@@yesterdayschild1418 I appreciate the words of encouragement. There were several times that I was going to give up on this watch, but I'm glad I kept plodding forward. Stay tuned for further developments! 😁
Thanks for sharing Mike. You made chuckle when that WD40 came gushing out of the eye dropper. I had troubles on my dad's Bulova from the same time period. My issue was I turned the one screw the wrong direction and broke it. We learn from our mistakes.
Mike, I recently did the exact same thing with one major difference. All the work was done inside a 1 gallon Zip Lock bag. I used the bag to protect the dial when removing the hands and also pierced the bag with the screwdriver to loosen the dial feet screws. I also used a small piece of Rodico to clean the dial. Once the parts were separated and put into other storage the bag containing radium particles was resealed. Not exactly sure how to dispose of it now.
@@problemwithauthority Hi Edward, I like the extra level of security of the Ziploc bag! I'm interested in hearing how other people dispose of their trash… 🤷
Radioactive watches , I will never restore or rescue them. I still do not understand why they still produce radioactive watches. Thank you for this video Sir. Greetings...
I have been hesitant to work on my grandfather's Elgin wristwatch because it has a monocoque case. I finally decided to tackle it a couple of nights ago. Tried to remove it with the same claw type crystal remover you used. While it removed the crystal, it cracked it. So, now I need a new crystal. I'm looking to find a better crystal lift tool so I can load the new crystal in safely. Maybe something like the Seiko S-14 tool set. On the bright side, I found a beautifully pristine copper colored AS 1902 movement within.
@@gpraceman I love hearing stories about discovering beautiful movements! I don't know about the Seiko tool set… I will check it out. There's nothing worse than the sound of a crystal breaking. Good luck working on your grandfather's watch! 😁
@@WatchWithMike My grandfather's watch was actually what got me interested in this hobby (my first mechanical watch) but i had to work up the confidence to be able to service. My first vintage watch to service looked all beat up (case all gouged up and the crystal in sad shape). Then I opened it up, the heavens parted and the angels started singing. It was a beautiful gold AS 1902 movement with a dial in great shape. Found a new case for it and it is now my favorite watch. Rather cool that my grandfather's watch has the same movement.
Before working on the internals of the watch, did you use the Geiger Count over both sides of the watch after the dial was removed to check if any of the dust got into the works?
@@danieljimenez5887 Daniel, I guess I never left IPA on an acrylic crystal for any length of time, so I never experienced a problem. I still suspect the crystal was glued in place, so maybe part of my mess was the alcohol dissolving the glue. Always learning! 😁
@@WatchWithMike i once cleaned a bracelet in IPA. Put it back on watch too early and sealed in plastic baggie for shipment. A day later the crystal looked just like yours! 😂. Even the fumes will craze the crystal in my experience. Luckily, most of it buffed out with sanding sticks and Polywatch. Most of it... 😭
@@danieljimenez5887 Oh my! I guess the fumes (under a crystal, in a baggie) can be worse for the plastic than some surface alcohol that has a way to evaporate. I'll definitely keep it in mind. I'm glad you were able to recover your project!
@@WatchRestorationCottage I think Bulova used good lacquer on their dials, so maybe they are more resistant. I have worked on several radium hand watches and none of them had burn in on the dial. But I tend to work on watches from the 1950s forward so maybe the burn in takes more time and you see it more on the older watches. 🤷
That complication is killer haha! ☢ That's a cool Vigor tool. Green crayon??? The previous owner could have also been a marine haha. I am only noticing now but I see that you are sporting a GA110! I also have one but mine is grey with orange accents. My soul sunk as the crystal flew. 😱😱😱How do you make sure you get all the radium that flew everywhere? Can you search for it with a uv light or would that excite the radium? Glad the parts are mostly safe! That stem is super rusty though! That pin vice is super useful! I bought a lovely little Citizen quartz but sadly I have yet to figure out what is wrong with it. Its got a 6110A movement in it for your reference. Changed the battery, tried reseating the stem. cycled it through a whole day... Nothing. I was thinking if I cant fix it, maybe I should put in a new movement with a six o clock date window with a black date wheel! Take care Mike!
@@johanvandersandt8904 Hi Johan, the previous owner was probably the only Marine wearing a Bulova dress watch in his platoon! Good call on my G-Shock. 👍🏼 I had to use my best judgment on how big a perimeter I cleaned after the crystal incident. I am always spraying and wiping down my work area, and I try to keep my hands away from my eyes and mouth as much as possible… So I'm pretty sure I will be fine! Good luck with your citizen watch… Fortunately, like you said, replacement movements are available.
