u/gu_doc

It's me again, the guy who doesn't know how a balance works. I was hoping to get some (hopefully kind) words of advice or any insight you all have.

I'm brand new to this. It's a hobby for me. I wanted to buy old military watches and restore them.

I did my first full disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly about a week and a half ago. It was a Glycine Combat that was not running. I got it fixed and got it running great.

Then I moved on to one of the watches that made me want to do this hobby. Hamilton 46374B military watch. I got it put back together and running OK.. amplitude is a little lower than I wanted, but otherwise it's keeping OK time and I'm pleased with it.

Then the bottom fell out. I did the exact same movement in another 46374B and it's running absolutely horribly. Snowstorm on the timegrapher. I'm disassembled and reassembled. Re-lubed. Tried a different mainspring. Tried a different balance. Still a snowstorm.

I decided I'd just leave that one be and I'd do another 47374B with a very similar movement. Again, got it back together and could not get it to run. I 100% broke this balance.

I feel like I know what I'm doing, at least at a novice level. I'm capable of the disassembly. I've been cleaning in naphtha in an ultrasonic cleaner and 2 IPA rinses. I clean the balance and pallet fork in heptane. I've got Moebius oils and I am aware of the amounts and types to use in various parts of the watch.

Any helpful thoughts for a beginner? Anywhere in particular to pay attention to that I might be sabotaging myself? Clearly the balance is a problem but I think I've got that figured out.

I just feel like a big goof right now spending a lot of money and time just to turn runners in to non-runners.

I’m wondering if someone has a specific YouTube video that explains what you’re trying to accomplish (with the impulse jewel, for example) and a technique for how to do it.

My spring is ending up very asymmetrical with horrible amplitude and rate. And it’s taking me a ton of tries to get it to even seat at all, and there is no “kicking right up” when I get the balance down.

I feel like it shouldn’t be as hard as it’s being for me

It’s normal when you’re very first starting to be horrible, right?

Like breaking, bending, and losing parts is totally normal at first, right?

It will get better with practice, right?

I had this same thing happen in a car I used to have. I assume it’s the camera at the top of the windshield.

Has anybody else had this happen and what did the repair cost?

Also I’ve been at the dealership for 30 minutes so far looking around at cars and nobody has come up to me to try to sell me a car. Guess I’m not good enough to sell a car to 🤣

I’m currently using a Kindle Paperwhite (2nd gen) and there are certain things that I really like but a lot of things I don’t. I’ve seen a lot of recommendations here and have looked through the options but I haven’t seen anything that meets my wish list.

I think I want something larger than the Paperwhite (7”). I really like a button to change pages instead of tapping the screen. I don’t need color and I don’t need the ability to write on the screen. I plan to do almost all of my reading through Libby.

All I really need is a larger e-ink screen. I’d prefer it be cheap, like sub-$250.

Does such a thing exist?

Was at the dealership today for the airbag programming recall and the tech noted a leak from under the car. They took a look and said that it’s the valve body that’s leaking. They want me to replace it — for $5,300.

I’ve looked a little and don’t see this as a common complaint. I have noticed a very rare and random “thunk” from the car but we have no clue where it’s coming from. The car seems to shift just fine. No lights/warnings are on.

Does a leaking valve body automatically mean replacement?