Watch repair London

[funkyol]

Hi,

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Dropped my watch (Revue Thommen Pilot) on a stone floor. The watch is fine but the movement's come loose and is rattling around a bit in the case.

It's still working although stops intermittently (guessing due to the balance).

It's got a Unitas 6498 manual wind movement (one of these: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2319024287_dcb...

Need somewhere decent (but not a rip off) to fix it. I was thinking Austin Kaye but I've heard good and bad things so just looking to find out if anyone has anywhere good they can recommend from personal experience.

Cheers!

[ShadownINja]

I hear Ryte Time is good but you'll have to send it away. There's another on the coast... forget the name. Hopefully someone else will reply. Worthwhile searching through TZ-UK as they recommend various.

[funkyol]

Can't get on to TZ as my username was deleted (twice) do to only using the site intermittently. Can't be bothered registering again. Thanks though - i'll check out Ryte time.

[cyberface]

If the worst comes to the worst, you can get nicely decorated Unitas movements from some chap in Germany, and replace the entire movement yourself (assuming the case isn't badly damaged from the fall). In terms of tools to swap movements over - the hardest job will be removing the hands from the old movement and replacing them onto the new one. Everything else is normally pretty easy.

Given the price of even the nicer decorated Unitas movements, doing a piece-by-piece dismantle and repair could easily cost more in labour charges than it'd cost you to buy a new movement and replace the whole lot yourself... just a thought

[funkyol]

cyberface said:

If the worst comes to the worst, you can get nicely decorated Unitas movements from some chap in Germany, and replace the entire movement yourself (assuming the case isn't badly damaged from the fall). In terms of tools to swap movements over - the hardest job will be removing the hands from the old movement and replacing them onto the new one. Everything else is normally pretty easy.

Given the price of even the nicer decorated Unitas movements, doing a piece-by-piece dismantle and repair could easily cost more in labour charges than it'd cost you to buy a new movement and replace the whole lot yourself... just a thought

Well, I think the movement is fine as the watch is still ticking away happily - winds and winds down etc - I can also adjust the time etc. All that's happened is the face (attached to the movement) is loose inside the case (so rattles around). So I think it just needs glueing back into place (and a service whilst they're at it?)

[cyberface]

funkyol said:

cyberface said:

If the worst comes to the worst, you can get nicely decorated Unitas movements from some chap in Germany, and replace the entire movement yourself (assuming the case isn't badly damaged from the fall). In terms of tools to swap movements over - the hardest job will be removing the hands from the old movement and replacing them onto the new one. Everything else is normally pretty easy.

Given the price of even the nicer decorated Unitas movements, doing a piece-by-piece dismantle and repair could easily cost more in labour charges than it'd cost you to buy a new movement and replace the whole lot yourself... just a thought

Well, I think the movement is fine as the watch is still ticking away happily - winds and winds down etc - I can also adjust the time etc. All that's happened is the face (attached to the movement) is loose inside the case (so rattles around). So I think it just needs glueing back into place (and a service whilst they're at it?)

Dials are usually attached to movements with pins that are secured by friction with screws. If you remove the back and the crown (usually something to press to allow you to wiggle and remove the crown stem completely from the watch case) then you can drop out the movement, dial and hands - the dial can be easily pushed back onto the front of the movement and the screws used to secure it in the right position. Only really cheap watches use glue to stick the dial onto the movement, so it's probably fixable with one screwdriver!

[funkyol]

cyberface said:

funkyol said:

cyberface said:

If the worst comes to the worst, you can get nicely decorated Unitas movements from some chap in Germany, and replace the entire movement yourself (assuming the case isn't badly damaged from the fall). In terms of tools to swap movements over - the hardest job will be removing the hands from the old movement and replacing them onto the new one. Everything else is normally pretty easy.

Given the price of even the nicer decorated Unitas movements, doing a piece-by-piece dismantle and repair could easily cost more in labour charges than it'd cost you to buy a new movement and replace the whole lot yourself... just a thought

Well, I think the movement is fine as the watch is still ticking away happily - winds and winds down etc - I can also adjust the time etc. All that's happened is the face (attached to the movement) is loose inside the case (so rattles around). So I think it just needs glueing back into place (and a service whilst they're at it?)

Dials are usually attached to movements with pins that are secured by friction with screws. If you remove the back and the crown (usually something to press to allow you to wiggle and remove the crown stem completely from the watch case) then you can drop out the movement, dial and hands - the dial can be easily pushed back onto the front of the movement and the screws used to secure it in the right position. Only really cheap watches use glue to stick the dial onto the movement, so it's probably fixable with one screwdriver!

Certainly wasn't cheap (+£1k) so that'll be the screws then.

Thing is, by the time i've faffed around buying tools and case back removal tools etc... then go on to royally fk it up, I may as well pay someone (qualified/experienced/non-shakey handed) to do it for me. Ryte time man looks good. Think i'll give him a bell.

[ShadownINja]

Theoretically... ... with this Unitas movement, all you need is a very tiny screwdriver and you just loosen the screw nearest the crown to pull the crown and stem out. It's a piss-easy job to do yourself, I suspect. Personally, I've resecured the crown and stem after it kept coming loose by simply tightening this screw.

The problem is that if you turn the screw too many times, a cog will fall out and you'll have to pay someone lots to put it back together again.

(Thought I'd better emphasise that important bit.)

Edited by ShadownINja on Thursday 17th December 17:52