Croton Nurse's Watch Vintage Watch Restoration 

I recently worked on an AS 1120 movement, very similar to the 970 here. Made the error of moving the crown wheel after removing the click screw while the screw was still in place. I believe the click launched into orbit where it remains comfortably being tracked by NASA as a piece of space garbage. All that work and that movement is now a donor ... Lots to learn in this hobby. Seeing that click made my heart skip a beat and reminded me of the two hours I spent on the floor looking for the exact same part. Very well done!

I’ve seen a number of watch videos and I can tell you that you are most likely the best I’ve heard at commentary. You have the right mix of instruction and story telling, without a hint of pretentiousness - you readily say when you screw up and just don’t come off as an @ss. Keep it up. You have a natural knack for this, both narration and presentation. Subscribed!

My mom have a small women's mechanical watch, and nobody in my country would want to touch it. One even stubbornly insist to made it a quartz. Well, I can't do it and looking at these videos to learn how to service it myself. Its a gift from my father for their first anniversary. I don't have the heart to destroy that piece of heirloom.Thank you for the tutorials.

I love croton watches. I'm a nurse so I was excited to see they made one. Thanks for the info

I love love love, thankyou. I have taken an interest in vintage watches they are beautiful and I love getting them running again, I'm gonna keep practicing 🥰

It is great seeing some of your challenges

Your narrative along with the video makes everything you do make sense even when you mess up. Thank you.

For as small as that watch is, I'm amazed at your filming of the servicing of the watch! Thank you for your videos, I'm really enjoying watching your amazing craft and hobby!

Great video. I really admire your patience and attention to detail. It's really nice to see another old Croton--I recently gifted an old Croton tank-style watch to a good friend of mine--who happens to be a nurse, so it was a nice surprise to see you working on a nurse watch!

I remember that TB cross logo from years ago. They used to sell (non-denomination) stamps to place on your envelope next to the postage stamp to advertise for contributions. Just love watching you at work as your skills and knowledge improve with each watch/video.

A thrilling watch set right with so many worn out parts. Lucky you got a donor watch. You make watch making seem very interesting with your detailed commentary. I have watched many of your episodes. My father was a veteran from the Indian Air force and used to repair watches in his spare time. I used to fetch the spares from a shop on the way back from college. I have repaired a few sturdy dress watches (HMT used to be a popular Indian make with French collaboration) I recall my trysts with the broom.. on my haunches searching for a micro part that flew up... All these happened in the late seventies. Your channel brought all that nostalgia back. Thank you.

I like looking at these old vintage watches. It's amazing that they had manufacturing processes to make such very tiny parts in the 1940s.

... why am i mesmerized by marshall's voice about watches when i watch him primarily for magic. This is awesome. I subscribed because i wanted to support Marshall as a content creator, but the video's never popped up in my feed until today. I love this. I didn't realize how cool this is.

Hi Marshal, I am from Pakistan. My interest in watches is barely minimum but I regularly watch your videos on RU-vid. I watch your videos because I love your voice and soft tone and I want to listen to you over and over again. I wish to hear you in real. Keep up your good and amazing work. My best wishes are with you. Ishtiaq

I enjoy watching the restoration of the vintage watches most of all. This paticular one has significantly more meaning because of the family history. One can imagine her grandmother wearing this watch to work each shift. The stories she could tell could fill a book worth reading. The passing down of the watch from mother to daughter in three generations is history. You are a steward of history sir. You are a time keeper preserving moments in time. That must be very gratifying. I enjoy your videos because you seem relatable. You have a lot to say. I will keep watching. Thank you.

That's a small one. Kudos to you for doing a watch this small. You've made someone very happy. What a great job you did.

Wow! For a minute I thought the watch was irreparable. Great job Marshall.

I found your channel about a month ago and am hooked. If possible, I'd love to know more about how these parts are made in the first place. It just seems like typical machining and stamping would have a hard time creating such precise parts.

Furiously pausing and writing down the steps.. I have a very similar watch (though smaller) and have it all apart/cleaned. I dreaded having to start putting it back together (my very first time). So now I can attempt it with a braver heart. Thanks for your clear and concise vids. My next one will be my Great Grandfather's gold pocket watch.

Another great video. You have a good ‘radio’ voice. Will look forward to more videos.

this video gives me inner peace :D so much good tools and so much precision craftsmanship

I love the troubleshooting you do on these watches. And this piece was especially cool because of its history and connection to the owner.