America runs on Bulova time... Or at least it did back in those days. I guess we will never know who wore what and when. That is good to hear! We don't want you growing a third arm Chernobyl style! There sure are! I will poke and prod at it and if I can't mend it I will replace it. Take care man!
@@mokumholland5640 Wow, good eye Tom! 👀 I know I'm going to need to replace the winding stem, and I will add that ratchet wheel to my list of parts. Thanks for the heads up! 😁
@@mokumholland5640 Their hand fell off their watch or fell off their arm? 😱 As long as the radium/luminous material stays under the crystal I feel it is safe. And with an open watch, if you use good hygiene then you'll be fine. But I just finished reading "Radium Girls" and I was shocked by how terrible radium poisoning could be.
@@AMAMBT I would have preferred if the crystal came off with much less drama, then I wouldn't be very concerned. There's so many great watches out there that need restoration that have radium on the hands or dials… I want to fine-tune my skills so I know I am handling them safely. But if someone were to avoid radium watches altogether, I totally get it! 😁
@@WatchWithMike it's a lovely vintage watch , but i learned from to many accidents i had before a lesson, better be safe than worry. maybe I'm exaggerating. but this is me . take care
Good to see how much work you can do with simple tools.Thank you,Mike.
Nothing fancy on this project… So far! 😁
Interesting video, Mike. Carry on with this project as it will be great to see how you get on. I'll look forward to the next installment 👍
@@yesterdayschild1418 I appreciate the words of encouragement. There were several times that I was going to give up on this watch, but I'm glad I kept plodding forward. Stay tuned for further developments! 😁
Keep up the great work Mike 👍🏻 I have the same watch as your fathers 1953 Bulova, thankyou for sharing💖 I’ll be watching, i’m Newby too🇦🇺 Quentin
Brilliant video, thank you
@@kieranj67 Hi Kieran, thanks for watching! 😁
Thanks for sharing Mike. You made chuckle when that WD40 came gushing out of the eye dropper. I had troubles on my dad's Bulova from the same time period. My issue was I turned the one screw the wrong direction and broke it. We learn from our mistakes.
@@robertjordan7323 Indeed we do! 😁
A gentle tap with a platic tipped hammer across the lugs usually removes the crystal with the crystal lift. I use it mainly on Tissot Seastar Sevens
Great advice, thanks! (I was tempted to hit the crystal lift with my rubber mallet, but I never got that far.)
thanks mike 😊
@salsolo2403 You're welcome!
Mike, I recently did the exact same thing with one major difference. All the work was done inside a 1 gallon Zip Lock bag. I used the bag to protect the dial when removing the hands and also pierced the bag with the screwdriver to loosen the dial feet screws. I also used a small piece of Rodico to clean the dial. Once the parts were separated and put into other storage the bag containing radium particles was resealed. Not exactly sure how to dispose of it now.
@@problemwithauthority Hi Edward, I like the extra level of security of the Ziploc bag! I'm interested in hearing how other people dispose of their trash… 🤷
@@WatchWithMikeI'm not entirely comfortable handling radium either (to each his own), but definitely curious how people dispose of it.
Cool. Good luck !
@@2manysigns Thank you! 😁
Radioactive watches , I will never restore or rescue them. I still do not understand why they still produce radioactive watches. Thank you for this video Sir. Greetings...
Thanks for watching! 😁
I have been hesitant to work on my grandfather's Elgin wristwatch because it has a monocoque case. I finally decided to tackle it a couple of nights ago. Tried to remove it with the same claw type crystal remover you used. While it removed the crystal, it cracked it. So, now I need a new crystal. I'm looking to find a better crystal lift tool so I can load the new crystal in safely. Maybe something like the Seiko S-14 tool set. On the bright side, I found a beautifully pristine copper colored AS 1902 movement within.
@@gpraceman I love hearing stories about discovering beautiful movements! I don't know about the Seiko tool set… I will check it out. There's nothing worse than the sound of a crystal breaking. Good luck working on your grandfather's watch! 😁
@@WatchWithMike My grandfather's watch was actually what got me interested in this hobby (my first mechanical watch) but i had to work up the confidence to be able to service. My first vintage watch to service looked all beat up (case all gouged up and the crystal in sad shape). Then I opened it up, the heavens parted and the angels started singing. It was a beautiful gold AS 1902 movement with a dial in great shape. Found a new case for it and it is now my favorite watch. Rather cool that my grandfather's watch has the same movement.
@@gpraceman So cool, and well said!
Before working on the internals of the watch, did you use the Geiger Count over both sides of the watch after the dial was removed to check if any of the dust got into the works?
@@ronkeim8315 I forgot to at first, but I did later and it was OK. That's definitely a good tip for others to consider, thanks!
