I said to the wife when I came in late from the workshop, I'd like a pocket watch to keep an eye on the time. She raised an eyebrow, scurried away and gave me this.... (Superdry) Now you got a pocket watch
Not really in keeping with my actual thought, however she planted a seed. We tend to buy the same Lorus Titanium cased watches as they don't irritate, wife has an allergy to nickel. Over the years we have chucked a few as the straps broke or glass became so scratched it looked like a bathroom window.
Rummage in the draw and pulled out two, old watches with no batteries. One with very poor strap, but not so scratched glass, I pulled it apart to figure out how to pull the winder. Nope, couldn't find a latch to release it, so all work will have to be with the mechanism inside. I used my die filer fitted with a junior hacksaw to cut off the strap lugs from the case, then switched over to the file, to smooth the case outer edge, this thing is Titanium remember. It ate one saw blade, but the file seemed to have no trouble.
A bit of paid work and the start of the Zombie Apocalypse, delayed tinkering on this for a short period. I got back to working on it today and cut away material around the winder in order to form a flat that could be drilled to take the lanyard loop. The watch was finally setup on the mill to add some reliefs and drill for the loop attachments. the loop was formed from 1.6mm stainless tig wire, the ends filed and profiled to engage the watch case 1.5mm holes I drilled. I used a cork pad to protect the watch face whilst working the case.
Here is a comparison between the two watches at the end of reworking. Much happier with this than the gaudy plastic job I was so kindly given. A very suitable workshop pocket watch, being Titanium and water resistant to 100m, you never know when you might need to dive into the suds tank !!!
It's really more a thread about repurposing old stuff and having some fun in the process. Been a lean start to the year, so got quite a few jobs done in the workshop, done away with the TV so more workshop and reading/hobby time for us both.