I must take the time to say thank you for your wonderful videos on watch repair and more. Your tone of voice and how you describe what it is that you are doing, and the why of it, is very informative and entertaining. The oops moments when you make a mistake is refreshing as it shows us that not everything goes well all the time. You're human. I started watching watch making and repairs as I a go through cancer treatment, having to give up many of my hobbies due to illness. I discovered that I did posses many of the very basic tools that you use (tiny tweezers, screw drivers, magnification lenses, ultra sonic cleaner etc but nothing like you have as an 'amateur?') I managed to find a handful of old inexpensive watches and started to take them apart and half of the time successfully put them back together again. Having watched just about all of your videos, it gave me the confidence to dig right in and tackle the job, knowing that the mistakes I made were not uncommon but learned as I went along following your videos. I don't have the lubes but try my best with what I have on hand on these cheap watches. I am surprised at how rewarding it is to see the heart of these amazing engineering marvel come to life as they come together. I find myself sitting there in front of my desk, forgetting the world around me for hours on end. I've even brought some watches to the hospital to keep me busy while undergoing treatments. For this I thank you very much for opening my eyes and giving me one more hobby that I am able to do with joy. I still don't wear a watch, haven't done so for almost 40 yrs. Never knew anything about the inner workings other than know that a spring makes it work.. simple as that... but man, really? The balance wheel, the pallets? Click spring? The fact that this world is so tiny still blows me away. All I need is a good eye loupe for more magnification, which I hope to fnd soon. I don't ever expect to be nearly as good as any of you talented watch repair folks but the enjoyment is there. That's all I can hope for. BTW Evaporust is my go to rust remover for a lot of things, it does work and environmentally safe ;) Thank you and consider me subscribed! Cheers!

Marshall, I recognized your voice immediately. My LGS has been closed, and I have been pouring into watches the last few months. Really love this channel. Nice to see another side of your interest too.

you know., you may not be the world's greatest watch repair man but you make the most watchable, interesting and beautifully shot videos

Impressive work getting this running as well as you did Marshall!

This is outstanding, Marshall. Thank you. I'm sure you would attest that you learn more when problems are encountered. Sure, it must be quite gratifying to reassemble a watch and everything works perfectly. However, it's much more interesting to learn problem solving skills when problems arise. Thanks again for the great content you provide on RU-vid!

Another excellent video. I have learned a lot about mechanical watches by watching your videos.

Every ladies watch with that style case that I have opened has rust in the keyless works. Nice job. The time keeping is probably as good as it ever was.

I remember those croton watches, may have had one back in the good ole days......great video thanks....

is it a measure of how much of a psychopath I am that I totally want to dive into watch repair on these tiny little women's dress watches?! 😛 My idea is that If I can master the tiny movements... that it will make the bigger ones less daunting and just easier to do... I don't know... why not, right? I'm not getting paid for this stuff! Wish me luck... just bought my first watch as a 1951 Elgin 662 movement in a ladies Dress watch off ebay to dive in head first!... You and you alone have inspired me to get into this as a new hobby.. I can't wait to learn. Thank you for all your content and all you do!

Such informative videos and easy to watch. Thankyou Marshal for being so generous with your knowledge and your time. It is very much appreciated.

Ive been a mechanic for many many many years I've seen blah blah blah blah blah.. however.....when I see a watch with its back off I'm transfixed,a gearbox is an amazing underrated item that so common it's literally in every garden and watches are the same yet unbelievably more complex,I truly appreciate your skill as you make it look easy.👍

I have no connection to watchmaking, but I love watching your videos. Great stuff!

Thanks for returning

Anither wonderful journey Marshall with many twists and turns ... many thanks

Well done on a difficult job!

EvapoRust is like magic for larger stuff. I use it for tool restoration projects, but it definitely benefits from a wire brush or something. Half an hour soaking plus a brass wire brush and the rust just wipes off like mud.

Thanks, Marshall! That loose click issue might be just the ticket for fixing my late dad’s old Bulova automatic. It also has an AS movement, a 10CSC, and goes “bzik!” when wound beyond about 2 hours of running time

It's always nice to have a back up for parts no matter what you're doing, just makes it so much easier❗️ so much easier‼️®™️

That is some beautiful work. a lot of people will just enjoy this as a relaxing vid to watch, witbout understanding how challenging it can be to work on a watch that size. My personal nemesis (and I suggest you avoid) was an 8.75 ligne, ladies Smith's Deluxe from 50's England. For some reason they decided to place the 3 running train wheels, and the escape wheel on the same bridge, on an extremely small movement... and the bridge fitted onto two studs for position before screwing down. There was no gentle wiggle room. Either the 4 wheels lined up, or they didn't... in which case it was bridge off, reposition, and test fit until it alligned. It took me 5 days to get that one bridge in place. Nice watch... but never again.

This video is invaluable. Working on what I think is a cousin ladies Schild movement. It has no real markings but all the parts, click, lever, springs, and bridges are VERY similar if not the same. Except this Orfina has 15 jewels and a subsecond at the 6:00.

This is sooo soothing to watch

Excellent job! I took Mark's course and have successfully disassembled and reassembled a ST36 (the unitas clone) and recently moved on to the NH-35. The size difference makes everything noticeably harder, I can't imagine going smaller. I need to add cleaning and oiling, but I need more gear first. Also you are super brave working on all this vintage stuff, I hope I can get there some day. Finally, I liked the casual Speedmaster for size LOL - nice watch!!

Stunning little watch!

Please, Sir, more videos! Your watch repair videos are entertaining, informative, and you have a perfect teaching voice for this sort of thing.

Marshall, do you have (or could you do) a video of your watch collection? I love seeing you wear the watches you've repaired in the successive videos!

Fairly new to watch repair but Crotons have caught my eye. They also seem to be hard to find..I have a couple small ones and a few pocket watches that I'm going to service. Like your vid. Thnx

Fascinating, great commentary learned a lot

Hi Marshall, Incabloc was invented in 1934 in Switzerland. As a rule of thumb you can say that if the watch has a shockprotection it is produced from 1948. Not all, but the majority.

I thought I should let you know the great production on your channel has singlehandedly convinced me to get my first real watch as an adult, and I'm looking forward to more. Thanks for the great content!

I watched all your videos. You do your job in the best way. I wish you success.

Well done sir! I loved that story and watching the process!

For those of us without the mainspring winder, it would be great to see you demonstrate the doing-it-by-hand method you refer to each time. :)

Rust converters also eat at the base metals eventually. The one part started to go black as it was either being etched, was nickel, or aluminum.

Nice job on this movement, I enjoy watching your videos, so keep making them for all of us to enjoy.

This is a craft that's always fascinated me, I prefer watches than jewelry so I've always had a watch on with the precise time. Ever since I was able to tell the time,and have always receive d one for Xmas.

Hi Marshall, first thank you for you canal, I never thought i would be sitting watching something like this, but my god it is fascinating, I do miss a vid that explains all the different parts and what they do, especially the escape wheel, that somehow is a mystery to me

Great vid. Proves that every day is a school day! I'd like to say thank you, you've inspired me to take up repair on pocket watches and with a basic set of tools and a couple of cheap watches, I'm having a really enjoyable time and will film my first strip down.

Truly impressive!! Working at such a micro level. That is one small watch!

"So I got some stuff called Evaporust, I've never used it..." - HandToolRescue has entered the Chat

35 seconds/day is probably how it was running originally. I'm sure the beat error and amplitude are not like new but that's beyond any reasonable expectations. You have to keep in mind, ladies' watches on the whole did not keep time as well as men's watches anyway because the balance wheel was smaller. Yes, JLC could build some killer tiny movements, but we are not talking about JLC, this was an A. Schild, which made entry level movements for many years. That's great work.

Hey Marshall! Found out about this channel from LR. I know absolutely nothing about watches, but I find this captivating. You are truly a gifted teacher and presenter. Keep up the awesome work!

The patina on that dial is beautiful.

Great job and good video thanks for sharing.

Evaporust is a FANTASTIC product. It absolutely is a miracle. It does tend to blacken things, this is because removing rust changes the ratio of iron to carbon on the surface of the metal; which darkens it. A simple light polish will take it off if you want to.

Another fantastic video, Marshall. For glass crystals I’ve had good luck with oil-based diamond pastes. You can get a collection of tubes with different grit sizes for only a few dollars. Start with something coarse - 50 um, and work your way down. By the time you get to 1 um, it will look like new. But you have to change the applicator for each grit size, otherwise you’re adding new scratches as you’re removing others!

These videos are always super satisfying to watch 👌

so I wanted to ask - you said in a different video that those S-shaped mainsprings are a more modern invention, and also that most older watches used carbon steel springs. That mainspring looked real shiny and also S-shaped, so my assumption is that it's a newer spring. You also said that the watch itself likely dated to the 40s. Would I be correct in assuming that's likely a replaced spring, then? I'm not sure what time period the transition from coiled to S-shape springs would have happened in, nor at what point carbon steel would have fallen out of vogue for these kinds of watches. Quick edit- looks like the spring in the donor movement was carbon steel, and also broken, so I feel slightly more confident in my assumption

Excellent! I really enjoyed watching..

that part that turne dark must have been unplated carbon steel, darkening is normal with most rust removers

Vinegar works good on rust too.

Thanks for this video, that thin piece of metal that covers the sweep second pinion is called the friction spring for sweep second pinion, at least it is on the seiko ladies movement I worked on (the first watch I serviced, foolishly picked a tiny movement as my first lol). I enjoy watching your restoration/service videos, you are one of four channels I subscribe to and yes one of the others is the watch repair channel. Stay safe and thanks again.

Congratulations to you wow your good at this! Wow 👍🙂

You crack us (my wife and I) up with your excitement over putting in the mainspring!! 🤣😂 We're both like "here it comes the snapping sound, he's about to get giddy!". Keep making these, you're awesome.

Nice job! Thank you for the video.

That's beautiful man! Thanks for sharing this with us. :)

Evapo works great in the ultrasonic.

Beautiful watch, nice video as always -- excellent work Marshall!!

Honestly, it makes sense for there to some rust around the crown area, especially on a watch worn by a nurse. As a nurse, you're going to be washing your hands so many times per day, and if you wear the watch on your left hand, as most people do, the crown will be closest to the hands, where all the water is. Also I would imagine that the nurse would be kinda rushed, so they wouldn't have the time to take the watch off, nor to make sure it was completely dry every time.

Well done!

Great job

Rocking that awesome Abercrombie, I see! Really digging this channel. Keep up the awesome content! Thinking about doing Mark’s classes. Seems like they come highly recommended and if the courses taught you how to get started, I’d love to be there someday. Again, really enjoy the content!

I love the watch you are wearing and I loved watching that episode!

Do you think that you have learned enough and developed your skills to the point where this watch will keep better time when you next service it? I would think that another year or two it will need another service. Hope I'm still around to see it.

Nice job.

Really good video with a nice result.

Marshall, I am interested that you are new to this "lark" through YT and I'm wondering how much it cost you to get the basic gear together for watch repair and servicing and how long it took you. The fact that RU-vid has enabled people to gain new skills is fascinating for me. Perhaps a video about your learning curve would be a useful addition (if you haven't done one already).

Your videos are the best

Have you ever tried an eraser to get rid of the rust coloration? I've used it on connector ends to brighten them up.

Evaporust is outstanding, needs at least 24 hours to do just about anything.. It is a GREAT product for removing rust!!

Hey did those watch hands have radium on them Or was that really aged paint?

Thanks for the videos, very interesting to see the intricacies of old classic time pieces. one question and forgive my ignorance, but could you possibly explain the meaning of the numbers of your timegrapher. I've only recently come across your content, so haven't all your stuff yet. With that said, if you've done so already, thank you, hopefully I'll see soon. Either way enjoying them as is...keep up the good work.

These antique rebuilds make me wanna regret buying a clean new automatic watch. Honestly, having an accurate watch is a bonus as I mainly bought my automatic as an accessory and not as a time piece. The weathered look and old style just looks tons better than a clean one IMHO.

I got to tell ya man, i absolutely love your channel. The way you present it is great. Keep the videos coming man. I enjoy learning with ya. Lol.

That donor movement came in huge!

Polywatch also has a polish/sealant for glass crystals. I'll be getting Polywatch to polish my soviet watches.

I have to admit the double-barred cross intrigued me, as a doc. I've seen it before, I thought. I was right- the same emblem is used by the American Lung Association (originally the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, later the National Tuberculosis Association), but in blue rather than red.

Crazy small parts!!! whats size was that tiny tinie screwdriver?

This old lady was a bit of a tough patient but she still had some Nursing lessons to to give to Marshall. I think they both came through the situation fine enough.