Hey Mike, hard lesson to learn but IPA and acrylic crystals don’t mix. 😅 🕸️ I am following along…
@@danieljimenez5887 Daniel, I guess I never left IPA on an acrylic crystal for any length of time, so I never experienced a problem. I still suspect the crystal was glued in place, so maybe part of my mess was the alcohol dissolving the glue. Always learning! 😁
@@WatchWithMike i once cleaned a bracelet in IPA. Put it back on watch too early and sealed in plastic baggie for shipment. A day later the crystal looked just like yours! 😂. Even the fumes will craze the crystal in my experience. Luckily, most of it buffed out with sanding sticks and Polywatch. Most of it... 😭
@@danieljimenez5887 Oh my! I guess the fumes (under a crystal, in a baggie) can be worse for the plastic than some surface alcohol that has a way to evaporate. I'll definitely keep it in mind. I'm glad you were able to recover your project!
Where was the radium on the dial? Hour indices?
@@WatchRestorationCottage Yes, the squares between the indices and the edge of the dial.
@@WatchWithMike wow, would never had guessed that dial has radium. No burn on the dial or anywhere for that matter.
@@WatchRestorationCottage I think Bulova used good lacquer on their dials, so maybe they are more resistant. I have worked on several radium hand watches and none of them had burn in on the dial. But I tend to work on watches from the 1950s forward so maybe the burn in takes more time and you see it more on the older watches. 🤷
That complication is killer haha! ☢ That's a cool Vigor tool. Green crayon??? The previous owner could have also been a marine haha. I am only noticing now but I see that you are sporting a GA110! I also have one but mine is grey with orange accents. My soul sunk as the crystal flew. 😱😱😱How do you make sure you get all the radium that flew everywhere? Can you search for it with a uv light or would that excite the radium? Glad the parts are mostly safe! That stem is super rusty though! That pin vice is super useful! I bought a lovely little Citizen quartz but sadly I have yet to figure out what is wrong with it. Its got a 6110A movement in it for your reference. Changed the battery, tried reseating the stem. cycled it through a whole day... Nothing. I was thinking if I cant fix it, maybe I should put in a new movement with a six o clock date window with a black date wheel! Take care Mike!
@@johanvandersandt8904 Hi Johan, the previous owner was probably the only Marine wearing a Bulova dress watch in his platoon! Good call on my G-Shock. 👍🏼 I had to use my best judgment on how big a perimeter I cleaned after the crystal incident. I am always spraying and wiping down my work area, and I try to keep my hands away from my eyes and mouth as much as possible… So I'm pretty sure I will be fine! Good luck with your citizen watch… Fortunately, like you said, replacement movements are available.
America runs on Bulova time... Or at least it did back in those days. I guess we will never know who wore what and when. That is good to hear! We don't want you growing a third arm Chernobyl style! There sure are! I will poke and prod at it and if I can't mend it I will replace it. Take care man!
@@johanvandersandt8904 😁
I don't know, I reckon a third arm could be very useful for repairing watches!
@@whufcgank6124 🤣🤣
AT 21:31 I see that there is a tooth missing from the bottom gear... 😞
@@mokumholland5640 Wow, good eye Tom! 👀 I know I'm going to need to replace the winding stem, and I will add that ratchet wheel to my list of parts. Thanks for the heads up! 😁
Did you read up on the radiation levels to be considered safe...?
@@mokumholland5640 Anything under 40 I ignore; anything over 100 I treat like it's kryptonite. ⚡️
@@WatchWithMike makes you wonder by how many people their hand fell off over the timespan of 68 years…! 😳
@@mokumholland5640 Their hand fell off their watch or fell off their arm? 😱 As long as the radium/luminous material stays under the crystal I feel it is safe. And with an open watch, if you use good hygiene then you'll be fine. But I just finished reading "Radium Girls" and I was shocked by how terrible radium poisoning could be.
so carefull and this is how those nuclear catastrophes are going down ...
@@ElderPinto254 You can't be too careful! 😀
@@WatchWithMike oeps lol
radioactive watches , not sure if they worth restoring 🤔🤔
@@AMAMBT I would have preferred if the crystal came off with much less drama, then I wouldn't be very concerned. There's so many great watches out there that need restoration that have radium on the hands or dials… I want to fine-tune my skills so I know I am handling them safely. But if someone were to avoid radium watches altogether, I totally get it! 😁
@@WatchWithMike
it's a lovely vintage watch , but i learned from to many accidents i had before a lesson, better be safe than worry. maybe I'm exaggerating. but this is me .
take care
@@AMAMBT 👍
Green stuff is old soap scum
@@jstrat121 That makes sense!