A Thrift Store Find in Le Brassus

1 year ago
23

On Sunday I found this tiny vintage pocketwatch-style wristwatch at a garage sale in Le Brassus, the famous watchmaking town in Switzerland's Vallée de Joux. With a case made of pure (925) silver and what appears to be a complete movement, it looked like a bargain to me at 15 Chf (~$16 US).

Unfortunately (or fortunately!) it was not running! The first evaluation therefore was to determine if any of the fine pivots or jewels were broken. If not then it's a wonderful candidate for cleaning, lubrication, and restoration.

In this video I evaluate the above and decide that I will try to restore this tiny silver gem!

00:00 introduction - the thrift store find
00:43 inspecting the thrift store / garage sale find for broken pivots
14:02 Tools of the Trade and K&D Staking Tools pdf link
22:12 $80 of vintage watch spare parts reference
25:20 the split balance wheel - whose idea was that?
26:49 fitting a spare hour hand that doesn't fit using staking tools
38:08 conclusion

Link to JD Richard's video about the Watch Balance Caliper:
https://youtu.be/9xTrG6k7qTE

K&D Staking Tools pdf link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zVuVgI2iSVC6b1fYJ7RlrZlze_7rYuoh/view?usp=share_link

Link to @WatchWithMike 's recent video about the staking set he recently bought on Ebay:
https://youtu.be/NfoG4b5FXjI

Master Watchmaking Tools of the Trade pdf link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t22EbtF3U_f0XDlEqd6WdOePzN8TK3bR/view?usp=share_link

Thank you Paul and Vladislav for those documents!

#watchmaking #restoration #swiss #vintage

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