watchknut
·I posted about this watch on the Open Discussion forum as well, as I wanted to get input from members that may not come over to the Zenith forum. I have reached out to a few members, and appreciate their insight.
I know that watch is going to need a good amount of work to get her back up to speed, and want to make sure that I make the right choices as far as who to use, and what to restore.
Right off the bat, there are obvious issues of a new pusher and crystal. Does anyone know the dimensions of those parts? The watch is not running and will obviously need a full service and lord knows what else in the movement. The hands set, and the quickset works, the rotor spins, but it is completely dead. My first step is to have my watchmaker tear down the movement and see what it needs, and based on that assessment, decide whether it needs to go to a Zenith account holding watchmaker or possibly back to Zenith (last resort).
The dial needs some work, and I have no idea if any of the issues can be remedied. There is a cloudy spot under and around and under the 1 o'clock marker that is covering some of the lettering--it looks like something was spilled on the dial and dried up, leaving a layer of crud. Two of the subdials have what appear to be oil clouds emanating from the center. Again, no idea if this can be remedied. The fields of the dial are very clean with no patina spots (those in the pics are on the crystal). The sweep second hand is missing paint and will need to be restored. The tachy bezel appears to be in very nice condition with slight paint loss at the 12 o'clock position.
The case is what really gets me going. It is sharp from all angles, and with my novice eyes looks as if it may be unpolished, and retains the starburst effect on the top of the case. There are two slight nicks on the bevel above the lugs at 7 o'clock, and some idiot marks on the case back. My plan is to have the case cleaned, but not polished in any way, leaving it in "as-is" condition.
I do not want a NOS looking watch when I am done, but rather an example that is as close to original condition as possible.
I appreciate your collective insight, and would love to hear what others have done with their a3818s, and what you would do if this were your watch.
I know that watch is going to need a good amount of work to get her back up to speed, and want to make sure that I make the right choices as far as who to use, and what to restore.
Right off the bat, there are obvious issues of a new pusher and crystal. Does anyone know the dimensions of those parts? The watch is not running and will obviously need a full service and lord knows what else in the movement. The hands set, and the quickset works, the rotor spins, but it is completely dead. My first step is to have my watchmaker tear down the movement and see what it needs, and based on that assessment, decide whether it needs to go to a Zenith account holding watchmaker or possibly back to Zenith (last resort).
The dial needs some work, and I have no idea if any of the issues can be remedied. There is a cloudy spot under and around and under the 1 o'clock marker that is covering some of the lettering--it looks like something was spilled on the dial and dried up, leaving a layer of crud. Two of the subdials have what appear to be oil clouds emanating from the center. Again, no idea if this can be remedied. The fields of the dial are very clean with no patina spots (those in the pics are on the crystal). The sweep second hand is missing paint and will need to be restored. The tachy bezel appears to be in very nice condition with slight paint loss at the 12 o'clock position.
The case is what really gets me going. It is sharp from all angles, and with my novice eyes looks as if it may be unpolished, and retains the starburst effect on the top of the case. There are two slight nicks on the bevel above the lugs at 7 o'clock, and some idiot marks on the case back. My plan is to have the case cleaned, but not polished in any way, leaving it in "as-is" condition.
I do not want a NOS looking watch when I am done, but rather an example that is as close to original condition as possible.
I appreciate your collective insight, and would love to hear what others have done with their a3818s, and what you would do if this were your watch.