Installation and Adjustment of Minute and Hour Hands
【Important】Reminders:
During installation, please avoid bending the post for second hand. Otherwise the function of the movement might be compromised.
Repeated installation of watch hands may result in loose hands. Therefore please be careful with each installation, and reduce the need for re-installation.
An extra set of hands is provided to you in case you need replacement.
Hand setting tools
You will need hand setting tools of three sizes.
Use the left tool with the largest opening for GMT hand
Use the center tool for hour hand
Use the right tool for minute and second hand. [The center second hand’s post goes into the opening of the tool. Therefore, align well before pressing down and after pressing down, avoid sideway motions to avoid bending the second hand’s post]
2a. Installing GMT, hour, and minute hand
We will install the GMT, hour, and minute hands onto the dial and movement assembly.
Content:
How to pick up a hand
How to install a hand
Adjusting the level and direction of the hand
If you need to remove hands, you can refer to:
Installing Second Hand
WARNING! This part is very challenging and poses risk of irriversible damage to the movement!
Tips for second hand installation:
Viewing the second hand from a horizontal angle will make the hand installation significantly easier.
Please choose whether you have the second hand installation helper tool or not:
Using the second hand installation helper tool can simplify the process of installing the second hand.
Content:
Introducing the helper tool
Using the helper tool to install a second hand
Installing Second Hand
【Important】Reminders:
The second hand post is more fragile than that of hour and minute hands. Please be very careful with installation. A bent second hand post will affect the performance of movement.
It is recommended to first use a loupe to see the smallest post clearly before attempting to install. If you were not careful with minute hand installation, the second hand post might have been bent. If so, it is impossible to install the second hand.
Second hand must remain parallel with the dial. During installation and adjustment, be mindful to keep the second hand level.
Instructional video contains detailed description. Please pay attention to its content in its entirety.
This is the most challenging part of this tutorial. We will now install the second hand onto the movement.
Content:
Learn multiple methods of installing a second hand
Identify correct and incorrect second hand installation
Second Hand Troubleshoot
Here we will cover most of the problems related to hand installation.