Repeater · restoration and a new case
Le Phare quarter repeater
- What came in
- An antique Le Phare pocket-watch movement with a quarter repeater, carrying decades of dirt.
- What was done
- Full disassembly, cleaning, overhaul and regulation. A brass case turned on the lathe, hand engraving and gilding, a new dial, blued hands, sapphire crystals.
- Result
- A wristwatch built around the antique movement. The quarter repeater strikes the time again.
How the work went
An antique Le Phare movement with a quarter repeater came to my bench — a movement that not only shows the time but strikes it on demand.
First, the movement itself. Full disassembly, cleaning every part of decades of dirt, checking its condition and fixing the problems that had built up over the years. Then an overhaul, correct lubrication, reassembly and regulation of the timekeeping.
Then a new watch for this movement. I turned the case from brass on the lathe and soldered on the lugs; the case was hand-engraved in an antique style and gilded. The project also got a new gilded dial, steel hands blued to a deep blue, and sapphire crystals.
It is no longer a pocket watch but a wristwatch, with the same antique repeater movement working inside.
