Allan's Stuff - Project Mission Impossible

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Project: Mission Impossible

Sometimes I realize customers will bring in a watch that is just way beyond what any watchmaker can repair. In order to know where those limits are for me I had to take on a project that truly was impossible and see how far I could get with it. The goal here is to get the watch running by repairing as many parts as possible, and to replace no parts unless there is absolutely no other choice. No other choice does not mean the part should be replaced, or has to be replaced to make it run correctly, or even must be replaced to prevent the watch from self destructing. It means that the watch absolutely will not even tick without that part being replaced. This means leaving in parts that would horrify any competent watchmaker, but I am doing this to test my limits, not to really repair the watch.

So now we need the impossible watch, I chose this guy:

It started out with a nice looking dial, a case in fair shape with a little dirt and corrosion, like if it had been burried.

Once the back was off I knew this was my MI watch. It actually had been buried, and was completely rusted. To make it even more impossible, it was a very cheap movement and I had never seen one like it before.

After soaking the entire watch in WD-40 for an extended period I started to disassemble it. The more I got lose, the more I laughed. This really was mission impossible!

The interesting things I noticed were that none of the parts so far was completely rusted away, nothing was missing, and I managed to get it all apart without anything turning to dust....so far.

This really was a worst case scenario, I could not imagine a watch in worse shape, or one that would be damaged worse by what this one went through. An interesting note, in the above picture look at the dial, it is in great shape and is actually really nice looking!

Even things you would not think of were destroyed, the back of the dial was horrible.

I am not even sure what this piece is! At this point 90% of the watch is disassembled and I am cleaning it once piece at a time using tools you will probably never find on a watchmaking bench. I am also trying to figure out how to clean pinions etc without removing them from their staffs as I am afraid trying to do that will break the staffs.

Stay tuned to see how far I get with it, and if it ever runs again (I can tell you now, probably not, and if it ever runs it will never keep time).