The "Doctor" is Always In!

Watches with Radium on Dial and Hands “The Radium Girls”

Many old vintage watches—especially military watches—have gold or white-ish colored paint on their hands or the numbers on their dials.  This paint could potentially be made of a phosphorescent compound mixed with radium.  This compound would cause the hands/numbers to glow in the dark.  This type of mixture was often chosen over others because of the superiority of its glow and longevity—unlike any other glow-in-the-dark paints, the radium-mixed paint could.. Read More

Watches and Racing Watches Worn By Race Car Drivers

Cars and watches are a natural fit. Both are traditionally mechanical, and both are products of complex and precise engineering. The watch itself has played an integral role in early motor racing. Early race car drivers wore bulky stopwatches strapped to their wrists to time laps and calculate speeds. Later driving watches had angled dials for easy reading without taking a hand off the wheel. Rolex Daytona For many, the love of watches.. Read More

Overhaul a Rolex Model #3135 – Part 2

Today’s blog post will continue with the overhaul of a Rolex 3135 movement.  We will go over the reassembly process, oiling and buffing.  After the movement comes out of the cleaning machine, the parts are unpacked from the cleaning basket and the process starts.  I normally make a quick check to see if all the parts that went into the machine, are also there when it came out.  Sometimes parts.. Read More

Overhaul a Rolex Model #3135 Part 1

The last few blog posts were about the “tools of the watchmakers trade” and seemed to be well liked by my followers.  I had a few people ask me to to a series of how a watch is overhauled, step by step.  I thought this was a great idea, so today is Part 1 of “How to Overhaul a Rolex model #3135”. The first task in the overhaul process is.. Read More