I saw when I cleaned the glass. It is very dramatic.

Usil

Edited July 6, 2006 by Usil

[Pugwash]

Nice work. Now, you're not too far from my work. I think I'll pop round with my collection and let you clean all of them. In return, I'll set your cameras up so you can finally take watch pics for us. That is assuming the insurance has replaced them yet.

[Usil]

Insurance was a bust so Iwill just have to save my pennies and get a new one. I had a Fujia S3 Pro and it took excellent pictures. It is now half of what I paid for it 2 years ago so maybe have to bite the bullet.

I was very nervous about doing what I did and do not think I would try it on others watches untill I am more practiced. But I feel good about it and want to try luming some day - at lease a simple watch.

Usil

[Pugwash]

As I know next to nothing about cameras, what do you think of the Nikon D70?

Very good ... but the equivalent Canon is better. Check out the Canon 30D if you want a good SLR, or the 350D if you want to pay less.

[Usil]

Moving up to Cannon or Nikon depends on what you want to invest in. Since these cameras require extra lenses and have proprietary lens mounts - once you select one or the other, you are pretty much locked in. You have to take this into consideration if you want to go this route.

My advice, go to the bookstore and buy a few photography magazines. See what the users are saying and doing and after a few reviews, price comparisons and looking to what they might come out with next, you can make a selection. Of course, what ever you select will always be improved upon and be half the price next year but that's the way it goes.

I chose the Fuji S3 because it has the Nikon mount and I have Nikon lenses from my film camera days. See what I mean as to how this locks you into one particular brand. But the S3 takes outstanding photos comparable to Fuji Velvia and Provia slide film I used to use.

Usil

[Canuck88]

I'd also recommend holding each camera that you are considering, and 'playing' with it for at least 20 minutes. YOu'll want to see how it feels in the hand, how easy the menus are to use, and which controls are placed on the body and where. This will make a big difference in your purchasing decision.

For the record, I shoot Canon but prefer the feel of the Nikon bodies... I have a lot of expensive cannon glass (70-200 2.8, 16-35 2.8, 85 1.2, etc) so I'm sort of stuck

[Pugwash]

I have a lot of expensive cannon glass (70-200 2.8, 16-35 2.8, 85 1.2, etc) so I'm sort of stuck

I don't yet have an SLR, so I'm looking forward to the whole choice thing.

[Canuck88]

I don't yet have an SLR, so I'm looking forward to the whole choice thing.

I'd recommend waiting until the next Sony DSLR comes out - it's supposed to be basically a minolta 7D (great ergonomics, ccd stabilization, zeiss lenses) with a Nikon D200 imager and processing. We'll see...

Otherwise D200 and 30D are great choices, or if it's mostly a hobby and you have tiny hands a 350D would be great (too small for my hands).

[Gerco]

With this success, I next moved to:

Watch #2: 45 mm Omega Planet Ocean (Asian 21 Jewel automatic movement)

I had the same problem of a ‘foggy’ front glass that was visible under most light conditions. I unscrewed the case back, saw the small ‘push point’ to unlatch the crown. I removed the plastic insert and while gently pushing in on the push-point, I pulled the crown out of the watch. The movement came right out and I again cleaned off the inside of the glass with the professional lens cleaner.

I replaced the movement, greased the o-ring and upper part of the crown stem and replaced the back. AGAIN, the visible clarity results were amazing. This improves the overall appearance of these watches 100%.

That’s it. This is the first time I did any of this and based on what others have posted here, I was successful in this ‘light-maintenance’. Thanks to all.

Usil

Thanks Usil !!!!!!

With your post I tried my first light maintenance on my PO today. It is also a TWG PO and suffered also from a foggy haze on the inside of the glas.

I didn't like it, but didn't recognize it as a problem to contact Andrew about.

I did exactly the same you've described, and........it's amazingly easy to do. No problem's at all !

The screw on the rotor wasn't rusty, but there were some fingerprints on it.

I carefully cleaned the glas on the inside and assembled the watch again.

It looks amazing !!!!!

I will post a few before and after in this topic.

Greetings Gerco

[Usil]

Gerco,

Glad I could help. The results are amazing and the PO was easy to work on. If you do this on any other watches, let us know. So far, only the PAM 127 and the PO suffers from this in my collection of 16 watches. At least noticably so.

Usil

Edited July 16, 2006 by Usil

[Gerco]

Gerco,

Glad I could help. The results are amazing and the PO was easy to work on. If you do this on any other watches, let us know. So far, only the PAM 127 and the PO sufferes from this in my collection of 16 watches. At least noticably so.

Usil

Usil,

thanks again, sharing knowledge makes this forum special.

Greetz Gerco