If you were to think up what a watch looks like, there are certain basic features. Most watches are round with a band and two hands, one for the hour and one for the minute. Easy enough. If a person were drawing a rough draft of a watch, they might go a little more broad and add the dial. Where does that go? On most watches, it’s at the 3.. Read More

Some watch brands are so famous, they need no introduction. But do you know the stories behind some of the biggest watch companies in the world? This week, we’re breaking down some of the logos from around the world. Breguet Abraham Louis Breguet founded his eponymous brand in 1775 and is one of the most significant and influential watchmakers in history, having invented everything from the tourbillon to the style.. Read More

You might know some watches by their official names, but do you know their nicknames? Or vice-versa, you may only know a watch by its nickname and not the one given to it at the factory. Here are a few of the more famous nicknamed Rolex watches. Papa Smurf: A white-gold ref. 116619 Submariner launched in 2008 with powder-blue dial and bezel. This 2010 example is up for sale at.. Read More

Every Rolex tells a story, but some of their watches talk louder than others. And those often get a nickname — something used by collectors and fans as shorthand to let others know exactly what they’re talking about. Here are just some of the most notable and amusing Rolex nicknames used to describe the company’s rich history of watchmaking. Batman Some Rolex models don’t have a great reasoning for their naming… Read More

The winding crown on Rolex watches is made up of about 10 parts, and is screwed hermetically onto the watch case. This is how Rolex, for the first time in the history of watchmaking, created a waterproof winding crown — a secure interface between the protected, sealed world inside the watch and the harmful elements of the outside world. Even with a solid case and bullet-proof crystal, the Achilles’ heel.. Read More

Until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, men who needed to know the time and who had the money to afford a watch kept it in their pocket on a chain. Women, for some reason, were the trailblazers — Elizabeth I had a small clock she could strap to her arm. It is not true that wristwatches were invented specifically for World War I, but it is true that.. Read More

I am a huge fan of science fiction movies. As a kid growing up in the ’60s, I loved all of the “Monster” movies that were popular at that time. Some of my favorites were “Jason and the Argonauts” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad.” One of the best monsters in those movies was the Cyclops. This fierce one-eyed beast has always been one of my favorites.  So naturally the idea.. Read More

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.  .. Read More

The last few blog posts were about the “Tools of the watchmaker’s trade” and seemed to be well-received by my readers. I had a few people wonder 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 to remove the movement from the case… Read More

In this third part of my blog on the “Tools of the watchmaking trade,” I will show you some of the machines that I use every day in the watch shop. Let’s get started with the heart and soul of my shop, my cleaning machine. Cleaning Machine I have been using the RM-90 German-made cleaning machine for the past 10 years. It is the true workhorse of my business. It.. Read More