Sharky's Cafe

[is that my watch]

Hello folks!
It’s been a long time since I last poked my nose in the door. And it’s about time I came back to say hi.

But first things first, RIP Sharky. I was absolutely gutted to hear of his passing and an absolute tragedy him going so young. He was one of the original crew of the MWC days, even though I haven’t checked in for a while I’ll miss not reading his thoughts on the threads.

As for me, well life and circumstances changed a bit for me resulting in me losing interest in watches, to the point I didn’t bother wearing any on a daily basis.
And of course the years passed…..
And I lost touch with you guys…

So about a year or so back I started getting a few issues with the my own case and movement….ie blood pressure through the roof and a couple of other eye openers… well as part of the road to recovery I bought a cheap health watch…you know measures heart rate, steps etc (An amazefit neo) cool little thing resembling an old Casio digital I used to have. Mix that with a mate of mine who with the release of the Swatch/omega moon watch got very into watches…which kind of rekindled my love. (I’ve managed to get the blood pressure under control and get myself a bit fitter)

Problem is..I’d sold of most of my better pieces (SKX and Monster had long gone to fund other requirements)
So naturally I was looking for a new SKX….and nearly wet myself with how much they cost now!!!
I’ve contented myself with building my own using an aftermarket case, an nh36 movement I had in my spares, the original face, bezel insert and hands from my old skx before I modded it. It looks decent enough but it’s not the real thing.

I’ve dabbled with a couple of other purchases at bargain price, a Briel I got for a song a beater of a Pulsar (which I’m in the process of repairing) and an old Casio.

So in brief that’s me. Hi! it’s nice to be back

well glad the health ok now(as can be) and being watched ... yeah bit of shocker wasn't it took me awhile to get... not over it but to accept it ...

yeah when I saw the price of the sk I sold my 013 to pay for building work well that and a few others (ok a lot of others)

gone from hundreds to under 50 was aiming for a 12 watch collection but possible could have gone lower as lately just been wearing my restored Casio's and myself builds .

I did a nh35 build this one and which Casio is left ?

[is that my watch]

this one today .

[Kevinw]

Today’s relative time displacement recording device is this Pulsar.
Admittedly I bought it for its movement to repair another watch…however I realised I hadn’t worked on a watch in about 6 or 7 years!


Now the condition it arrived in…smashed crystal and sticking pushers..
I thought this might be a good candidate to brush up on my tinkering knowledge.
My eye sight for close up work has deteriorated badly over the years and that presents the first problem…however I found wearing both my pairs of reading glasses sharpened things up enough to see what I was doing.
First step…push the crystal out…which immediately exploded into a million tiny fragments.
So I measured the case and bought a crystal…and yes I didn’t take into account the gasket
So quick guess and I ordered another two crystals the wrong size .
At this point I decided to stop trying to wing it and calculated exactly what I needed with a new gasket…and this time was rewarded with a nice tight fitting new glass.
The pushers needed removed and of course I lost one of the microscopic C clips…more parts ordered.
But I managed to get them out, clean their bores and replace the tiny o-rings.
Refitting took quite a bit of patience and about 6 c clips disappeared into outer space before I got it right.

Disasters aside though, I did use it to practice removing and refitting the hands.
And now I have a serviceable £20 watch that I think I spent about £40 on spares for

[is that my watch]

Today’s relative time displacement recording device is this Pulsar.
Admittedly I bought it for its movement to repair another watch…however I realised I hadn’t worked on a watch in about 6 or 7 years!


Now the condition it arrived in…smashed crystal and sticking pushers..
I thought this might be a good candidate to brush up on my tinkering knowledge.
My eye sight for close up work has deteriorated badly over the years and that presents the first problem…however I found wearing both my pairs of reading glasses sharpened things up enough to see what I was doing.
First step…push the crystal out…which immediately exploded into a million tiny fragments.
So I measured the case and bought a crystal…and yes I didn’t take into account the gasket
So quick guess and I ordered another two crystals the wrong size .
At this point I decided to stop trying to wing it and calculated exactly what I needed with a new gasket…and this time was rewarded with a nice tight fitting new glass.
The pushers needed removed and of course I lost one of the microscopic C clips…more parts ordered.
But I managed to get them out, clean their bores and replace the tiny o-rings.
Refitting took quite a bit of patience and about 6 c clips disappeared into outer space before I got it right.

Disasters aside though, I did use it to practice removing and refitting the hands.
And now I have a serviceable £20 watch that I think I spent about £40 on spares for

yeah those are quite decent I had the same sort thing good case rest crap ..so was waiting on a swap out ..think it's still in the loft the case is I put up a shoe box of bits awhile ago as I was just tweaking what I got and did not need them those chrono had some weight and look to them .

last one I did was this rotary which I still wear on and off .

probably would have flip it if I was still selling watches ah don't seem to have aa pic of the rotary but this was another pulsar I work on

[Mediocre]

Today’s relative time displacement recording device is this Pulsar.
Admittedly I bought it for its movement to repair another watch…however I realised I hadn’t worked on a watch in about 6 or 7 years!


Now the condition it arrived in…smashed crystal and sticking pushers..
I thought this might be a good candidate to brush up on my tinkering knowledge.
My eye sight for close up work has deteriorated badly over the years and that presents the first problem…however I found wearing both my pairs of reading glasses sharpened things up enough to see what I was doing.
First step…push the crystal out…which immediately exploded into a million tiny fragments.
So I measured the case and bought a crystal…and yes I didn’t take into account the gasket
So quick guess and I ordered another two crystals the wrong size .
At this point I decided to stop trying to wing it and calculated exactly what I needed with a new gasket…and this time was rewarded with a nice tight fitting new glass.
The pushers needed removed and of course I lost one of the microscopic C clips…more parts ordered.
But I managed to get them out, clean their bores and replace the tiny o-rings.
Refitting took quite a bit of patience and about 6 c clips disappeared into outer space before I got it right.

Disasters aside though, I did use it to practice removing and refitting the hands.
And now I have a serviceable £20 watch that I think I spent about £40 on spares for

I respect the dedication to get it repaired. Sounds like quite the re-learning experience lol

[is that my watch]

well my version of a panerai used a 6498 or was it a 6497 either way I partly stripped it down removed part of the seconds pinion and rebuilt it and put on the black dial with gold hands to make it the classical two hander pan a like must have done it about four years ago now maybe :

[Mediocre]

well my version of a panerai used a 6498 or was it a 6497 either way I partly stripped it down removed part of the seconds pinion and rebuilt it and put on the black dial with gold hands to make it the classical two hander pan a like must have done it about four years ago now maybe :

I prefer a sterile dial over the Panerai logo anyway, nicely done

[is that my watch]

I prefer a sterile dial over the Panerai logo anyway, nicely done

thanks was trying to get the look of a panerai 3646 with out the radiomir case don't like the screw in lugs had a case like that it was a bit of a nightmare to use

[Mediocre]

thanks was trying to get the look of a panerai 3646 with out the radiomir case don't like the screw in lugs had a case like that it was a bit of a nightmare to use

I like your choice of lugs better also

[is that my watch]

well was going through my bit boxes on my Russian pw parts. I rebuilt a few movement's but three have the same problem they need new hair springs and arm got one pw I restored it ready to go once got that replaced I had one left so checked it in it and it started to run as soon as was put in place, but I need to use that on an old mk build am doing.

might rebuild the three completely just leaving them needing the hair spring's keeps the eye /hands in use don't it .