New Arrival: A Murdered Watch...and a Project.

Sometimes my wife's liquidation gets some "interesting" watches. This one is a customer return. It looks like the customer returned it because it leaked. But he didn't return it right away so it could be repaired. Instead he left it to rust completely before returning it.

So a great watch is dead...

...and I have an opportunity to build up my own custom watch. I going to see if I can strip this down, clean out the rust, and install a new movement, dial and hands. That will be a challenge, I've never worked on a watch before. Wish me luck. Advice welcome.

What the heck !!! That doesn't seem right..how does something like that happen ?
Weird to say the least !..Well I guess you will have the chance to bring it back to life,
so that's good ! Yup..good luck and please show us how it goes !

ARGH, that makes my stomach hurt. I hope you can save that baby.

That is so sad. Although a really cool project. I am scared to get anything without an exibition case back wet now. It could take time before the water leaves a tell tale sign on the inside of the dial's crystal. Yikes! Best of luck!

Step 2: Remove the movement.

I found an article online that showed me where to find the stem release button. The rest was easy.












Next up: Cleaning the watch. Any suggestions?

I've actually started. Most of the rust washed/wiped out easily. But some rust is sticking to the inside of the crystal. I'm guessing the crystal has an antireflective coating. How can I remove the rust without damaging the coating?

BARNBUILDER1, thanks for your offer of bead blasting. I haven't decided what to do about the case and band yet. They are in very good condition, so I might just leave them as-is.

I haven't done much since the photos as posted. I'm in no hurry, I assume it might take me a couple of months. Next decision is what movement to buy? Seagull at about $70 or ETA at twice the price. Emotionally I want the ETA, the Tissot was Swiss. But I think the Seagull movement is probably just as good technically speaking, for less $$$. If I use the ETA, I'll probably try to rescue the Tissot rotor and put it back in.

I wiped some of the rust off the dial, but not all. I planned to buy a new black divers dial. But I'm half tempted to put this one back in, with the rust showing it's past, maybe sprayed with a satin varnish to lock the remaining rust in place. It would certainly be unique. I'll post pics of it next week (traveling this week - anyone here in Charlotte NC?). I'll probably buy another dial and try both, maybe even swap from time to time.

If I go wit black dial, I'm thinking of Plongeur hands, red for minute hand and others in white, like the ones here: http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?10,143884,143884#msg-143884 The red might pick up the red markers on the bezel.

I got the rust out of the case and off the crystal using a household rust cleaner. The AR on the crystal is damaged in the very center. It is more noticeable looking from inside the case, but not when looking form the front. I think I can live with it, it should be mostly invisible. If it is a problem, I'll probably try to remove the AR completely (anyone know what kind of chemicals would do that?)

Mike.