Repairing a Remington Pocket Watch

Updated: Please see the end of the article for updated information about one of the steps in this tutorial.

Repairing a pocket watch would normally be outside of my skill-set, but my father dropped his watch recently at his place of employment and jarred the hands off from the face. He has bigger, thicker fingers than I do, and was having a bit of trouble with the tiny parts, so I figured I would help him out and try to repair it for him.

I had him grab his camera and snap some shots of the project so I could share it with you, in case you ever need to do something similar. It’s not too terribly difficult, but you will need a steady hand, and a heavy dose of patience. If you aren’t afraid of potentially ruining your watch, follow along.

Nota bene: This tutorial only covers the Remington pocket watch pictured here. If you have a different type of watch, you should find another tutorial particular to your specific watch type, as all watches are different. You have been warned!

You will need a small, regular blade screwdriver, a pair of tweezers, and a straight-pin. Also required is some kind of flat blade (like a pocket knife) to pry the back cover off. Go ahead and pop the back cover off now, being careful not to scratch up the case. You can use a couple of pieces of paper, or some Scotch tape to protect the case, if you wish.

The movement (the watch mechanism) is held in place by a white plastic spacer ring. Hold down the movement with a finger and gently pry up the spacer with the screwdriver and remove it. Pop out the battery, and then replace the spacer. It will need to be there to prevent the movement from moving around when you remove the winder stem.

You’ll probably want to pull the stem up now, just like you would when you set the time, in order to give yourself some extra room when you remove the stem.

In this type of watch, the stem is locked in place by a retainer (called the “push,” or “pusher”) that you will need to release before you can pull out the stem. Be gentile during this step; if you are too brutish, you run the risk of bending or breaking the stem, and if that happens…well, you get the point.

The pusher is located in the center of the little arm on top (check the image, I’ve marked the spot with an arrow). Take the screwdriver in one hand, and the straight-pin in the other. Push down on the pusher with the pin (not much, just give it a little pressure) and pop the stem out by twisting the screwdriver a bit against the watch body and the stem crown.

Be very careful that you have the pusher down, and don’t force the stem. It should “pop” out of it’s seating with just a little pressure. If it doesn’t, give the pusher a little more pressure.

If the little fob bracket on the watch body wasn’t in the way, you would be able to just pop it out by pulling on it with your fingers. Using the screwdriver just makes it a little easier.

Once it pops loose, carefully remove the stem, being careful not to bend the fine tip. Now you can gently pry out the spacer and movement in one piece, being careful not to lose or bend the delicate hands.

Leave the movement in the spacer all throughout the rest of the steps. That will allow you to manipulate the movement more easily and not damage it or the face.

Now replace the hands on the face. This is where the tweezers, patience, and steady hand comes into play. The hour hand goes on first, closest to the face. Then comes the minute hand. The minute hand has a little flange on only one side — that flange goes down toward the face.

Then the second hand goes on. There is a pin on one side that goes into the hole of the shaft, which serves to hold the other hands on. Be very careful not to bend any of the hands when you are doing this, as they are very delicate. The second hand needs to be firmly set though, otherwise the hands may fall off again, and you’ll need to start again.

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