I recently purchased a military timer complete with the leather fob also stamped with the arrow.

It was clean and worked as it should.

Two problems, The dial was covered with black speckles ( which I have since found will clean off easily ) and the large hand was broken in half.

Details from the data base :-

Grade: Timer

Movement Serial Number:31456910
Grade:Timer
Model: Mil
Estimated Production Year: 1942
Run Quantity: 10,000
Total Production:125,000
Size:16s
Jewels:9j
Movement Configuration:Openface
Adjusted: No
Railroad Grade: No

Thinking that it would be an easy job to get the hands off I proceed with the task.

With a splintering noise the hand lifted and wrecked the dial.

I can only think that the hand is rusted solid to the part beneath which also lifted and caused the damage.

I have no idea what the part beneath is called. It's sort of heart shaped and has a hole on the base which slides over the shaft which turns to drive the hand round.

The small hand has the same sort of arrangement beneath the dial and that is also locked solid with rust.

The rest of the watch is perfect and still runs.

Questions :- Do the heart shaped parts just slide back over the spindles if I get them free from the hands.

Is it possible to get a replacement dial.

I'm sure that it is only a cheap run of the mill timer and not worth much but I hate to think that I have killed a good running watch. So I really would like to save it as a matter of personal pride.

Can any of you knowledgeable folks give me advise?

I have posted photos but not sure if the small parts are able to be seen clearly.

Thanks in advance, Mike the ***** !

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I suggest two things;
1. A watch repair person
2. A new dial.

eBay will inevitably produce the dial in time . . .

David, thank you but I want some information on how to fix it myself.
Going to a watch repair person doesn't teach me anything.
I don't want to buy a watch then pay someone else to repair it. I want to do it.
This is not about owning a watch that works It's about what I can do myself.
I thought that this was what the IHC 185 was all about.
Not just buying and selling working watches.

Mike

I like your answer Mike. here comes the BUT
before any work I do and Im no expert I do some research on the watch how to take it a part and so on sorry I can not be any help to you as I have never work on one like yours, perhaps someone who did work one it will give you better answers.

Thanks for your answer Peter.

You're quite right I should have done more research.

I assumed that getting the hands of would be easy and that assumption led to my downfall.

I can tell you that the hands must be in a
certain place on the dial before removal.
There is also a special tool to remove them with.
I have never done a Waltham timer but that is what the book
says. The hands are pressed on really tight.
I believe you have a model 105 timer.

Thanks Spencer.

Can you name the book where you got the information?

The information is from the Waltham 1958 Watch and Clock Material book. I do not think you will find a copy. It does have part numbers and tells how to do a teardown and service on timers. If I can help let me know. Price in 1958 was $2.00

Ouch.
Thanks for sharing the misfortune. We all learn from mistakes.
I read somewhere in this forum that watch work should require little force.
This book is free online and it has helped with my journey.
Mike

The "heart-shaped" piece is the reset cam. Pressing down on the stem releases the cam from the motion works, and allows it (carrying the hands) to revert to the zero position. A lever (I don't know if Waltham spring-loaded them, or just used the pressure on the stem)rides on the cam, and forces it to stop when the lever drops into the notch at the top of the "heart". I have a Mitutoyo timer that works the same way. Pressing the stem once to start it, throws a rack down, winding it just enough to run for one minute. After it stops, pressing the stem again, resets it to zero. I use it with a Starrett revolution counter, to set the variable speed controller on my lathe.

Mike,

I'm really sorry you had problems with that but You'll find a new dial eventually ....and you'll know better next time.

For removing center hands from large timers such as yours, a special hand puller specifically designed for that purpose will always be needed. Those hands are fit very tight! With this tool, no stress is placed on the dial. They're not cheap but it's a tool you should have. Available here.

Also look at Bergeon #7 on the same page. It's essentially the same tool but the turret contains 4 punches that are of smaller diameter.

William

I would put a little light penetrating oil on the center of the hand before trying to extract it. Starting with a timer as a training piece for watch repair is about the last advice I could give anybody. The complications of the timer including the cam wheel and timer mechanics are what we call "complications" and are in themselves another lesson in watch repair and service AFTER you learn to work on the basic mechanism.

Spencer and Mike thanks a lot for the information on the Waltham War Dept. Manual.

As soon as I read the title It rang a bell!

I found it available to download here on the forum.

It is one of John D. Duvall's "HELPING HAND TUTORIALS" which he posted in 2006.

I think all of the answers are in there and it now a matter of steady reading and studying.

I shouldn't have been so impatient in the first place.

although I have the manual if anyone has any more advice to offer I would welcome it.

Thank you all, Mike

Mike I started doing this five years ago when I retired.

I learned really fast that the advice that David gave you here is invaluable in more ways than one to be sure.

The best thing that you can do is to find a mentor who KNOWS these watches and then let them guide you. All the reading in the world is nothing compared to someone walking you through what you are trying to do here.

The books can tell you all of the technical ways to do something, but someone who has DONE it for years can really help you save a lot of heartache and money.

I have never met my watchmaker, but we have spent hours on the phone, with him walking me through taking apart, and finding problems with these wonderful works of art. You are not the only one who has taken that movement apart, and just maybe someone has done something to it that an untrained eye will never be able to figure out. Little things like a setting spring on the wrong side of the shipping lever, that you would never even think to look for, or to loosen a screw spring on a pillar plate of an 18 size movement to put a setting wheel on without loosing it. I could go on for ever, but I think you can get what I am trying to get at.

Then like David said, for the time being I would start on something much easier to work on first, just to get the hang of how to use the tools, and to put the movements back together.

I have to admit that I have not done the reading that I should do, but this is one book that I do read quite a lot, and it is most repairer's Bible.

The Watch Repairer's Manual

I'm sure you can find one that is not as much money, but I just wanted you to see what it looks like.

Good luck, and remember to have FUN with them!

Regards,
Larry

[Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1626549982/ref=rdr_ext_tmb]

Lawrence, thanks a lot for your words of wisdom.

I have found a chap that I can ask advice from but he lives quite a distance from me but I can always phone him with no problem.

I don't know if we're different over here but watch repairers or watchmakers are as rare as hens teeth and almost impossible to find.

I did admit that I was just impatient and thought it would be easy to get the hands of but it was a cheap watch so nothing really lost but a lot learned.

I have the book you mentioned and have read it through a couple of times. Very comprehensive but doing it how we learn in the end.

Thanks for your kind input it's very much appreciated.

All the best, Mike