Dabs & Co Spider-Man

Where it’s from

I bought this watch on eBay for $10.

After opening it, it seems the movement is a Remex/Rego 2125-216.

What it looked like

No second hand. “Hong Kong” appears on the bottom of the dial, so I’m guessing a mass-produced pin-lever escapement with no jewels. I can wind it, and it kicks up a bit, but sometimes it seems to stop after a few seconds (it has currently kicked up just fine). The timegrapher can’t get a reading, but it seems to at least have straight traces.

I got this for my friend Chris, who is a big Spider-Man fan. He also has a great blog about the golden age of Marvel comics that I enjoy reading.

The watch is very small (I am guessing it’s meant to be for a child, ha), so I doubt he’ll actually wear it, but I’m hoping he likes it anyway.

How I restored it

Jan 31, 2026 3:59 PM

I’ve opened it up, and surprisingly, it has one (1) jewel. However, it seems like it’s on the pallet bridge, instead of the balance. The balance pivots have what at first glance look like jewels, but seem to be… plastic, maybe??? Also the pallet itself appears to be made out of plastic. The maker stamp says “Remex Ltd, Hong Kong”, with a movement number of 2125-216. I couldn’t easily find any information on this movement, but very interestingly there seems to be an identical Swiss version by Rego.

Fingers for scale.
Dial side (note the red plastic “jewel”).
Movement side. You can just make out the white plastic pallet under the balance wheel.
Closer view of the keyless.

After reading around a bit, it seems the “jewels” on the balance are indeed plastic, or more specifically Delrin. Honestly, everything looks pretty clean and intact. I think I’m just going to oil it and see if it improves anything. I think my only concern is the plastic pallet. Because it’s white, it’s really difficult to make out if the “forks” are worn or not

Jan 31, 2026 5:59 PM

Success! I took the balance and pallet out, gave it a couple big spins to clear out the gunk, oiled it, reassembled, and now we’ve got a reasonable reading:

I’ve got the case and back in the ultrasonic. I tried to use toothpaste on the crystal, but it didn’t seem to make it any better. It’s probably good enough for now, but I think I’ll just buy a replacement. Unfortunately the big set of crystals I got don’t go down to the size of this one, so another one-off crystal purchase, oh well. In the meantime, here’s where I landed:

Feb 7, 2026 8:16 PM

The crystal for this came in, and I put it on. Still waiting for the band, but here’s where we’re at now:

Feb 9, 2026 8:06 PM

The band came in for this. I couldn’t find a 13mm band I liked, so I bought a 14mm in the hopes that I could just jam it in. I could jam the leather in, but apparently spring bars have a much tighter tolerance that I thought. I was able to use one of the original spring bars, but since I had to cut off the other one, I ended up ordering an assortment of replacement spring bars. In the meantime, here’s about what it’ll end up looking like: