Is it Safe Buying Watch Parts from India?

The easiest way to repair a broken balance spring is NOT to make one from scratch using a $50 "raw" replacement hairspring, a $10,000 hairspring vibrator and a $5,000 balance spring outer coil cutter -- and spending two to three days installing it, but rather to simply buy a spare movement for $10 and swap out the entire balance assembly, including the balance spring. And that's exactly what I do in this video.

In this video I do a quick repair on a non-working Adolph Schild AS ST 1950/51 based "Muff" watch (as-in Muff jewelers from Hochdorf, Switzerland) using a spare movement purchased from a seller in India on Ebay.

Links that I mentioned in this video:
https://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Kategorie:Picture_gallery_archive_shock_absorber
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/shockproof-springs-wristwatch

Here's a link to the AliExpress Eakins microscope that I use product page (affiliate link):
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dm3HajH

chapters:
00:00 introduction - The 1960s "Muff" AS ST 1950/51 wristwatch
01:05 the movement I ordered from India
02:52 beginning the repair - which will be limited to swapping out the balance assemblies
04:25 comparison of the different balance assembly shock settings
05:30 comparing the two movements side-by-side
06:38 continuing with the balance assembly transplant
14:28 great! the Muff fires right up with the replacement part!
19:48 the investment pays off! watch it run!
20:10 putting the old parts back in the donor movement for safe keeping - and maybe I'll change out the shock settings in the future (or the balance cocks as the case may be)
24:00 cleaning up and organizing after the repair
25:01 reviewing the other four watches that I got with this watch for a total of US $90 (for all five)
25:43 checking the repaired Muff watch on the Timegrapher
28:00 quick discussion of the Oris Quartz SSIH cal. 5500 early quartz watch and its relationship to ETA / Swatch
35:13 quick discussion of the Nisus Unitas 6325 and its relationship with my Panerai Unitas 6498-based Luminor including discussion of their sizes in lignes
39:22 conclusion and sign-off

#restoration #watchrepair #vintage #hairspring