This is the story of the first watch I bought in Feb 2004 after I decided to start collecting them. I knew nothing, had never heard of a price guide and had just discovered Ebay.
I thought it was a railway watch because it had a train on the dial. It looked like it was gold and the seller said all it needed was a clean. I had never heard of Roskopf but it had medals on the inside so it must be good. You get the idea.
$155 later and it was mine. When it arrived I opened the pack carefully and as I lifted up the watch the crystal fell out. Further inspection showed a damaged dial, broken balance and escape lever, broken mainspring and a brass case that had once been nickle plated. Apart from that it was a good watch and it had a train on the back as well. I put it away as a reminder to read up about things first. My next purchases were books.
18 months later I decided to have a go at fixing it. At the time I thought it would be easier just to find another one in a wrecked case and swap the parts. Did you know that not all Roskopf watches are the same even if they look similar. The bits are just a bit different and are not interchangable. Now I know this but at the time I did not and after a lot of mucking about the watch went back into storage. Couldn't sell it because it has a train on the back.
Recently I found another movement that was exactly the same so the watch came out for the 3rd time. After taking it apart and cleaning it I was able to measure the broken bits and make sure the other bits were the same. It all went together well and with a new mainspring it started to tick as soon as I wound it. I was able to repair the face using tips I found at Chapter 185. The inner lip on the bezel had become detached at the soldered joint and this was repaired ready for a new crystal. For a few months I have been mucking about with a plating machine I had been given. This was my first attempt to plate a watch case and it worked. Now I have a watch that keeps time to a couple of mins a day and looks presentable. It will never be of great value but it has given me a lot of satisfaction to finally do something with it. I have learnt many things, made new friends and given myself a few new challanges. Considering the hours of entertainment this watch has given me it did turn out to be a bargin and it still has that great looking train on the back.

Steve

The medals

Not quiet a railway movement

But check out the great train on the back.

Hi Stephan, Nice job on the restoration. FYI. Roskopf was the inventor of the design. He never got a patent on the design, so many other companies produced watches of the Roskopf design; thus the differences.

Take note that the watch has a three wheel train. There is no center wheel. His design was touted as the first true low cost production watch. Many had fancy or decorated dials and most all came in base metal cases. Some are found in enameled cases.

Enclosed are pix of the Roskopf from my collection.

P-2 Roskopf movement

P-3 Back of Roskopf case

Thanks for the pictures Tom,
It is interesting to compare the movements and see how similar they look at first and then to notice all the slight differences. I also found that even though it had 1 less shaft it was not that much easier to work on. I don't think it had a lot less parts but they were just in different places. When it is running it sound more like an alarm clock than a watch.
Steve

Steve,

Quite an interesting story, I enjoyed reading it & I'm glad it had a happy ending.

Tom,

Interesting info on Roskopf-style watches. I like your case with the cows on it too!

Stephan,
You made my day! I loved your adventure, and look at how far you have come since coming here. WOW!

I always wanted to take a watch apart, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I know I will mess it up, and even if it's a mess already, I just can't do it. So, good for you! I'm proud of you for sticking to it.

By the way, I think your watch looks fantastic, and I also love the TRAIN, don't they just do something to ya? They do me.....

Only difference is, my passion is the Pansy of course, but how my heart jumps when I see one.

Now if I could just finish learning the parts of a watch, I would be happy.

Thanks again for a great story.

Hi Stephen,

Great story and photos. Thanks for taking us with you on your journey of learning about and restoring your watch!