Amateur Hour Watch Restoration

Where it’s from

I bought this movement at a flea market in Berlin for 30 euro (the seller badgered me into it, I’m a weeny when it comes to haggling). After opening the case back, I see a “PUW 360”, so I’m confident this is a PUW 360 movement. It was produced between 1963-69. Information on PUW (aka Pforzheimer Urhen-Rohwerke, which translates to “Pforzheim Watch Movements”) can be found here. Apparently it was based in a town in Germany (Pforzheim), near Stuttgart.

Interestingly, another German brand (Circula) recently discovered a bunch of PUW movements in a warehouse in 2019, and decided to re-release them with updated cases and servicing (link to story). They used the 560 and 1661 models, and according to Circula, “both movements still meet the quality standards that apply today”.

What it looked like

It’s got a really pretty, simple dial that seems to be in good shape. This is my ideal kind of watch actually, just a simple circular case, with not a lot of ornamentation. I’d rather have silver, but it caught my eye at the flea market because of its simplicity.

It is obviously missing a crown and stem, so I’ve got my work cut out for me. It’s likely gonna have some kind of tarnishing on the inside, since who knows how long it’s been missing.

How I restored it

Nov 16, 2025

Opening up the caseback reveals that it’s a frontloader:

“To dismantle the movement, lift the crystal”, in German as well. (Very considerate!) The movement actually looks in relatively decent shape, and the balance is oscillating freely. However, looking closely at the escapement, it seems it is not set in the top pivot, and is stuck at an angle.

After removing the movement from the case, lo and behold the stem was actually broken off and jammed deep inside. It was really really deep in there, like I’m not sure how it was pushed in so far. I’m wondering if the stem getting pushed in caused damage to some other stuffs too.

Nov 17, 2025

Disaster! I was completely disassembling the movement, and I had gotten all the way to disassembling the balance. Unfortunately, the little thingy on the regulator arm that captures the hairspring was really really stuck. At first, the whole regulator arm popped off while I attempted to unscrew it. Then, I managed to remove the balance from the bridge, but when I went to fully remove the regulator thingy, it completely sheared off! 

So, I definitely need to get a donor movement. EBay doesn’t seem to have a big selection. I found one that seems to be in OK shape, but marked as not working/for parts. The pictures show it with the movement open though, and it looks pretty good, so I’m hopeful.

Super disappointing though. I’m not sure if it was something I did, but I’ve never encountered one of these regulator arm thingies that have been stuck before. I don’t think they’re reverse threaded or anything either, in fact I’m almost positive they are just riveted in place. What’s weird is that when I look at where it sheared off, it looks almost completely flat? No idea what happened here.

In the meantime, I will work on cleaning what I can.

Nov 22, 2025

Parts came in, the balance bridge looks great, but the cap jewel on it had a lot of old oil. I still need to run everything through the cleaner.

Nov 24, 2025

Small note: I really like how the crown wheel is on the underside of the barrel bridge, which removes the need for a reverse-threaded screw or capturing plate. Honestly, I really like this movement in general; it feels very German to me, with stuff just feeling efficiently placed, and lots of straight lines and great circles.

What’s really funny though is that I completely forgot to put the crown wheel in, because it’s under the bridge. Anyways, I’ve cleaned the movement, and reassembled the train and barrel. Thankfully, the escape wheel seems to be spinning freely, without issue. Next up I’ll put in the winding works, then the pallet, and then the balance!

Nov 26, 2025

OK, I got everything back together, and oiled, and it’s running! I am super happy with my oiling job, because all the capped jewels (all five of them!) have that really nice bubble of oil in them. The amplitude is pretty low though:

When I assembled the train, I noticed that it didn’t spin super freely when turning the barrel, which might have something to do with it. I don’t feel like I have the right skills yet to actually diagnose it though, like basically all I can do is disassemble and reassemble.

Maybe it’s time to learn how to do some actual diagnosis?

I ended up taking out the balance and pallet, giving the train a good spin (maybe that clears out any gunk?), put the pallet back in, oiled the pallet, and it seems to be just a tiny bit better:

So maybe oiling the pallet stones helped here? Or spinning the train? I think I need to take a class or something. Anyways, I think I will just clean the case, recase it, and call it done. Oh, and I still need to trim the stem, too.

Nov 28, 2025

I cleaned the case, trimmed the stem, and reassembled it all. I decided to replace the crystal, since I noticed that the current one had a bit of crazing along the edges when putting it back in. I had originally gotten a “lo-dome” GS crystal, but it was a bit too shallow and interfered with the second hand, oops. So, I ordered a “hi-dome” GS crystal. I’m also waiting for the band, brown leather with gold clasp.

Dec 6, 2025

The strap came in, and I gotta say it’s looking really classy:

Jan 11, 2026

Well, I spoke too soon. After assembling it, it was incredibly difficult to wind. I powered through for a while, but eventually one day I heard something click in the case, and it stopped winding. I had a feeling that I had cut the stem too short, and when I opened it back up, it looked like that was the case (about 0.5mm too short, oops). I think it was difficult to wind because the setting lever was just barely engaged enough to get the crown wheel engaged. I have some stem extenders, so I’ll try out using one of them before trying to get another stem.

Jan 11, 2026 4:48 PM

In the process of fitting a stem extender, I ended up breaking the stem. I think I was cutting too far away from where the pin vice was holding the stem, which caused too much stress in it. It broke right where the pin vice was holding it. Lesson learned: next time, hold the stem right where it needs to be cut. One tiny bright spot though: now I won’t need to use a stem extender!

Jan 21, 2026 6:20 AM

I forgot to post last night, but the stem came in, I trimmed it, and now I get my watch back, yay! And, it is much, much easier to wind now, woot!

Apr 4, 2026 8:14 PM

Final note on this: I’ve been wearing this watch almost every day since, and I’ve loved it!