Restoring a Vintage Junghans Watch - What Could Go Wrong?

What a beautiful job ! 👍🏻👏🏻🙏 My father is smiling down at the restoration of his old Junghans. The photo is him wearing it in 1953 in Cleveland,Ohio area . He died in 1980 .

Hi, Mike! My humble experience in watchmaking shows that using a toothpick and tweezers for putting jewel springs back into place is far better than using two tweezers, since metal doesn't provide enough friction for holding the spring. I sharpen a toothpick a bit and then everything goes perfectly. You might try it out some day.
The second point I came to over time is oiling the top balance jewel when the watch is not running, it's much safer to extract the jewel and lubricate it before winding up. Tiny springs may fall into the balance spring and damage it. I thought it makes a difference whether you get down to this top jewel before or after winding up, but it doesn't. So I opted for an intact balance spring in the end😊
Your channel is a very inspiring resource. You are capable of making one feel comfortable, as if one were at home watching your videos. I've been following you on the way for some time and this is my first comment😊

Hello, what can be the reason for all those empty holes in the bottom plate?

Would it be an idea to soak these old movements in proper release oil for 48 hours before disassembly to avoid screw shearing. After all its all going thru the cleaning system after anyway.

Very nice! I always enjoy your videos.

Lovely time piece and a brilliant video!

Wonderful video Mike, as always. Question: where’s the case back?

Iam from Pakistan i have a jungans wall clock which is approximately above 50 years old. If i send you a picture of this one may you tell me the year of model.

Your barrel bridge needs repair, it has excessive wear. The barrel arbor has ovalized its bush on the bridge and possibly on the main plate too. You can punch it up with your staking set. The Chronoglide Watchmaking channel has an excellent tutorial on how to do it; It’s definitely one of the reasons for the chaotic timegrapher readings. Explore the end-shake on all the wheels, you want minimal up/down movement while each wheel still spins freely. Your Horia tool sitting up there should make short work of it. The oiling of the cap stones needs to be more precise, specifically the balance stones; they should have exactly the same amount on the lower and upper stones, a perfect circle directly in the middle. Any discrepancy in the oil amount or location will greatly affect your positional error.

Great video! I'm about to start my hobby and videos like this are very important for that..

I am impressed and fascinated by your work! Greetings from the Black Forest, 10km away from Junghans in Schramberg where the watch was made.

Great video I’m 70 and thinking of taken this hobby any help where to start

Good restoration

nice dial but look like watch has some issue rate is flutuating to much.

Excellent video, as always. I learn so much from these. Thank you

Great Job on this one!👍 Junghans vintage are one of my favorite ones!

Excellent job on that watch. I love that you keep your mistakes, you're probably the only one that does.
To facilitate aligning and getting the pivots to go in the jewels in the bridges, I've tried tapping the movement holder with the tweezers and that sometimes helps. No strain on the pivots and somehow it seems to help.
Thanks for sharing.

"What could go wrong?"
Mr. Murphy who laid down the law: "If anything can go wrong it will ... AND AT THE MOST INOPPORTUNE TIME" will visit?
(most folks omit the second half of Mr. Murphy's law, for some reason.)

By the way ... 'The General's Credo' is: "Mr. Murphy is (was) an optimist." 😊

Está bonito.

I have a similar model, but with a J80 in silver tone and 16 jewels. It was a watch someone got in 1951 for 25 years of service in a German mining company.

Great video Mike. Well done again. Lovely watch. Looking forward to seeing the Omega too in due course.

OMG I can hardly watch....23 23 23 its the devils sister........

If someone's noted this below, don't mind me: it looks like the barrel has a lot of end-shake when you put the bridge back on.

Great job, Mike! Love your videos; keep up the great work.

mate thats a nice restoration!! you are to critical on yourself, these old watches always have huge variations, they were never adjusted when new so would have always had some variation. Also i have noticed my weishi 1000 is not great at picking up the movement while cased and can give odd results.
Those balance shock jewels are awful things, i tend to put the chaton in then the jewel on top with some rodico after oiling. They are Junghans own shock system and the part number is 526 and 527
There are a number of this style such as ultrabloc, contrachoc all based on specific manufactures and their calibers.

you should have a patron page!!!

Great resto, not a fan of the strap you chose though.

Great video Mike. Love your videos and how you deal with the problems you come across. Never experienced a left handed screw on the rachetwheel myself. Readings on the TimeGrapher you experianced I had them too. Now looking more and more on the condition of the pivots and the teeth of the wheels. Also the jewels can ruin the beatrate.
GL and stay healthy ❤

Great job and the microscope work was very good. It was a pleasure to watch the bits & bytes being put together under magnification.

Ok, you convinced me to sub... I'll watch. (pun intended)

Well done Mike, another cracking vid 👍

Vintage watch services is the professional !

Thank you. That was fascinating! You are well suited to the job in hand. It is good to see the enthusiasm displayed by your good self. Well done and may your mainspring go on forever!

Mike what great quality that was , absolutely enjoyed every minute. It is nice to see the problems that come with dismantling & assembling because that’s what happens it’s real life stuff, your a legend thank you.

Mike. Mentor. Really enjoyed watching. With you every frame.

Can you paint a Galaxy watch 6 (not the classic mode) so that it's all silver?

Allways perfect Mike, good job!!! I love this repair videos, ever I learn a lot with. It’s a beautiful vintage watch, Thanks👍

A nice watch. I think the hands look okay. If the loom was falling off, then yes reloom but it looks okay even though it doesn't last long

Hey Mr Bolton have you ever tried curved tweezers? I find them easier to manipulate parts. Love your videos. They aren’t polished like other watchmakers who seem to never make a mistake 😅

Hi Mike, Great job, but where is the cleaning montage? I miss the music you add with it. 😂

Hey mike, i started this hobby because of your channel, Thak you and keep on 😊🖖💪👏

Like me broken the barrel screw Jungjans 82/1 last week. 😂😂😂

Strap....no.

I give a thump up! :D

Well done Mike. I love these restorations!

Mike, that was such an amazing repair. I like how you addressed all the issues. My heart stopped when I saw that ratchet screw head shear off! Truly a watch worthy of your time and a nice story too.

I'm just starting out so your videos are very helpful. Any suggestions on books to read?

A hands re-lume will benefit the overall look.

Nice Job! I took the watchmaker's course, but still have not made the major dive in, as it would be somewhat costly for me, but I'm hoping someday that I can have a go at trying my hand at repairing my 1st watch. Always enjoy watching your videos.

The left thread Seiko screw is better than the original as it is marked and the original wasn't, so you're sure to turn it in the right way

Great job. I love those hands just as they are and the band looks great. I wouldn't change a thing. I could ware that watch all day and I would be checking it out every few minutes.