This last photo shows where I am now with the project. The second hand was added last night. I haven't decided whether to blue it (so it matches the original hour and minute hands), or just add gold hour and minute hands. A glass crystal has been ordered and should arrive toward the end of the week. The dial is going to remain "as is" because I am worried that any type of cleaning will further harm the Weir & Sons lettering. I'll post one last shot when the crystal is installed and the hands all match.

You have done an incredible job so far, Bruce....I can't wait to see it when it is complete....

BTW, you haven't said how old the watch is....any idea...?

Regards,
Jerry

Jerry, Gerald Zimmermann, one of our club members from Germany, says my watch dates to about 1935. I hope to have this project done in the next week or so. After completion I'll be sure to post one final photo.

Well, here is the stage I am at now with my Weir & Sons watch. The new crystal is in place, the chapters have been repainted and the skeletonized hands have been refilled with gold paint. I also did some very minor restoration to the seconds track in the 1:00-2:00 area. As mentioned in a previous post, I decided not to clean the dial for fear of losing more lettering...parts of "Sons, Ltd" are already gone. This isn't any high-end show piece, so a little moss and algae is acceptable

I would like to share a little tip concerning the restoration of the skeletonized hands. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to paint an "open hole." After some failed attempts, I found an easy way to accomplish the task. I took regular Scotch tape (the clear kind, not the frosted) and applied it to the front of the hands. Then, I applied two coats of water-based acrylic gold metallic paint to the back of the hands, allowing 1 hour dry time between coats. I flowed it in pretty thick so it would fill the voids. After the paint was dry, I was able to carefully pull the tape from the front of the hands. Low and behold, the paint didn't stick to the tape and the gold inlay was perfectly smooth and flaw free. Another benefit of this technique was no paint encroached on the metallic blue edges of the hands. It was such an easy technique I thought I would share the details with everyone.

Here's my oldest:-






serial number puts it about 191893

Mainspring broken