Dave's 1945 Oyster Air-King Restoration in Process

[R.W.T.]

A few months back a member posted a 1945 Air King that he had received from his family. The lug was rusted and the movement had taken on water. Much of the consensus was...."It's a goner". I felt like the watch was salvageable and had potential as an heirloom and told him I wasn't afraid :-) and that I would try.

I received the watch yesterday and here is what we have.

Watch in question. Broken crystal (not original so inconsequential), Bad tube. Rusted lug. Very good original dial and hands. This is a SUPER rare dial. 40's dials suffered badly due to the radium and elements so we are lucky this is preserved with only minor inflictions for its age.



Caseback showing the rare reference 4925. We'll see if there are actually holes or this is just surface rust. I think it's okay.



A photo of the lug and we open her up as well. Lots of rust. I had already started to brush away a little at the stud holder. The balance is remarkably good with no broken staff and only a little surfaced rust on the overcoil.





Here is the rust on the stud holder...this is tricky because those screws have got to come out or you can't get the balance out.



Removed the balance cock and generously oiled the bottom of the screws...in the holes.



Success! George always told me...lubrication, lubrication, lubrication..when dealing with rust and frozen screws. Today we got lucky.



Balance out! Nice looking all things considered.



Next movement out...still no broken screws!



Dial and hands removed.

It's really a great dial. This is a large watch for the era. These hands are RARE to find.



Sweep spring straightened and pre cleaned. Now it will function properly.


Case tube removed.



Dial side looks good! No rust!



Broken set bridge pawl on set lever. Has to be replaced.



Now back to the reverse side..rusty rusty.
The previous watchmaker gets an award for not over tightening screws...the ratchet wheel screw came right out after a little fiberglass brushing.



Now...bigger problems...but amazingly...no snags...the barrel bridge screws came out easily with lubrication from the front side...the bridge was removed and the crown wheel, crown wheel core and crown wheel seat and click came off...the same way.



Ugh....



The train bridge and pallet bridge were equally as easy and so here we have the mainplate completely stripped.



Here is the watch disassembled ready for cleaning.



Next week the case middle is off to HK to see if the lug can be saved. I am confident that it will be alright. He has an additional good case middle but since it is an heirloom...I'd love to preserve the original case middle and serial number with the original numbered movement and dial and hands.

So...some days you get lucky...some days it's much worse. This one I think with a few cosmetic movement pieces replaced can be made whole again.

More as it develops. Wish me luck!

T

[Baileys]

Great Stuff!!

[JohnBaker3]

Great pics; can't wait to see it re-assembled!

: )

[Black Bay Dan]

These are my favourite type of TRF threads by a long way! I look forward to the updates.

Dan

[Jfullm42]

Great stuff, enjoy the process and can't wait to see it when it's done!

[2JHead]

Thank you for a good read, can't wait to see the sequels

[Floorguy]

Well done can't wait to see more pic's! Love this stuff. "Good luck"!

[77T]

Excellent notes and photos!


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[joli160]

Good job, like to see the final result

[lee fowler]

Awesome post and we are very lucky to have some highly skilled watchmakers on the site.

[scotrick]

Great post! Kudos to you for getting this far!

Cheers,
Rick

[J!m]

I'm hooked. I saw that movement photo and said: no way. I can't believe no screws were broken! Great work so far!

[TheRolexKingofLV]

Im following this one! Great thread!

[Griswald]

An amazing watch, and you have serious talent! Fascinating!

[bdex75]

Looking good. Shocked there wasn't any screw carnage.


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[R.W.T.]

Originally Posted by bdex75

Looking good. Shocked there wasn't any screw carnage.


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Well ... you and me both. I'm currently working on a water damaged 16710 and believe me...sometimes...screws are so gone they can't even be recognized. As Phillip said yesterday, allum is one method. Vinegar is another.

The water was not bad here. It looks MUCH worse than it was.

Some parts will have to be replaced but it came apart reasonably easy.

Still you kind of have to have some experience, some knowledge, and some fearlessness...it's either gonna work or it's not. :-)

So...I have scads of these movements in pieces. I could build an entire movement out of scraps if I had to but I wanted to keep his movement and keep his case middle.

Luckily all those donor movements mean donor parts :-)

This one will be fine I feel sure.

It actually would run as it was but stop. No mainspring tension and no way to wind it.

The mainspring is "set" and will have to be replaced as well.

[UNLVino]

One of the coolest posts I've seen.

[KeithP]

Fantastic.

[05carbondrz]

Thanks for taking the Time to take all the Photos and write this amazing Post for us.

[Pix]

Look forward to following th progress on this.

[linesiders]

Great Job, Tommy! Look forward to more.

[cajunron]

These are my favorite type threads. You can really learn a lot with this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing and good luck in your endeavor.

[JustinK]

Great post Tommy, looking forward to seeing the more.

I am sure the owner will be very pleased with the results.

[jerseyden]

Great post. Very informative. Looking forward to next installment

[theflywrist]

Amazing! Cant wait to see how it continues.

[adam78]

Super post, Tommy! I'm on pins and needles about that lug...

[Alcan]

Looking forward to the next installation of this restoration!

[LuxeCon]

Great pictures. Looking forward to seeing it when it is done

[asleep]

Who'da thunk I'd be on the edge of my seat waiting for the conclusion of a watch repair? But I am.

[csquared]

amazing