On day 73 of the virtual pocket watch museum, in responce to Tonny's posting
of a steel cased IWC Pocket Watch, I shared this this steel cased watch with
you, and laid out a challenge to Jeroen. In short, can we save this bit of IWC
history and restore it ?
Being the watchmaker he is, he accepted the challenge.
During the life time of the project, come good times or bad (as is the case
with most restoration projects that start out like this), we will share the
progress, trials and tribulations with you.
This will be in the form of a photo essay.
Day # 1 - Partial Strip Down
It begins...
First action, get that shatterd dial out of the watch. The investigation into
the originality of this blue and white dial and any eventual restoration
project therof and/or replacement dial, will be my technical contribution to
the project.
Lets get it out. Obvioulsy the right tool for the right job.
OK we got it open...
Now, we need to remove the crown (to enable us to get that movement out)
Did I just say "us"? This is the moment Jeroen starts to mutter something like
....
I keep my mouth shut, as Jeroen continues... OK, crown is removed. Now the
case screws.
The movement is out the case - this does not look to good there is rust on the
inside bezel of the case too.
Now to get that fragile dial off the movement without further damage (in case
we end up needing to restore it ). As we read earlier during the Virtual
Museum Posts, this is how many of these dials get broken in the first place.
Someone who
did not know that the dial feet are actually screwed down into the movement
and held in place by screws along the edge/side of the movement, or in the
case of this Cal. 57 movement the dial feet are notched at their ends, and a
clip is attached on the bottom of the movement to each dial leg, to hold it
down.
The enamel dials crack, when unskilled folk try to remove them off the
movement by pryuing them upwords off the base plate and excerting prerssure on
the enamel. Result : a dial that looks like this one.
Ahh... Jeroen has all the clips removed and can gently lever the fragile dial
off, moving his way around the edge. Slight presure all round is important as
there may be old oils or other gunk, still holding the dial stuck to the main
plate.
This takes a professional hand.
Basic Strip Down completed. The dial is out (it's in bad shape and Jeroen has
already confirmed that that blue numbering is enamel work and original to the
dial. Now, we need to know if the dial is original to this watch.
I'm off with the dial, and Jeroen is busy with his project planning.
Hope you enjoyed the start of our journey.
