Restoring a Vintage Rolex GMT • Hacker News Board

Re: Restoring a Vintage Rolex GMT

#61

Post by krisoft » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 6:32 PM UTC

KaiserPro wrote: post #25

krisoft wrote: post #5

I have a question while I'm watching this video: How thick are those gears? (Not necessarily those very gears but gears typically used in watches.) I have experience cutting 0.3mm and 0.1mm brass. The second is just wobbling everywhere like a reed in the wind, while those gears seems to be solid.

Those ones are pretty thick, by watch standards, and the teeth aren't the smallest. I think from memory the thickness is about 0.25mm, but I would need to get the calipers out when I get home. Accutron is where the really small engineering comes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XugX5zb1rG8 the wheel is about 25mm across (I think) but you can't really see the teeth with the naked eye. ( https://www.watchdoctor.biz/…

Thank you for your kind answer . Both from you and werewolf255.

> These index wheels were mass produced, and I still don't know how they did it.

Fascinating. My guess would be some form of etching process. But that would make it some form of MEMS years before the first commonly recognised MEMS components.

Re: Restoring a Vintage Rolex GMT

#62

Post by ubermonkey » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 7:25 PM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #56

ubermonkey wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely true that it's harder to find no-dates, but they absolutely exist. I think one reason they persist is that not every collector is well-heeled enough to keep all their watches on winders. I know if I go to the safe to put on, say, my Omega, I might just put it right back in there if the delta between the actual date and the date when the watch stopped is too large. LOL. I've got some no-dates (mostly d…

My solution is that I literally just don't care about the day and/or date complication whatsoever, lol. My brain just filters it right out. I find it a valuable adaptation for folks who like to rotate between various mechanical watches and don't care to keep them all on winders. (Which, let's face it, also adds wear and tear on the watches. Each of my mech watches gets worn maaaaybe two days per month and I expect th…

I could totally get away with this, but my nerd OCD won't allow it.

This is doubly hilarious because I can no longer read the date window on most of my watches for one reason or another. The "cyclops" on my Rolex is scuffed, which obscures its date window, for example. Sadder is the fact that my resistance to progressives means the Seamaster's non-magnified date window may as well be theoretical to my 52 year old eyes. LOL.

(What's REALLY funny is the sheer TININESS of the date window on my wife's lady-sized Doxa dive watch. I have NO idea how anyone could ever actually USE it, and yet they ship it with a date movement.)

Re: Restoring a Vintage Rolex GMT

#63

Post by JohnBooty » Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 10:51 PM UTC

ubermonkey wrote: post #62

JohnBooty wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My solution is that I literally just don't care about the day and/or date complication whatsoever, lol. My brain just filters it right out. I find it a valuable adaptation for folks who like to rotate between various mechanical watches and don't care to keep them all on winders. (Which, let's face it, also adds wear and tear on the watches. Each of my mech watches gets worn maaaaybe two days per month and I expect th…

I could totally get away with this, but my nerd OCD won't allow it. This is doubly hilarious because I can no longer read the date window on most of my watches for one reason or another. The "cyclops" on my Rolex is scuffed, which obscures its date window, for example. Sadder is the fact that my resistance to progressives means the Seamaster's non-magnified date window may as well be theoretical to my 52 year old eye…

Hahaha. Yeah my eyes are kind of old too, which makes it easier to ignore the day and/or date.

I treat my watch as my "approximate time" device. I usually set it a few minutes fast on purpose. If I need the exact time or the exact date I look at my phone.

But don't worry. I have a host of other OCD behaviors around watches!